The ‘Love Guru’ speaks, writes and captivates

Dubbed as the “Love Guru” is first-time author Carelle Mangaliag, whose book titled Captivating Communication was launched at Conti’s in Greenbelt 2 in Makati a fortnight ago, with a signing event held at Powerbooks in Greenbelt 4 later that same day. It was her birthday, too.

The book teaches the art of speaking with confidence, employing principles applied in theater, humor, and the science of human behavior through Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).

In a brief biographical backgrounder that runs alongside the compact book’s introduction, Carelle acknowledges that she has always been a performer, working on TV, movies and theater since she was eight yeares old. As a BS Management student, she joined Tanghalang Ateneo and Ateneo Bue Repertory, and later the Silly People’s Improv Theater or SPIT when it started in 2002. 

 The multi-talented Carelle is also an Awit awardee and a Triple Platinum Awardee for the World Youth Day song Tell the World of His Love during Pope John Paul’s visit in Manila in 1995.

What is quite intriguing is the NLP system that Carelle Mangaliag has trained and become an expert in. 

She writes: “The hugely popular book, Whispering in the Wind by Carmen Bostic St. Clair and John Grinder, defines NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) as the study of modeling excellence. It is a dscipline that investigates the reason behind differences in performance between those considered as geniuses and average individuals in the same field. NLP was founded and co-developed by Dr. John Grinder with Richard Bandler in the 1970s at the University of Sta. Clara in California. 

“Together, Grinder and Bandler studied the behavioral and communication patterns of succesful individuals who were also considered geniuses.

“… With NLP Grinder and Bandler, along with their students and co-practitioners, are able to address various concerns of people such as depression, schizophrenia, trauma, phobia, as well as problems related with family, love relationships, work productivity, money management, and interpersonal relationships. NLP makes all these possible through the understanding of how people encode, transfer, and modify behavor.”

Despite her early personal success in building up and inspiring sales teams for her father’s life insurance business, Carelle kept reading literature on leadership and presentation skills, including books on NLP. This eventually led her to join an NLP training program in Los Angeles in 2006.

“I left for studies and returned on fire. In a few weeks, I had closed a deal with the largest telecom company in the country, a leading global phramaceutical group, and a large restaurant franchise. I ahieved these while still in the process of incorporating my own company and work team. My start-up capital multiplied exponentially, my team and I were doing three training groups per day for the next few months. We were closing deals while doing talks on communication, service, stress management, team building, and leadership. The talks rocked the house and we had standing ovations, raving customers, and countless praises all because of the amazing and life-changing discipline called NLP, which I have made the heart and soul of my teaching.”

Now that certainly sounds like success. If there’s yet any doubt, let it be known that Carelle Mangaliag now heads a company, Trainstation Inc., which has branches in Manila, Hong Kong and Singapore. It has been training Top 1000 corporations and SME’s, including local clients such as Toyota, Jollibee, Wyeth, Pilipinas Shell, Smart, Belo Medical Group, ABS-CBN, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Department of Education, Philippine National Police and PAGCOR.

She is president and CEO. Trainstation Inc. uses NLP in business applications that help organizations and individuals achieve maximum results through communication and motivational tools.

Even as she remains the only NLP-certified authority in the country, her own studies and further training haven’t stopped. She undertook practitioner training from Enpace and the Society of NLP, and recently became a Master NLP practitioner with Global NLP training in Miami, Florida.

Dr. Grinder has created the new NLP Code as a further development in dealing with the replication of excellence in human behavior. Keeping friendship and mentorship ties with him has served Carelle in good stead, as when Typhoon Haiyan struck last November.

“John would continuously email me, and he would teach, instruct and coach me on new NLP patterns that could help the victims of the strongest typhoon in recorded history. And so my education in NLP took a dramatic turn. As unexpected as Haiyan was, I found myself directly being mentored one-on-one, by a genius — and all this while being of service to a suffering people. I finally discvered NLP’s true power, and I owe it all to Dr. Grinder. He was selfless in sharing what he knows and so in turn, I wish also to be selfless with what I have learned.”

For information on NLP training programs, visit www.trainstation.com.ph. Or you may learn more about it and the “Art of Speaking with Confidence and Captivating Your Audience,” the book’s subtitle, by picking up a copy of Captivating Communication at any major bookstore.

While fascinating, it is happily readable, with simple exercises thrown in, as well as categories for self-identification as a personality and communicator, plus invaluable tips. Here’s a sample:

“To communicate kinesthetically, you have to know how to touch people. Touch them in neutral parts like on their shoulder  or the back of their wrist. If it’s with a date or in a more intimate setting, you may go for the hand, the neck, or the thigh. The more nerve endings there are, the stronger the anchor.

“Avoid touching the part of the arm right above the elbow as this is the usual part where people touch when they are apologizing or when they say ‘condolence,’ ‘I’m sorry,’ or ‘Awww.’ So it is actually a not so positive part to touch.”

Oh, Carelle Mangaliag has also been called the “Love Guru” because she’s been coaching politicians and celebrities to improve their love lives. And no, since I am neither, I don’t have her phone number.