What is NLP?

NLP was initially created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in 1975 who began by developing models based on top communicators of the time. Their goal was to discover why certain people produced excellence and then to create models to allow other people similar behaviour. Initially they studied the likes of Milton Eriksson, Fritz Perls and Virginia Satir but over the years many other have contributed to the growth of this field.

Inevitably, from these models grew a host of techniques for rapidly and effectively changing thoughts, behaviours and beliefs that previously had limited ones development. These techniques are what is commonly known as Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).

It is important to realise that NLP is a set of guiding principles, attitudes and techniques about behaviour in real life. It is NOT a scientific theorem. It gives individuals choice; choice to choose their behaviours, emotional states and physical states of well-being by understanding how the mind works. It removes self-imposed limits.

NLP explores the relationship between how we think (neuro), how we communicate both verbally and non-verbally (linguistic) and our patterns of behaviour and emotion (programmes).

Essentially, NLP is how to use the language of the mind to consistently achieve specific and desired outcomes.

People practicing NLP have certain beliefs/presuppositions that are useful for creating change in themselves and others. Here are a few of them

• Resistance in a client is a sign of lack of rapport - There are no resistant clients only inflexible communicators
• People are not their behaviours - Accept the person and change the behaviour
• The map is not the territory - The words we use are NOT the event or the item they represent
• The Law of Requisite Variety - The system/person with the most flexibility of behaviour will control the system
• There is no failure, only feedback.
• All procedures are designed to increase choice
• You are in charge of your mind and therefore your results
• The meaning of communication is the response that you get
• If someone can do something then it can be modelled and taught
• People have all the resources they need to succeed and to achieve their desired outcomes - They just need to know how to access them
• Everyone is doing the best they can with the resources they have available - Behaviour is geared for adaptation and present behaviour is the best choice available. Every behaviour is motivated by positive intent

NLP put Simply !

Lets try and put this into language that we can all understand!

Imagine getting a mobile phone without any instructions. In fact mobile phones are a great example. These days mobile phones have a string of features that we do not ever use because 1. We didn’t understand the instructions 2. We didn’t read them 3. We didn’t get any instructions

Well let’s assume for example we didn’t receive any instructions. So we have a phone and we can figure out how to make a call and how to receive one, and with a bit of fiddling around we can teach ourselves how to store some numbers in the memory. But the rest of the features go unused purely because we didn’t know they were there.

Now think of your brain, which is a slightly more complex item. We were born without an instruction manual. The only instructions we received were hearsay, in other words, our parents, teachers and peers conditioned us. So no real instructions and certainly not a comprehensive set. A bit like having that mobile telephone and just knowing how to send a call.

Imagine getting into a car for the first time with no instructions. Reckon you would get far? Not a chance! Probably crash and burn if you ever got the thing started! So without an instruction manual we are likely to fail. Hold on, I here you say, we haven’t got a manual for the brain so we are likely to fail? Yes, that’s the idea! With no manual we are likely to fail first time and then after that we learn through our experiences, hopefully! This is why when we attempt even the simplest task for the first time we often meet with failure.

So what’s all this got to do with NLP? Quite simply NLP studies the structure of how humans think and experience the world. Now this structure is something quite complex and subjective and does not always lend itself to precise formula. What it does do is to lend itself to models of how the mind works and from these models NLP has derived techniques for easily and rapidly changing thoughts, beliefs and behaviours
These ‘models’ were derived from the studies of people who did things exquisitely well. For example the Meta-model was derived from a person called Virginia Satir, a renowned therapist and communicator, and the Milton model was derived from the great hypnotist Milton Eriksson

The models were created not by asking these talented people how they did something but more from understanding the underlying structure of how they represent the beliefs and attitudes and strategies within their minds when they are completing a particular task. This is why much of NLP in therapy is content free.

Another example would be to understand how a resourceful person in a particular situation perceives the world through their 5 senses, and once we have done this, it is easy to teach others how to do the same thing.

For example a phobia is an irrational fear. A person phobic about spiders will often picture the spider being particularly large and very close to them. Now someone who is not concerned about spiders will have a representation of a small creature that doesn’t do anyone any harm and is insignificant to them (far away and small). In NLP we would ask the question “if someone can not be concerned about spiders to the extent they are not significant then why cant the other person be the same”? So we would use a technique with the phobic person so that when they think of a spider they represent it to themselves in a similar way to the person who is not concerned about the little creatures i.e. at a reasonable distance and a proportionate size. Thus we have modelled the phobic persons behaviour on the person who is not concerned about spiders.

The sad thing for many people with phobias is that the NLP technique for getting rid of them takes about 30 minutes and many people go through their entire lives with their phobia dictating what they do.

What you will find about NLP is that it is results orientated and flexible. We are not interested in the slightest about what SHOULD work only what ACTUALLY works. Too many people do things and fail because they feel what they are doing should be the right thing. If it doesn’t work, in NLP, we would go a different route, and keep trying different ways until it works. Remember in NLP there is no failure, only feedback and flexibility is the name of the game. In NLP we are only interested in the results and giving people what they truly want from life.

So to summarise, NLP provides you with an instruction manual of how the mind works and introduces you to your unconscious mind. It provides you with techniques that will support change in either your life or others and will give you a map of how to REALLY achieve success in your life. It will empower you with the art of TRUE communication that will allow you to understand and to influence your peers. It will allow you to make real changes easily in the way you work and live and provide you with the manual to fully achieving your potential

>> Click here to learn about our range of NLP business courses

ALL CONTENTS © HELFORD 2000 LTD, 2003-2007. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.