Neuro-linguistic programming

‘NLP is the premier psychological field that deals with the internal subjective world from the inside.’ ‘Coaching with NLP’ Joseph O’Connor and Andrea Lages.

NLP originates from an in-depth study of three top therapists. These three, at the very top of their respective professions, were: Fritz Perls, psychotherapist and developer of Gestalt theory; Milton Erikson, an eminent hypnotherapist and Virginia Satir, a family therapist renowned for her work in resolving deep family schisms. Their work was studied and modelled so that their extraordinary skills could be distilled down into a set of beliefs and techniques that became known as NLP.

NLP stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming.

Neurology covers our invisible thought processes as well as our visible physiological actions. You might call it ‘Body and Mind’.

Linguistic refers to the way that we use language to order our thoughts and to communicate to others.

Programming is used to indicate that we can choose how we think and behave.

So what?

Well, NLP deals with the structure of our subjective experience. We filter the ‘actual’ world around us, first through our senses (what we choose to see, hear or feel) and then through our individual experience of life. What we are left with is our own ‘reality’. So…

‘A person who has at some time in his life been rejected makes the generalization that he’s not worth caring for…he either deletes caring messages or he reinterprets these messages as insincere…(thus) he is able to maintain the generalization that he isn’t worth caring about.’ ‘The Structure of Magic’ Bandler and Grinder

Similarly, you can believe that planes are scary because when you were a child you watched a film in which one crashed – or that you can’t speak in public because you had a humiliating experience when you were at school. But what if you could change those memories to neutral or happy ones? You’re not changing the content of the memories, only the way you feel about them. NLP can add that choice back into your life.

We often limit our options in life. We impose constraints upon ourselves, consciously or unconsciously, based upon our beliefs about ourselves and our habits – constraints that stop us from living rich and full lives.

NLP adds choice. It gives you access to a richer model of the world – a bigger ‘life-menu’ - by studying how you create your values and beliefs, how you decide on your emotional states, how you create your own internal world.

NLP is fast, pragmatic, and simple. And it works. Every time.

‘Understanding the psychology of the self can mean the difference between success and failure, love and hate, bitterness and happiness’ Maxwell Maltz M.D.