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What is NLP?

Neuro-linguistic programming or "NLP" is a coaching model which was developed in the 1970s by Richard Bandler and John Grinder at the University of California. They were interested in finding out the features that enable certain successful people to achieve excellence in what they do, in order to produce a system for modelling and duplicating those features. The ideas and techniques that inform NLP consequently came to focus on recreating highly positive states of mind (one of the phrases used for this is “peak states”) so that people can have the mindset to maximise their potential. This focus on creating positive mental states is perhaps one of the reasons a number of practitioners of NLP are also interested in or use hypnotism in their work. Perhaps the most well known of these practitioners in the UK is the hypnotist Paul McKenna who has also written a number of well known self help books.

It is not possible in a short space to cover all the aspects of neuro-linguistic programming and different practitioners are likely to focus on different aspects of it.  The model may appeal to people who are looking for a whole philosophy around which to focus their efforts to create a positive future, as it has a number of grounding rules or presuppositions which inform the techniques used. Some of those presuppositions include the following NLP metaphors or phrases:

One of the aspects of NLP which practitioners may encourage you to follow is to visualise and enter into the imaginative experience of being in the future position and mental state that you want to be in, the idea being that the more imaginatively real that positive future becomes for you then the more motivation and commitment you will be able to generate towards doing what you have to in order to achieve it.

One particular technique used by NLP practitioners is what is called “anchoring”. “Resource anchoring”, for instance, involves being able to put yourself into a particular state of mind just when you need it - something we would all love to do.  Say you are nervous about attending a particular meeting, then through the resource anchoring technique the NLP practitioner will seek to help you to develop associations between the experience of the positive state you want to create and chosen “anchors”. Anchors are essentially specific sensory experiences of different kinds that you choose, e.g. you might use a phrase such as “confident” (whether saying it out loud or to yourself) or you might touch two fingers together as a “kinaesthetic” anchor. The NLP practitioner will encourage you to develop an association between your chosen anchor and the positive state or experience by practising activating the anchor, e.g. saying the chosen word or touching the two fingers together, and then recreating in your mind the positive state several times. The idea is then that when you get into the situation you are nervous about, such as attending the meeting, you activate the anchor and if your mind has been sufficiently “programmed” this will trigger you automatically to feel in the positive state you want.

You can find information about some websites offering NLP courses at neuro linguistic programming courses.

NLP can be a powerful set of techniques to bring positive results but it can have the drawback of raising your expectations of success higher than may be reasonable in a particular set of circumstances.

 

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