What is NLP?

“ A difference which makes a difference” is the term Gregory Bateson used to define information, NLP seeks to take the information that a person is using and then noticing what are the subtle changes that if were used would make a difference to the information thus having an impact upon the person.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) was created in the early 1970s by a computer scientist and Gestalt therapist, Richard Bandler, and a linguist and therapist Dr John Grinder. Bandler and Grinder developed a process that would come to be known as “modelling”. They used their methodology to model three of the world’s greatest therapists: Dr Milton Erickson, father of modern hypnotherapy; Fritz Perls, creator of Gestalt therapy; and Virginia Satir, the mother of modern-day family therapy. Their task was to re-create the same results for clients as these three therapeutic masters could, the results were fantastic and NLP was born. The current innovations in NLP all stem from the original modelling process. A true NLP practitioner will model how you do what you do and support you in creating new choices at a below conscious level.

In order for change to be effective i.e. to stick, a transformation must take place below the conscious surface of the mind. When the change has taken place at this level then the desired results are automatic therefore there is no need for conscious repetition and practice; It is this very point that causes many so called professionals to be sceptical of NLP, yet today over forty years since NLP’s inception there remains only a trail of results of which I myself have used for the past twenty years.

The simplest way to describe NLP and there is no one-way to describe it but here goes. Imagine someone has had an experience in their life which whenever they think about it, it makes them feel bad. This person doesn’t want to feel bad but everyday they wake up and there it is. We could book them in for several months or even years of therapy, have them write letters to themselves and there spirit, put them on medication, etc, or we can notice what they want to have happen and have them STOP the old information, which is un-helpful and re-associate the thinking processes of the person and the event to something that they want to think about.

Another explanation of how NLP works is to remember to forget what it is that you want to forget whilst simultaneously remembering what you want to remember at the time you want to remember, without the need for conscious effort of recall.

Richard Bandler says NLP “it’s and Attitude” and yes it is the question really is about your ability to have the correct attitude within the moment that you need it.