Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)

What is NLP?

It would appear that the older NLP becomes (it’s over 30 years old) the more definitions evolve to describe it and depending on how one views the world there is no single definition that captures the spirit of NLP entirely. And it is the spirit of NLP that sets it apart from so many other modalities.

NLP is well known for its applications in the field of therapy and counselling but there are many other areas in which NLP can be applied.

NLP is essentially about behavioural modelling which means that any task or skill done well (or excellently) can be decoded and replicated so that others can learn to do the same skill or task. It’s this aspect of NLP (the modelling) that means NLP is so widely applied. NLP is often referred to as a meta-discipline (or an approach that informs many approaches).

A more formal definition would look something like this:

Neuro: Our nervous system, brain/mind and how that interacts with the body.

Linguistic: The words and language we use. Language can be verbal and non-verbal.

Programming: Is the habits of thought (often unconscious) that lead to habits of behaviour. By discovering these with NLP you can then decide whether they work well for you or lead you to be unhappy and unfulfilled. This places you in a great position of CHOICE about whether you would like to change them.

NLP can be applied in the following areas:

  • Coaching, therapy and counselling to accelerate the changes with clients by looking at the processes that underlie a particular pattern, emotion or habit.
  • Education and training to promote and accelerate learning and memory. NLP is also a valuable tool for teaching and design methods.
  • Personal development to remove unresourceful emotions and patterns while promoting confidence and self-esteem.
  • Business to enhance communication and negotiation skills. 
  • Sports to enhance performance.
  • Parenting to assist in clear communication with children from the start.

NLP for Anchoring

How can NLP help?

From anxieties to phobias, allergies to intimacy, NLP can help dissolve the barriers that keep you from achieving your dreams.

NLP is a model of how the mind works. Not the brain - the mind. Since we know how the mind works, we can use that information to help people make deep, significant changes fairly rapidly.

NLP is a set of powerful tools for helping you change the patterns of your thinking and behaviour. Here are some of the benefits NLP can provide:

  • Calm anxieties and be confident
  • Create the life you want — unfettered by depression, shyness, anger, rage, jealousy, phobias, allergies, traumatic memories
  • Clarify your goals, create a compelling future
  • Dissolve barriers that have kept you from achieving your dreams
  • Enrich communication in all your relationships — with family, friends, significant others
  • Heal the shame, grief, or guilt that binds you
  • Improve relationships, self-esteem, health, athletic performance, relaxation, sleep
  • Increase motivation and energy
  • Learn healthy eating habits
  • Overcome learning difficulties, math anxiety, test anxiety, ADD/ADHD, improve spelling and math
  • Recovery from codependency, addictions, compulsions — smoking, food, gambling, sex, alcohol, and others
  • Release stress, tension, anxiety, headaches, migraines 
  • Stop smoking, lose weight
  • Vaporise negative self-talk

What makes NLP unique?

NLP is different from talking therapy in that it is more interactive and it works more with how you think rather than what you think. It is holistic, solution-focused, and usually of shorter duration than traditional psychotherapy.

By purposefully "moving things around" inside your head, we can dramatically, quickly - and often permanently - change your experience of them for the better.

NLP is like an Owner's Manual for the Brain. We gently change the way you think, leading you from where you are to where you want to go. So, NLP is generative, moving from the present towards the future in contrast to many therapeutic practices that focus on the past.

Many NLP techniques involve forms of visualisation or light trance work. Sometimes we include "spatial anchoring" - walking along your timeline, for example. We might use Eye Movement Integration to access the different parts of your brain, and we pay close attention to the things you say to yourself (the "committee") and to how you experience your feelings.

Sometimes, people are concerned that we might eliminate a behaviour they still find useful. Our guiding principle in NLP is that choice is better than no choice; we never take choices away, we only add to and improve your flexibility. That way, you can continue to do what you've done before, plus you'll have new, more useful choices at hand.

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