NLP in a Nutshell

Neuro-Linguistic Programming's rather cumbersome name does provide a clear description of its principal components.

Neuro: to do with the nervous system and the way in which we externally experience and internally represent the world.

Linguistic: to do with how the language we use influences our internal communication with ourselves as well as our external communication with other people; it is also to do with how language both reflects and shapes experience, and how we can use words to change experience.

Programming: to do with our ability to change unhelpful habits and limiting beliefs and replace them with more effective behaviour and supportive beliefs (like programming or reprogramming a computer)

The co-developers of NLP in the 1970s, Richard Bandler and John Grinder wanted to discover 'the difference that makes the difference' between mere mortals and people who excel in various fields. They studied therapists such as the family therapist Virginia Satir, the Gestalt therapist Fritz Perls, and the hypnotherapist Dr Milton Erickson among others who ere achieving remarkable - seemingly miraculous - success with their clients. They discovered that these people were (unconsciously) using very similar patterns in terms of how they related to their clients., the language they used, they beliefs they held and so on. These observations were developed into NLP: a core of basic beliefs and a series of techniques for altering the way people represent their experience in order to make changes in their lives.

Bandler and Grinder were not alone. Students and co-workers, such as Leslie Cameron-Bandler, Judith DeLozier, Robert Dilts, Steve Andreas, Connirae Andreas, David Gordon and others, have all added their own observations and techniques and enriched the approach. NLP has relevance far beyond the field of psychotherapy where it originated. Its central ideas are now being incorporated into many approaches to communication and change: personal development, management, sales and marketing and ... education.

NLP techniques can be extremely powerful. They are based on thought and behaviour patterns that successful people adopt most of the time and that most of us adopt some of the time. However, there is a big difference between reading about techniques and practising them, and we recommend that people follow a recognised course of instruction in NLP. If you want to try out some of the techniques, try them out on yourself first. If you experiment with other people, please make sure it is with their knowledge and consent.

NLP is sometimes accused of being manipulative. It is a tool. Like a knife. Like a knife, it can be used for good or bad. It's up to you how you use it. You can cut bread with it or you can stab someone with it. NLP practitioners we know are busy slicing bread rather than people, and are doing a tremendous amount of good! NLP is designed to give people choices and help them achieve their goals and potential. The more people understand and use its techniques, the greater the opportunities for improving communication and achieving human excellence