WHAT IS NLP?

The Name

NLP stands for neuro-linguistic programming, and the reason it has such a bizarre name is that it was invented (back in the 1970s) by a linguist and a computer programmer.

When we got our brains, we weren't supplied with a User's Manual!

Why Learn NLP?

NLP is like a users' manual for your brain. Sometimes it can seem that when we got our brains we were provided with a very sophisticated piece of equipment, but without instructions as to how best to use it.

The Basic Framework

The kinds of pictures, sounds, etc that you generate in your head will affect your moods and even your capabilities and the results you get in life.

NLP breaks down what is going on in our heads into:

• The pictures we see or visualise
• The sounds we hear or imagine hearing
• The feelings we get (either through touch or through emotions)
• The things we say to ourselves (through internal dialogue)

If you stop for a minute and think about your last holiday, you may get a picture in your head, you might "hear" sounds, maybe get some feelings and perhaps have a running commentary in your head.

This is how your "internal representation" of reality is made up. The kinds of pictures, sounds, etc that you generate in your head will affect your moods and even your capabilities and the results you get in life.

NLP allows you to determine your own and other people's strategies for feeling a certain way or behaving a certain way, based on the way the mind uses these pictures, sounds, feelings, etc. You can then change and manipulate these to get better results.

How we use our Internal Representations

For example, when some people are preparing for a presentation, they get a picture in their head or the audience looking bored, they get a sick feeling in their stomach and they hear a little voice in their head saying: "You're not much good at this!"

Other people get a picture in their head of the audience looking scintillated, they get an excited feeling in their stomach and a voice in their head saying: "You're really great at presentations!".

You can imagine who is likely to do a better presentation, and it may have nothing to do with their genuine ability.

Using NLP, you can analyse what is going on in your head (and it is often almost unconscious so you're not very aware of it until asked) and change it to something more effective.

Often people say "Oh my God, I hadn't even realised I was saying this stuff to myself and hijacking my own performance!"

Changing beliefs using NLP

You can make yourself understood better and build rapport by talking in a way which appeals to the other person and matches their representation of reality.

Derren Brown uses NLP techniques to get people to believe all kinds of bizarre things. You can use similar techniques on yourself to get yourself to believe helpful things that make your life more fulfilling and successful.

We have worked with people to remove unwanted beliefs from: "I'm not good enough and I'll be found out one day" through to: "I must finish everything on my plate"!

Building Rapport

Once you understand that we all represent reality differently, you can also start noticing how other people do things. For example, one person might think a lot in pictures whereas another might think by talking to themselves. You can make yourself understood better and build rapport by talking in a way which appeals to the other person and matches their representation of reality.