Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a fairly recent development, originating at the University of Santa Cruz, USA, in the mid-seventies, when a group of talented people led by Richard Bandler and John Grinder came together to share information and insights across disciplinary boundaries. It incorporates insights from behavioural and Gestalt psychology, family therapy, hypnotherapy, linguistics, information theory and anthropology, among many other disciplines
What is NLP?
You could think of NLP as an owner's manual for the human brain. It's the study of how we think, feel and act, marked by an intense curiosity about how (rather than why) human beings get the results they do.
Modelling Excellence
Unlike some other schools of psychotherapeutic thought, which concentrate on how problems arise, NLP started from studying people who are exceptionally good at what they do, and finding out how they do it so that anyone can get similar results by doing the same things. It aims to move beyond remedial change (fixing specific problems) to 'generative' change, which empowers you to achieve more in every area of your life. Often people find that when they learn a new skill or make a breakthrough in one area of their life, problems in other areas seem to disappear or seem less important.
By studying how 'star performers' in every field achieve their results, the developers of NLP have built up a vast reservoir of knowledge about what works in every field of human endeavour. You can apply the knowledge resulting from this curiosity to help others, to become more successful in your work, or even to tap into your own hidden resources.
NLP is ‘content free’
Another difference between NLP and other schools of psychotherapy is that NLP concentrates on the structure of experience, rather than the content. How you think about something is at least as important as what you are thinking about. So, for example, if you remember a pleasant experience as a big, bright, moving picture, it will probably give you a much more powerful pleasant feeling than the same experience viewed as a small, dark, monochrome snapshot.
One of the things that often surprises people about NLP is the speed with which many problems can be resolved. Solving one's problems is all about learning - at the unconscious level, which is where it counts - and learning can happen very quickly.
Do you want to:
- let go of disabling feelings connected with past experiences
- get clarity about who you really are
- cure your phobias
- defeat anxiety and nervousness
- find out where your passion in life lies
- achieve your ideal weight
- deal with difficult people
- learn to say “no” and be more assertive
- deal with stresses in your life
- pinpoint and transform the root cause of a problem
- discover which path you would like to walk
- tap into your creativity
- be more confident and self-assured
- conquer procrastination and achieve much more
- identify your ideal work and earn more
- create committed loving relationships
- achieve brilliant health, energy and fitness
- appreciate the past, live in the present and create your future
- be more successful and feel fulfilled and happy
- feel increasing joy of being alive
How does Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) achieve results
Neuro - your brain and nervous system.
Linguistic - all forms of non-verbal and verbal communication including 'talking to yourself'.
Programming - how you have learned to behave.
During the session, we work with how your thinking creates your feelings, because it is your feelings which then influence what you are, or are not, capable of doing.
NLP is a goal-orientated, solution-focused and practical therapeutic approach to problem solving. It's the study of how we think, feel and act. NLP started from studying people who are exceptionally good at what they do, and finding out how they do it so that anyone can get similar results by doing the same things.
It aims to move beyond remedial change (fixing specific problems) to 'generative' change, which empowers you to achieve more in every area of your life. Often people find that when they learn a new skill or make a breakthrough in one area of their life, problems in other areas seem to disappear or seem less important.
By studying how 'star performers' in every field achieve their results, the developers of NLP have built up a vast reservoir of knowledge about what works in every field of human endeavour.
What are the roots of NLP
Originating at the University of Santa Cruz, USA, in the mid-seventies by Dr Richard Bandler and Dr John Grinder, NLP incorporates insights from the field of behavioural science developed by Pavlov, Skinner and Thorndike and Gestalt psychology, family therapy, hypnotherapy, linguistics, information theory and anthropology, among many other disciplines.
It uses physiology and the unconscious mind to change thought processes and therefore behaviour.
NLP compared to other therapies
NLP is becoming increasingly mainstream thanks in part to the television series of Derren Brown and Paul Mckenna.
Traditional Freudian psychology and psychotherapy requires a large commitment of time as the client tries to uncover unconscious processes which determine conscious behaviour.
Counselling is a shorter process, usually undirected by the counsellor who facilitates the client to explore feelings and behaviour around a specific issue such as a bereavement.
Cognitive behavioural therapy is task centred work which identifies a problem behaviour and how the mind thinks about it, and therefore behaves in regard to it. Cognitive behaviour therapy then aims to alter those beliefs and thought processes, so influencing the behaviour towards a positive state for the client.