What is NLP and How It Can Help YOU?

What is Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)? How can you apply NLP techniques in your life? In this article, I will discuss all aspects of NLP and how you can benefit from NLP techniques.

What is NLP?

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a behavioural science that was developed in the 1970s by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. They had claimed that NLP had theories, principles, practices, methods and techniques of three varied fields - linguistics, computer science and neurology.

So NLP has three main components: neuro, language and programming.

NLP has often been defined as a "modeling excellence". Modelling is the core activity in NLP and is the process of extricating and replicating the language structure and behavioural patterns of an individual who is excellent at a given activity.

NLP may be described best as "the science of human excellence"!

History of NLP

NLP originated when Richard Bandler, a student at University of California, Santa Cruz, was transcribing taped therapy sessions of the Gestalt therapist Fritz Perls as a project for the psychiatrist Robert Spitzer, who had commissioned Bandler to teach drums to his son.

Soon he was engaged in a different project for Spitzer and transcribed the recorded therapeutic sessions of therapist Fritz Perls. Bandler believed he recognized particular word and sentence structures which facilitated the acceptance of Perls' positive suggestions. Bandler took this idea to one of his university teachers, John Grinder.

Then Bandler and Grinder together produced the model they named "Meta Model", a model of what they believed to be influential word structures and how they work.. They also "modelled" the therapeutic sessions of the family therapist Virginia Satir.

They published a book "The Structure of Magic" in 1975 which contained their work. The main subject of the book was that it was possible to analyse and codify the therapeutic methods of Satir and Perl. They said that even the therapy appeared magical, everybody could learn it easily.

British anthropologist Gregory Bateson introduced Bandler and Grinder to Milton Erickson, an American psychiatrist and founding member of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis.

Erickson was well known for his unconventional approach to therapy, for his ability to "utilize" anything about a patient to help them change, including their beliefs, favorite words, cultural background, personal history, or even their neurotic habits. He treated the unconscious mind as creative, solution-generating, and positive medium.

Soon Erickson became the third model for NLP.

Today, NLP is a profitable industry and many variants of the practice are found in seminars, workshops, books and audio programs in the form of exercises and principles that intend to influence behavioral and emotional change in self and others. There is great variation in the depth and breadth of training and standards of practitioners, and some disagreement between those in the field about which patterns are, or are not "NLP".

NLP Principles

There are 2 important principles of NLP.

1- The Map is Not the Territory. As human beings, we don't understand the reality, we only understand the perceptions of the reality. We respond to the world around us through our sensory representational systems. It means that it is "neuro-linguistic" map of reality which determines how we behave, but not the reality itself.

2- Life and 'Mind' are Systemic Processes. The processes taking place within a human being and between human beings and environment are systematic. It is not possible to isolate the part of the system from the rest of the system.

All NLP techniques and models are based on these 2 principles.

How Can NLP Help YOU?

Training in Neuro Linguistic Programming benefits you in different ways. It mainly helps to maximize your power of communication with others.

NLP is the practice of understanding how people organise their thinking, feeling, language and behaviour to produce the results they do.

NLP also helps to understand and alter unconscious behaviors. NLP teaches how our brain works, how we store the information and the most important, how we can change our behaviors etc.

Many people study NLP to help them become more effective in their chosen field. The patterns can be employed across a wide area of applications ranging from fields as diverse as education, team building, sales, marketing, personal development, leadership and coaching. Wherever there is human interaction and growth potential, NLP can be used to develop and enhance performance.

NLP techniques are widely used in teaching, self help, management and other spheres. NLP is generally taught in an accelerated manner using direct examples and hands-on experimental training. One of the best ways to learn NLP is working with NLP practitioner.

You can also learn it from books, seminars and online home study courses and apply NLP techniques in your life.