Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)

The human unconscious has always been a subject of fascination. Neuro Linguistic Programming works on the unconscious by training it to excel using images, language and other means of communication.

Neuro linguistic programming or NLP as it is often known aims to study and model human performance and excellence. The idea is to understand why some people excel at the things that they do and then try and recreate or program those behaviours in others. NLP thus tries to create transferable skill sets. NLP works on the assumption that the human subconscious can be programmed much like a computer using various sensory inputs.

NLP has become the medium of popular choice for various applications ranging from psychotherapy, speed reading and learning, breast and penis enhancement and even encouraging sales!

History Of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)

NLP was developed in the early 1970s by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. Bandler was a student at the University of California, Santa Cruz and Grinder an Assistant Professor of Linguistics.

The two had made many observations in which they found that people with the same background, education, training and years of experience were achieving widely varying results in their life’s work ranging from mediocre to excellent. They wanted to know what made the successful people so successful. Thus, they decided to simulate or clone human excellence.

After much observation and research they finally decided that it was communication that made the difference and theorized that the brain can learn healthy patterns and behaviours that can bring about positive physical and emotional changes. Their work became popularly known as Neuro Linguistic Programming or NLP.

How Does Neuro Linguistic Programming Work?

NLP uses various sensory inputs to program the subconscious to perform better in a given situation. It uses self image and the attitude of the patient towards the illness to help change the mind’s perception of the illness and thereby begin a healing process.

NLP puts great emphasis on hope. Hope springs eternal in the human breast! It is also what makes placebos so effective. We all know how effective prayer can be when combined with hope. Many miraculous events have occurred solely from the faith and hope of people.

Similarly, lack of hope can have devastating results. Patients have been known to die because they have given up hope. NLP aims to make the patient aware of his or her own ability to effect change and healing. Once the patient believes that they will get better, the body’s natural healing powers can be harnessed to improve the situation.

NLP is based on several presuppositions. It promotes concepts that work rather than wasting time propounding concepts that should work. Also, NLP believes in flexibility. An NLP therapist will firmly tell you that if whatever you are doing is not working, simply try something else. NLP is primarily interested in the results. It is practical healing.

NLP practitioners use several tools provided by NLP to help heal patients. Meta model, sensory acuity, Milton model, system representation and sub modalities are some of these popular tools.

Presuppositions Of Neuro Linguistic Programming

NLP makes a number of presuppositions that are beliefs that patients find useful in helping change themselves and the world around them. It lacks a central theory and that is partly by design.

• Forget what is ‘true’. Focus on what ‘works’.
  NLP aims for practical application and results. NLP is continually trying to find out the technique that works best. If a particular technique cures phobias in an hour, the aim is to find a better technique that will cure phobias in one half hour.
  
  However, NLP can be extremely limited in its application. The techniques used to overcome a particular problem are not rigorously and scientifically tested and neither is any attempt made to reach inferences and apply the results to the general population. Hence the technique gets restricted to the particular problem itself.
   

• Communication is more than what you say.
  NLP uses vast amounts of physiological cues to understand what is being said. Observation skills are the first lesson taught in basic NLP training. NLP practitioners constantly gather feedback and use it to adjust their own behaviours and attitudes. According to NLP the meaning of your communication is the response you get!
   

• Experiences are subjective.
  NLP accepts and understands that individual experiences are subjective and differ from person to person. They cannot be spoken of out of context. It is vital to understand the subjectivity of experiences before any inferences can be made.
   

• Definition.
  NLP focuses on the practical and achieving desired objects and goals. Hence, it requires that the goals are not arbitrary or generic wishes but well defined and structured desires. Only when a goal is a well-defined outcome can it be met.
   

• Client centred.
  NLP believes that the client is already equipped with every tool that he or she needs to succeed. NLP practitioners believe that if a client is closely observed, he will reveal through verbal and non-verbal cues what the problem is, what causes it, what the various solutions are and which solutions will be effective and which not. The job of the practitioner then, is simply to read the cues and communicate them effectively

Healing With Neuro Linguistic Programming

NLP helps individuals gain a ‘map’ of their own reality. The map is based on the communications an individual makes of his own perception of his life. Once we have a map we can find the areas that need to be changed.

NLP also provides ‘maps’ of successful people. We can thus study the map of someone who has resolved the problem we face and understand the differences in approaches and outcomes. We can then make changes to our behaviour voluntarily. In effect, we step out of our own map and into the other person’s map. The rewards are many and life will never be the same again!

Thus, Neuro Linguistic Programming is all about understanding why successful people are successful and then imitating those behaviours to attain success.