NLP in simple terms is subconscious reframing of your thought patterns and the responses triggered by those thought patterns. The official definition of NLP is Neuro-Linguistic Programming, a name that encompasses the three most influential components involved in producing human experience: neurology, language and programming. The neurological system regulates how our bodies function, language determines how we interface and communicate with other people and our programming determines the kinds of models of the world we create. Neuro-Linguistic Programming describes the fundamental dynamics between mind (neuro) and language (linguistic) and how their interplay affects our body and behavior (programming).
Many psychotherapists employ a technique known as Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).This focuses on examining the relationships between thoughts, feelings and behaviors. By exploring patterns of thinking that lead to self-destructive actions and the beliefs that direct these thoughts, people with psychological problems can modify their patterns of thinking to improve coping. CBT is a type of psychotherapy that is different from traditional psychodynamic psychotherapy in that the therapist and the patient will actively work together to help the patient recover from their issue. This process works with the conscious mind and although in many cases is quite effective, if the subconscious trigger is still in place the desired outcome may not consistently emerge. Subconscious reprogramming has the ability to change the outcome even without understanding the core of the problem. Just like a computer when you save over mistakes, the subconscious can determine a new outcome and trash the old so it no longer appears.
An NLP coach leads the person through visualizations on a sub-conscious level without being hypnotized. Sometimes called waking-hypnosis because it “talks” to the subconscious where patterns of behavior are stored. By having the subject reprogram these subsets, a new reality can manifest. Although not looked upon as a real therapy by the medical community, Dr. William Mundy, author of Curing Allergy with Visual Imagery, has successfully used NLP and creative visualization to modify behavior and a person’s perception of their body. In his early days as an allopathic MD, he noticed that chronic disease in persons with multiple-personality, disappeared when the person changed to the new personality. This started him on his quest to research mind over matter which consumed the rest of his life and had him entertain many alternative healing modalities.
As human beings, we can never know reality. We can only know our perceptions of reality. We experience and respond to the world around us primarily through our sensory representational systems. It is our ‘neuro-linguistic’ maps of reality that determine how we behave and that give those behaviors meaning, not reality itself. It is generally not reality that limits us or empowers us, but rather our map of reality. This map lodges in the subconscious and controls decisions made by the conscious mind. Trying to alter behavior without addressing the belief behind the behavior meets with roadblocks. With NLP and creative visualization we aim to unlock those beliefs and replace them with new – much like saving a new document over an old one on a computer.
This is a pleasant experience where the client merely sits relaxed and through the suggestions made by the NLP practitioner, creates a new reality. Sometimes results are profound, other times it takes repetition. At no time can the practitioner suggest anything the subconscious knows is against the moral belief of the subject, not that they would do that anyway, but this is our individual safeguard. NLP is used for personal development and for business success . NLP is the practice of understanding how people organize their thinking, feeling, language and behavior to produce the results they want. One session sometimes is all it takes, but most people require follow up sessions and techniques they can take home to reinforce the programming.