It
would appear that the older NLP becomes (it’s over
30 years old) the more definitions evolve to
describe it and depending on how one views the world
there is no single definition that captures the
spirit of NLP entirely. And it is the
spirit of NLP that sets it apart from so
many other modalities.
NLP is
well known for it’s applications in the field of
therapy and counselling but there are many other
areas in which NLP can be applied.
NLP is
essentially about behavioural modelling which means
that any task or skill done well (or excellently)
can be decoded and replicated so that others can
learn to do the same skill or task. It’s this aspect
of NLP (the modelling) that means NLP is so widely
applied. NLP is often referred to as a
meta-discipline (or an approach that informs many
approaches).
Dr
Richard Bandler who is widely regarded as the
Co-Founder of NLP defines NLP as ‘an attitude and
methodology that leaves behind a trail of
techniques’.
A more
formal definition would look something like this:
Neuro:
Our
nervous system, brain/mind and how that interacts
with the body.
Linguistic:
The
words and language we use. Language can be verbal
and non verbal.
Programming:
Is the habits of thought (often unconscious) that
lead to habits of behaviour. By discovering these
with NLP you can then decide whether they work well
for you or lead you to be unhappy and unfulfilled.
This places you in a great position of CHOICE about
whether you would like to change them.
We
are including a useful description below from our
Founding Chairperson (Quentin Strauli).
Let me
establish from the outset that the observations
and techniques that fall under the banner of NLP
have been used and developed over thousands of
years. Good communicators, therapists and
salespeople have always intuitively used
acquired skills that we now place under the NLP
banner.
Credit for
the name Neuro Linguistic Programming goes to a
team of inquisitive university lecturers and
students. The prime instigators where Richard
Bandler and John Grinder, They observed that
what people processed in their head, was being
displayed by their eye movements and wrote about
it in their lecture transcript called ‘Frogs
into Princes’. This allowed the more observant
onlooker to integrate the external information
and assimilate what was going on with the
observed thought patterns. One of Bandler and
Grinder’s other early books was ‘The Structure
of Magic’ and was published in 1975. This
paperback was a more detailed investigation of
language and applications in therapy and became
the bedrock of what we now more generally
appreciate as NLP today.
Now armed
with this reference point; they began to unlock
and critique a series of tools and techniques
that are now widely adopted and used by
therapists and effective communicators
throughout the world. Much of the early research
was undertaken by observing successful
therapists and then evaluating their intrinsic
strategies. This allowed the observer to
document and adopt (model) the most salient
successful outcomes.
Many
lecturers and therapists have further developed
and enhanced the techniques and thereby helped
create and document one of the most powerful
series of tools available today.
Written by
Quentin Strauli
NLP can be
applied in the following areas:
-
Counselling, coaching and therapy
to accelerate changes with clients by looking at
the processes that underlie a particular
pattern, emotion or habit.
-
Education and training
to promote and accelerate learning and memory.
NLP is also a valuable tool when it comes to
training and teaching design methods.
-
Personal development
to remove negative emotions and patterns and
promote confidence and self esteem. NLP also has
tremendous applications in goal setting.
-
Business
to promote good communication and negotiation
strategies including sales and management
skills.
-
Sport
to enhance performance.
-
Parenting,
learning how to foster good,
clear communication with your children right
from the start.
-
Communication,
to acquire excellent
communication skills.
