What is NLP?

So many times I have heard clients say: “I know what I need to do in order to get what I want, but I just don’t seem to be able to stick to a plan!” In many cases, this is caused by a deep-seated unhelpful belief, which needs to be unpacked, unpicked, and replaced before lasting change can take hold.
Traditional therapy modalities often require years and years of lying on a couch talking about your life to make progress, but Neuro Linguistic Programming is one of a suite of “Brief, Solution-focussed” modalities that are used to affect change quickly and permanently.
Depending on the nature of the problem, progress can be made in as few as three to six sessions!
Dr Richard Bandler, who – along with John Grinder – founded NLP back in the 1960s, defined NLP as ‘an attitude and methodology that leaves behind a trail of techniques’.

A formal definition of NLP is as follows:

Neuro: The nervous system – incorporating the brain and mind – and how it interacts with the body.

Linguistic: The words and language we use – both verbal and non verbal.

Programming: Is thinking habits (often unconscious) that lead to behavioural habits. After uncovering these with NLP we can then decide whether they are working well, or if they are causing us to be unhappy and unfulfilled. This then gives us the choice to change them if we wish.

Personally, I think of NLP as a way of bypassing our conscious blocks and barriers to change, by communicating directly with the subconscious.
It is based on the idea that the language of the mind creates patterns of emotions and behaviours, which are either helpful or unhelpful.
Many patterns began when we were very young – most probably we don’t even remember the incidents which started them – and with NLP we can communicate with the unconscious “inner child” and re-program our thought patterns – changing the unhelpful ones and boosting the helpful ones. This in turn alters our emotions and behaviours, and enables us to be more resourceful in future.