Neuro-Linguistic Programming

Listed below is a synopsis of NLP taken from the book Healthy Habits.

What is Neuro-Linguistic Programming?

People all over the world are discovering the power of NLP for changing their lives, and achieving their goals and heart's desires. The life changing skills you'll be reading about and applying in Healthy Habits are based on NLP methods and principles. NLP is not new, although many people are just now beginning to discover the many uses of NLP for practical, yet powerful solutions to everyday problems.

NLP actually began in the early 1970s in California at the University of Santa Cruz. There, Richard Bandler, a master's level student of information sciences and mathematics, enlisted the help of Dr. John Grinder, a professor of linguistics, to study people they considered to be excellent communicators and agents of change. They chose to conduct a linguistic analysis of the communication patters of three world-renowned psychotherapists; Virginia Satir (developer of Conjoint Family Therapy), Fritz Perls, MD, Ph.D. (the founder of Gestalt Psychology), and Milton H. Erickson, MD (largely responsible for the advancement of Clinical Hypnotherapy from 1940 to 1980). To conduct their study, Bandler and Grinder drew upon the work of linguists Alfred Korzybski and Noam Chomsky, social anthropologist Gregory Bateson, and psychoanalyst Paul Watzlawick.

Bandler and Grinder published their early findings, describing models for how people achieve excellence through the ways they communicate, think and behave. Bandler and Grinder also delineated how these people (Satir, Perls, and Erickson) facilitated change in others through masterful communication patterns. Thus, NLP quickly became a method for doing cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy.

NLP gained increasing recognition throughout the mental health field in the 1980s as Bandler and grinder, and many of their colleagues conducted seminars, published books, and form NLP associations and societies. NLP training institutes sprang up around the world and thousands of professionals in mental health and medicine became certified NLP practitioners. Many of these professionals have continued to explore the limits of NLP and make significant contributions to the field. In the 1990s NLP found new applications in motivational training and self-improvement programs, such as those conducted by author Anthony Robbins (his books, Unlimited Power and Awaken the Giant Within, are based on NLP). Thus, NLP became synonymous with excellence and achievement, as demonstrated in the 1994 book called NLP: The New Technology of Achievement, edited by NLP trainers Steve Andreas and Charles Faulkner (also an audio tape series distributed by Nightingale Conant). Today, NLP is becoming a popular method for promoting personal growth and change in business, sports, education and health.

The best way to understand what NLP is all about is to break down the components of the name:

Neuro refers to the neurological system. NLP is based on the idea that we experience the world through our senses and translate sensory information into thought processes, both conscious and unconscious. Thought processes activate the neurological system, which affects physiology, emotions, and behavior. Much of NLP is about learning how to manage your neurological system for optimum results.

Linguistic refers to the way human beings use language to make sense of the world, capture and conceptualize experience, and communicate that experience to others. Linguistics is the study of how words mediate and influence human experience. Much of NLP is about learning how to think more effectively and communicate more effectively with yourself and others.

Programming draws heavily from learning theory and addresses how we code (mentally represent) experience. Your personal programming consists of your internal processes and strategies (thinking patterns) that you use to make decisions, solve problems, learn, evaluate and get results. NLP shows people how to recode their experiences and organize their internal programming so they can get he outcomes they want.

NLP is like software for the brain. Through NLP, you can learn how to organize and structure your thought processes, enhance your perceptions, and improve the way you communicate with yourself and others to achieve excellence in any endeavor you choose. NLP is about getting phenomenal, lasting results in life and being the best you can be.

NLP is not based on statistics or scientific theories about human psychology. Instead, NLP is based on certain "presuppositions" that help people to approach change and learning with positive attitudes. These presuppositions are not hypotheses that must be proven, and they are not necessarily universally true. They are simply useful helpful ways of thinking about the processes of personal growth. When you apply these presuppositions to any interpersonal situation, they create a win-win mind set. NLP presuppositions are the guiding principles of this book and we want to share some of them with you.

For a list of the NLP presuppositions that form the guiding principles of Healthy Habits, be sure to buy the new Healthy Habits book. Healthy Habits is being co-authored by Kathy Corsetty and Judith Pearson, Ph.D.