Neuro Linguistic Programming is a very effective form of personal growth, counseling and success coaching that can facilitate profound life change. NLP originated with Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the late 1970’s.
It differs from other forms of counseling in that it focuses more on the structure of the problem or issue rather than on the content. It studies how the experience is formed.
There are 3 main people Bandler and Grinder modeled. Their work forms the core techniques used today and are most associated with what NLP is. They are: Alfred Korzybski, who is the originator of general semantics (how language effects the neurology in the brain); Milton Erickson (the master of permissive hypnotherapy, who brought hypnotherapy off of the stage and into very effective therapy); and Virginia Satir (renown family therapist who got extraordinary results with the people she worked with). All three of them were geniuses in the use of language and understanding how it affects internal experience and behavior.
What Bandler and Grinder were looking for were the essential factors and structures that cause therapeutic change and create success. They developed language patterns and other techniques which are extremely powerful tools for change.
Most of what you hear about NLP are the techniques that have been developed beyond the original work. Those techniques keep expanding and evolving with each new innovative person who contributes to the field. NLP is an attitude of curiosity. It is the study how we form our experience and how that can be changed. NLP looks for the structure of how the person creates their experience of their world and how they created their presenting problem. Its root philosophy is that we are at cause in our lives; we created the life we are living and, therefore, we can change it.
Just the fact that it is possible to rapidly change major patterns, habits or problems in our lives is an incredible reframe. It is mind boggling when we realize that we can alter our experience and the experiential functioning of the brain. We can reinterpret a memory, completely changing the nature of an experience. We can literally open the boundaries of how we are experiencing our lives.
On other hand, NLP can be used as a quick fix, as a tool in a quick-fix society with our, for example, antibiotics, muscle relaxants, stimulants, and pain relievers. Because NLP can often give immediate results, it can give a feeling of immediate control, focusing on relieving the immediate symptoms, without getting to the roots of the problem. When used in that way, the problem can often reappear in some other form.
NLP can also be used as a form of manipulating other people — such as a way to get in rapport with someone in order to sell them something. This has given NLP a bad rap, as though that generally defines the nature of it.
But when NLP is used in connection with the heart and conscience, the results can be profound, life-changing transformation. The NLP TimeLine process is one of NLP’s most effective processes for getting to the root core of the problem rather than just symptoms. It facilitates change from a place of truth and from the foundational premise that life is designed to work.
In short, Neuro Linguistic Programming techniques make clear that we are at cause in our lives rather than our general concept of being at effect of our past, current life events, other people in our lives, or our own habits and emotions. It is not just for solving or healing problems; it is for enhancing the whole way you live your life. It increases your resources and effectiveness.
I invite you to leave any questions or comments in the below comments field.
Author’s Bio: Jane Ilene Cohen, Ph.D. is an Intuitive & Transformational NLP Counselor, and an NLP & TimeLine Master Practitioner and Hypnotherapist, with a private practice in San Diego North County (Encinitas). She does individual counseling with children and adults (includes the NLP TimeLine Process and hypnosis), works with couples, families and other relationships, and facilitates groups and workshops. She is also the Founder of the “Life is Designed to Work” thought system.
For more about Dr. Cohen’s counseling services, go to: JaneCohenCounseling.com . For a free phone consultation to decide if this is right for you, or to make an appointment, call Dr. Cohen at (760) 753-0733.
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