A Basic Introduction to NLP

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is the science of how our minds work, how we perceive reality, how we mentally construct models of the world (and therefore limit our horizons), and how we can adjust our beliefs and thought patterns to dramatically improve our reality.

• Neuro - Neurology studies how our bodies function and respond in different situations.
• Linguistic - Language is how we communicate with ourselves and others.
• Programming - The set of beliefs about ourselves and the world around us that we construct throughout our lives.  These are often referred to as our "models of reality".

Example: 

• Programming:  "Spiders are creepy and icky"
• Linguistic:  "I don't see that spider anymore!"
• Neuro:  Your nervous system suddenly starts hallucinating those creepy / crawly feelings as you imagine the spider might be crawling on you.  (You just felt those as you read this, didn't you?)

Practically speaking, NLP offers a set of powerful, proven techniques that work in cooperation with the subconscious mind to change a person's beliefs / models of the world for the better.  These models can include (but are not limited to) debilitating fears, self-limitations, depression, allergies, emotional eating, anger, etc., etc..

History of NLP:

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is an approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in California, United States in the 1970s; however it's roots can be traced back through the ancient histories of hypnosis and other old-world studies of the mind.

NLP started out as a breakthrough study to determine specific behaviors and thought patterns of the world's most successful and influential people much like Napoleon Hill did when he wrote the book "Think and Grow Rich".  Bandler and Grinder took it a step further than Hill did however.  They began to study ways in which other people could model the behaviors and attitudes of those highly successful leaders in order to match their results.  After all, thousands and thousands of people have read "Think and Grow Rich", but only a small percentage have had the "discipline", "courage" or ability to do the same things that the successful people do as taught in that book and many others.  The "Modelling" element dug deeper into modelling the thought patterns of successful people rather than just trying to model their behaviors.

Suddenly a new science was born, and experts from many different fields involving human behavior, motivation, relationship dynamics, and psychoanalysis (just to name a few) began contributing.  NLP has evolved into the most powerful vehicle for helping people change their reality in the history of human development.