WHAT IS NLP?
There are many different descriptions of NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) and it can be used both a toolbox of techniques to help specific situations, and also as an ethos, as a way of living your life.
For example, NLP can be used to:
The description can be broken down into its parts to give more detail (from Sue Knight's 'About NLP'): Neuro 'Neuro 'refers to the thinking patterns that make up the mental aspect of our strategies. We take information in, and hold it in our minds in visual, auditory and kinaesthetic (feeling) ways. For example, a part of a strategy to feel confident at the start of giving a presentation might be to see ourselves as in a movie, in full colour doing the presentation in the way that we would ideally like to do it. We might hear an encouraging internal voice urging us to do well. We might imagine the smooth feel of the table that is beside us as we stand and the steady confident feeling in our stomach as we begin to speak. |
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Linguistic
'Linguistic' refers to the way we use language both inwardly to ourselves (our Inner dialogue) and the language we use in conversation with others. With NLP we can become aware of the patterns in our own and others language and the effect of these patterns on both ourselves and others. For example did you realise that if you ask someone 'why not' when they say they can't do something that you have influenced them to become even more resistant to the idea of doing it? A more effective question might be 'What would happen if you did do this?'
Programming
The programmes that we run are our strategies for getting results in all areas of our life and work. Sometimes those results are what we want whereas at other times they do not seem to meet any conscious need. We are like computers in that we have mental and behavioural codes for running our lives. Sometimes that code works well and sometimes it has 'bugs' in it and instead of achieving the results we want we sabotage our seemingly desired success. Sometimes we have the code but we use it inappropriately. For example you might be perceived as stubborn in the way that you hang on to a point of view when it would be better to let go. What you could do would be to use that same structure to tenaciously hold onto your goals when faced with disappointment. Stubbornness can be tenacity when used appropriately. NLP is a means of tapping into the wealth of resources that we all have within to support us in achieving what we really want
How does NLP and coaching differ from therapy? (from Karen Moxom, The NLP Professional)
NLP and coaching differ from therapy because they start with a belief the client is ok, well and whole, and simply wants some help moving from where they are now to where they would like to be. Therapy can be more about delving into the past and analysing the smallest things in great detail, unpicking them so it is possible to understand the impact of past experiences.
As part of this journey, it may be NLP will be used to alter one’s view of past events and reframe them in some way so they become more manageable and have less effect on current behaviours, but NLP can be content free, whereas therapists do include references to the specific content.
Another reframe is to look upon therapy and NLP coaching as being presented with a packet of sunflower seeds and a garden which looks ready for planting. NLP and coaching will assume the soil is ok and ready for planting in, and an NLP coach will support the gardener to achieve their dream of having a garden full of sunflowers by next summer. The therapist will help the gardener dig over the soil first, take out all the stones, analyse the soil quality and make sure the ground is thoroughly prepared and weed free before planting the seeds.
Both methods have their place – it is perfectly possible to plant the seeds without any soil preparation and nurture those seeds as they grow, watering them and pulling up the small weeds as they appear. And this is all which is needed to achieve a beautiful garden full of sunflowers, because the soil was healthy and ready to grow seeds. Sometimes, it really doesn’t matter how well the seeds are nurtured, the sunflower seeds do not grow tall and straight because there is something lurking in the soil which prevents this from happening. The soil looked fine when we started, but something is affecting the progress of the seeds. Sometimes, NLP and coaching can quite easily deal with the something by clearing the limiting belief or asking powerful questions. And sometimes, regardless of our own and our client’s capabilities, we do need to call in the soil expert.
By Karen Moxom, The NLP Professional (Part 6), published by Panoma Press in 2011.
'Linguistic' refers to the way we use language both inwardly to ourselves (our Inner dialogue) and the language we use in conversation with others. With NLP we can become aware of the patterns in our own and others language and the effect of these patterns on both ourselves and others. For example did you realise that if you ask someone 'why not' when they say they can't do something that you have influenced them to become even more resistant to the idea of doing it? A more effective question might be 'What would happen if you did do this?'
Programming
The programmes that we run are our strategies for getting results in all areas of our life and work. Sometimes those results are what we want whereas at other times they do not seem to meet any conscious need. We are like computers in that we have mental and behavioural codes for running our lives. Sometimes that code works well and sometimes it has 'bugs' in it and instead of achieving the results we want we sabotage our seemingly desired success. Sometimes we have the code but we use it inappropriately. For example you might be perceived as stubborn in the way that you hang on to a point of view when it would be better to let go. What you could do would be to use that same structure to tenaciously hold onto your goals when faced with disappointment. Stubbornness can be tenacity when used appropriately. NLP is a means of tapping into the wealth of resources that we all have within to support us in achieving what we really want
How does NLP and coaching differ from therapy? (from Karen Moxom, The NLP Professional)
NLP and coaching differ from therapy because they start with a belief the client is ok, well and whole, and simply wants some help moving from where they are now to where they would like to be. Therapy can be more about delving into the past and analysing the smallest things in great detail, unpicking them so it is possible to understand the impact of past experiences.
As part of this journey, it may be NLP will be used to alter one’s view of past events and reframe them in some way so they become more manageable and have less effect on current behaviours, but NLP can be content free, whereas therapists do include references to the specific content.
Another reframe is to look upon therapy and NLP coaching as being presented with a packet of sunflower seeds and a garden which looks ready for planting. NLP and coaching will assume the soil is ok and ready for planting in, and an NLP coach will support the gardener to achieve their dream of having a garden full of sunflowers by next summer. The therapist will help the gardener dig over the soil first, take out all the stones, analyse the soil quality and make sure the ground is thoroughly prepared and weed free before planting the seeds.
Both methods have their place – it is perfectly possible to plant the seeds without any soil preparation and nurture those seeds as they grow, watering them and pulling up the small weeds as they appear. And this is all which is needed to achieve a beautiful garden full of sunflowers, because the soil was healthy and ready to grow seeds. Sometimes, it really doesn’t matter how well the seeds are nurtured, the sunflower seeds do not grow tall and straight because there is something lurking in the soil which prevents this from happening. The soil looked fine when we started, but something is affecting the progress of the seeds. Sometimes, NLP and coaching can quite easily deal with the something by clearing the limiting belief or asking powerful questions. And sometimes, regardless of our own and our client’s capabilities, we do need to call in the soil expert.
By Karen Moxom, The NLP Professional (Part 6), published by Panoma Press in 2011.