What is NLP?
©Dan McClure all rights reserved
NLP stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming, a name that encompasses the three most influential components involved in producing human experience: neurology, language and programming. The nervous system regulates how our bodies function, language determines how we interface and communicate with other people and our programming determines the kinds of models of the world we create. Neuro-Linguistic Programming describes the fundamental dynamics between mind (neuro) and language (linguistic) and how their interplay effects our body and behavior (programming).
I was very fortunate in that I was among the first 15 folks who along with Bandler, Grinder and others helped to develop what became NLP on the campus of UCSC.
In essence, all of NLP is founded on two fundamental presuppositions:
1. The Map is Not the Territory. As human beings, we can never
know reality. We can only know our perceptions of reality. We
experience and respond to the world around us primarily through our
sensory representational systems. It is our 'neuro-linguistic' maps of
reality that determine how we behave and that give those behaviors
meaning, not reality itself. It is generally not reality that limits us
or empowers us, but rather our map of reality.
2. Life and 'Mind' are Systemic Processes. The processes that
take place within a human being and between human beings and their
environment are systemic. Our bodies, our societies, and our universe
form an ecology of complex systems and sub-systems all of which interact
with and mutually influence each other. It is not possible to
completely isolate any part of the system from the rest of the system.
Such systems are based on certain 'self-organizing' principles and
naturally seek optimal states of balance.
How is it used?
NLP is a Consciousness Technology that allows the Practitioner expanded access to tools to deal with blockages, non useful habit patterns, negative emotions & negative behaviors at their root level.
NLP can improve relationships, self-esteem, health, athletic
performance, relaxation, sleep etc. With NLP you can heal guilt, shame, grief, trauma as well as other emotional issues.
NLP techniques are designed to be used alongside a lot of subtle skills such as: rapport, calibration, language patterns, anchoring, reframing, flash, swish etc. NLP picks up where folks like Erickson, Holbert & Satir left off.
These techniques are best learned & taught in groups.
What makes NLP unique?
NLP is different from talk therapy in that it is more interactive and it works more with how you think rather than what you think. It is holistic, solution-focused, and usually of shorter duration than traditional psychotherapy.
By purposefully "moving things around" inside your head, I can dramatically, quickly - and often permanently - change your experience of them for the better.
NLP is like an Owner's Manual for the Brain. We gently change the way you think, leading you from where you are to where you want to go. So, NLP is generative, moving from the present towards the future in contrast to many therapeutic practices that focus on the past.
Many NLP techniques involve forms of visualization or light trance work. Sometimes I include "spatial anchoring" - walking along your time line, for example. We might use EMDR [Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing] to access the different parts of your brain, and I'd pay close attention to the things you say to yourself (the "committee") and to how you experience your feelings.
SHIFT HAPPENS.....
Have you played with the universe today? - Dan McClure
You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." — Plato
References & Links
SSOTBME Revised - an essay on magic
Uncle Ramsey's Little Book of Demons: The Positive Advantages of the Personification of Life's Problems
How to See Fairies: Discover Your Psychic Powers in Six Weeks
