How we use NLP

An NLP Practitioner is someone who has learned to use the attitudes, principles and techniques of NLP as they are intended to be used, by its creator, for themselves and with others. We have NLP practitioner certification as granted by licence from the Society of NLP, formed in 1979 by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. It is the first and largest NLP certification, training, validation and quality control organisation in the world.

NLP can enhance all aspects of your life from improving your relationships with loved ones, learning to teach effectively, gaining a stronger sense of self esteem, greater motivation, better understanding of communication, enhancing your business or career, bending steel bars in a single bound and an enormous amount of other things that involve the use of your brain.

If someone is very skillful and has spent years developing a particular capability, we can use NLP to build a description of how they perform that capability. We can replicate the patterns of organisation that make up their intuitions and then those skills can be transferred to other people, so others can learn the same capabilities far more rapidly than would be possible through the usual ways of learning.

In terms of application, there are descriptions of patterns of organisation from great psychotherapists, educators and business people available through the NLP community and generic NLP models for gathering high quality information, exploring thinking processes and enhancing relationships. If you want to learn how to learn, how to think and enhance your communication skills then NLP is useful.

NLP to bring about change

NLP has techniques for removing fears and phobias, increasing performance and generally attaining goals. There are applications to psychotherapy and counselling, education, business, management to leadership, negotiation, artistic endeavours, sports training etc. There are applications of NLP to almost every major area of human endeavour.

Some people get very rapid change. With others a number of consultations is more appropriate. It depends on the client, the context and the client's outcome. An NLP practitioner will design a series of interventions to help each client create changes in an ecological time frame The relationship between client and practitioner is very important. Usually the greater the rapport, the greater the potential for change.

There is an important distinction between the applications of NLP to bring about a specific change and NLP itself. The applications, are useful for solving specific problems quickly, because they can measure results immediately. But for personal evolution, learning the NLP techniques as a methodology for improving communication and rapport can introduce an incredibly positive and lasting effect throughout a person's life. By learning NLP itself, people can generalise the principles and underlying patterns into multiple areas of their lives and get much richer value.

So how is it different from other techniques?

If we compare NLP processes to other techniques, the significant distinction is that a skilled NLP practitioner or trainer understands the patterns behind the techniques. They will use the processes to frame a context where the client can take advantage of the underlying general pattern.

Some of the specific techniques can provide very effective cures for phobias, changing habits and resolving internal conflict. These techniques work very well alongside standard Hypnotherapy.

NLP as a way of thinking

NLP is a useful approach for exploring the different ways of thinking that skilled and capable people have in their lives. If you model a group of excellent teachers you can build models of their range of expertise. All fit with the outcome of excellent teaching. Instead of having one way of thinking, with NLP you can have many approaches to any outcome in the appropriate context/s where you want to have that outcome. It naturally supports and enhances creativity.

You can use NLP to choose the way you want to be in life, and the skills and capabilities you want to develop. You can use NLP to explore your own patterns of thinking and behaviour. You can also use NLP to explore other people's skills and capabilities and increase your range of behavioural choice.