The Essential Presuppositions of Neuro-Linguistic Programming

If you're interested in NLP and the study of excellence, you're in the right place.  However, it's  important if you want to gain  more excellence in your life, socially and at work, that you adopt the following presuppositions of NLP.  Remember, these were built over years of analysing and studying those who excelled best in their field.  Try consciously adopting some of these today, and notice the subtle changes :

1) Choice is better than no choice.

Having options can provide more opportunities for achieving results.
We are always communicating.2) The meaning of your communication is the response you get.

Even when we remain silent, we are communicating. Non-verbal communication makes up for 55% of our message (Mehrabian and Ferris : "Interference of Attitudes from Non-Verbal Communication in Two Channels," The Journal of Counselling Psychology, Vol. 31, 1967, pp.248 - 52)


3) Respect for Other People's Map of the WorldWe are all unique and experience the world in different ways. Everyone is individual and has their own special way of being.


4) Flexibility is the key to success.

The person with the most flexibility will control the system

5) There is no failure, only feedback.

What seemed like failure can be thought of as success that just stopped too soon. Use feedback as an opportunity to improve your performance. Just look at Michael Jordan, the greatest NBA player of all time.

6) Behind every behaviour there is a positive intention.

When we understand that other people have some positive intention in what they say and do (however annoying it may seem to us), it can be easier to stop getting angrier and start to move forward.

7) Mind and body form a linked system.

Your mental attitude affects your emotions, your body and your health and, in turn,your behaviours

8) There are no resistant clients, only inflexible communicators.

Resistance is a sign of lack of rapport.

9) Anything can be accomplished if the task is broken down into small enough steps.

Achievement becomes easier if activities are manageable

10) People have all the ability they need.

There are no unresourceful people, only unresourceful states of mind.


Have a great weekend folks!


Adam

The low-down on Neuro-Linguistic Programming

Taken From Here

"Whether or not you think you can 

  or you can't...you're probably right" 

  Henry Ford

I've been really really excited about writing this post, as NLP is an approach to psychotherapy, personal development, and communication which absolutely fascinates me, and after reading this it may fascinate you more!

So, what is "Neuro-Linguistic Programming"?

NLP, or Neuro-Linguistic Programming, is the art and science of excellence, derived from studying how top people in different fields obtain their outstanding results. These communication skills can be learned by anyone to improve their effectiveness both personally and professionally. It is directly applicable to a diverse spectrum of fields such as communications, business, sales, education and therapy

Beginnings of NeuroLinguistic Programming
NLP began in the early 70's as a thesis project in California. Richard Bandler and his professor, John Grinder, wanted to develop models of human behavior to understand why certain people seemed to be excellent at what they did, while others found the same tasks challenging or nearly impossible to do.

Inspired by pioneers in fields of therapy, personal growth and development, Bandler and Grinder began to develop systematic procedures and theories that formed the basis of NLP. They studied three top therapists: Virginia Satir, the extraordinary family therapist, the innovative psychotherapist Fritz Perls, and Milton Erickson, the world-famous hypnotherapist.

Their goal was to develop models of how it was that these people got the results they did. They sought to identify and model the patterns that produced these results. These three gifted therapists were quite different personalities, yet Grinder and Bandler discovered some underlying patterns that were quite similar. These patterns became the underlying structure of NLP, with names like: meta-model, submodalities, reframing, language patterns, well formedness conditions and eye accessing clues.

The phrase "Neuro-Linguistic Programming" describes the process of how personality creates and expresses itself. Put simply, we are all made up of a neurology that conveys information about our environment to our central neurvous systems and brains. Since we are also meaning creating creatures, we translate theseperceptions in our brains into meanings, beliefs and expectations. As we continue to grow from a rather "critter brain" baby into a more complex adult human, we tend to filter,distort and magnify the input we get from our environment such that it matches the elaborate program we evolve to explain our life experience.

NLP in other Therapies

Taken From Here

Today, NLP has grown in a myriad of directions - hypnosis and behavioral personal change work, structures of beliefs, modeling personal success and systems of excelence and expertise, business coaching and sales training.  In fact, in my last job in advertising at Starcom MediaVest Group, the company ran a 4-day NLP course which offered managers and directors useful tools to improve their communication, confidence, and management skills. Some have taken it in spiritual directions, assisting in alignment of personal behaviours and beliefs with a "higher purpose" and connection to the Divine. 

It is rapidly growing in the field of personal health (the area I want to go into!) with its strong foundation in how the mind influences behaviours and feelings in the body.   Public speaking, stage fright, parenting skills, allergies, phobias, trauma...the list of areas where training in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and individual therapeutic work with NLP practitioners is endless.

In the next few posts I'll be walking through some tools common in NLP to improve performance at work and in your own personal health and wellbeing.  

If you're interested in using NLP in a practical sense, this is a great place to start 

Until next time...

What is the Placebo Effect and why is it so Powerful?

Taken from here

"Your chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by your belief in yourself." Robert Collier 

I keep getting behaviourally retargeted with ads for the latest Placebo album at the moment - its got me thinking about the Placebo Effect.  The placebo effect has been known about for generations by doctors, and underlies the incredible power of our minds to heal the body.

I first came across the placebo effect some years ago when my doctor offered me prescription drugs to sort out some severe chest pains I was experiencing at the time. In 5 days the pains in my chest were gone, brilliant! The next time I saw the doctor and explained my relief, he responded with, "The restorative powers of sugar are incredible aren't they..." What...I'd been given sugar pills? At first I felt a bit cheated. I was a university student who had just spent £10 on sugar pills when I could have spent it on booze instead. What a rip off! 

However, my mindset changed when I started thinking how this sugar pill could possibly have made me better. This is where my research began.  It all comes down to how powerful our minds are at influencing the body, and in particular, our belief systems. I just knew that those painkillers would sort out my chest pain, I didn't even need to think about it. How could painkillers fail? It just does what is says on the tin. This If we believe something, it directs our subconscious to do everything in its power to prove that belief right, and this in turn makes the necessary changes within our bodies. The concept of the self being an autonomous being is a deeply held belief in western civilisation, but we affect each other all the time. If our doctors wholeheartedly believe that the treatments they are giving us have every chance of working, we are more likely to believe it too. If a doctor's influence makes us feel more positive about our health, it will make us more optimistic, and our optimism has a direct effect on our health.

Yes this picture is a bit creepy

When testing the placebo effect, Tor D Wager conducted a study in 2004 with a placebo cream he told the subjects would take away pain. He then inflicted pain on them and watched them in an MRI scanner. Those who had been given the cream (the control group had nothing) showed "placebo effect patterns" in the prefrontal cortex. This part of the brain activates when anticipating pain relief and triggers a reduction of activity in pain-sensing areas of the brain. Wager suggests that this interplay within the prefrontal cortex may also trigger a release of pain-relieving opioids in the midbrain. Wow, we can relieve pain without any drugs! 

Incredibly, a recently published study declared that

Taken from here

97% of 783 GPs admitted that they had recommended a placebo to a patient. This indicates that most of you reading this will have been prescribed a placebo at some point in your life. The likelihood is, however, that it had exactly the same effect as the conventional medicine you thought you were getting. Our minds are THAT powerful.  Placebo's can come in the form of sugar or chalk pills to heal various ailments, and have even been used in surgery, known as Sham Surgery, where the surgeon makes an incision into the patient, then seals them up without doing anything. In many cases, the patient's symptoms magically disappear... 

Next time you visit your GP and you are prescribed drugs, be mindful of the doctor's beliefs.  Ask him how successful the drug is? What is the success rate?  Then judge your body's response on what the doctor has told you to expect. 

Our Emotional Brain

"When we direct our thoughts properly, we can control our emotions." W. Clement Stone - Businessman, Philanthropist & Author of Success System That Never Fails 



Hi all!

Today I'm going to delve deeper into our emotional brain and how it drives our behaviours and bodily feelings.  

Psychologists define emotions as a combination of cognitions, feelings and actions [source: Kalat]. Put simply, 'emotions' incorporate feelings, but also how we process and respond to those feelings.

This is possible because every time we have a thought, the brain produces a chemical, which travels down into the body.  Emotions are the effect of these chemical messages travelling through the body.  

If you are currently experiencing stress, anxiety or fear, you body is likely to contain high levels of adrenalin, cortisol, and Norepinephrine.  This is known as the 'Fight-or-Flight' response, and is great for if you need the body to "fight" or "flee" from perceived attack, harm or threat to our survival.  In this scenario, 'Fight-or-Flight' is useful.  However, chronic stress causes adrenalin, cortisol, and norepinephrine to run through your body constantly, which causes the de-regulation of cells, and our primitive bodies just aren't designed for this long-term.  Sit back for a second...Is your heart rate faster than usual? Are you breathing at a quicker rate than normal? Do you feel tense.  If so, this is effectively your brain telling your body that you are stressed or anxious, and your body is literally reflecting your mind!  

Don't worry, there's a flip side, and its important we adopt this for our health and wellbeing.  When experiencing happiness, joy, love, fulfilment, the list goes on...the brain releases chemicals into our body that have the complete opposite effect.  Dopamine  (known as the love chemical) is released, enabling the body to experience pleasure.  In other words, when you do something good, you're rewarded with dopamine and gain a pleasurable, happy feeling. This teaches your brain to want to do it again and again. Serotonin is also released, and is associated with memory and learning.  These positive emotions are critical in allowing the body to repair itself.  Next time you're feeling comfortable, or happy, take note of your pulse - does it feel more normal? does your body feel lighter? has your breathing rate normalised?

Well I hope you found this interesting,

Until next time, 

Adam

Treat yourself to a free Mind Detox - only 9 places left

Hi again!

Apologies for the delay, its been far too long!  

Taken From Here

The past week I've been on the fantastic award-winning Mind Detox Practitioner Masterclass, led by Sandy C. Newbigging.  Throughout the course, I was taught a series of powerful techniques, which quickly finds the unconscious subtle resistance in a person's life, and helps them move to a place of acceptance.  The course elegantly delved in to how our mind drives our emotions, behaviours, and habits, and how this is reflected in our bodies.  What impressed me most about the Mind Detox Method is the speed at which it can aid people in moving on and completely heal their past.  Having worked with some brilliant people over the last week, it was incredible to see the positive shift everyone, myself included, in a matter of minutes.  Most interesting was the change in how people were feeling, having released issues which had been holding them back for literally years and years. Truly inspiring.  

I'm now in the process of working through 20 case studies - this involves roughly an hour to an hour and a half discussion where we assess what you want to let go of, what you want to gain, and then we use the method to resolve the issues.  This is completely free (as I'm in training!), and I only have 9 slots left, so if you're interested is resolving anything, please private message me on Facebook, I'll be more than happy to help. Also worth noting, these sessions can be done over Skype if you live far away.  

The below video is Sandy explaining how our emotions affect our behaviours.

See you soon,

Adam