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...

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

Method 1. Short-Cuts to Rapidly Reduce Stress in your Working or Studying Environment, and Create Peace of Mind Now!

‎"There is more to life than increasing its speed."

Mohatma Gandhi







Hi again,

A warm welcome back to those of you who are following my series of Blog Posts on how to create more calm, mindfulness, and wellbeing in your lives through using your mind!
Over the next 6 days I will be posting 3 highly effective ways to hastily stop stress in its tracks, so that we can move from this...

to this...

These tools have helped thousands of people globally, and the science behind it is extremely thought-provoking..

Today the focus will be on 3C Vision. I was taught this at a talk by Sandy C. Newbigging which discussed the effects that chronic stress can have on the body. This simple, easy to adopt technique, is great, as it can be done at the desk (or anywhere really), is completely unnoticeable to those around you, and reduces stress symptoms in just a few minutes. It merely requires using your eyes to activate your parasympathetic nervous system.

Step 1 - Pick a spot on the wall to look at, preferably at a 45° above your eye-line Ensure this is a stagnant spot, which doesn't contain any movement.

Step 2 - As you stare at this spot, effortlessly allow your mind to go loose and focus all your attention on the spot. Take a few long, deep breaths.

Step 3 - Notice that within a few moments, your vision begins to spread out. Your vision will become more peripheral than central.

Step 4 - Now, pay more attention to the peripheral part of your vision than the central part. Take in the colours, the shapes, the shadows, and anything else. Retain long, deep breaths. Be mindful that you stick to using your peripheral vision by avoiding looking directly at anything.

Step 5 - Continue with this for as long as you want. You will find your mind is more still.

Step 6 - Repetition, Repetition, Repetition. With practice, this technique will become easier and the more effective. 

So..how do you feel now?


This process is similar to what psychologist Stephanie Silberman, PhD, has labelled as "thought stopping," which allows the body to drain excess cortisol and adrenalin out of the system and induce a calmer response. Personally, I found this great to do before important meetings, seminars, and particularly when distraction is leading you astray!

As always, many thanks for reading and I hope this finds you well! The 2nd of the 3 highly effective ways to hastily stop stress in its tracks will be posted in the next couple of days.


Adam