Neuro Linguistic Programming™

Neuro Linguistic Programming™ (NLP™) is, at its core, the study of the structure of subjective experience, and what can be gained from it. NLP™ is also about connection, for our thoughts, speech, and actions are what connect us to others, and to the world.

• Neuro refers to neurology - how we think, and how we feel about what we think.
• Linguistic sees languages as a bridge between the external environment and a person's subjective experiences of it.
• Programming refers to the belief that subjective, or personal experiences, have structure that can be known and changed.

Developed in the early seventies by Dr. Richard Bandler, an information scientist, and Dr. John Grinder, a linguist at the University of California, Nero Linguistic Programming™ was derived from a curiosity about people: How do they think? How do they learn? Bandler and Grinder wanted to examine how people influence one another and determine if the behaviour and effectiveness of highly influential people could be duplicated.

Based on the modeling of many successful people, Bandler and Grinder are probably best known for their modeling of: Fritz Perls, originator of the Gestalt Theory; Virginia Satir, the force behind family therapy; and Milton Erickson, the world famous hypnotherapist.

Bandler and Grinder successfully unlocked the secrets of highly effective communication by combining linguistics and information-sciences technology, with insights from behavioural psychology and general systems theory. Through their studies, Bandler and Grinder systematically examined the role of the senses in the construction of subjective experience. According to their studies, what humans hear, see, taste, smell, and touch (our senses) create a subjective reality. In the mid-seventies this way of thinking was radical. Today, the theory behind NLP™ is fully supported by scientific studies.

Bandler and Grinder believed that NLP™ could provide communication techniques that would effect rapid and profound changes in human behaviour. Today, NLP™ is taught in a workshop environment designed to lead participants through a series of exercises that allow them to identify their own strengths and weaknesses. Participants then learn how to make subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, changes to capitalize on these strengths.

The tools and techniques developed through NLP™ are used internationally in sports, business, training, sales, law, and education.

However, NLP™ is more than a collection of techniques. It is also a way of thinking, a frame of mind based on curiosity, exploration, and fun.

Albert Einstein said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited, imagination encircles the world." NLP™ embraces this statement by first discovering what is, and then imagining what could be.