Neuro-linguistic programming is a set of tools and methods to help uncover the ways that our mental models of the world (how we perceive life) inform how we behave and feel about it (our strategies), with the understanding that if we can become conscious of these underlying programs and strategies, we can change not only the models and strategies themselves, but all the downstream effects of them – ie, the results they produce.
It’s been said that life is full of suffering – but there is a difference between necessary and unnecessary suffering. While some suffering is necessary and inevitable, the majority of suffering we experience is unnecessary to the extent that it is self-generated: ie, the stress that we experience comes from our own perception and interpretation of our life, rather than the actual events happening in our life.
NLP offers up a set of presuppositions and attitudes that act as a framework for helping us to make these changes – essentially, we are reprogramming, or recoding our beliefs, using very specific techniques that work because they have been derived from a deep understanding of the process of cognition itself.
NLP has been shown to be effective in addressing a wide range of problems, from healing trauma and unresolved grief, to addressing limiting beliefs that prevent us from healing, to resolving longstanding health issues or addictions using the power of the mind alone.
NLP is extremely versatile – it can be used to enhance positives, not just address negatives. It can be applied on a personal level, inter-personally, and on organizational levels as well. The possibilities are endless.
There are a lot of fascinating modalities for healing out there, but the most appealing thing about NLP is that it is simple, it is quite fast in its effects, and most importantly it works. It works because it is based on a very deep understanding of how our process of cognition is structured through sounds, images, and felt sensations in the body. This is a somatic, linguistic, and cognitive approach to healing that can be very powerful.
