The name Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) describes what it is.  The Neuro portion of the name stands for the nervous system and how we experience the world through our sense of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste.  The Linguistic portion is the study of the words we use and how they affect our experiences and our thoughts.  It also includes what is called, “the silent language” of non-verbal communication.  The Programming portion of the name refers to the strategies and the patterns of thinking and behavior we have.  Richard Bandler, who came from a background in computers, used computer language to describe this portion of the study of NLP.

The early developers were John Grinder and Richard Bandler.  John Grinder was a professor of linguistics at the University of California at Santa Cruz.  Richard Bandler was a master level student of information technology at the time.  They analyzed Fritz Perls, who was the founder of Gestalt Therapy and Virginia Satir, who was the developer of Conjoint Family Therapy.  Their first books, “The Structure of Magic, Vol. I & II” explored the verbal and non-verbal patterns, strategies and behaviors that generated certain results in their field of study.  The second set of books by John Grinder and Richard Bandler, “Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D. Vols. I & II” explored the strategies and patterns of Milton Erickson.  Then, they expanded their study to include Alfred Korzybski and Noam Chomsky from the field of linguistics, as well as Gregory Bateson, a social anthropologist and psychoanalysts Paul Watzlawick and Carl Rogers.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is considered a system, a process and a technology, with tools, skills and techniques to learn.  It has been considered an art, as well as a science.  It is a way to know yourself and the workings of your own mind, as well as helping you to understand others.  It is a way to develop more effective communications with others and with yourself.  Its fundamental techniques started with the practice of modeling excellence in the field of psychology by breaking down the behaviors, the attitudes, the word usage, the inner thoughts, pictures and beliefs of people who excelled in their field of study.  With these observations they developed step-by-step processes that were tested to make sure that they were achieving the same outcomes.

NLP is based on modeling, step-by-step processes and the achievement of desired outcomes and results.  The founders discovered the patterns and strategies that others used.  Then broke down these into smaller and smaller chunks to develop the step-by-step processes that achieved similar results.  These processes can be taught to others, achieving similar outcomes.

NLP started with modeling excellence in the field of psychology.  But, then it expanded to include other fields of study, such as business, education, and law, among others.  The study of NLP is the study of different disciplines that are brought together and examined using the values and underlying principles of NLP.  These underlying principles and values are called pre-suppositions.  The pre-suppositions came from observing the strategies and patterns of behavior of those that were excellent at their field and discovering the underlying principles and values common to them.  The patterns were then broken down into step-by-step processes to be taught to others in order to achieve the same results.  NLP is taught experientially and the training programs are based on interactive and experiential learning.

The guiding principles, the values, the methodology of observation of behaviors and patterns and sensory acuity have remained as the fundamental techniques learned experientially and interactively in all of the NLP courses, including NLP Practitioner Training, NLP Master Practitioner Training, NLP and Coaching, and NLP and Health Training, to name a few.

The fundamentals of NLP include:

• Sensory acuity
• Calibration
• Building rapport
• Learning how we perceive our world through our senses and learning about sub-modalities
• Discovering patterns and strategies, such as how we learn, how we make decisions, and motivation strategies, etc.
• Perceptual positions
• Ecology and how our behaviors and actions affect the world around us
• Understanding and using ways to anchor in resourceful states that enhance and help achieve your best self in more situations
• Learning the processes, the “how” that will achieve the results you want and forming well-formed outcomes to achieve these desired goals
• Recognizing and using different language patterns

NLP has been considered a science as well as an art.  To master the skills and techniques of becoming your best self in more situations by tapping into your inner resources, to become a better communicator, and to get the results you want in your life, the best place to start is with the fundamentals of NLP taught in the NLP Practitioner Training.

You can read more about the training and the benefits to learning NLP in the next article, “Why Learn NLP?”