NLP is a set of skills that enables us to think in more useful ways. We do this by realizing that our way of thinking about the world is just our way of thinking and we can change it. We do this by finding out how we represent our thoughts through the internal images we have or the way we talk to ourselves.

The Manual of The Mind

NLP stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming

Neuro : Our nervous system, or our mind, which we use to experience the world, through our senses:

• Visual 
• Auditory 
• Kinesthetic 
• Olfactory 
• Gustatory 

Linguistic : The language and other communication we use to store our experiences and give them meaning, including the following:

• Pictures
• Sounds
• Feelings
• Smells
• Tastes
• Internal Dialog (self-talk)

Programming : Discovering and using the programs, patterns and strategies we run in our mind to achieve our goals.

In other words, NLP is how we use the basic language of our mind to consistently achieve the results we want in life.

The NLP Communication Model

 

Put simply, this is the way everyone processes the world. 

1. An external event happens.
   
   
2. We use our senses to see, feel, hear, smell and taste the experience.
   
   
3. Our unconscious mind filters the 2.3 million bits of information by deleting, distorting, and generalizing the experience. (this is why 2 people who see the exact same accident can retell it happening completely different!)
   
   
4. We run the experience through internal programs: time, location, memories, language, meta programs, decisions, beliefs, values and identity. 
   
   
5. We then create an internal representation of the experience (pictures, sounds and feelings) and consciously are only aware of 126 bits
   
   
6. Then we create an emotional snapshot of that event. (state)
   
   
7. We feel a physiology change. (This happens in our body. If we feel less confident, our shoulders may sink down.)
   
   
8. We react (behavior)
   
   
9. And we witness the results 

So, let’s say you want to lose weight by maintaining a healthy diet and going to the gym 3-4 times a week. We think that in order for us to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle, we must change our behavior. (Which by the way, is EXACTLY what happened to me when I went to UPW by Tony Robbins! I hired a personal trainer, changed my diet. I changed my behavior! And then, COVID hit and I haven’t worked out in 4 months and my diet fell off the tracks.) WHY?

It’s because all I did was change my behavior. But just changing your behavior doesn’t get you lasting results, if may for a short while, but when something comes in to disrupt your "behavior" you'll go back to your old way of thinking and doing.

You have to go deeper into the subconscious and change your internal representations and your beliefs! You may have beliefs of “being unworthy of your ideal body” or beliefs that “my family may not love and accept me if I’m a healthy weight." When we change these deeper things within our mind, it will then of course change our behavior and we will get lasting results!

Differences of Therapies:

We have 2 major areas of the mind: the conscious (which are all the things you are aware of right now) and the unconscious (everything else).

Traditional therapy - just works with the conscious mind

Hypnotherapy - just works with the unconscious mind

NLP - strives for total conscious and unconscious integration

Our unconscious mind is like a railroad track, it will keep moving us down the track we are focusing on. But, often, that’s the problem. WHY?

Well for starters, our subconscious does NOT process negatives. Meaning, if you say I don’t want to be broke any more, or I don’t want to be unhealthy anymore. All your subconscious hears is: “I want to be broke and I want to be unhealthy.” Our subconscious LOVES to serve us and it takes things very personally. It’s one of the reasons why we must be careful of the words that we speak to ourselves and others!

Just like the only way a train can change its course of direction is by flipping the junction box, it’s also the way we must change our own unconscious. We have to tap in and switch the lever - that's where NLP comes in!

So what else does the unconscious do? Here is a list of the prime functions of the unconscious mind:

• Preserves the body
• Runs the body (has a blueprint of how the body is now AND of the body in perfect health < we can tap into this to help reach that perfect health)
• Stores memories
• Organizes all memories
• Represses memories with unresolved negative emotions
• Presents repressed memories for resolution (to release emotions)
• Is the domain of all emotions
• Is symbolic (uses and responds to symbols)
• Takes everything personally (the basis of perception is projection)
• Works on the principle of least effort (takes the path of least resistance)
• Does not process negatives (Don’t think of a blue tree, in order to NOT think of a blue tree, you first have to imagine a blue tree)
• May keep the repressed emotions repressed for protection
• Is a highly moral part of you (this is the morality you were taught and accepted)
• Enjoys serving, needs clear orders to follow

So, if the unconscious stores, organizes and represses memories and is the domain of all emotions, how can we use NLP to work WITH our unconscious and conscious mind to get the results we desire?

There are many ways! But a few of the things I am most excited about helping clients with are:

• Releasing limiting beliefs - IE :  “I’m not good enough” “I can’t make over $40,000” “I’m stupid” “I’m not pretty enough to attract my ideal mate” “I’m never going to get the life I want” “I’m the way I am because of how I was raised” and SO MUCH MORE.
  
  These limiting beliefs happened one day because some event happened that caused you to make a decision that “I’m never going to get the life I want” and since the unconscious follows orders, it’s doing everything to make sure you don’t get the life you want. With NLP we can observe the event that happened that caused you to make that limiting decision, take the learning from it and eliminate it! And we can do it all without having to know exactly what the event was (the subconscious will do that work for you) and without having to feel the emotions tied to the event. Pretty amazing right!?
  
  
• Releasing emotional responses from past events - we can easily and effortlessly release emotional ties you have to past events in your life and we can do it WITHOUT having to relive the event over and over again.
  
  This one right here is the one I am MOST excited for! I’ve done a lot of personal regression work and although it did work, it was also extremely painful having to relive the moment/event over and over and over again. 
  
  When something bad happens, our unconscious mind will hang on to the emotions and learnings so that it makes sure it doesn’t happen again. So in order to let it go, we need to learn from the event and then we are able to let those emotions go. This is SO powerful! 
  
  Letting go of emotions is really important because eventually, those emotions turn into dis-ease in our bodies! There are many scientific studies out there that show people who are diagnosed with cancer had a significant emotional event happen in their lives 6-18 months before they got the cancer. Coincidence?
  
  
• Refocusing your subconscious mind - so you can get anything in life you want!

There are so many more ways NLP is so incredibly powerful and it's the driving force behind my excitement! We are all hardwired to be able to achieve ANYTHING we want in life, all we have to do is tap into what is already inside of us.

If you want to learn more about how NLP could change your life, book a consult today and let’s work towards that life you’ve always dreamed of!