Neuro-Linguistic Programming

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) was developed in the mid 1970's by John Grinder, assistant professor of Linguistics at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and Richard Bandler, a mathematician and programmer, by background, at the same institution. Their project was to try and discover whether excellence could be identified and copied (or modelled). Their conclusion was that it could, and this became a central strand of NLP. Another related strand was concerned with communication, and the importance of words in thinking, recalling and communication experiences and ideas. This has implications not only for how we produce, access and transmit ideas, but also for how we understand others.

Neuro - refers to neurology, our nervous system - the mental pathways our five senses take which allow us to see, hear, feel, taste and smell.

Linguistic - refers to our language ability; how we put together words and phrases to express ourselves, as well as how our 'silent language' of movement and gestures reveals our states, thinking styles and more.

Programming - taken from computer science, the idea that our thoughts, feelings and actions are like computer software programs.

When we change these programs, just as when we change or upgrade software, we immediately get positive changes in our performance. We get immediate improvements in how we think, feel, act and live.

We all talk to ourselves; the on-going silent chatter in our heads. If this is not positive  self-talk it can slowly build up and start to undermine us. Our self-talk has a very powerful affect on us and we rarely challenge it.

Have you ever told yourself over and over "I'm no good at ......" or " I'd never be able to earn £? per year". When we repeatedly say these negative things to ourselves they become self-fulfilling phrophecies.

Many people recognise this and try to stop this negative self talk but most of them go about it the wrong way - by trying to not talk to themselves. It is impossible to stop self talk so it is important to learn how to turn your self talk into a valuable and postive tool for self improvement and confidence.

NLP can help you to perceive situations differently, so that you react in a more positive and beneficial way, allowing you to achieve your goals more quickly and easily.