Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)

NLP Diploma Course

The Diploma course is usually 5 days long and can be tailored to the needs of particular organisations or groups of students. The basic INLPTA requirements include:

• The history and pillars of NLP
• The presuppositions of NLP
• The NLP communication model
• How to establish rapport
• How to heighten sensory awareness
• How to design and achieve objectives
• How others interpret the world, receiving and transmitting information
• How to use powerful and influential language
• How to prepare yourself for future events
• How time has influenced the current you and how to change it when you wish

There is a short pre-read, the 5 days are usually split into 2 modules, although they can be consecutive and there is a knowledge check at the end prior to certification. At the conclusion, the student will have learned to question old behaviours and habits, to understand how and why others see the world differently, to devise new opportunities for future behaviour and learning, to be more sensorily aware than ever before, to be more at ease in the company of others and to be more influential and successful in their lives. Not surprisingly, this training is often called "life-changing". Holders of the Diploma can proceed to a reduced duration Practitioner course if they wish.

NLP Practitioner Course

The Practitioner course involves all of the above content and outcomes and is usually of 12 days duration, unless the student has already attained an INLPTA Diploma. There is an extensive pre-read, several interim and then a final knowledge check and the programme is usually split into 3 blocks of 4 days. In addition to the Diploma programme, the Course will cover:

• Detailed language patterns and the use of metaphor
• The understanding of how habits are formed and changed
• State elicitation and management
• Modelling others and the design of strategies to achieve successful outcomes
• A full range of techniques to deal with past and future events - including Spatial and Physical Anchoring, Time-Line, Phobia Cures, Belief Change and Re-framing
• How to manage difficult relationships
• An introduction to hypnosis and hypnotic language

At the conclusion, the student will have learned all of the Diploma outcomes and also how specifically to change unwanted beliefs and behaviours, how to better prepare themselves for forthcoming challenges, how to create a desired state at will, how to relax, how to form better relationships, even with people they used to find difficult and how to use these personal improvement techniques with other people.

You will see that the Diploma course very much awakens the student to the possibilities of NLP, while the Practitioner programme is much more concerned with the mechanics - the "how" you do what you do to make a difference. As such the Practitioner course is extremely practical throughout, with lots of interactive exercises and the learning is constant - and great fun too.

I look forward to meeting you at one of our training events in the near future.

Where does NLP come from?

There are some views that NLP is new, that it's a fad and is unlikely to last long. In fact, all of the underpinning principles of NLP have been around for years, in science (William Ashby), in philosophy (Aristotle), in therapy (Milton Erickson), in psychology (George Miller) or in behavioural studies (Ivor Pavlov).

More specifically, NLP came about as a result of work in the early 1970's in the USA. Richard Bandler, a mathematician, therapist and early days computer expert met John Grinder, a linguist and professor of language at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Together, they began to study the field of human change.

They studied experts in great detail, to discover what they actually did and said that made a difference; how they actually helped people to make change in their lives. They particularly looked at Virginia Satir, a family therapist and Milton Erickson, a therapist who used hypnotic language. From their studies the discipline that we now know as NLP began to grow, with other key characters contributing to the development of the subject - Robert Dilts, Tad James, Wyatt Woodsmall in the USA and, a little later, Joseph O'Connor and Ian McDermott in the UK. More recently NLP has found some fame with the TV work of Paul McKenna, who has also delivered training with Richard Bandler, co-founder of the subject.

NLP is now known across the world and there are several bodies that seek to regulate and maintain the quality and integrity of the subject. This course is approved by the INLPTA - The International NLP Trainers Association, founded by Wyatt Woodsmall - although there are several others in existence. Some qualifications are interchangeable between different licensing authorities, some less so.

What does NLP mean?

Neuro-Linguistic Programming:

Neurology
The study of the mind and nervous system - how we think

Linguistics
The study of language and how we use it

Programming
The sequencing of actions - how we achieve our goals, our patterns

In short, NLP is how to use the language of the mind to consistently achieve what we want. So, if we can affect the way we think, use language in an influential manner and model our patterns of behaviour on those who excel, anything can be achieved. If, on the other hand, a person believes that these things cannot be changed, they're almost certainly right too. (Henry Ford)

There are several definitions of NLP. Richard Bandler called it:

"An attitude and a methodology that leaves behind a trail of techniques."

Joseph O'Connor's definition is:

"The study of excellence and a model of how individuals structure their experience."

The key issue is that this is the study of how people excel - of what makes the difference between the excellent and the average.

The Communication Model

Everybody interprets situations through their own perceptions thereby creating their own reality. You experience the world through your senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch) and you then use your brain to create an internal representation of this external phenomenon.

This means that the internal map you create of the external world, shaped by your perceptions, is never an exact replica. In other words, what is outside can never be the same as what is inside your brain and no two people will have the same experience of it. (You can also change that internal representation whenever you need or want to).