The basic premise of NLP is that the words we use reflect an inner, subconscious perception of our problems.

If these words and perceptions are inaccurate, as long as we continue to use them and to think of them, the underlying problem will persist. In other words, our attitudes are, in a sense, a self-fulfilling prophecy. Introduction How oes Neuro linguistic Programming !ork" Presuppositions #epresentational $ystems $ub modalities %eta-%odel $ensory &cuity %ilton %odel %aking 'hanges To (ur Life $tyle )sing NLP* Holistic(nLine Home

Introduction The word Neuro linguistic programming can be broken down to three distinct words* neuro linguistic and programming. Neuro refers to the brain and neural network that feeds into the brain. Neurons or ner+e cells are the working units used by the ner+ous system to send, recei+e, and store signals that add up to information. Linguistics refer to the content, both +erbal and non-+erbal, that mo+es across and through these pathways. Programming is the way the content or signal is manipulated to con+ert it into useful information. The brain may direct the signal, se,uence it, change it based on our prior e-perience, or connect it to some other e-perience we ha+e stored in our brain to con+ert it into thinking patterns and beha+iors that are the essence of our e-perience of life. (ur e-periences and feelings affect the way we react to e-ternal stimuli. Let me illustrate. I am afraid of snakes. The impulse I get if I see a snake or e+en hear a sound close to resembling that of a snake is a feeling of total fright. This is because, I was born in an area infested with se+eral deadly snakes. (ne day a boy from my neighborhood came to our house. He knocked on the door. I opened the door. He had a snake in his hand. He wanted to show me the pri.e catch he had. He was holding it like we hold a pet cat. /or him it was a pet. $o, it ga+e him lot of 0oy to hold one. To me, it ga+e a migraine headache1 2oth myself and my neighbor boy saw the same thing. The same signal was passed to our brain. It was the picture of a snake. Howe+er, our brains interpreted the implications of the snake entirely differently. In processing the information, our brains used our e-periences 3good and bad4, our biases, our opinions, our +alue systems, etc. to con+ert it into useful information that we can use. Neuro linguistic programming 3NLP for short4 was de+eloped in the early 5678s by an information scientist and a linguist at the )ni+ersity of 'alifornia at $anta 'ru.. They had obser+ed that people with similar education, training, background, and years of e-perience were achie+ing widely +arying results ranging from wonderful to mediocre. They wanted to know the secrets of effecti+e people. !hat makes them perform and accomplish things. They were especially interested in the possibility of being able to duplicate the beha+ior, and therefore the competence, of these highly effecti+e indi+iduals. It was the golden era of modeling and simulation. They decided to model human e-cellence. They looked at factors such as education, business and therapy. They ha+e then .eroed in on the communication aspect. They started studying how the successful people communicated 3+erbal language, body language, eye mo+ements, and others4. 2y modeling their beha+ior, 9ohn :rinder and #ichard 2andler were able to make out patterns of thinking that assisted in the sub0ect;s success. The two theori.ed that the brain can learn the healthy patterns and

beha+iors and that this would bring about positi+e physical and emotional effects. !hat emerged from their work came to be known as Neuro-Linguistic Programming. The basic premise of NLP is that the words we use reflect an inner, subconscious perception of our problems. If these words and perceptions are inaccurate, they will create an underlying problem as long as we continue to use and to think them. (ur attitudes are, in a sense, a self-fulfilling prophecy. The neuro linguistic therapist will analy.e e+ery word and phrase you use in describing your symptoms or concerns about your health. He or she will e-amine your facial e-pressions and body mo+ements. &fter determining problems in your perception, the therapist will help you understand the root cause. The therapist will help you remodel your thoughts and mental associations in order to fi- your preconcei+ed notions. These preconcei+ed notions may be keeping you from achie+ing the success you deser+e. NLP will help you get out of these unhealthy traits and replace them with positi+e thoughts, and patterns that promote wellness. <:o To Top= How Does Neuro Linguistic Programming Work? NLP uses self image and attitude towards illness to effect change and to promote healing. Hope is our greatest asset. It is one of the main reason why placebos 3sugar pills used in clinical studies4 work. !e also know how effecti+e prayer can be when it is combined with faith and hope. !hen a person loses hope and feels helpless in the face of a chronic disease such as &I $ or cancer, it is +ery easy to lose the hope> the body may 0ust ?,uit trying.? If the patient is made aware of his or her uni,ue abilities and possibilities, he or she may see things differently. Now, the body;s natural healing power can be harnessed to do the 0ob. NLP is based on se+eral useful presuppositions. NLP places great emphasis on concepts that work as opposed to concepts that should work. NLP therapists will tell you that if what you;re doing isn;t working, you should try something else that will work for you. @+ery person is different. /le-ibility is the key element in a gi+en system. The person who is most likely to do well responds to changing 3or unchanging4 circumstances appropriately. This is one reason why NLP has made so much progress. NLP is much more interested in getting results. (ther tools that are a+ailable to NLP therapists are meta model, sensory acuity, %ilton model, system representation and submodalities. <:o To Top= Presuppostions NLP makes a number of presuppositions. Presuppositions or assumptions are the beliefs a person will find useful in effecting changes to themsel+es andAor to the world. 3$ome people call these as the ?gi+ens?.4 @-amples of presuppositions*

1. 'ommunication is more than what you are saying. 2. No one is wrong or broken. People work perfectly to accomplish what they are currently 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
accomplishing. People already ha+e all the resources they need. 2ehind e+ery beha+ior is a positi+e intention. @+ery beha+ior is useful in some conte-t. The meaning of a communication is the response you get. If you aren;t getting the response you want, try something different. There is no such thing as failure. There is only feedback. Ha+ing choice is better than ha+ing no choice at all. In any system, the element with the most fle-ibility e-erts the most influence. The map is not the territory.

12. If someone can do something, anyone can learn it. 13. Bou cannot fail to communicate.
<:o To Top= Representational Systems #epresentational system in NLP consist of our fi+e senses. These are* Cisual 3images4 &uditory 3sounds4 Dinesthetic 3touch and internal feelings4 :ustatory 3tastes4 (lfactory 3smells4

@+ery one of us uses one or a combination of these senses to percei+e the world. The brain gets the ?picture? of what we are talking about from one or from a combination of these senses and from these senses alone. /or e-ample, we see a dead dog on the road. The eyes senses the +isual image and send it to the brain. The nose will sense the smell and send it to the brain. /or e-ample, if the smell is rotten, the brain may infer from what it had recei+ed so far 3a picture of a dog lying still that is gi+ing out foul smell4 that the dog had been dead for some time. If the dog is crying, the ears will send this information to the brain. In addition, we might touch the dog. !e probably won;t taste the dog. $o, these are the ?inputs? to the brain. <:o To Top= Submodalities The ,ualities and attributes of the representations you make using your fi+e senses are called modalities. Let me illustrate. Think about a dog. This e+okes different reactions in people depending on what we percei+e. (ne person may +isuali.e a cute, poodle. &nother person may think of a +icious bull dog chasing after him. !hat is the color of the dog" (ur imagery and the reaction to it can change depending on whether we see it ?in +ibrant colors? or ?black and white?. %ake the colors more +ibrant. !hat is the reaction you get as a result" Now mo+e the picture further out and see how it ?changes.? (ne of the great ad+antages of using a spreadsheet such as @-cel is that once we make a model in it, we can change it by asking ?what-if? ,uestions. !e e-amine +arious scenarios till we are satisfied that the model is satisfactory for our purpose. & similar thing is happening in our mind or brain with the information that is ?input? by the sensory system. The information can be represented in different ways based on our feelings, pre0udices and +alue systems. These +alues are uni,ue to each of us. It is part of our ?internal? system. These are our submodalities. The great power of this concept is that once we recogni.e how our submodalities may mask our perception, we can make changes to our subsystem to effect the change or to ?correct? the situation.. <:o To Top= Meta Model %eta model in NLP is a set of ,uestions designed to find the e-plicit meaning in a person;s communication. It is important that the therapist makes no assumptions regarding the communication. The therapist may ask probing ,uestions to find out what is in the mind of the person being treated. @-ample* $ub0ect* I am so tired. &nalyst* !hat makes you tired" $ub0ect* He is always taunting me and making fun of me. &nalyst* !ho is making fun of you"

$ub0ect* 2ob. &nalyst* 2ob who" $ub0ect* 2ob $ulli+an, my neighbor. &nalyst* !hy is 2ob making fun of you" $ub0ect* He is such a tease1 &n untrained person would ha+e made the assumption that the person was physically tired. 2y asking probing ,uestions, the analyst learned what the sub0ect is really saying. The therapist will use the sound, the way the sub0ect is talking, the pitch of the +oice etc. to understand the communication. <:o To Top= Sensory !cuity !e can take one look at a person and can infer a great deal about what they are thinking or what their thought process is at that time. /or e-ample, we will know when a person is happy or unhappy. !e will know when a person is depressed. !e know when to a+oid our bosses - it may be his or her ?bad day.? (f course, some people are good at hiding their true feelings. !e call it a ?poker face.? In general, a person;s thought process is +ery closely tied to hisAher physiology. & dog can sense when you are afraid. How did he know" !e pick up clues from the body language of the person we are communicating to* slumped shoulders, downcast eyes, drooping head, lack of animation etc. $ensory acuity takes these obser+ations beyond the more ob+iously recogni.able clues and uses the physical feedback in addition to someone;s words to gain as much from the communication as possible. <:o To Top= Milton Model %ilton model refers to a set of linguistic patterns deri+ed by %ilton @rickson, the father of modem hypnotherapy. These language patterns are used to help guide someone without interfering with their e-perience. /or e-ample, ?Think of the time you saw the dog.? The suggestions are made purposely +ague so that the sub0ect will ha+e ample opportunities to shape it in his or her mind. /or e-ample, the therapist did not suggest what kind of dog it was, what was its color etc. It is up to you to fill in those blanks. This way, you can personali.e it the way it makes most sense to you. Thus, this suggestion is +ery general and can be used for e+eryone. The %ilton-model helps the therapist to maintain rapport with the patient. It is often used in hypnotic or trance state sessions. 2y using these models, 3many of them modeled from the beha+ior and actions of successful people4 NLP enables us to recogni.e how we and others create our own uni,ue maps of reality. It enables us to understand our own and others; processes of decision making, communication, moti+ation and learning. <:o To Top= Making "#anges $o %ur Li&e Style 'sing NLP( (nce we understand our own map of reality, we can make changes to it in order to obtain the life e-periences we want. NLP pro+ides us ?maps? used by other people. !e learn how others ha+e responded to a particular situation we are facing. !e see the differences in the approaches and in the outcomes. 2ased on it, we may +oluntarily make changes to our own beha+ior. !e step out of our own map and step into the other;s. !hen this happens, the rewards are many. !e e-perience a deep connection to the successful person. &nd our life will ne+er be the same again. NLP increases the depth and effecti+eness of our relationships, beginning with our self and e-tending through personal and intimate relationships to our professional and work li+es, and finally, to the therapeutic arena or working with others to bring about healing, change and growth. NLP pro+ides the tools that enable this rich connection with self and others to happen.

%any of NLP;s tools and applications are widely used in business, management, education, training and therapy. %any of us may ha+e encountered and applied these principles in our life, without e+en reali.ing that it came from NLP.