Many people around the world have turned to neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) to better their communication skills and their ability to get along with others. However, you might still be wondering what NLP involves and how it works. You are not alone. Since this may not be a household concept, some explanation would be helpful.
NLP is the acronym for Neuro-Linguistic Programming. It involves the study of how people communicate on an internal level. That internal communication affects external communication and includes thoughts that we have on both a conscious and subconscious level.
In essence, NLP helps explain how we feel and uses the knowledge to positively impact the way we communicate with others. That being said, understanding what NLP is and how it actually works are two different things. You will want to continue reading in order to learn more about NLP and how it can be applied to your life.
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What is NLP Used For?
Neuro-linguistic program is used largely as a means of personal development. It is designed to help individuals promote skills that will lead them to become better communicators and to feel better about themselves. Professionals can also use NLP to become more productive in their careers.
When it comes to personal development, there are several ways that NLP can be used. Some of the more common uses of NLP in this area include:
- Self-reflection – Individuals tend to behave and think in certain ways without ever really considering why that is the case. NLP is useful in the sense that it encourages self-reflection and asks the individual to examine their inner consciousness to determine what behaviors and thoughts they should change and why.
- Confidence – Getting into thoughts at the conscious level allows us to internalize positive language that is used to motivate and inspire. To that end, NLP is effective at giving individuals more confidence and enabling them to tack more bold and progressive ideas and concepts in their life.
- Communication – In order to feel fulfilled in life, it is important to develop strong communication skills. This helps us to build positive and fruitful relationships. NLP gets to the core of an individual’s communication issues and promotes ways of using language and internal thinking to talk in a more meaningful way.
NLP is also proving to be quite effective in a professional sense. For those looking to be more productive in their career and businesses, NLP has to show to be useful in the following ways:
- Achieve work-oriented goals – Since many people go through the motions at work without really having an end goal in mind, NLP is designed as a way to motivate professionals to be ambitious and consider what more they can be doing. By setting work-oriented goals, individuals can demonstrate that they have what it takes to progress in their careers.
- Become more productive at work – NLP is designed to help treat a variety of issues in the workplace. One area that it helps with is in terms of workplace performance. Individuals who are struggling with their productivity may find NLP to be helpful to them. Confidence will be increased, and productivity can soar as a result.
- Receive job promotions – Individuals who are frustrated with a lack of advancement opportunities being presented to them in their career have found value in NLP as well. Strategies and techniques are taught that help professionals know how to better present themselves to employers and to position themselves to land highly coveted promotion opportunities
Most of the areas that NLP is used for can lead to personal and professional growth. This is achieved through developing a keener awareness of the sensory experiences that people have on a daily basis. In an attempt to help people see the world around them more clearly, NLP attempts to take unconscious biases and change them so as to remove any limitations that might be present.
Contrary to what many have claimed, NLP is not a form of hypnotherapy. While hypnotherapy deals largely with the unconscious mind, NLP is focused on consciously using language to evoke the type of thoughts that lead to positive behavioral change.
Check out the best NLP certification courses online in this article!
3 Examples of NLP
The concept of neuro-linguistic programming can be applied in many different ways. At its core, NLP works to combine the many different sensory experiences that we all have on a daily basis and turn them into an opportunity to heighten our own awareness.
In order to better understand NLP and how it works, it is helpful to point to a few examples. Continue reading to learn more about three examples of NLP and how it is frequently applied to individuals going through its teaching.
1. Promoting Self-Reflection as a Means of Personal Development
Many people turn to NLP because they lack the confidence necessary to grow as they would like. This includes the physical and emotional realm, as well as in other areas of their well-being.
An example of how NLP is being used today is that the practitioner will teach the client to focus on positive and affirming language that can lead to a lasting means of personal development.
This example would have the individual begin by undergoing a process of self-examination. It is important to:
- Examine the reasons behind a defeatist attitude
- Look for ways to eliminate that type of thinking
- Focus on ways to develop a more affirming and positive outlook towards life
During this self-reflection, individuals will begin to incorporate new language that fosters positive communication skills and encourages the establishment of deeper and more meaningful relationships with those that the individual is closest to in life. This new style of communication can lead to the type of personal growth that the individual has been craving.
2. Working With an Organization to Achieve Mastery of Goals
It is not only individuals who can benefit from NLP. Practitioners have also shown great success in working with organizations to help them achieve a variety of goals that had been unattainable until that point. Many organizations struggle to establish and meet goals that can lead to more productivity. NLP can work with teams to change this culture around.
Individuals also benefit from this type of work. Many individuals struggle with career advancement because they lack the confidence necessary to illustrate that they are ready to move to the next level. In order to do this, many NLP sessions will focus on ways to use language and internal reflection as ways to become a better team player.
Achieving work-oriented goals and increasing productivity is the goal of most effective organizations. When those areas are not met, morale suffers, and it can be difficult for teams and individuals to see a way out of the quagmire and status-quo that they find themselves in. NLP is seen as a way to reverse that trend and turn the current of negative thinking that can invade organizations in a viral fashion.
It is important to establish work-oriented goals and to define ways to meet them. That means getting the entire team on board. To do that, NLP can implement certain strategies and techniques aimed at shifting the entire culture in an organization and making sure everyone is on the same page and ready to become more productive.
3. Used as a Therapy for Various Psychological Disorders
In many situations, NLP can be used by a licensed practitioner to provide therapy to clients suffering from a wide range of psychological disorders. Some of the issues where NLP has had great breakthroughs in therapy include:
- Many types of phobias
- Depression
- Generalized anxiety disorders
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
For example, NLP practitioners can use a visual/kinesthetic dissociation strategy to help clients remove the negative thoughts and feelings that they are feeling towards life. These feelings often lead to a depressive state where the individual can feel lost and alone. By reversing these feelings and triggering new thought patterns, NLP can help treat individuals with depression.
This same strategy can work with other types of disorders as well.
It is important to note that NLP is not necessarily designed to provide a form of psychological therapy.
That being said, it has shown great promise in doing so as long as the sessions are conducted by a licensed professional who understands how to employ the teachings properly.
What Happens During NLP?
NLP sessions are not designed to be one-size-fits-all. Depending on the issues that need to be treated, a variety of things can happen during each session.
Four major techniques are typically utilized during NLP. They are:
- Anchoring
- Rapport
- Swish Pattern
- Visual/kinesthetic dissociation
Because these concepts may be new to many readers, it is helpful to now explain each of them briefly.
Anchoring
During anchoring, NLP is used to take certain sensory experiences that an individual is feeling and turn them into a trigger for the desired emotional state. For individuals who are struggling with self-confidence, this is a great use of NLP.
Individuals will be encouraged to look towards their inner-self and determine how they are feeling when they lack confidence in certain areas of their life. They will then move towards realizing how they feel when they have total confidence and use those feelings as a trigger to bring them to a heightened emotional state.
Rapport
This type of session will involve the practitioner working to understand the client better by analyzing their physical behavior and using that to improve their communication skills.
It is important to develop a rapport with others. The best way to do that is through developing empathy. NLP sessions will be developed to do exactly that.
Swish Pattern
The swish pattern involves using NLP to change certain behaviors or thought patterns that are undesirable into those that are desired.
This is a gradual process that begins by focusing on the behaviors or thoughts that need to be changed. These need to first be acknowledged. Then, NLP uses a swish pattern to change those same behaviors or thoughts into more positive ones.
Visual/kinesthetic Dissociation
Many people are struggling in certain areas of their life due to a past event that they attached negative thoughts or feelings to. This form of NLP aims to get rid of those negative emotions and replace them with something more positive and productive moving forward.
How Can I Learn More About NLP?
If you are interested in learning more about neuro-linguistic programming and what it can do for both individuals and organizations, there are numerous online resources that you can consult. The best place to begin is the iNLP Center.
Go online and learn about the opportunities that they provide.
Conclusion
Now that you know what NLP is and how it works, you can better determine how it can benefit you both personally and professionally. There are many great training opportunities available online to help you progress in your understanding of neuro-linguistic programming. You can also sign up for a session with a coach either in your area or online to learn more.
