NLP or Neuro Linguistic Programming is the study of success. It is a new field developed in the 1970's in the United States of America, based on a set of very precise ways to identify how someone who is successful is achieving results.

Like the related field of Psychology, NLP has applications in so many places that you have almost certainly heard of it under other names already For example, in personal development, NLP is the science behind most of what TV Infomercial superstar Tony Robbins teaches. In education, the application of NLP is known as Accelerated Learning. NLP can also be used to study how excellent sports people win competitions, how high achieving managers create winning teams, how healthy people heal from illnesses quickly, or how people with photographic memory achieve total recall.

The two central co-developers of NLP were Dr John Grinder, a professor of linguistics, and Dr Richard Bandler a mathematician. The initial models of excellence they studied included skilled psychotherapist "Dr Virginia Satir" and leading edge medical "Dr Milton Erickson". In a 1998 letter to NZANLP, Dr Grinder defined NLP as "a meta-discipline which focuses on the discovery and coding of patterns which distinguish the most capable of the practitioners of some particular discipline (managerial practice, medical practice, sports, therapy) from the average practitioner. These distinguishing patterns are the substance of NLP". Currently hundreds of thousands of internationally certified NLP Practitioners and Trainers use it in virtually every country.

An extensive catalogue of NLP research is kept on the internet by the University of Bielefeld in Germany, and can be reached at  http://www.nlp.de/research/

Several studies show the effectiveness of NLP memory enhancement techniques that take only 10 minutes to learn. A 1985 study at the University of Moncton in Canada and a 1987 study at the University of Utah both showed that these simple processes results in 60% increase in recall and that memory gained with them does not reduce over time in the way recall normally does. Successful even with those labelled "dyslexic", these are the type of techniques making accelerated learning so popular with parents and teachers.

A one year study (May 1993-May 1994) run with approval of the Department of Health in Denmark studied the results of using NLP methods to reverse the physical effects of asthma. This gives a good example of the effectiveness of NLP in physical health care. After an average of 13 hours of NLP work, the subjects increased their lung capacity by 200ml (healing several years of damage in the one year of the study), dropped use of inhalers to nil and reduced sleep disturbances to nil. Other studies show similar results with disorders such as high blood pressure.

Medical doctor David Muss studied the NLP brief treatment for phobias and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In 1991, he worked with 70 police involved in the Lockerbie aeroplane bombing. He reported in the British Journal of Counselling Psychology that the treatment worked successfully in every case, requiring a maximum of three brief sessions. In 1998, New Zealand NLP Trainers Dr Richard Bolstad and Margot Hamblett trained a group of 25 Psychiatrists in Sarajevo to use the technique with survivors of war in Bosnia and Kosovo. They reported immediate success using the process after only two days training.

A 1981 study at the University of Oregon examined highly successful salespeople (the top salesperson in each company was selected), and compared their methodology with a group of average salespeople. The study revealed that the success of the top salespeople was based on their use of precise language patterns codified in NLP Scott Degarmo, editor- in-chief of Success Magazine says of NLP - "I have never seen a more powerful technology."

NLP is used in sports by numerous top performing athletes and sports people. Ian Woosman MBE, World Number 1 Ranking Golfer in 1991 and US Master's winner says simply, "NLP helped my game. It will help yours too. " Top New Zealand triathelete Steve Gurney says "A big thanks for the NLP work we did before the Coast to Coast race. It totally turned my thinking around 180 degrees to a resolved and determined attitude. Race day was incredibly enjoyable and was just a breeze."

In 1990 and 1992, Psychological Reports magazine published research on the effects of NLP training, showing that those attending increase their sense of being in control of their lives, reduce the level of anxiety in their life and demonstrate higher "self- actualisation". The Nightingale-Conant Corporation, the world's foremost producer of personal development and motivational audio programs calls NLP "the most powerful mind technology for self- change developed in the last twenty years."

Disclaimer: The articles here are provided by members as a service and do not necessarily reflect the views of NZANLP.

Understanding NLP