Using hypnotic NLP Language patterns in web copy can dramatically boost your sales. The power of Hypnosis and NLP in Business has been significantly on the rise in recent years, but often it has been difficult to clearly demonstrate the results that can be achieved. Graduates of The NLP Company courses are proving the power of NLP through before and after tests on websites.

Neuro linguistic programming and Hypnosis are being increasingly used in Business. The NLP Company the leading provider of NLP Applications for the UK have been working with select individuals to provide dramatic evidence of the power of hypnotic and NLP persuasion.

Having several websites modified by graduates of NLP training courses and the difference in conversion measured shows that using simple linguistic formula you can increase your sales by over 400%.

According to Rintu Basu, the only UK Hypnotic Persuasion Trainer, learning the skills to do this either face to face or in written form is easy. “We have many graduates attending our NLP Practitioner courses that go and do great things with it. The big difference with these sales examples it that it directly evidences the power of attending one of these courses”

Dave Ross, SEO Scotland says “On one of my sites the conversion jumped by 400% when I put into practice the things I learnt. I attended a standard NLP Practitioner course a few years ago, but it was only recently having done a course with The NLP Company that I actually realised the power of NLP and Hypnosis in business.”

The growth of NLP in the UK means it is important to know you are attending an NLP practitioner course that will give you a significant return on your investment. Rintu, having developed several of the trainers in Scotland and world wide offers certified courses that are pragmatic and results focused. He can therefore provide support in finding courses that are right for you.

Hypnotic language is an easy skill to pick up when taught well. Its use in sales and business generally is clearly increasing. Any sales professional that is not studying this sort of technology is not doing their careers any favours.

Taking a NLP Practitioner Course will make a huge difference to your life, your relationships and your business. Any good course will give you this, and that is exactly why you should aim for the best rather than just any course.

If you consider your criteria for going on the course and match that against the outcomes stated for the course this would be a good start. For any sales or business applications you should ask for references, and actual figures for results achieved through using the tools on the course.

There are four key corner stones to NLP. These cornerstones will help you understand more about NLP and why it works so effectively.

Cornerstone 1: Outcomes

This cornerstone is concerned with what you actually want. The outcome can be from a business meeting, a project you are working on or a personal goal. Many people don’t have outcomes and don’t know what they want. When this happens they “go with the flow”, suddenly end up in a place they don’t want to be in and then wonder how they got there.

Outcomes are important, as once a person knows what they want they can then put processes into place that will help them reach and achieve their goals. When looking at outcomes NLP refers to them as Well Formed Outcomes – something you will see later in this course.

At this point one thing to remember is that getting what you want will affect your whole life in some way. It is important to understand that there is a price to pay for each outcome. For example if your outcome is to be promoted in work you may need to work harder and longer hours. This can affect your personal/family life. We will examine this in more detail during the Goals and Well Formed Outcomes module.

Cornerstone 2: Sensory Acuity

How much do you notice about a situation? Some people will remember every detail others will remember very little of a situation. Sensory acuity looks at improving your skills at observing situations more closely.

Exercise 1

Take 2 minutes to describe your watch in detail (without looking at your watch!):

Does it have a second hand?

If so does it move smoothly around the watch face?

What colour is the watch face?

Is there writing on it?

If so what colour?

Is your watch analogue or digital?

In the case of analogue are the numerals roman or standard?

In the case of digital is it 24 hour or are the letters am/pm displayed beside the time?

Is there a date function on your watch? Where is located on the face?

How many links are on your watch strap if metal?

If your watch is leather or made from another material what colour is it?

For many people the above exercise is quite difficult. Their watch is something they use everyday but may take little notice of it. Sensory Acuity looks at making you more aware of everything that is important going on around you. When you increase sensory acuity you tend to see things that others don’t.

Application to Business

Sensory acuity can help you in business as you will more aware of little movements in the body, or change in tone of voice, or perhaps when meeting a client you will see something on their desk or in their office that will help you understand them better. In a sales situation you will see the hesitant customer as you talk to them. You will see the subtle changes in skin colour that may indicate that the person is open to what you are saying or not!

The more observant you can be the more you will be able to identify use situations to help you get closer to your outcomes.

Cornerstone 3: Flexibility of Behaviour

There’s a saying “if you do the same things the same way you will get the same results” seems obvious but many of us follow this procedure time and time again and then wonder why the results achieved are always the same.

In order to reach your outcome you must be flexible in your behaviour. If a particular process you are using is not working reflect on what is going wrong and then change that behaviour, if this does not work change your behaviour again. The downfall of many people is that they do the same thing time and time again and never get different results.

Application to Business

Tom works in sales. He is very successful in the sales pitch but finds that he can’t go for the yes and gain closure. He wonders why this happens and does not realize his problem with the process he is running. After a while he decides to get help and is shown where he can improve. By changing one small part of the process he can now close sales in an effective manner.

In the fictional example above Tom was doing the same thing and getting the same results. When he decided to change part of the process he reaped the rewards. It is important to remember that you should continue to use what works for you but always be prepared to change what does not work. Remember that every client, business meeting will be different, therefore there is not a one fits all solution.

Cornerstone 4: Rapport

Have you been out and met someone and just clicked with them? You don’t know why but you just get on so well. There may be someone in your workplace who you can’t get on with, or in fact someone may not get on with you.

Unless you plan on not dealing with anyone except machines you will need to develop the skill of rapport. In the first part of the example above you just clicked with the person, in NLP terms you were in rapport with the person. You were both comfortable in each others company. If you look at two people who are getting on really well you will often see that they walk at the same pace, or pick up their drink at the same time or sit the same way. When two people are not in rapport it is easy to tell by their body language.

NLP sees rapport as an essential part of human communication and believes that there are subtle ways of ensuring you build rapport quickly and easily. When you develop your rapport skills you will see people warming to you instantly. In a later module you will see how to develop rapport with another person.

Application to Business

When you learn to build rapport quickly you will see that it will be easier to communicate with people and close that sale or finish that project. Good sales people are masters of building rapport – although they made do it unconsciously. Once you are in rapport the other person will be more willing and open to your suggestions.

It is important to study the above 4 cornerstones and to internalize them. These four cornerstones are the key to your success with NLP and your life.

NLP presuppositions

A presupposition is something that is taken as a fact without proof. Presuppositions are constantly used in the media and advertising. Take the following sentence:

Do you want a cup of tea now or after dinner?

What is presupposed is that the other person wants a cup of tea. The person many not have been thinking about having a cup of tea however you have suggested it to them, that it is a fact that they are having a cup the only choice they have is whether to have it now or later!

Application to Business

People in general are open to suggestion. The person who knows this and suggests things can often get to their outcome more successfully. A sales manager may say to his team: “I don’t mind which method you use to reach your monthly sales target.” The presupposition is that the person will reach their sales target – that is the given. This type of language can be more motivating and encouraging. The sales person now is thinking ok I am going to reach the target it just is up to me to select the method.

Advertisers use presuppositions a lot. When a person grasps the concept of using presuppositions they can be come very persuasive as the open people up to suggestions

NLP has a number of presuppositions. Again they are given as fact, however it is not claimed that they are true. When you begin to study them and use them you will see that they are in fact very useful and true.

Below are listed some of the main presuppositions

The map is not the territory

This is the most famous presupposition of NLP. Any books that you will read on NLP discuss this very important metaphor.

Think of a map. The map is simply a representation of the area it is depicting. It is not what the real area actually looks like. It is close but not the same.

Think of a menu in a restaurant – is that the actual food or simply a representation of the food? It is true to say it is only a representation.

This is relevant to our lives as we have a map of reality – the way we think reality is, however since everyone else has their own map they may find that their reality is slightly different from yours. Conflict occurs when one person uses their interpretation of the territory and says it is the correct view and the only view.

If a business person, a teacher and a doctor visit a medical lecture each will see something different. The business person may see how inefficiently run their training session is. The teacher may not see any inefficiencies but may see that the methods used in the lecture to convey information is wrong. The doctor may be appalled by the content.

Which view of the above is correct? Each one is correct for each individual.

It is very important to be open to see things from another perspective. When you can see that your way may not always be the correct way for everyone you begin to be a better manager/sales person/leader.

Application to Business

As a business person you must be open to all views of the business world. When you can’t see what someone else sees in a situation this can easily be because you both have a different map. This does not mean the other person it wrong, simply they see things differently to you.

The more flexible you are in your views, the more you will see why people are coming up with objections. Remember one of the cornerstones of NLP is flexibility of behaviour.

You can not not communicate!

One aspect of NLP is communication. One way people will know what you are saying and how they judge you will be on the words you use. Some of the most influential people in the word are where they are due to their ability to communicate clearly and effectively.

However it is important to remember that we can also communicate to others through body language. Those subtle changes in posture, that sideways look, a change in skin tone, getting hot under the collar. Many people not even see these things but now that you are being to develop sensory acuity you will begin to notice and pick up these body language cues.

It is important to understand that even if you say nothing others may pick this up as a sign or signal. Always ensure when you communicate you communicate as efficiently an clearly as possible.

Application to Business

By looking out for and becoming aware of changes in body language you will be able to “read” situations better. When you are at a meeting and ask if anyone has any ideas or objections look out for small movements which may indicate that someone does want to say something but may be afraid to speak up.

Once you refine your skill in detecting body language you will be able to build up rapport faster as people will feel that you “know them” and be amazed at how you seem to know when they wish to comment or discuss a comment.

The meaning of your communication is the response you receive

Language is a powerful tool and you need to ensure that you use it carefully. When you communicate you need to ensure that you are clear in what you are saying not only verbally but also physically. You may make a comment to a co-worker and they may take it in a different manner than it was meant. For example a co-worker does a great job resolving a problem for you. You say to them that was well done, however the manner you say it may be in an informal manner. The other person may interpret what you have said as being flippant and perhaps not sincere. Since each person has their own map they also interpret what is said differently. This can result in different people reading into situations correctly. Therefore you must always be clear on what you mean and how you say it.

It is also wise not to read into what is said to you. Take it at face value. What can happen is someone says something to you and you place your map onto it and begin to read into it and take a wrong meaning from it. This often happens in relationships. One comment is misinterpreted and this causes a argument, things are said that are not meant or are taken the wrong way

Application to Business

Remember that everyone has a different map of the world that we have. This is also true when it comes to communication. Picture the following situation. Your boss says “Tom can you come into my office I need to discuss something with you” Your boss simply wants to discuss an idea with you, however, you may read into the situation and think that you are in trouble as perhaps the report you submitted was not up to the usual standard. You then begin to formulate what you are going to say to your boss to defend yourself. What does she know about what you do? Heck you’ve been longer here than she has. By the time you go into the meeting you are on the defensive when in fact there is no need to be! Have you been in one of those situations.

People make the best choice available

NLP believes that people make the best choices available to them in any particular situation. Although the choice they may not have been the best choice in your opinion. The person who made the choice believes it was the right one.

NLP seeks to help people find more choices and therefore become more flexible in their behaviour, In later modules you will learn about how you operate and “work” as a person. Once you know how you operate you will become more flexible and have more choices at your disposable.

Application to Business

People within your team may not make the best choices, but at the time they made it they believed it was correct. For example a person may make a costly mistake, however they believed it was better to take a risk than to discuss the matter with a superior. The person believed that the only choice they had was to take the risk. Remember the person in question was also working from their “map” and personal history. Perhaps they don’t work well under pressure and this is their typical response. Given NLP training they could open up and see that they can change how they react or act under pressure.

People are not broken

Unlike therapy NLP believes that everyone works perfectly. Everyone is perfect they way they are however sometimes their behaviour can be improved or the way do things can be refined.

Application to Business

If someone within your team is not working the way they should perhaps it is the system that is broken for that person. The majority of the team may be able to work in a set way as directed by the company. The “broken” person may like to do things slightly differently. However if they can get the intended result then it may be better to let the individual work the way that works for them.

This can often be an issue in companies who are more concerned with the process of how things are done rather than seeing that the product and allowing each team member to achieve their target the best way that suits them.

Practice makes perfect

The more you practice a technique the better a person becomes at it. The more times you make decisions the better you become at decision making. The more times you try to look for more choices and more choices you will find.

Application to Business

The entrepreneur complains they are not good at cold calling. Therefore they try not to cold call. When they do cold call they don’t do it very well, therefore they stop cold calling, therefore they don’t get new customers.

A better choice is to keep cold calling but be aware and reflect on what is working and what is not. Then make another call and another and another. You will then become better at cold calling. If you don’t practice you will never improve

There is always choice

People often say they had not choice but to act they way they did. If we become more aware of what we are doing and what consequences it may have we will begin to realize that there is always choice. The choice is either to do something or not to do it. That in itself is a choice. The more choices you have the more freedom you gain.

Application to Business

Always look for another choice in every situation. Don’t accept only once choice as this reduces your freedom in a situation. For example in a business deal if you are not happy with the negotiations don’t close the deal because there is no other choice – look for another choice or walk away. You don’t want to make a choice that you will later regret.

Begin to look for more choices now.

There is no such thing as failure only feedback

Too many people see that when something goes wrong they have failed. They then decide I won’t do that again so I don’t fail. This is one way of looking at situations. The other way to look at it is to eliminate the word failure and replace it with the word feedback. Look at every situation and see what you can learn from it and then decide not to make the same mistake again. Once you see failure as feedback you will be stronger and make better decisions. Never give up, always learn from what might not have worked.

Application to Business

Thomas Edison is often quoted with regard to this presupposition. He had hundreds of failures before he invented the light bulb. Every time another light bulb did not work, he learnt from his mistake and got valuable feedback. From this he refined the invention. Luckily for us he did not give up.

He knew he would eventually run out of failures!

If one person can do something you can learn how to do it too

NLP believes that people use processes that get them to where they want to be. By following the processes somebody else has used you can also learn to do what they do. Very often we perceive we can not do something and we do not try to do it.

How many stories have you heard of people overcoming all odds to achieve something they wanted. In a later module you will learn about modeling. This is looking at how a person thinks and acts and then emulating them. This was done very successfully by the founders of NLP Richard Bandler and John Grinder more of which you will learn.

Application to Business

If a sales person wants to learn how to be like the top sales person in the company they would be well advised to study how they structure their sales pitch, how they talk to the customer how they dress and how they act. If you want to be the best in an industry you need to model the person who is at the top.

Hog-wash: Meaningless or insincere talk, writing, etc.; nonsense; bunk.

A woman I know found herself in one rehab center after another during ten years of drug use, a total of seven rehabilitation centers. The people there know, NLP is hogwash!

A friend of mine who has a Doctorate in Psychology and in Theology is a practicing Psychotherapist. He works with homeless vets. He had 100 clients with issues that went from post traumatic stress disorder and beyond. His associates can tell you, NLP is hogwash!

A genius computer programmer and mathematician I have known for many years found it hard to do the work he loves. Two traumatic events from his past would not “go away.” His gift was being left to waste. His colleagues certainly know that NLP is hogwash!

Can NLP help with sciatica? Can NLP make you look and feel younger? Can NLP take the emotional charge out of past events that just “wont go away?” How could that be? Must be hogwash.

After four hours of using NLP with my programmer friend, he was able to break free of his blocks from the past, and is now prolific in the field he loves.

The Psychotherapist who works with homeless veterans? The last time I spoke with him, which was six months after his NLP Practitioner course, he only had 12 clients left. What happened to the rest of them? They got better. According to the American Psychological Association, by their own admission, only 4% (four percent) of patients actually get better using traditional methods.

The woman who was using drugs…she went to one last rehab center. It was there that she found relief from her cravings. It was there that she started a new life. She now is happily married with two children and a thriving business. What does she do? This amazing lady uses NLP to help others become free from their addictions. That eighth rehab center used…you got it…NLP.

After studying NLP with great focus for two years, including my NLP Practitioner, NLP Master Practitioner and NLP Trainer’s certification, I have found that even at this level there is so much more to learn.

The people who have negative comments about NLP, in every case that I have run into, do not know about NLP. Before I went to the trainings, I had only read about it and listened to CDs. I knew about it intellectually. It was at the trainings that I experienced the power of the techniques on myself, and saw how they worked on others, in a large group setting. I did not find anything this powerful during my undergrad and graduate studies in Psychology. Nothing. Why isn’t this taught in the Universities? What or who is the idea of “hogwash” protecting?

There are sub-groups of NLP practitioners who use it for, lets say, unecological uses. As with anything of power, it may be misused. There is a fringe element in any field.

Consider the fact that the US government has been using NLP since its inception in the 70’s.

Look around you, look at advertising, watch and listen carefully when the “polished” politicians speak. Be aware of how large corporations are “selling” you on their spin. If you do not know NLP, it is being used on you. Hogwash? Maybe the Earth is flat too.

Hypnosis has been around for centuries. It has long been understood that people can enter into hypnotic states that bypass the critical filters of the conscious mind. Sometimes, these “states” can result in radical changes to a person’s personality, or even the emergence of abilities and talents they never knew they had.

We’ve all seen stage hypnosis, where someone ends up quacking like a duck or doing a side-splitting Elvis impersonation; but hypnosis has also proven to be a valuable resource for personal change. In particular, NLP hypnosis (neurolinguistic programming) has been used to cure phobias, overcome shyness and social phobia, even change lifelong bad habits like over-eating, smoking or procrastination.

It’s ironic then, that many NLP practitioner’s don’t recognize hypnosis in the traditional sense. Richard Bandler, one of the pioneers of NLP, has been quoted as saying there is no such thing as hypnosis in any formal sense — there are only hypnotic states, and they are perfectly natural and common. For example, everyone has experienced that feeling of “spacing out” when they’re bored or distracted. You may have also experienced driving from one location to another and upon arriving at your destination not being able to remember much about the trip.

These are both examples of natural pseudo-hypnotic states, and there are hundreds of others that are quite common. What makes NLP “hypnosis” different from traditional hypnosis is that a skilled NLP practitioner will use your own natural hypnotic states to your advantage. This can be done by using a wide variety of techniques, including “slight of tongue,” hidden or embedded commands, anchoring, reframing, visualization and timelines.

The idea is simple: to use these natural hypnotic states to enable clients to experience themselves and their world in a different way — a way that is more empowering and useful to them to achieve whatever their goals may be (lose weight, stop smoking, develop confidence, etc.). And because NLP hypnosis tends to use “covert” techniques, the client is usually consciously unaware of the techniques being “used on them.” A skilled NLP practitioner can have a simple conversation with a client about their daily routine and still affect remarkable changes at the unconscious level, resulting in feelings of empowerment, optimism, motivation, greater mental focus and awareness, and other positive attributes. In fact, it’s not uncommon for a client to leave an NLP hypnosis session feeling awesome about themselves, without really being sure why!

But you don’t necessarily have to go to the expense of seeing an NLP practitioner to reap the benefits of neurolinguistic programming. There are MP3 and CD sessions available online, covering a wide variety of issues ranging from overcoming shyness to eating healthy. And while there are many different types of NLP sessions available, they all tend to have one thing in common — misdirection. NLP hypnosis very often draws the client’s attention to one area, while covertly making changes in another area. This is sometimes compared to the “slight of hand” techniques used by stage magicians to misdirect an audience, and that’s a pretty good analogy.

The reason misdirection is often used in NLP hypnosis is to bypass the clients conscious mind. If the NLP practitioner can get your conscious mind focusing in one direction, it becomes easier to “slip in” embedded commands or positive suggestions in another direction, bypassing the barrier of critical thinking. This is the same technique that results in grown men getting up on stage and barking like a dog at a stage hypnosis show; except with NLP hypnosis, the technique is being used for personal empowerment and to make positive changes on the deepest levels.

You’ve probably seen famous NLP practitioner’s such as Paul McKenna and Darren Brown, both of whom are remarkably skilled in creating and using hypnotic states. It may seem like a parlor trick, but the effects of NLP hypnosis are real, and the changes that individuals can experience as a result of using these techniques are often quite dramatic and empowering. This is one reason why more and more therapists, counselors and mental health professionals are using NLP hypnosis to help clients make positive changes and achieve goals.

NLP or Neuro Linguistic Programming concept is undoubtedly the next big thing after Edward De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats sent a euphoric wave to the public not too long ago. As more and more people are educated with the concept of NLP so as NLP training centers – they spring out everywhere like fresh mushrooms sprouting after a heavy shower.

The benefits of knowing NLP are widely proven to improve interpersonal skills but most people take up NLP skills as a means to improve sales tactics as NLP teaches about rapport building, hypnotherapy and persuasion among others which are all applicable in sales negotiation.Big organizations realize this and never hesitate to invest hefty amount of money for their staff to gain the knowledge as long as it brings back tangible benefits to the company.

The biggest show-stopper for common people to attend a formal NLP training or course is the cost that involved. One can easily expect a bracket of between USD2000 to USD4000 per training.That is an amount that not many people can afford. Attending a formal training is of course a fast-track and most effective way to master NLP but one can still achieve the same result even without attending such training.

Enter NLP book. There are hundreds and hundreds of good books on NLP out there written from some of the top NLP gurus like Anthony Robbins, Jerry Richardson, John Grinder just to name a few. Some are written in a very easy to understand and to follow fashion and some are written in academical approach. You make the pick – whichever writing style that suits you.

As a conclusion, NLP training is not the only answer. There is a cheaper alternative that you can consider but will gain you the same result.

NLP stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming, and it deals with three basic aspects, which are neurology, language, and programming. It is a science concerned with behaviour, and the thoughts, and feelings, which influence it. It is a system of therapy that attempts to analyse how behaviour and patterns can be changed through effective communication.

It was originally founded in the 1970s as a form of psychological therapy and counseling. It was mostly used to help people overcome their fears and phobias, and help them deal with depression, and handle different disorders. In the past, it had a little support from the scientific community, but now many people believe in NLP, and wish to become trained NLP practitioners. It is now a lucrative industry, with many self-help workshops, seminars, audio tapes, and books being introduced every month for all types of issues.

An NLP Practitioner is a person certified by law to practice NLP therapy. Nowadays, being an NLP Practitioner has a tremendous scope, and it is a good career path. There is a great demand for NLP Practitioners all over the world, and they make good money. By being an expert in this field, you will be able help others, as well as apply the techniques yourself to be better at communicating with people, and convincing them.

One has to study many different areas of NLP while training to be a Practitioner. First are the fundamentals of NLP and basic beliefs. Every area i.e. neurology, language, and programming has to be studied in order to get a complete understanding. You will be taught the effective ways to build rapport with different kinds of people, and be able to connect to people on a higher level.

It is important to realise the importance of language, and the words we use, and their impact on the behaviour of different people. There are certain strategies, and plans that one can follow for different issues and an NLP practitioner must be expert in all of them. Hypnosis is also a part of the training.

Many institutes and academies offer NLP training courses for different lengths of time. Duration of courses can range from seven days to twenty-four days, depending on how many credit hours you take every day. Foundation courses usually take two to four days, and build on the basics.

The Association of NLP, which is a UK based non-profit organisation promoting NLP, recommends 125 “contact hours” with an NLP Trainer, spread over 20 plus days, to become an NLP Practitioner. According to the Association of NLP, this is a reasonable time to cover all the aspects of the syllabus.

Some organisations offer online trainings, as well as CDs, or audiotapes on NLP to get you acquainted with the subject. Although it can be used as additional material, it is important to work with a trainer in person. NLP is an area that is more practical than theoretical, and builds on experience. Once you are a certified practitioner, you can work with individuals, or offer consultancy/training services for businesses.

I’ve personally attended several NLP Practitioner, Master Practitioner and Trainers Training courses, as well as countless other seminars and workshops. I’ve invested tens of thousands in training, and I’ve been on all kinds of courses, from the really awful to the totally mind blowing!

Secret Fears of the NLP novice…

Q: Am I just a bum in a seat? Will I actually be treated as a valid human being with needs, hopes and desires, or am I simply another hunk of meat in the cattle market? Do they truly want to train me, or just bill me?

You can tell by their approach. Do they talk about the money first, or the training first? A good salesperson will ask you questions about you, and make sure that you and NLP are a good match. If they launch right into sending you out brochures and booking forms, or worse, demand a deposit right there on the pone, think twice.

Q: If I don’t like it, can I get my money back? I’ve heard of conmen and scam artists – do they exist in the NLP world as well? If I’m not happy, how difficult will they make it?

There are “cowboys” in every industry – you must do your due diligence before you commit to anything. Ask them if they have a money back policy, and get their name too. Ideally you’d have something in writing from them that assures you they will refund you if you’re not satisfied. If the training is everything they say it is, then they should stand by their guarantee.

Q: Will NLP work for me? OK, I’ve read the books and heard the hype, but this is little old me we’re talking about. Will I be smart enough? Good enough?

NLP isn’t about intelligence. A good Trainer will make ANYTHING seem simple, and break it down into learnable chunks. That’s [in theory] why they’re calling themselves Trainers. If the trainers are criticising your ability to learn, then they are poor trainers. Your intelligence shouldn’t be an issue.

Q: Is it really worth the money? Does it actually do what it says on the tin? Or is it all hype, smoke and mirrors? Will I actually be learning how to con people? Or does it genuinely work – I mean, is it really possible to change my beliefs, behaviours and emotions?

Having helped clients for 17 years in Coaching, Therapy, Training and Couple Counselling, I can absolutely guarantee that NLP methods work. In fact, I wouldn’t dare teach anything I hadn’t studied, implemented and used myself. You can’t put a price on a flying phobic finally being able to fly to Australia to visit their parents for the first time in 10 years. Or a self-harmer who finally stops cutting herself and becomes an NLP Master Practitioner.

Q: Will I be asked to stand up and embarrass myself, or be put in the spotlight? I’ve seen videos of demonstrations on stage. Do I have to agree to that? Or can I sit quietly at the back and fade into the crowd if I want to?

Good trainers allow their students to be themselves, so you should be as extroverted or as introverted in the training room as you are in normal life. Demo subjects are volunteers. Any self-work should be done in pairs or threes and is kept private. NLP preaches “Respect for the other person’s model of the world”

Q: Will the certificate mean anything in the real world? Or is it just a wacky backy, tree-hugging hippy crap piece of paper that’s worthless in the real world? Is it true that consultants don’t get hired cos they don’t have an NLP qualification on their CV?

It depends on who issues the certificate. If it’s just from the trainers company, then that’s a matter of conjecture. If you are certified through the ANLP or the ABNLP or the BBNLP then that has more clout and respectability. And yes, NLP is so mainstream now that many employees are expected to have at least a Foundation knowledge of NLP.

Q:FEAR OF “THE CHICKEN DANCE!” Hypnosis and NLP seem to always go together – will I be hypnotised?

Most people have funny ideas about Hypnosis cos they’ve seen stage shows on holiday or in night clubs. Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy are 2 different things. Usually Hypnotic techniques are used to make sure students are relaxed and in the best emotional state for learning. If the course contains Hypnotherapy training, then yes there will be inductions and eye closure. But barking like a dog or seeing people naked is not required…

I was standing in a queue the other day and overheard a snippet of conversation between two gentlemen. One was describing Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) to the other and was very enthusiastically mentioning the ways in which it can be used to train your brain to achieve different outcomes. He was clearly very keen on NLP and had fully grasped its potential to help achieve success in almost everything you might wish to do.

I heartily agree with this gentleman. NLP offers the human race an amazing set of mental tools or mental skills which can be applied easily, quickly and most importantly, they are powerfully effective. What piqued my curiosity was his answer to a question posed by his friend, namely “isn’t NLP hypnosis?” He replied that NLP was completely different, a separate thing entirely. I have heard this response more than once, which made me wonder why so many people seem to want to deny the central part which hypnosis played in the foundation of NLP and the part which hypnosis continues to play in its application.

It was after all the work of Milton Erickson (world renowned psychotherapist and hypnotherapist) which formed the foundation of a lot of NLP. NLP in fact has a very close association with hypnosis. So why deny it? I have come to the conclusion that some people are afraid of the “mystical image” of hypnosis whereas NLP is “sold” as just something incredibly logical and thus has more appeal to the professional person’s mentality. I can only conjecture as to the reason, and in reality I don’t suppose it matters, other than the fact that it would be beneficial to everyone to realize that it is hypnosis which effectively “powers” NLP.

NLP has been described as the new science of personal achievement. It is a highly effective methodology based on the belief that all behavior has a structure and that this structure can be modeled, learned and changed. Neuro stands for the nervous system and how we use our five senses (see, hear, feel, taste and smell) to translate experience into both conscious and unconscious thought processes. Linguistic stands for the use of language in interpreting experiences and how we communicate those experiences. Programming refers to the fact that our thoughts, feelings and actions are simply learnt programs of habit which we can change should we wish to do so.

NLP recognizes the fact that our thoughts create our emotions and direct our actions, and therefore by changing how you think you can change how you feel and act. NLP is a model of how we understand and utilize human communication, behavior and experiences to achieve a specific outcome. It has evolved into an incredibly powerful set of techniques for achieving human excellence in both business and personal development. It is a very useful tool used in rapidly dissolving a phobia, or overcoming compulsions. It has extremely far reaching applications.

But you will usually find that NLP is applied in conjunction with hypnosis, because hypnosis is a state which allows access to your subconscious mind, the part of your mind where instinctive and automatic thoughts, beliefs, habits and behaviors are stored. Thus the principles of NLP are applied whilst in hypnosis so that these inner beliefs and habits can be changed. This is why I said before that it is hypnosis which gives NLP its power. You may see it from a different angle and say that NLP is what gives hypnosis its power, but few should deny that there is a very close link between the two.

Have you ever sat at work and thought, there has to be more to life than this? Most of us can probably say yes. There’s so much more to life than shuffling papers, writing reports, sitting in meetings and smiling mindlessly while someone even more mindless than you continues to talk. Discover your calling and reach out to help the world by becoming an NLP practitioner.

NLP, or neuro linguistic programming, is the latest sweep in today’s self help advancements, and to date it’s shown a tremendous amount of success. Before you ask, no, you don’t have to be a neurologist to become an NLP practitioner. No MD required. Nor do you have to be a psychologist. The beauty of NLP for NLP patients is that it’s simple, and the same philosophy applies to NLP practitioners. You don’t have to spend twelve years in college to discover how to make NLP work for you. You simply have to have access to a strong NLP training program and an open mind.

What Is An NLP Practitioner?
An NLP practitioner is a specialist specializing in using neuro linguistic programming to shape futures and change lives. If you’ve never heard of NLP, think of it as a guidebook to the inner workings of your brain. Not even today’s greatest neuroscientists can tell you why you do everything that you do, think everything that you think and react the way that you do in every situation. It’s a mystery to them, a mystery they’ve spent years (and hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans) to explore.

An NLP practitioner takes these incredibly complex mental functions and breaks them down to their simplest form. Minds can be trained to think a certain way, a supposition that many people will contest but has been proven true time and time again. When you first learned how to walk, did you have to think about it? Or did you just do it?

You worked very hard to learn how to walk, laboring over each tiny step until they got you where you wanted to go. In time, those movements became “automatic”. Your mind was programmed to respond in a certain way to a stimulus that required you to walk, and you walked. Something known as a neural pathway was formed in your brain to make walking an unconscious act. You just did it.

Change Lives
As an NLP practitioner you’ll have the chance to use basic NLP strategies to help people program their own neural pathways, but instead of teaching them to walk you’ll be teaching them to overcome their fears, set their sights on their success and enjoy the future they’ve always dreamed of. As an NLP practitioner you’ll be changing lives.

Who can ask for more than that?

Neuro Linguistic Programming or NLP is a method to use your thoughts and actions to achieve what you really want in life. NLP believes that you can achieve anything you want if you apply your mind to it. Law of attraction also focuses on the same principle which says that whatever you will think of, you will attract. NLP and law of attraction, both stress upon the importance of keeping a positive attitude in life, focussing on positive intentions and outcomes and generally achieving a balanced and a happy life. So, what is the real connection between NLP and law of attraction?

The connection between law of attraction and NLP is that while law of attraction tells you to attract happiness into your life, NLP is the technique to do that. Law of attraction has three steps:

1. Conceive or Ask
2. Believe
3. Achieve

1. Conceive or Ask: Conception or asking is the first step of law of attraction. You need to first state the your intention for a certain outcome. Most people know what they want but have already thought and conceived the road blocks in their plan before actually charting out the course of action! Most people subconsciously feel that they are not worthy of achieving happiness and wealth no matter what they do. Their limiting beliefs prevent them from achieving their goals in life. Hence just stating your intention to the universe is not enough, you need to believe in it to achieve it! Here NLP is a great tool in manifesting the law of attraction. NLP works at dispelling your subconscious beliefs about your abilities and competence. NLP operates on dispelling these beliefs and clearing the clutter in your subconscious mind.

2. Believe: NLP helps you to believe in the power of your thoughts. While law of attraction is the principle, NLP is the method to achieve your aim. NLP reprograms your mind and makes you believe in your ability to manifest your desires

3. Achieve: Law of attraction says that you can attract all that you want in life. However, we need to be open to receive it and acknowledge it. NLP makes us believe that we are capable and competent of receiving what we ask for.

Law of attraction demands that you visualize your outcome and focus on the happy feelings. It says that you need to use positive emotions to express your desires. NLP focuses on the positive vibrations and feelings. NLP teaches you how to visualize your dreams and desires so that they become real. Visualization is the first step to manifestation. Hence, you need to visualize in order to attract the kind of life you want.

NLP and law of attraction are the two sides of the same coin. Each is dependent on the other. It wont be wrong to say that while law of attraction is the principle, NLP is the method to make that principle work. Together they can give you a great life!