Trance 1, Requirement 3

Describe Neuro-Linguistic programming. (min. 300 words)

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (or NLP) is an effort to examine (and change) our communications to and from our subconsciousness. It is generally non-scientific and is generally considered to have little empirical basis. Despite this, those who use it, professionally and informally, are very supportive of the process, and it has been taken up with an impressive fervor outside of the scientific community.

Most people will encounter NLP in motivational seminars, in business communication classes, and in training for sports and athletics.

At its most basic, NLP is based on the idea that how you speak or present body language about an activity will determine your success in that activity. An example from my own athletic experience is a statement from a speaker who addressed our fencing team:

If you say, "I'm not going to lose this point," what your subconsciousness hears is, "I'm going to lose this point." We don't hear those negative words like "not" and "can't," so we need to phrase our statements to ourself positively: "I'm going to win this point," is a far more postiive statement, and one that you can live up to. By removing the negative from our phraseing, we remove it from our subconsciousness.

This is very simple "pop" NLP, but it's very common in athletics and also in business. Another concept of NLP is that we can model ourselves on other successful people; in doing so, we will increase our ability to succeed. Some people do this on their own, and you can see it in ADF, too: people will often emulate the actions of people they look up to and respect (see the spread of the Sonoran Sunrise Grove "Opening the Gates" actions).

NLP can also be used to change behavoiral patterns through a variety of methods, from anchoring to reframing to ecological (surrounding) changes. This can be done to the self or to others, and sometimes both. NLP seems to rely on the user to establish ethics, as there are no ethics inherent in the use of NLP. NLP is primarily a way of thinking about the world, and while it's related to general concepts of magic, it is not concerned with how the world actually is in reality, so much as how you perceive the world yourself.

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