The Roots of NLP: A Breakthrough in Personal Transformation

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) was created in the 1970s by Richard Bandler and John Grinder, who sought to model the effectiveness of therapeutic giants like Milton Erickson, Virginia Satir, and Fritz Perls, the founder of Gestalt therapy.

Fritz Perls’ contribution to NLP was significant, particularly his emphasis on resolving issues in the present moment. His work, along with Erickson’s hypnosis techniques and Satir’s family therapy methods, formed the basis of NLP’s transformative approach. Instead of focusing on what has gone wrong in the past, NLP looks at how people think, communicate, and behave in the present to shift their perception, leading to rapid change. This method introduced a paradigm shift in therapy, making it way beyond a mere game changer for those who seek fast, lasting results.

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One of the key reasons NLP outperforms mainstream therapy lies in its approach to changing how we feel about events. Traditional therapy, including cognitive-behavioral therapy and psychoanalysis, often aims to help clients feel differently about a traumatic or negative event. This is typically done through extended sessions of talking, reflecting, and re-examining the problem. As a result, it can take a long time—sometimes years—to experience lasting emotional shifts, and even then, some people never achieve full resolution. Not to mention, it can be quite expensive due to the length of treatment.

In contrast, NLP re-structures the problem at a core level, helping people perceive it differently, which automatically changes how they feel about it. Instead of focusing on the emotional impact of the event, NLP shifts the client's entire perspective, enabling them to resolve the issue quickly and permanently.

For instance, one powerful NLP technique involves having a person run their traumatic memories backward in their mind, imagining everything and everyone moving and talking in reverse. This simple re-structuring of how they perceive the memory disrupts the emotional attachment to the event, allowing them to feel differently about it, often within minutes. It’s an entirely different way of processing problems that bypasses the long, drawn-out emotional explorations seen in traditional therapy.

In essence, where mainstream therapy focuses on changing emotions tied to the past, NLP shifts perceptions in the present—leading to rapid, cost-effective results.

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To become truly skilled in NLP, comprehensive training is essential. From my own experience, each level of NLP training required around 200 to 250 hours over 26 days. Both the Practitioner and Master Practitioner levels followed a similar structure, with two extended five-day weekends bookending the program.

During the first five-day weekend, we focused exclusively on building and practicing rapport skills—an essential foundation for any NLP practitioner. We spent these days interacting with one another, experimenting with body posture, language patterns, and how to get into the other person’s model of the world. These rapport-building skills are not only critical for NLP but for success in communication across all areas of life.

The remaining days delved into NLP techniques like reframing, anchoring, timeline therapy, and advanced language patterns. The final five-day weekend was about integrating everything learned throughout the course and applying it to more complex real-life scenarios.

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I also took two five-day, 40-hour courses in Ericksonian Hypnosis—one at the Practitioner level and another at the Master level. This is something I strongly recommend for anyone serious about mastering NLP.

Milton Erickson’s approach to hypnosis was subtle and elegant, relying on conversational techniques to lead clients into trance states where change could happen naturally. Learning these methods at both levels enhanced my ability to guide others through the unconscious mind, adding another layer of depth to my NLP practice.

Ericksonian Hypnosis, much like NLP, works through language and perception, making it an invaluable tool for helping people re-structure how they experience problems, further accelerating their transformation.

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With the rise of NLP’s popularity, many condensed courses have appeared, promising certification in a matter of days or through online-only formats. While convenient, these shortened programs pose significant risks.

The most glaring issue with these quick-fix courses is the lack of interaction and practice. NLP is not something that can be effectively learned by just reading a manual or watching a few videos. You need to experience it, practice it, and work through real-time feedback to fully grasp the power of the techniques.

For example, rapport—one of the foundational skills in NLP—requires live, in-person practice. It’s about subtle shifts in body posture, voice tone, and language that you can only master through real interaction. Without this, it’s easy to miss key nuances, which could lead to ineffective or even harmful applications of NLP techniques when working with clients.

Another danger of shortened courses is that they provide only a surface-level understanding. NLP is about subtle, often complex mental processes that require deep practice to master. Without enough training, practitioners may feel confident using these techniques but fail to understand their deeper implications. This can result in clients not achieving the desired outcomes or, worse, creating further emotional or psychological distress.

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NLP is a highly effective and powerful approach that can lead to fast, lasting change by helping individuals re-structure how they perceive problems. It stands apart from mainstream therapy, which often focuses on long-term emotional processing and can take years to deliver results. With NLP, you learn how to see things differently, and that shift in perception immediately changes how you feel.

However, mastering NLP requires serious commitment. Proper training—200-250 hours over 26 days, with a focus on interactive practice and real-time feedback—is essential for developing the skills needed to create real, lasting transformation. Additionally, learning Ericksonian Hypnosis as a complement to NLP provides deeper insight into how language and perception influence the mind, further enhancing the effectiveness of the practice.

For those who are serious about making a difference in their lives and the lives of others, investing the time and energy in full-length, interactive NLP training is crucial. The risks of shortened, interaction-free courses are too high and can undermine the true potential of NLP. If you want to experience the full power of this transformative system, commit to doing it the right way—because that’s where the real breakthroughs happen.