Introduction: What is NLP?

Did you know you can put a stop to your bad habits like smoking or eating junk food through hypnosis?  Think about how much this could change your life and help you open a door to a more successful life!  Did you know you can learn many new and interesting things through NLP practices that may help you better yourself and your life?  Although you may have been unaware, there are many ways you can use NLP methods to improve yourself and your life!

Your first question, however, may be: “What exactly is Neuro-Linguistic Programming?”  It’s possible you’ve never even heard this term before, let alone know what it means and what it’s all about!  This is a fair and extremely important question!  When learning about any new topic, it’s vital to understand the foundations of it.  This could not be truer for the topic of NLP as well!

Neuro-Linguistic Programming was created in the 1970’s by a pair of self-help trainers in California.  It is an approach that attempts to help communication skills, psychotherapy and personal development. 

Based on the idea of this therapy, there is a connection between our brains (neuro) and language (linguistic) as well as learned behavioral patterns (programming).  It is believed these three things can be changed to alter and hopefully, improve one’s behavior or accomplish specific goals.  The creators of this approach and many who practice or use it claim an entire slew of issues, problems and obstacles in life can be solved through this self-help therapy.  Depression, addictions, phobias, allergies, the common cold, or learning disorders are just a few believed to be treatable through this therapy.  There have even been claims that some have been treated in as short as a single session! 

There are also many different strategies and types of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and in the coming chapters, we will explore how you can implement them into your life to make positive changes that will, hopefully, lead to important personal success!  A few of these strategies are hypnosis, memory alterations and reframing.  Although these may seem like very foreign and even strange concepts to you now, don’t worry!  This book will help you to explore many of the different NLP topics and help you to understand just what they are!  Let’s begin!