History of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming)
At the start of the 1970s, John Grinder, an associate professor of linguistics, and Richard Bandler, a psychology student, developed neuro-linguistic programming in Santa Cruz at The University of California.
It all started from their observations that individuals who had a similar educational background, experience, and training achieved different results. For some, the results were incredible while others experienced very mediocre results.
Research of NLP
The above observation then piqued the curiosity of Grinder and Bandler, and they became passionate about discovering what the secrets were for those that experienced incredible results. How were they able to achieve amazing things in life while others achieved next to nothing?
Grinder and Bandler both believed that if they could identify these secrets, then there would be a possibility of replicating these strategies and produce a model for behavior that achieves success. They needed to study the individuals that were successful.
This all began at the time of the Golden Era of simulation and modeling. Grinder and Bandler further started investigating human excellence and examined factors like a business, therapy, and education. After this, they made a breakthrough when they were concentrating on the communication factor.
Grinder and Bandler started to examine how people that had been successfully used communication. This was not just about verbal language, but body language and other nonverbal communication.
Emerging period of NLP
NLP really started to emerge when Grinder and Bandler were modeling the behavior and communication activities of Milton H Erickson, who was a renowned hypnotherapist, Fritz Pearls, the Gestalt Therapy founder and Virginia Satir, who was the family therapy founder.
When they were modeling the behavior of these successful people, Grinder and Bandler managed to discover patterns in the way that thoughts were being processed that lead to the eventual success of each subject.
The techniques used by Milton Erickson particularly interested in Grinder and Bandler. Erikson used a technique of conversational hypnosis and this became part of NLP. Erickson decided to meet individuals in their world and built a rapport with them. In NLP terms, this is the Milton Model.
Further development & studies of NLP
They then spent time theorizing that the human brain can learn these behaviors and healthy patterns, and once learned these patterns, the emotional and physical effects would be significant. They decided to call this technique Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). With NLP, the basic premise is that our communication through words and actions reflects a subconscious perception of our world and the problems that we face. If the communication that we use is not accurate, then this often leads us to false perceptions.
These false perceptions will lead to fundamental problems within us the more that we continue to think about them and use them. This means that the attitude that we have to certain things comes from our inner perceptions. Words and phrases are spoken as well as nonverbal communications such as body movements and eye movements provide an insight into the emotional and physical state of the person.
An experienced NLP practitioner can identify the disorders and issues that exist within a person’s internal and subconscious processing patterns as well as their perceptions. By making this identification, the experienced NLP practitioner will be able to assist the individual to comprehend root causes.
The NLP practitioner can then assist the person in the remodeling of their thought processes and the mental associations that they have so that there is a correction to any preconceived notions.
It is more than likely that these preconceived notions are holding the individual back from achieving the results that they really want. These limiting beliefs and other negative thoughts are replaced with empowering beliefs and positive thoughts.
Grinder and Bandler are not the only two individuals to contribute to NLP. The afterword of their work got out, other people were keen to contribute more to expand on the initial work. Others who contributed in the development of NLP are Judith DeLozier, Leslie Cameron Bandler, David Gordon, and Robert Dilts.
Conclusion
We hope that you enjoyed reading the history of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). Keep reading our other posts to learn the applications of NLP and how it can help you in your personal and professional life. NLP has been learned and practiced by a lot of well-known celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Sophie Dahl, Lily Allen, Gerri Halliwell, Jimmy Carr, and Russell Brand. If you want to take your life to the next level, do get training of NLP Practitioner & Master Practitioner. We wish you all the very best for your life, keep learning and keep growing.