NLP: What is Possible in Your Life?

Earlier this year I became a certified practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) through The Empowerment Partnership www.nlp.com.  As I contemplated what to say about it here on my website, I marveled at all the directions I could go. NLP is a powerful tool and a way of communicating that allows us to reach our goals and achieve fantastic results in our life we never thought possible.  

I have used NLP techniques with my clients, family, friends and myself.  One of the more well-known techniques addresses how we limit ourselves through our beliefs.  One teenager I worked with played high school basketball.  She is cautious and is very uncomfortable making mistakes. In basketball, that translates to passing the ball when she is open to shoot it. Her coach actually benched her one game because she wasn’t shooting the ball even though she’s an outstanding defensive player. We took her limiting belief of “I can’t shoot the ball” and replaced it with “I confidently make great shots!” The next day during her practice she text me “OMG! IT WORKED! I’M MAKING SO MANY 3-PTS!”  The potential is huge not only for athletes but anyone attempting to reach goals higher than their status quo.

Another coaching client got some sad news about her best friend’s health a week prior to our session. My client was consumed by her sadness, crying on the phone and finding it difficult to be happy and keep doing what she needed to do. I worked with her to anchor joy, laughter, and strength. This allowed her to access her joy, laughter and strength by touching a point on her hand. When we spoke a couple weeks later she reported how helpful that was! She was able to be happy in the face of the bad circumstances and enjoy her time with her friend (who was laughing and joking herself!). Incidentally, her friend is through that dark time and doing great!

NLP also successfully kicks unhealthy food cravings. I used to LOVE peanut butter and honey! Mmm…at the thought of it I would wander over to the drawer for my spoon. Unfortunately, one bite has a lot of unhealthy fats in it, and I was gaining weight and feeling more fatigued as a result of my indulgence. Now, months after that 5-minute technique I have not once even desired to eat peanut and honey together.

These are just a few examples of how I’ve seen NLP work. Think of the possibilities in your life. NLP allows us to reprogram our unconscious mind, making way for tremendous successes in our lives! I’m excited to have this knowledge to enhance the coaching with my clients.