NLP and New Possibilities Coaching
Although we use many methodologies and approaches in our work, NLP is a big foundation of it. So it deserves some explanation. NLP stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming. It is the study of and a model for the deeper, usually unconscious structure of subjective experience; in other words, how you uniquely create your unique experience. It’s about how your mind creates and stores your experience, how your language creates your experience, and how the interplay between the two affects your moods and emotions, and your body and behavior. Metaphorically speaking, you’re like a bio-computer, with patterns and programs that when understood can be easily changed. Understanding the structure at this deep level and how to change it can be likened to the science of happiness and personal choice. Using NLP for desired personal change is just one application of the model. It has also been used to model strategies and beliefs for excellence and success, or “what works” in many contexts: therapy, coaching, business, leadership, communication, learning, and much more. Origin of the word Coach: from the Middle English word “coche”, a vehicle used to carry a person or group of people from some starting location to a desired location. Traditional coaching is often focused at a behavioral level, helping you to improve a particular behavioral performance, like in a sport, or singing, or how to better manage your time, or how to change your career. It focuses on what to “do” differently. In his book, From Coach to Awakener, Robert Dilts, a major developer in the NLP field, calls this small “c” coaching. |
Mere knowledge of what you need to do at a behavioral level is not always enough. You have probably experienced this before. It often requires conscious effort and discipline to succeed. Sound familiar?
New Possibilities Coaches are trained in what Dilts calls large “C” coaching. This kind of coaching helps you to achieve outcomes more easily by working on the level of your experience that needs change. For example, for change to occur you might need to work at a level of mental strategies (how you think), or beliefs and values (what drives you), or identity (how you perceive yourself and your role), or sometimes even at a spiritual level. So how does this connect to accomplishing what you want and achieving desired change? Well, to do so, there can be no inner conflicts. Every aspect and level of your being needs to be aligned with your desire. If not, it’s like putting your foot on the brake and gas pedal at the same time. Unfortunately, these inner conflicts are often either out of your awareness, or you don’t know how to change them on your own. That’s where the NLP comes in! NLP is ALL about how to achieve what you want; and NLP strategies and personal change processes allow you to release your inner conflicts, give you new beliefs and strategies that support what you want, and bring you to full alignment with your desire. NLP is a technology for harmony, happiness and success. |