WHAT IS NLP – NEURO LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING? …AND WHAT IS IT BASED ON?
NLP stand for Neuro Linguistic Programming and is a form of psychotherapy based on the assumption that language and linguistics play an extremely important role in terms of forming our thoughts and our general behavior.
The development of NLP was started in the 1970’s by Richard Bandler and John Grinder, who both studied Gestalt therapy. NLP was generally inspired by three prominent therapists:
- Fritz Pearls, who was the founder of concepts like Zen Buddhist and Taoist “Gestalt Therapy“,
- Virginia Satirwas a hypnotist, family therapist, and originator of the NLP thesis: “Behind every behavior is a positive intention”.
- Milton H. Erickson, who did research in things like Taoist hypnosis, and who is today known as the originator of “modern hypnosis”.
Since the three sources of inspiration for NLP as well as the two founders all have their roots in Taoism, hypnosis and/or Gestalt therapy, it is scarcely a surprise to anyone that NLP is extremely close to hypnosis, and that the purpose is to deliberately work on the subconscious.
The Swish model in NLP is one of the basic cornerstones, the point of which is, via the subconscious, to replace a sensory impression associated with a negative experience to a new impression associated with a positive experience.
– You don’t exactly go into a trance during NLP, but otherwise the principles are almost identical to those of hypnosis.
Today, many who offer personality development / coaching, do it with NLP, and they also combine it with the 9 personality types of the Enneagram and with Mindfulness.
ENNEAGRAMS… WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT ALL ABOUT?
The word “enneagram” is Greek, and actually it just means “nine model”. The model is a combination of several of the world’s major spiritual and philosophical schools of thought, such as Christianity, Tibetan mysticism, and especially medieval Islamic philosophers – so a “good” mixture.
George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, Armenian philosopher and teacher, was the first to introduce the Enneagram in the West, where he founded the “Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man” in France in the 1920’s. Here, he helped people with their personal development by making them aware of their own thought and action patterns, through various spiritual, meditative, and physical tasks, which were to make them aware of their own behavioral and thought patters, probably in terms of the Enneagram.
In collaboration with psychologists and having a strong affiliation with the very occult school of thought, “Jewish Cannibalism” (see the figure to the right of the “tree of life” of cannibalism), Oscar Ischazo developed the Enneagram known today.
July 13, 2018
Andreas Slot-Henriksen
Translated from Danish
by Lisbeth Agerskov Christensen
LISELOTTE WAS PERSONALLY EDUCATED IN NLP
Read the account of Liselotte Victoria Binau about her own experience with NLP.
NLP is not easily described, because it is a combination of an incredible number of things. In fact, even Christianity or psychology are thrown in.
In the basic form of NLP, it is all about convincing people that they alone are the masters/gods of their own lives. There are no limits to attaining any goal one desires, as long as NLP is used correctly. This is because everything a person experiences takes place in the brain, wherefore you can manipulate it to change any input it has or gets. This is done by using visual, auditive, or emotional means, along with the thoughts of the person. In addition, there are various strategies, communications, and boxes from which tools are extracted and used. For instance, there is a belief that these things can be copied from a successful person in order to attain the same success.
At one of the courses I attended, there was a rumor that one of the “main” people in NLP had killed a man, but by using NLP he was acquitted at trial. Others had won large sums of money. When I started with NLP myself, I was seeking earnestly and open to anything that could solve my problems. NLP can do that, basically because the devil is behind it and comes in form of an angel of light.
I became familiar with NLP through my work at Odense University Hospital, where play and roleplay were used as part of innovative thought and motivation. It caught my interest, and I started on NLP. At the time, I didn’t realize that NLP was also a therapeutic education, but the positive things I had experienced with NLP motivated me and kept me there, even though many horrible things happened down the road. At the same time, I suffered from OCD, anxiety, and depression, and I wanted more than anything in the world to be rid of them. My friend sent me to an NLP therapist who opened up for some things deep inside me in a way that somehow ripped the life right out of me, and it’s as if I was walking around dead for several months afterwards.
People around me were scared about what happened, and I personally didn’t think I would ever be human again. When my friend saw my condition, she brought me back to the NLP therapist, who was supposed to patch me up or finish what she had started, but that didn’t happen. She got a hold of something completely different, and my condition was unchanged. She clearly didn’t understand the problem. Which is what happened with several therapists, even with the teachers. Even then, I continued into this world of manipulation, and I experienced repeatedly that I was guided into anxiety. One time, the therapist became horrified at my anxiety, which doubled back on me and my anxiety became a fear of dying.
Another time, I was guided out of my body and couldn’t get back. It’s like I was stuck a ways down in my legs and I couldn’t reach my feet. It was a horrible experience! At that moment, I cried out for GOD, who helped me (I didn’t know about JESUS back then). I am thankful that HE heard me. There was a rule that each participant in the course could freely use anything they could think up if they encounter obstacles in their therapy along the way, and this is why we used everything the alternative world had to offer.
The tools used are very powerful, and you never know when you are going to open up to something, or what is being opened up for. I experienced this during a module, where my entire body suddenly and with no warning at all started to react. I was shaking like crazy and broke down completely in the middle of the lesson, so the teacher had to stop following the lesson plan. It was clear the people were impacted by the predictable surprises that happened.
After a different module, when the participants were going home, we had to leave one person in a state of mental disintegration at the site. I don’t know how she fared after that, or if she got any help, but I know that several people from other NLP groups ended up in the mental hospital and I know that they kept making changes to NLP, because they discovered that NLP was insufficient. Coach is a jumping-off point from that. In 2002, I was delivered 100% in a split second, when I called on JESUS.
The Enneagram’s 9 different personality types
