So What Is NLP Anway?

V.M.Vasudevan
IIT-EMBA Last Bencher
 What Is NLP?

NLP is a system of alternative therapy based on

this which seeks to educate people in self-
awareness and effective communication, and to
change their patterns of mental and emotional
behavior
 In English – What is NLP
Neuro Linguistic Programming
The nerve communication network in the
Neuro human body

Linguistic
The language you use to
speak to yourself or others

The operating
Programming instructions that
create an outcome
 The Methodology
Comes from studying, and understanding the connection of
how the nerve communication network in our body (NEURO), is
connected and reflected in the language we use (LINGUISTIC)
and how this affects the way we behave (PROGRAMMING)

Why to Study?
Only When we understand the process of HOW we do
something we can REPEAT that process to achieve the same
result or CHANGE the process to achieve a different result.
Still Unclear – Let Put It Down
 Who Made This A Subject?

AND

Richard Bandler John Grinder

In the 1970’s two men (the co-creators of NLP) became curious as to how
some highly successful therapists were able to consistently achieve that
success. They wanted to find out
HOW they were achieving their successes rather than
WHY they were doing what they did.
 Elements Of NLP
Thinking Patterns
• Visual
• Auditory
• Feelings Filters in your world
• Associated/Disassociated
• Towards/Away From
• Match/Mismatch
• Big chunk/Small Chunk
• Past/Present/Future
• Internal/External

Linguistic
Programing
• Powerful questioning
• Meta Models
• Metaphors
• Anchoring
• Precision questioning
 Thinking Patterns
VISUAL
• We think in pictures
• We represent ideas, data, information as mental images
• Example: A coffee cup, Jaguar Land Rover, Quants Marks

AUDITORY
• We think in sounds
• We represent ideas, data, information as voice or noise
• Example: Drilling machine, F1 circuit racing, Honking in traffic

FEELINGS
• We think in feelings or physical touch
• We represent ideas, data, information as taste, smell or touch
• Example: A Starbucks coffee, Jasmine flower smell, Velvet couch
 Filters In Your World
ASSOCIATE/DISASSOCIATE
• Imagine you are having a conversation in a park
• Pay attention to your surrounding and see what are there
• Listen to the sounds, feel the texture, watch the speed etc
• What you feel inside and what you feel outside
• This state is called - ASSOCIATE

DISASSOCIATE
• Take a step back, assume that you are standing behind yourself in the park
• Now notice how the “you” interacts with the environment
• You are physically detached from the emotions of the “you”
• This makes us keep our heads clean without attaching to emotion
• This state is called - DISASSOCIATE

WHEN TO USE WHAT

• Use Associate when we are want others to get convinced – use emotions, feelings
• In crisis or critical thinking times, we need to be disassociated
 Linguistic Communication
SPEECH – is an expression of the way you think.

VISUAL THINKING
• I Get the picture
• It’s clear now only
• I see what you mean

AUDITORY THNKING
• That sounds good to me
• It rings a bell for me
• I hear what you are saying

EXPERIENCE THINKING
• That feels good
• It made an impact on me
• I was moved by her efforts
 Linguistic - Questioning
POWERFUL QUESTIONING

• Any question that puts an halt to evasion and question

• Usually it is open-ended and hence needs to be answered in detail
• For example
• (mirror their words) and what do you make of it?
• (explain the situation) how else could a person handle it?
• (list the moot point) what is the actual challenge?

PRECISION QUESTIONING

• Any question which directs the replier to give a concrete answer

• Usually it is very direct and to the point (or fact)
• For example
• Go / No Go. Do we need to talk about this?
• Basic Critical Question. How do we know this is true?
• Action. What should be done?
 Linguistic - Metaphors
What is a Metaphor?

It’s a way of understanding , expressing, experiencing one kind of thing in

terms of another.

When someone is unable to explain in clear words of what they think, they
use suitable metaphors to get their points communicated

Metaphors can make your words come to life often, you can use a metaphor
to make your subject more relatable to the reader or to make a complex
thought easier to understand.

Examples:
• Love is a battlefield.
• Bob is a couch potato
• Tom's eyes were ice as he stared at her.
 Programming – Meta Models
The meta-model in NLP (or meta-model of therapy) is a set of questions designed to
specify information, challenge and expand the limits to a person’s model of the world. 

It responds to the distortions, generalizations, and deletions in the speaker’s language

DISTORTIONS
• Mind Reading: “I think you don’t like me”
• Lost Performative: “It’s bad to be inconsistent.” “Who says it’s bad?”
• Complex Equivalence: “She’s always shouting at me, she doesn’t like me.”
• Presuppositions: ““If my husband knew how much I suffered, he wouldn’t do that.”

GENERALISATIONS
• Universal Qualifiers: ““She never listens to me.”
• Modal Operators:  “I have to take care of her.”
• Complex Equivalence: “She’s always shouting at me, she doesn’t like me.”
• Presuppositions: ““If my husband knew how much I suffered, he wouldn’t do that.”
 Programming – Meta Models
DELETIONS
• Nominalizations: “There is no communication here.”
• Unspecified Verbs: “He rejected me.” “How, specifically?”
• Simple Deletions: “I am uncomfortable.”
• Comparative Deletions: “She’s a better person”

PRESUPPOSITION
Refers to an assumption whereby the truth is taken for granted.
Example:
• “My wife is pregnant.”
• Presupposition: You have a wife.
• “My husband is as lazy as my son.”
• Presuppositions: You have a husband; you have a son; you believe your husband is
lazy.

CAUSE - EFFECT
 Programming – Anchoring
“There is nothing good or bad, except that thinking makes it so” – William Shakespeare

ANCHORS
• You already have anchors premade that works for you.
• Example:
• A favourite piece of music
• A special perfume
• A view in a resort or a special natures place

What to do with Anchors?

• Access the resource – stored anchors
• Replace the unwanted feelings/emotions with the chosen anchor
• Gain control over the emotions
• Transfer the learning experience using journals
• Identify the trigger, you have the response.
 Is That All?
• For Now that’s all
• If required we can meet again.