NLP - Neuro-linguistic Programming

Yes, I do feel rather smart for attending a Neuro-linguistic Programming master class last night. In actual fact, then term "master class" had me trembling in my squishy boots because i knew no more about NLP than what the acronym actually stands for. If you were to ask me what Neuro-linguistic Programming meant I couldn't have told you. Actually I still don't totally know, as it was not a beginners class and there were no explanations offered on the fundamentals of the "discipline" that is NLP. So I just took what i could from it which was interesting enough.

Josh and his friend Avery are both really interested in it, and Josh wants to incorporate some NLP into his classroom when he becomes a Primary School teacher. So when he asked if i wanted to come along and see what they have been talking about for months i thought it was worth a look, plus it meant i can actually participate in the conversations from now on instead of my eyes glazing over with incomprehension. So as I still don't know much about NLP, i will take info from the "Inspiritive" website - they are the organisation who ran the workshop - to enlighten you (and myself hehe)...

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is an incredibly powerful discipline that enables people to unblock the structures of human communication and human excellence. By doing so people can think, communicate and manage themselves, and others, more effectively.

NLP explores the relationships between how we think (neuro), how we communicate (linguistic) and our patterns of behaviour and emotion (programmes).
By studying and learning from these relationships people can effectively transform the way they traditionally think and act, adopting new, far more successful models of human excellence. (This activity is called modelling and is a key feature that distinguishes NLP from psychology).

In effect, NLP is a powerful change management tool that transforms the way people think and act to have the greatest impact both professionally and personally. That’s why NLP is one of the most powerful skills used in business management, psychology, sales, sports coaching and all forms of personal development.

NLP can help you to:
- Be more successful by learning to influence your emotional and psychological states.
- Replace negative behaviors and habits with positive ones.
- Transform the way you go about everyday tasks.
- Be more aware of your impact on others and how to manage your behaviour for optimal results.
- Better understand your own motivations, needs and behaviors and use these positively to have the greatest impact.
- Better understand your staff’s and customer’s needs, motivations and behaviors.
- Improve and enhance your interpersonal communication at the office and at home.

Last night's class focused on "Framing" and "Attention" which sounds like it would be full of jargon and prior knowledge, but I think i picked a good night to attend because it was a pretty basic concept.

They were talking about the conscious and subconscious mind which they refer to as 1st attention and 2nd attention respectively. There is also a 3rd attention which is kind of like you have the intention to notice something. eg. when you buy a particular model of car, you will all of a sudden start noticing every other car the same as yours. or if you have a new article of clothing you will notice other people wearing it.

They were also talking about high performance states, where in a time of competition or performance you stop focusing on what you are doing and just DO it. It can relate to so many different things in your life. For example, when you are performing music on stage you know in your subconscious mind that you KNOW the music, and when you start playing you just go into auto pilot and let your subconscious take over. The same goes for speeches, and sports performances and even just driving a car. The first time you get in a car you are overwhelmed by how much you have to look at and rememember and do, but after time you just do it without realising.

So to practice getting into our high performance states, we did this game / exercise which i suppose was called the Alphabet Game. Basically around the room were big posters that looked like this:

I think it is meant to be more clustered together but i couldnt find an example so this is what it looks like according to me. Anyway we had to partner up with a stranger for the task (totally daunting but as i never am forced to interact with strangers it was pretty awesome to see how i behaved. Basically one person does the activity while the other coaches them. The person doing the activity has to stand in front of the poster reading out the alphabet "A, B, C, D..." but when they say each letter, they have to follow the instructions underneath the letter. "L" means raise your left arm, "R" means raise your right arm, and "T" means raise both together. So it kiiiinda looks like you are saluting Hitler a lot but it is a great activity. You have to NOT consciously think about what you are doing and just let your unconscious mind take over. The coach has to stop you if you make a mistake or if your arms aren't straight or if you fumble or if you don't keep time. that mens you have to start again. it gets so frustrating because when you are told you are wrong you get conscius of what you are reading and it becomes harder.

Then the next step was to use your legs too, when it sayd "L" you raise your left arm but also your opposite leg. For "T" you put both arms out and squat. It is hard at first but you need to get comfortable and into a good headspace and it's easy! I found a picture of a man doing it, but for some reason putting his other arm in the air...? anyway i looked just like this:

My partner Ivan told me that i was more comfortable raising my right arm/left leg, whereas my left arm/right leg always hesitated a bit. I figured this had something to do with the fact that i am right-handed and subcosciously i am confident using my right arm and not my left. When it was Ivan's turn i noticed the opposite - that his left arm/right leg was always swift and confident. I asked if he was left handed and he said no which shot down my theory - but then i remembered it was both arm and leg that we were controlling and i was about to ask about his legs when he said that he used to be a professional sprinter and he always put his right leg forward first when taking off. So subconsciously, and when in a high performance state, he is comfortable putting his right leg forward. I thought that was brilliant. I like discovering things about myself like that, and it often takes another person to educate you on it.

So once we had learned about our high performance states we had to learn to understand them and learn why you make the mistakes and doubt your instincts etc. So we practiced another activity where you close your eyes and throw your keys infront of you some distance, then have to trust your spatial senses and subconscious in order to find them without vision. Josh put his hand up to demonstrate and the guy was tooootally impressed at how good he was for a first-timer. Josh looked pretty chuffed :) Anyway this time i partnered with josh and he coached me into listening to my subconscious. I got my keys a few times but there was so much going on around me that it was hard to focus. The aim is to get them twice. It's really hard.

So from all that i learnt many things. Strangers aren't evil ALL the time, NLP is not terrible, I like learning about my brain and how and why my attention works the way it does, and i am awesome at letting go to my subconscious. There is another master class next month which i might go to. I think the details are on their website: http://www.inspiritive.com.au/ but i am too lazy to look. At least i know that i am too lazy haha.