NLP is such a wide ranging discipline that it’s difficult to encompass all it’s branches and applications in a short definition.  We can call it a set of techniques and guiding principles that allow us to identify, model and replicate outstanding performance in any given are – guaranteeing us outstanding results.  Using NLP we can eliminate or modify our existing behaviours, if we are not satisfied with them; or internalise new, more beneficial ones.

2: Why Did you get into NLP?

Over the years I have achieved tremendous success and I have also failed miserably. I had always put this down to chance, luck, fate and destiny. I was fascinated by how incredible people get incredible results and how amazing organisations achieve amazing results. Before learning about NLP I never realised that it could be easy to achieve the same results in my own life simply by copying or ‘modelling’ the strategies of others who have already attained success. In fact, NLP helps you do exactly that.

3: What benefits did you get from studying NLP?

Today I am happy, healthy, calm and relaxed. I successfully run four companies focused on health, wellbeing and success achievement. I am quoted as one of the UK’s leading experts in stress reduction and relaxation.

But it wasn’t always this way.  Only ten years ago my previous company failed. I was stressed out, exhausted and depressed. I had lost millions and was ill and completely burnt out. I had lost my appetite and my sex drive. I was frustrated, lacking focus and was struggling to keep my life together. I didn’t know how to deal with it, I felt helpless. I lost my money, my car and even a lot of people whom I considered to be my close friends. I was in the lowest place I had ever been in my life.

I tried therapy – I visited my doctor, I visited a life coach, a counsellor and even a psychic healer. I read self-help books and at one point even tried anti-depressants – nothing worked!

What changed my life

Then I discovered Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), a set of concepts and techniques intended to understand and change human behaviour-patterns. After attending an introductory session and reading a book on NLP I made the decision that I needed to get back on top of my life and on top of the world – so I travelled to the Himalayas with the intention of climbing Mt Everest.

It was life changing experience – as William Blake said ‘Great things are done when men and mountains meet; This is not done by jostling in the street’.

I learnt much about myself and what I am capable of and I had to radically shift my mindset to achieve this tremendous feat.

This was my first experience with reprogramming my mind to achieve success, and I am now committed to sharing what I discovered during this experience.

4: What is your best NLP Resource?

http://www.planetnlp.com/ has a wealth of information and resources to aid your exploration of NLP.

Neil Shah

Neil Shah is leading international expert on Stress Management and Wellbeing.  An engaging and inspiring motivational speaker and success coach, he also has a long-standing interest in hypnotherapy, neuro-linguistic programming and strategies to promote wellbeing, and has trained extensively in these fields. He is the author of the ‘NLP: A Practical Guide’ (Icon Books) and upcoming title ‘The 10-Step Stress Solutions’ (Random House).

Neil is the founder and Director of the Stress Management Society (www.stress.org.uk) a leading international authority on stress management and wellbeing issues.  He is also Managing Director of consultancy firm Praesto Training and Development (www.praesto.uk.com).

He also runs a wellbeing shop (www.feelkarma.com) and a corporate gifts business (www.stressmoodcards.com).  All of the products and services provided by his various enterprises focus on the reduction of stress and the promotion of wellbeing.

He has qualified as a practitioner in Hypnotherapy and Counselling & Communication Skills.  He is a licensed practitioner of NLP having trained with Richard Bandler and Paul Mckenna.  He has trained as life coach with Curly Martin (author of ’The Life Coaching Handbook’) and has qualified as a practitioner of Though Field Therapy with Dr Roger Callahan. He is a qualified Regression Therapist (PLR and BLSR)  trained with Dr Linda Backman of the Ravenheart Center.  He has become accredited as an iMindMap Licensed Instructor and Master Trainer.  He is also a certified Train the Trainer.  He is a member of The BACP (British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy), the GHR (General Hypnotherapy Register) and The NHS Register of Complementary and Alternative Healthcare Practitioners. He has a vast toolbox of resources to draw from and leads many of the Stress Management Society’s regular workshops.

Because of this, he knows the power of the mind. And he’s used that to great effect himself. He’s walked on fire; climbed Mount Everest; ran the London Marathon four times and previously steered his own consultancy firm to a multi-million pound turnover and offices in three countries.

Neil is a regular award-winner. A former Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year, his trophies include nominations for the DTI/EU ‘Best European Small Business Initiative’, winning the Success through People award and Investors in People for his former company in record time.

As a prominent young businessman, he has also attracted support from government with links to government ministers and even an invitation to 10 Downing Street to meet the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

Neil is highly motivated, inspiring individual who has spent many years working with large corporates and has a multitude of skills to appeal to a broad spectrum of individuals and companies.

He regularly appears on television and radio interviews and is now the BBC’s featured expert on Stress as well as providing consultancy support to large corporate such as British Airways and Shell.  He has delivered training programmes across the UK, Europe, The Middle East and the USA.

He is a renowned media personality on the subject of stress and also writes regularly for newspapers and magazines including Men’s Health, Top Sante and the Guardian.

His clients include: British Airways, Shell , Siemens,  NHS , Allianz Insurance ,GE, HM Prison Service, ITV, The Football Association , World Wildlife Fund

To get more details, make sure you opt-in to the email list on the right, and we’ll send you an email when the next one is ready.

What Is NLP?

NLP for me.. remains a key to unlocking the full potential of every person.

It’s a tool set, from which you can learn and adapt, evolve and develop.

They see that things may become possible for them, be that:

• improved communication skills
• confidence at work
• calming nerves before exams
• being able to speak in public
• breaking through an income limit
• getting a great relationship
• being able to help people
• curing their own phobias
• building a career
• adding to an existing skill set

People over estimate what they can do in a day, and under estimate what they can do in a decade.

NEURO

Which refers to our nervous system (the mind) through which we gather and process information received through our five senses:

• Sight – Visual.
• Hearing – Auditory.
• Touch – Kinesthetic.
• Smell – Olfactory.
• Taste – Gustatory.

It is through them that we re-present the  world to ourselves, so we never actually experience ‘raw’ reality.

LINGUISTIC

Refers to Language and other, nonverbal systems. Linguistics filters and alters our internal representations so they are coded, ordered and given meaning. For example, the word ‘plane’ will conjure up a different picture for each person. Language is a major filter of our understanding the world. There are only six things that we can do inside our minds.

We can recall, or create:

• Pictures
• Sounds
• Feelings
• Tastes.
• Smells.
• Words (Self Talk).

In other words, NLP is how to use the mind’s own language to change our internal sensory-based representations to consistently achieve our specific and desired outcomes.

A typical nested loop structure starts this way: open story A – story b – story c – story d – close story d, story c, story b, story a. Just prior to closing each loop, you insert an embedded command that will be useful and can serve the individual.

This is both a simple and complex way to express the idea, and if you are new to NLP then what you read above may mean nothing at all, or it may be simple.

People have used NLP techniques to model how language works and how there is a core structure behind language patterns.

One of those is a loop.

Sometimes people talk with open loops, like when I was at work, I used to.

Othertimes they close the loops.

Sometimes they nest the loops, you’ll find this something easy when you get it.

And with practice, I mastered the technique easily.

NLP is often understood as a collection of techniques for influence, sales, therapy, self development or what have you. In reality, NLP is, at it’s core, the process of modelling success, and breaking down the patterns, strategies and behaviors of people who are hugely successful in any field into techniques that others can repeat and adapt.

2: Why Did you get into NLP?
An unforgiving sense of curiosity, and a desire to ‘look under the hood’ and think about what is really going on in our interactions, and the way we live our lives.

3: What benefits did you get from studying NLP?

Too many to enumerate here, but primarily the belief and knowledge that there are no caps on success. If one person can achieve something spectacular, that means another person can replicate it. Believe what Walt Disney told you – “you really can achieve what you put your mind to, provided you have the tools for the job.”

4: What is your best NLP Resource?

The interviews section on www.KeysToTheMind.com about 20 hours of free audio interviews with hypnosis and NLP legends, free tips, stories and powerful insights for beginners and experts.

Bio for Nathan Thomas

Nathan Thomas

Nathan Thomas is a marketing and personal growth trainer based in New Zealand.

He is the co-author of “Keys To The Mind – How To Hypnotize” and the co-founder of the International Youth Hypnosis Association.

His blog, KeysToTheMind.com is read by thousands of people every week, and his online newsletter goes out to roughly 11,000 people world wide.

• Student
• Practitioner
• Master Practitioner
• Trainer

People often get hung up on these, but it’s really fairly simple.

• Students – People looking to learn about NLP
• Practitioner – People with some training and “certified” by a body to practice. Often they have not covered all aspects, have had limited real world experience and may not be able to handle all aspects.
• Master Practitioner - People who hav e  had advanced training and should understand all aspects of NLP and be able to perform at a high level, as well as being able to handle all aspected of NLP.
• Trainer – People who are trained in teaching others NLP.

NLP studies have shown that people can have limiting beliefs and behaviours, which once corrected can produce the kind of results that many people dream of.

You can find more details at www.HardWiredForSuccess.com