NLP can be learnt quite simply, there is a wealth of information online both free and paid for. The one thing I urge any serious student to do is APPLY WHAT YOU LEARN. NLP is not a spectator support, you do need to out the theory into practice to really get a feel for the power of what some of the NLP techniques will give you.
NLP when used correctly is astonishing! The changes are immediate and the impact can sometimes make you feel like a crash test dummy, hitting that wall and reeling from the shock of it all. Let me stress, that is is a good way!
I personally had some exposure to NLP online and also bought a few books on the subject, for me NLP in 21 days ran concurrently with an actual NLP practitioner course, though when I bough it that was not the intention. This is a truly fascinating field and when you begin to immerse yourself in it, there are so many variations and different view points that sometimes it is tricky to see the wood for the trees. This is where more structured training can provide a life saver.
Even though NLP does not have that single governing body, there are enough of them to aim to provide some structure. Having studied 8 different NLP courses throughout the years there is a definite core set of skills that appear to be universally taught.
All the trainers come from the same dual source of Bandler and Grinder ultimately – human nature is to place your own spin on things but the basics remain on the whole unadulterated.
Because of this determination to experience as much NLP and variants as possible, what this has done is allow us to create some training which we think provides the best of all the best. Top Gun NLP, the best of the best training. In the same way that NLP shows students how to model, we as a training team seek to use that same modelling process to make the best possible courses while maintaining our own credo of equally ensuring they are accessible.
For many people, when starting to explore NLP they look to the many self-help manuals and books, if this hits a certain chord with them the next step is usually to look at more structured and formal training. The start point for this is usually the NLP Diploma.
The diploma is usually a much more structured introduction to Neuro Linguistic Programming, the diploma looks at the core of NLP, where it came from and begins to allow the interested novice to experience the amazing changes for themselves.
Step two on the journey, and for many this is where the study and the application, gets more serious is the NLP Practitioner. This tends to be recognised as the first genuine qualification, indicating that the person who gains this level actually knows enough about Neuro Linguistic Programming to apply it in a lot of every day situations.
For some this is enough, you will learn a set of core techniques and how this NLP toolbox can be used effectively and applied to almost any situation. Whether that is about being able to communicate or present yourself better, dealing with an unfamiliar situation by anchoring a productive state, destroying a phobic response, understanding and heading unswervingly towards a dream outcome, resolving problems by understanding another persons view point and literally talking their language or one of the many other equally effective techniques, Pracitioners tend to experience immediate results and greater impact and effectiveness as they apply what they learn.
For those who get really hooked on the results and certainly those who want to maybe integrate NLP into their business or for some, even make it their business then it is hard to resist the allure of the NLP Master Practitioner. This picks up where the practitioner training leaves off and looks at more advance techniques and applications. It starts to look at some of the quantum elements, in a nutshell, the theory that quantum physics presents about us being able to affect our world by our view of it. Here the serious student (for every course we have encountered it is a pre-requisite to have studied and passed the practitioner qualificiation) builds on their knowledge and learns the more complex applications of NLP and this for many is where Neuro Linguistic Programming takes on a new dimension. The new ranks of the higher tier NLP trained tend to bring their own spin and modify or create even more techniques.
Beyond the masters there are the trainers and the master trainers, there are hybrids such as the natural integration between life coaching and NLP where the two meet and metamorphosise in NLP coaches and master coaches. There are also a range of hybrid trainings springing up, again using the core NLP trainings as their foundations but evolving into something similar but distance enough to create their own brand.
Some of these would be
New code NLP
Neuro Associative Conditioning
Holographic NLP
Design Human Engineering
……………. and there will be a plethora of others out there. After all, NLP is a hybrid of Hypnosis, family therapy, gestalt therapy and hypnotherapy with some mathematics, computer programming and linguistics thrown in there for good measure.
We will cover as much as we can, the aim being to stick closely to the core concepts of NLP as that in itself can present years of study should you wish to explore every avenue.