*This post contains a gifted experience*
Towards the beginning of this year, when I was in full-on coaching mode, I was looking into NLP courses. NLP stands for neuro linguistic programming and the NLP Academy defines it in the following way:
“NLP is the practice of understanding how people organise their thinking, feeling, language and behaviour to produce the results they do. NLP provides people with a methodology to model outstanding performances achieved by geniuses and leaders in their field. NLP is also used for personal development and for success in business.”
I knew learning more about it would only enhance my coaching work and I started an online course that was saying all the right things, but wasn’t quite sinking in. NLP contains a lot of jargon and it takes a hot minute to get your head around it.
When I was on the cusp of giving up, I was contacted by the NLP school, offering me a spot on their introductory three-day course on NLP, transactional analysis and mindfulness. I was totally honoured to be invited along and secretly wondered if they could somehow read my mind and knew I was already trying to learn more about NLP with their NLP powers…
Superpowers or not, I was excited. It was supposed to take place in-person, in May, but - well, we all know what happened next. Covid came along and scuppered everyone’s plans so they rearranged and held the training in October, via Zoom.
Of course before October came along I had my hiatus, where I decided to put a pin in my coaching work. But I was still excited for the NLP course, because it isn’t just for coaching. Learning more about how people tick is helpful in lots of different situations and, like a lot of my coaching training, you apply the learning to your own life before anyone else’s.
So I took some time off my day job and settled in for three full-days of learning, joining around 50 other students from around the world to get to grips with NLP. Before the classes we had video content to watch, with the aim being us learning through these then asking questions and practising techniques on each other during the Zoom calls.
As the days progressed we learned more and more about different techniques and applications of NLP. I learnt lots of fancy terminology which, I’ll be honest, left my head pretty quickly, but the ideas, the techniques and how it works has all stuck. I even found that some of it included techniques I was already using (including challenging limiting beliefs) but gave me a framework and structure to use.
I learnt fascinating things about the ways our eyes move when we process information, how to lift and lower other people’s energy and tools to tune into your intuition. Being able to put what we were learning into practice with fellow students was a game-changer.
Unlike the last time I tried to learn about NLP, when I was trying to learn from videos alone and confused, this style of learning helped the lessons sink into my body and mind. You really do need to practice it for it to make sense. Only then can you see the body language, the shifts in thinking and how it all comes together.
I have no doubt that I’ll carry what I’ve learnt with me into my work. While coaching isn’t on the cards right now, these skills will support me in the work I do, through my writing, the questions I pose and in future workshops I hope to host. They’ll also support me in my own personal development, you likely know by now how important I believe self-awareness is. Well, NLP takes that self-awareness and takes it to another level.
If you want to learn more about NLP, I can recommend checking out the NLP School and would like to thank them for giving me the opportunity to learn more myself.
*Sign up to the Blue Jay Monthly Musings newsletter*
– Instagram – Twitter – Facebook – Pinterest –
Save for later: