The

NLPPractitioner
Manual

PeterFreeth
StepheniSmith

2011

The NLP Practitioner Manual

Peter Freeth and Stepheni Smith
First Edition: August 2011
ISBN 978-1-9082930-3-9
Peter Freeth and Stepheni Smith 2000 to 2011
Peter Freeth and Stepheni Smith have asserted their rights
under the Copyright, Designs and Patents act 1988 to be
identified as the authors of this work.
All rights reserved in all media. This book may not be copied,
stored, transmitted or reproduced in any format or medium
without specific prior permission from the publisher.

Published by:
CGW Publishing
PM 1502
PO Box 15113
Birmingham
B2 2NJ
United Kingdom
www.cgwpublishing.com

The Format of This Book

This book contains:

Text that explains the principles of NLP

Exercises that teach the techniques of NLP

Space to write your own notes

When were talking about the principles of NLP, weve written

in plain text, like this. We might speak as either we or I,
depending on whos writing at that point.
Whenwereexplainingatechniquewithstepby
stepinstructions,wevewritteninaslightly
differentstyle,likethis,leavingspacetotheleftof
theexerciseforyournotes.
Therearetwoorthreerolesineachexercise;
Practitioner,ClientorObserver.

And when we want you to think about a question and note

down your own answers before moving on, weve used a
box, like this.

Finally, we might refer to coaching at various points, simply

because thats easier than listing all of the professional
scenarios within which you would use NLP.

NLP Practitioner

NLP stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming; a study of

the mind and nervous system (Neuro), language and the
way that we build a linguistic map of the world (Linguistic)
and our learned behavioural responses (Programming).
NLP is a study of how we can use language to map the
connections between internal experience and external
behaviour.
People describe NLP in different ways; a study of excellence,
a model of human communication and behaviour or a
toolkit for personal change are ones you may have heard.
Some NLP trainers even present NLP as a panacea for all
ills; it can give you confidence, wealth, contentment, good
health and more. Because of this, NLP has earned a
reputation from some critics for being a hyped up, pseudoscientific cult that tries to pass itself off as a branch of
psychology, or neuro-science, or psychiatry, depending on
which website youre looking at.
Many years ago, I ran a large practice group operating out
of London. A trainer came over from America to run a short
course, and he graciously joined us for the evening. I forget
the subject of his workshop, but half way through, he began
talking about why NLP is not a cult, and spent the rest of
the evening trying to convince the audience that this was
the case. The members of the audience, about 40 people,
stared at each other in confusion. Who had said that NLP
was a cult? No-one had. The trainer was answering a
question that no-one had asked, because he had anticipated
that someone would ask it. Was he trying to be too clever?
The fact was that 40 people had turned up, either because
they thought that NLP was not a cult, or that it was and they

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liked that, or they didnt care either way. In any event, the
trainer possibly made life too complicated for himself.
In this Practitioner manual, we are not presenting NLP as
something it is not. NLP is a powerful toolkit, and it is well
worth the time and effort required to learn and master its
subtleties. NLP should never be used to influence or
manipulate, and if anything, subversive intentions do have a
habit of surfacing quite clearly in a persons behaviour.
NLP is currently used in business, sports coaching, therapy,
counselling, coaching, training, teaching, sales, advertising in fact in any area where people want to achieve better
results for themselves and others.
At the heart of NLP is a set of linguistic tools for
understanding the intuitive mindset and behaviour of
excellence in any field.
Whether you are an athlete, sales person or teacher, you
have certain perceptions, certain skills and an attitude that
enable you to achieve results within your own environment.
By tapping into the intuitive excellence of experts in the
field of personal change - therapists - the creators of NLP,
Richard Bandler and John Grinder created a broad and
flexible toolkit for personal change. It works with our
fundamental perceptions of the world, from which we form
our beliefs and generate the behaviours that we hope will
get us the results we want.
NLP at Practitioner level comprises these techniques, and
certainly they are highly valuable in many different
everyday situations. Yet we shouldnt overlook the value of
those core modelling tools too, because they are the means
by which we can continually generate new techniques and
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increase the flexibility and effectiveness of NLP. NLP is a

generative approach, meaning that we are always seeking to
build on what is already working.
This modelling toolkit is the subject of another book,
Genius at Work: The Performance Modelling Toolkit, which
also serves as a training manual at Master Practitioner level.
NLP is not an abstract theory. NLP is a study of real people
achieving real and tangible results in their real lives. NLP is
a way of sorting and organising our mental and behavioural
skills, allowing us to understand and refine those skills so
that we can achieve more, easily and consistently.
NLP was originally the modelling toolkit by which intuitive
talents were extracted and coded, but because the first
people modelled were therapists, NLP has become confused
with the techniques that it produced.
You might like to think of the techniques as being NLPs
footprints. By following in those footprints, we can retrace
the steps of the people who created NLP and experience
their journeys for ourselves, always remembering its the
journey that is important. Getting your feet precisely into
every one of those footprints is not, perhaps, a good use of
your time, because whilst youre looking down at your feet,
youre missing the scenery.
The people who come to NLP training wanting to improve
their lives and their relationships have already taken the
first critical step - taking responsibility for change, and for
the effect they have on other people. These people already
know that it is they who must adapt, not others. Perhaps, in
the past, they learned the hard way that you cant make
other people do what you want. They learned that you can
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only do what you want, and if you need other peoples help
then you need to be better at expressing what you want, or
change the action you are taking to get it.
NLP is about you. Its not about what you can do to other
people. If you try to learn NLP with an attitude of, Im
already good at this, I want to learn to do it to other
people, then NLP training will magnify that attitude so that
its even more apparent to others.
If you are curious about yourself and other people, and if
you are hoping to find new ways to get better results more
consistently then you will definitely benefit greatly from
learning about NLP.
The three levels of licensed training; Practitioner, Master
Practitioner and Trainer have quite distinct aims. At
Practitioner level, the key aim is to give you a personal
experience of change. Before you start learning how to
change other people, its very important that you have a
personal reference for the way that people change and how
the tools work. You will learn some basic change tools and
by the end of the course you will have experienced some
kind of personal change such as solving a problem or curing
a phobia.
At Master Practitioner level, you gain more insight into the
structure and application of the tools so that you can create
new tools and refine your use of techniques. At Trainer
level, you will learn how to learn NLP so that you can train
others.
You dont need any training at all to use NLP, but youll only
get a license to practice if you complete the course. You
need to decide for yourself if thats important to you but we
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would say that the experience of Practitioner training is far

more useful to you than the certificate will be, and it is
totally different to just reading a book, because reading a
book doesnt give you a first hand experience of what
happens in other peoples minds. As an absolute minimum,
we strongly recommend that you work through the exercises
in this book with a friend or colleague.
All Practitioner course content is prescribed by the NLP
licensing bodies, of which there are now several. The
original licensing body is the Society of NLP. All of the other
worldwide licensing bodies essentially derive their content
and licensing criteria from the SNLP, with differences on
course length or additional content.
This book contains everything that is in the SNLP core
Practitioner syllabus, and it also covers a number of other
topics which are taught by various trainers as part of an
extended Practitioner course.
Weve seen courses as short as 7 days and as long as 30
days. Neither is right or wrong, because we would suggest
that you can only truly learn NLP when you are applying it
in the course of your daily life, and you can begin to see
how it operates for you. NLP Practitioner training is simply
the beginning of the process, and no matter how long that
beginning takes, you must give yourself every opportunity to
practice thoroughly and attend further training.
There has been a long history of politics in NLP training, as
there has been in many fields as soon as money is involved.
Various trainers fell out with each other and set up their
own competing licensing bodies, many of which have now
failed or merged.
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In the UK, this would be like a doctor being struck off from
the BMAs register and, in response, setting up his own,
competing professional association.
The history of these political battles is well documented,
and we have no need to discuss them here because what we
are primarily interested in, the tools and techniques of NLP,
are common for all of the licensing bodies.
One of the key responsibilities of any NLP trainer is to
provide a safe environment where, if you choose to take
part, you will learn whats useful and important to you by
exploring new ideas and approaches to situations which
previously you, or others, may have found difficult.
Sometimes you might find a particular approach seems
more comfortable for you. Take this as a sign that you are
learning within your comfort zone. If an approach or idea
seems new or confusing, take this as a sign that you are
stretching your experiences, increasing both your flexibility
and your ability to get the results you want.
In pursuing your journey to learning NLP, youve read this
far, and in doing so, you have taken a valuable and vital
step forward that most people have not taken.
Thats not because Im saying that this is the best book ever
written on the subject of NLP, its because in reading these
words, believe it or not, you are taking action. And one way
of looking at the importance of NLP in personal change is
that it is about getting people to take action.
We cant even tell you that, when you put these tools and
techniques into practice, you will achieve outstanding

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results, because we have no control over what youre going

to do with the information in this book.
All we know is that in reading this book, you have taken a
step towards achieving your goals. It really doesnt matter
what you do, what is important is that you do something,
because to take action is the ultimate expression of
intention.
Many people in your position would have some goals, yet
not many of them are doing anything to achieve them.
Theyre saying, One day..., and, When I have enough
time...
Self-help books are certainly big business, with new titles
hitting the shelves almost every day. Entrepreneurs,
coaches, therapists and even TV celebrities want to share
what they feel are the keys to a successful and happy life.
Unfortunately, for most of them, this is what most of their
readers will do:
1. Feel the need to solve a particular problem
2. Self diagnose the problem
3. Read a book for easy answers and instant recipes
4. Imagine trying the techniques
5. Put the book down because it doesnt work
What happens in step 4 is that the reader isnt really trying
the techniques, they are simulating the techniques in their
current map of the world where no technique can work,
because the whole situation doesnt work.
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If youre in a hurry then, yes, you might get some take-away

food on the way home or buy a ready meal that you can
just warm up in the oven. But would you want to live off
that? Anything thats ready made is, by definition, made to
someone elses recipe or agenda, not yours. Thats why,
throughout this book and throughout NLP Practitioner
training, we encourage you to think for yourself and, above
all, try something out, test it for yourself before judging it.
New ideas are disruptive by nature. What makes a new idea
work isnt always the idea in itself, it is the fact that it
disrupts the current situation. When what youre doing isnt
working, its usually a good idea to try something else.
When the rules of the current situation constrain you, new
ideas and a new perspective enable you to break free and
overcome obstacles that had previously hindered you.
Anything, no matter how small, that you can put into
practice, will make a huge difference.
Therefore to put anything into practice and benefit from it,
you must disrupt your normal routine. You must let go, even
temporarily, of what works, even when it isnt working.
You must step out of your comfort zone, let go of your
preconceptions and be willing to accept that, if something
isnt getting the results you would like, its not your fault.
You just need to try something new.
Theres one important idea that we want you to keep in the
back of your mind as you read this book, or any other book.
Nothing in this book is true. Does that sound strange? You
may find that a great deal of it is useful to you, and you may
find that many of the ideas and stories correlate very closely
with your own experiences. You may even find yourself
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23

practising the techniques of NLP and getting great results.

This does not make them true in any universal sense.
Everything has many alternative explanations.
We dont really understand how our minds and bodies work.
Different people have created different models, and those
models may be useful for us in getting certain results. For
example, if you want to run faster, a model of how your
muscles and bones function is useful, even though you may
not understand how your mind makes your muscles and
bones move. If you want to lose weight, a model of your
metabolism may be useful. If you want to know if it will rain
tomorrow, a model of the weather might be handy.
Models allow us to make useful predictions, but we must
always bear in mind that every model has inherent
inaccuracies, because a model is a generalisation.
If you want to get better results in your interactions with
other people, a model of how your behaviour and
communication relate to the outside world is useful. None of
these models are true, yet they may all be useful.
Whilst none of this is true, there is one thing that we can
promise you. Its the one thing we can absolutely guarantee.
All of the ideas, techniques and concepts in this book will
only ever work if you put them into practice. If you read
something and decide it wouldnt work, then youre right.
You form a belief which you then reinforce by deliberately
taking action to prove it, by not doing the thing that
wouldnt work.

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Therefore, all that we ask of you is that you suspend belief

or disbelief until you have truly found out for yourself. You
will only know what works for you by doing it.
The techniques of NLP are simply its footprints, remember.
Being able to read a recipe book and follow the recipes to
the letter doesnt mean you can hold a dinner party. To do
that, you have to think systemically, creating the right
atmosphere for your guests and serving them dishes that
complement each other and arrive in the right order. A
dinner party is more than just eating, its the whole
experience of an enjoyable evening with friends.
Similarly, learning the tools and techniques of NLP is
neither the beginning nor the end of your journey. Learning
to use a saw doesnt make you a carpenter, and learning to
be a carpenter doesnt make you a craftsman.
Coaches, therapists, counsellors, managers, consultants,
doctors, athletes, recruiters, actors, teachers, sales people,
authors and entrepreneurs all benefit from learning and
applying NLP. In fact, anyone who has to deal with people
in the personal or professional lives can benefit. Is NLP a
panacea, a cure for all ills? No, of course not. Nothing is.
But it is one of the most versatile and valuable tool kits that
you will ever discover, and learning NLP is a journey that
will bring you value, insight and reward beyond what you
may have first imagined.
Were privileged that you are joining us for this part of your
journey, and we hope that you enjoy exploring and learning
NLP as much as we do.

NLPPractitioner

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Who Can Use

NLP?

Since NLP is a process for modelling thought patterns,

language and behaviour, it is useful for anyone wanting to:

Improve the quality of communication within their

professional relationships

Identify and change patterns of behaviour

Set and achieve goals more effectively

However, we do add that this does not mean that NLP is for
everyone, which is the stance of many trainers. Since NLP is
for people, and youre a people, NLP is for you.
Thats like saying that people eat food, and Marmite is food,
so youll love Marmite, or shellfish, or cabbage. There is
nothing wrong with those foods, but to assume that
everyone will like something that you like is a fault of logic.
NLP is a technology, and technology should be invisible. Do
you think about the technology in your computer? Can you
say that you love magnesium, or thin film transistors, or
dynamic link libraries?
We strongly urge you to tell your clients exactly what you
are planning to do when you work with them, but that is
not a reason to believe that the technology is a panacea.
People need rituals and causes. They want to understand
where they are and where theyre going.
As we said earlier, throughout this book, for the purpose of
brevity, we have used the terms coach and coaching to
encompass any professional activity where you are working
with a client or client group to effect change.

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We could have used Practitioner instead of the noun

coach, but its a bit cumbersome to replace the verb. What
were trying to say is that, if you dont see yourself as a
coach, please dont take it personally. This book is still for
you. Its for everyone! No, not really, its for you because
youre already reading it.
The professionals that could fit within this broad description
include, in our view, the following:

Any kind of coach; life, business, executive etc.

Counsellor

Therapist

Alternative therapist

Doctor

Health practitioner

Sports coach

Teacher

Trainer

Manager

HR professional

Sales professional

Mentor

Parent
WhoCanUseNLP?

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