NFNLP

BASIC PRACTITIONER
CERTIFICATION COURSE

By William D. Horton, Psy. D.  2015

World’s Leading NLP Trainer
Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
National Federation of NeuroLinguistic Programming
1532 US 41 By-Pass S., # 287
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http://www.nfnlp.com Email: [email protected]

NFNLP

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This Book Belongs To: _________________________________________

Introduction to NLP
(Neurolinguistic Programming)

Welcome to the world of NLP. Neurolinguistic Programming is the systematic study of

human performance. This study of the structure of the subjective experience can be
broken down into their smallest components (or chunks) and changed, modified,
improved upon, or removed. This allows a framework for growth and change at much
deeper levels more quickly than was originally thought.

NLP was developed through the efforts of several people. Some of the more notable
names are David Gordon, Leslie Cameron-Bandler, Steve and Connirae Andreas, Robert
Dilts, Richard Bandler, John Grinder, and many others. Their studies began in the 1970’s
and have continued to grow to the present. NLP techniques enable therapists to be much
more effective in assisting change in their clients lives. Neurolinguistic Programming
brought about the ability to analyze and transfer human excellence, thus resulting in the
most effective and practical psychology known.

NLP is based on the work of several people whom the above-mentioned studied. They
include Alfred Korzybski, Virginia Satir, Milton Erickson, Fritz Pearls and Gregory
Bateson, among others. They were chosen as excellence to model.

NLP is a practical application of how people think.

This is a hands-on learning experience. Keep an open mind and be willing to try to allow
the training to work with you at all levels.

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Please note that since time is short, when starting and doing an exercise,
please stay on task and keep comments to a minimum. Also, please try
to work with as many people as possible over the course, as this will
allow you a chance to stretch your abilities. Thank you!

* * *

I am reminded of a quote I read recently.

“You have powers you never dreamed of. You can do things you never
thought you could do. There are no limitations in what you can do except
the limitations of your own mind.” – Darvin P. Kingsley.

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Table of Contents

Introduction ………………………………... 3
Table of Contents ………………………….. 5
Forward 7
Questions and Answers about NLP ………... 8
Working with Integrity …………………….. 12
Sensory Acuity …………………………….. 13
Why NLP Works ………………... 15
Eye Movements 16
Representational Systems ………………….. 23
Predicates ………………………………….. 25
Sense and Nonsense 26

Witch Brew 28

Sub modality Distinctions 29

Mapping Across 30
Sensory Perceptual Strategies 31
Theory Of NLP & RAS 32
Sensory Acuity and Rapport 34
Mirror Neurons ….
Major Presuppositions of NLP & Frames 37
Introducing the Meta Model …….………….. 38
Information Gathering 39
Exquisite Info Gathering

Body Language in Sports 54

Anchoring …………………………………… 56

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Anchoring and Adding a Resource ………… 58
Chaining Anchors ……….………………. 59
Behavior Transfer ……….………………. 59
Changing Personal History ………………... 60
Re-parenting ……………………………….. 61
Circle of Power ……….…………………….. 62
Fast Phobia 63
Lost Classic Phobia 65
How to Mend a Broken Heart ………………. 67
The Visual Squash ……………… 70
The New Behavior Generator 73
Role Model
Yes NO 76
The Swish Pattern …………………………. 78
Swish Pattern Exercises …………………… 78
Computer Swish Exercises 72
Godiva Chocolate
Advance Godiva
Swish …………………..
Building Self-Appreciation & Love 84
…………………..
Developing Self-Confidence …………….. 85
Appendix I Enhancing Awareness…………. 87
Appendix II Timeline ……………………... 88
Appendix III Lie/Truth Exercise ……………. 92
Appendix IV Reframing…………………….. 94
Appendix V Glossray…………….. 101
Appendix VI NFNLP Activity Summary 108
……
NLP Exam – Part I …………………………... 109

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NLP Exam – Part II …………………………. 111

Forward

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 Questions and Answers About NLP

Is NLP really a pure science or an art?

NLP is the combination of Neuro- how people think, Linguistics-how people
communicate and interact without words and Programme- the specific patterns in
people’s emotions and behaviors. It is the technology that takes into consideration the
guiding principles, techniques and attitudes regarding real life behavior that arise from
the evaluation of subjective experience structure, communication and behavior. If certain
behavior has a specific structure, NLP captures that in order to learn, interpret and
transform. It is Hypnotic in origin and style.
NLP is defined as the art of personal excellence. If more accurately defined, it is the
science of understanding behavior patterns of people and transforming those patterns
after thorough understanding. Since the concept of NLP is based upon exercising powers
or influence over others, it is more popular among marketing and sales people. Because it
tends to gain sensitivity to people, is works well for people associated to social work,
entrepreneurs and therapists, particularly at the time of conflict resolution. If we could
define excellence in the context of effectiveness, then NLP is indeed a means of
excellence. For example, Milton Erickson practiced the concept of NLP by monitoring
his patients in order to build a bond with them and then tried to influence their behaviors
and change their present and future. (Tosey, P. & Mathison, J., 2006)
The hypnosis of Erickson was a medical structure that has always considered the
requirement of insightful understanding of human behavior patterns, the psyche and the
mind. His model was aimed to be utilized in an association with other psychological and
medical therapies that sometimes hold important organic and psychiatric mental
disorders. It does not based on the concept to transform any person into a specialized
human behavior expert just within a week, a month or a year training session in NLP.
The linguist Gregory Bateson followed the important points of the Erickson’s model and
developed it further to NLP, though no significant credit is still associated with him.
The effectiveness of NLP should be judged on the basis of the central concepts it is based
upon. The first concept says that there is nothing like failure, rather, there is just
feedback. Whatever response you get, is just a means to make you realize and think how
effective you are. The second one states that people have all the needed resources at
hand. They just need to be able to approach those resources at the right times. They need
to make realize that only results matter not problems, in the end. Thirdly, even the most
challenging tasks and objectives can be achieved easily if divided into smaller tasks. The
accomplishments in bit and pieces keep the people motivated enough to head towards a
main objective. The fourth concept is more applicable when a team group is concerned. It
states that person in the group having more adaptability than rest, will lead that group. So,
people should look at gaining flexibility rather than keeping themselves being surrounded
with limitations. (Dilts, R., Grinder, J., Delozier, J., and Bandler, R., 1980)

Studies reveal that some of the NLP techniques are absolutely the results of
scientific discoveries, for example; the special case of conditioning, the anchoring, as
examined in behaviorist psychology. NLP Peers have developed some techniques
like rapport or submodalities that were then autonomously verified by scientific

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research. Interestingly, in a lot of cases, that verification took place in the absence of
the awareness of the NLP observations. (Sharpley C.F., 1987).
The use of the concept of NLP and its techniques in particular situations has really
been confirmed by scientific studies. There are studies that have positively endorsed
certain NLP claims. However it would be appreciated if more studies could be
conducted on it to reach more precise and final judgments. One must keep in mind
that a lot of studies based on NLP, conducted particularly during the period
between 1970s and 80s have actually tried to validate the claims that were not so
related with real NLP claims. NLP is not a science, however it is provable by science
and the most initial results of such confirmation have been usually positive. (Sharpley
C.F., 1987).
If NLP works, as per stated by its suppliers and disciples, then it is the most simplest
way of training people for incorporating the skills of sensitivity and keen
observation. It is the basic conflict over astrology: is it a science; is it an art or an
institution based divinatory practice? NLP have the potential to grow interpersonal
skills without being a science.
A lot of leading organizations, educators, sportsmen, and common people take a help
from NLP to greatly boost the performance level of people in their particular fields. By
making little behavioral modification, the quality of life can be changed.
Implications of NLP in a wide range of fields endorse its effectiveness!
The increasing application of NLP is being noticed in a number of areas like
criminal investigation interviews, sports psychology, formal education and police
department and so on. If you notice, these are the fields in which psyche of humans
matters a lot to be understand rather just taking into consideration verbal
communication. NLP has proved itself a significant contributor in understanding,
influencing and transforming people’ behavior process and achieving a desired
outcome, which may vary from field from field.
I have met a seasoned detective Mark Hamilton. He states that he has been making
the most of NLP model, in order to create rapports with the witnesses and criminals.
He says he has to understand the non verbal behavior of the people he is
interviewing or discussing with so that he can match his own with them. He closely
gives attention to the way a person talks, like volume, pitch, speech rate and then
builds rapport by matching his style with the person. This way he is able to increase
the likelihood of gathering more relevant information, and he considers building
rapport with the interviewee as the biggest and foremost requirement of his
profession. This is the area where NLP actually comes into an action. (Subtle Skills
for Building Rapport-Using Neuro-Linguistic Programming in the Interview Room, A
paper issued by Federal Bureau of Investigation)
Furthermore, the study conducted by the Department of Physical Education,
psychology and Para psychology, India, has revealed that NLP’s Meta Model
linguistic patterns i.e. Distortion, that says attention on mind-reading has an impact
to facilitate state sports boxing athlete confidence. The study clarified that language
pattern of an individual decides the way he/she thinks. These patterns are the
indicators of a person’s mental state and self talk. It is therefore very important to
influence the usual communication and cognition to keep it positive and to attain
self enhancement. This is one of the objectives NLP holds. If an individual can

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replace the mind-reading of someone else’s feelings, thoughts, emotions etc by
uttering it to himself as a possibility or a guess, then this results in decreasing mind
reading distortion and making the person’s self talk more appropriate, logical and
accurate with the outcome and thus eventually helps the athlete in a boxing match.
The socio-psychological idea of state confidence links to evaluate people's beliefs in a
particular moment, mainly in relation to their capability to that situation. Like an
athletic, an athlete possesses a great body language, breathing profound and vivid
eyes. (Hardy, J., 2004)
A research paper issued by University of Surrey, has demonstrated the potential of
NLP in facilitating teaching and learning in an environment of formal education.
The paper mentions that Bandler and Grinder (1975) refer to cybernetic systematic
connections between an internal experience of a person (neuro), his language
(linguistic) and his behavior patterns (programming). NLP is essentially a type of
modeling that offers possibilities for systematic and comprehensive understanding
of subjective experience of people. NLP is generally used to present solutions for
issues that arise in teaching, for instance, the classroom management. (Lyall, D.,
2002)
An NLP’s presence and contribution can be realized in learning and teaching if we
consider some of the following mentioned facts.
The relationship of a learner and teacher is a cybernetic loop, an active process the
meaning of which is formed by reciprocal feedback; not a diffusion of information
from one person to another. People tend to behave in a manner they comprehend
and the world is represented to them. It is not based upon how actually the world is.
In short, teaching is a procedure of creating conditions that are favorable to
learning; facilitating exploration ability of learners and/or improving their internal
representations in order to lead them towards their desired objective or result of the
context. (Lyall, D., 2002)
An interesting but extremely useful application of NLP has been observed in
treating the veterans, almost 30% of which are found to be affected with Post
Trauma Stress Disorders (PTSD). The Research and Recognition Project, to carry
out a pilot study on a behavior protocol for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
was started in 2008 to take clinically efficient mental health treatments by the
research stages essential to have them highlighted as evidentiary medication. Most
of the stuff was taken from bit unfamiliar medical field, called Neuro- Linguistic
Programming (NLP). (Frank Bourke, 2013)
NLP techniques are gaining popularity in law enforcement departments like FBI
where the related officials use the concept in unveiling the truths and information
during interrogations. The case is similar to the case of Mark Hamilton, a detective,
mentioned earlier. Because of the growing utilization of NLP in various sectors,
especially the FBI and other similar law enforcement agencies, a number of fields
and communities expect the adoption of its application soon.
According to researchers Joseph O'Connor and John Seymour, NLP can be the next
invention of psychology. It has been termed as New Language of Psychology or a
New Learning Paradigm. As a form of the organization of human experience, it
might be as thoughtful step forward as the discovery of language. (Joseph O'Connor
and John Seymour, 1994)

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NLP can facilitate you to attain those personal and professional objectives you
desire, to cope with the leading and most recent technology of change, to handle
your own life, and to have the skills and excellence and of the one you seek
inspiration from. (Penny Tompkins)
A rigorous research is needed at hand to come to exact conclusions regarding
effectiveness of NLP, though primary research portrays it all positive for
transforming human behavior. Also, it is to be kept in mind that there are, indeed
some terrible, horrific idiocies publicized in the name of NLP in the field by certain
groups, and a clear boundary must be drawn to keep NLP away from such negative
claims.

References:
1. Sharpley C.F. (1987). “Research Findings on Neuro-linguistic Programming: Non
supportive Data or an Untestable Theory”. Communication and Cognition Journal of
Counseling Psychology, 1987 Vol. 34, No. 1: 103-107,105
2. Penny Tompkins, The Developing Company. Visit (website)
3. Joseph O'Connor and John Seymour, Introducing NLP, Thorsons, 1994.
4. Tosey, P. & Mathison, J., (2006) "Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Centre
for Management Learning & Development, School of Management, University of Surrey.
5. Dilts, R., Grinder, J., Delozier, J., and Bandler, R. (1980). Neuro-Linguistic
Programming: Volume I: The Study of the Structure of Subjective Experience.
Cupertino, CA: Meta Publications. p. 2
6. Subtle Skills for Building Rapport-Using Neuro-Linguistic Programming in the
Interview Room, A paper issued by Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington DC.
URL: http://www2.fbi.gov/publications/leb/2001/aug01leb.pdf
7. Hardy, J. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The University of Western Ontario,
London, Ontario, (2004)
8. Lyall, D (2002) `NLP in Training: the power to facilitate' Training Journal November
2002, pp. 12 - 19.
9. Frank Bourke, Ph.D. Introduction to the RTM Protocol for PTSD of the Research and
Recognition Project, 2013
10. Horton, William, Psy.D. CAC Mind Control 2013
11. Horton, William , Psy.D. CAC Alcohol and Addiction Solution 2012
12. Horton, William, Psy.D. CAC & Hogan, Kevin ,Selling Yourself To Others, The
New Psychology of Sales, Pelican Press 2002
13. Horton, William Psy.D. CAC Quantum Psychology 2011

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 Working With Integrity

The NFNLP wants to expand the base of NLP with respect and integrity to all those who
use this powerful technology.

NLP is very powerful and can be very manipulative, as is all knowledge that is used to
bypass the conscious mind. With this in mind, we at the NFNLP follow the time-honored
Code of Ethics displayed in the field of martial arts, and they are as follows: Discipline,
Honor, Respect and Integrity. These are our principles.

There is nothing worse than a bully with a black belt, so please try to bear in mind the
power of the skills that you are developing. You are expected to govern yourselves by our
Code of Ethics and to show respect to the knowledge you are learning.

During the remainder of this course you are invited to participate fully in the activities
that have been outlined for you, and to retain the necessary knowledge to perform
competently on the written exam found at the end of this manual. Feel free to change
seats after every break so that you can experience this new learning from different angles.
You may even cross into a new mindset!

Martial Arts & NFNLP

There is nothing worse than a bully with a black belt, so please try to bear in mind the
power that you are developing.

Living Metaphor
We use the string to develop a living personal metaphor and remember the power of
the training you have started.

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 Sensory Acuity

You are only as good in NLP as the information you bring in. Sensory acuity is extremely
important to gathering good information. Human beings perceive their world through the sensory
system. The five senses of Sight, Sound, Touch, Taste and Smell help us create an experience of
our reality. The three predominant senses used to perceive human experience are Sight, Sound
and Touch. In NLP terms this translates to Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic sensory systems. The
following exercises will help improve your sensory acuity.

Opening Your Senses

Visual * Auditory * Kinesthetic

3) Visual -
Work in groups of 3: 1 Programmer, 1 Subject and 1 Meta Person (observer)
The subject accesses a very clear visual state.
The programmer will then assume a position in the chair.
The subject will mentally take a photograph and then close his/her eyes.
The programmer will then shift something on their person and the subject
will attempt to recognize the changes once they’ve opened their eyes.
Notice what shifts the subject is able to recognize. What does this tell you
about the subject?
Rotate until all members have experienced being the subject.

2) Auditory -
Work in groups of 3: 2 Programmers and 1 Subject
Have the subject access a vivid auditory state and closes his/her eyes.
The two programmers make a sound (clap, finger snap, rub hands, etc.)
and call out their own names as they produce the sound. The subject is
then asked to distinguish between the programmers and recognize which

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 programmer produced which sound. The programmers will alternate in an
effort to confuse the subject.
Rotate until all members have experienced being the subject.

1) Kinesthetic -
Work in groups of 3: 2 Programmers and 1 Subject
Have the subject close his/her eyes and access a highly charged kinesthetic
state. Ask subject to think of a time when they were really in tune with
their body. The two programmers touch the subject on a spot on the back
of the hand, wrist, etc. Each programmer calls out their own name as they
do so. The subject is then asked to distinguish between the programmers
and recognize which programmer produced which touch. The
programmers will alternate in an effort to confuse the subject.
Rotate until all members have experienced being the subject

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 Why NLP Works
HOT MODEL
Dissociation of Conscious & Non-Conscious Processes un-couples
Thought (Cognitive) Processes that are Hierarchal
- This is the Hierarchy-of-Thought (HOT) Model of NLP!
Level 1 > First Order Thought (FOT) & Primary Sense
Experience
Example: ‘I am Angry!!’ You are in the experience

Level 2 > Second Order Thought (SOT)

Example: ‘I am Having the Thought – I am Angry!’
Thinking about the experience
Level 3 > Third Order Thought (TOT)
Example: ‘I Notice – I am Having the Thought – I am
Angry!’
Thinking about thinking (the process) of the experience.

When one is in the experience one cannot analyze and change the process, that must
happen at the second or third level. NLP works by thinking about the process not the
event (experience) so if you alter the thoughts of the experience the subjective feelings
will shift which will ripple down through levels to behavior and response.

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 Eye Accessing Movements

The diagram below illustrates the direction of a person’s eye accessing movements as
you are facing and looking at the person.

Right Eye Left Eye

When we process information internally, we can do it visually, aurally, kinesthetically,

olfactorally, or gustatorally. It is possible to access the meaning of a word in any one, or
any combination, of the five sensory channels.

Vc Visual Constructed: Seeing images of things never seen before, or seeing

things differently than they were seen before.
Questions include: “What will you look like at 90
years of age?”

Ac Auditory Constructed: Hearing sounds not heard before. Questions

include: “What would your name sound like
backwards?” “How would a dog barking, a car horn
and children playing sound like?”

K Kinesthetic: Feeling emotions, tactile sensations (sense of touch),

or proprioceptive feelings (feelings of muscle
movement). Questions include: “Is your nose cold

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 now?” “What does it feel like to run?”
Ar Auditory Recall: Remembering sounds heard before. Questions
include: “What’s the last thing I said?” “What does
your alarm clock sound like?”

Ad Auditory Digital: Talking to one self. Questions include: “Say

something to yourself that you often say.” “Recite
the Pledge of Allegiance.”

V Visual: The blank stare is visual – either constructed or

remembered.

Virginia Satir and others have observed that people move their eyes in systematic
directions that depended upon the kind of thinking they are doing. These movements are
called eye accessing cues. The chart above indicates the kind of processing most people
do when moving their eyes in a particular direction, however, a small percentage of
people are “reversed”, or a mirror image of the chart.

A good example of how you can use eye accessing cues is in the case of a car sale.
Once he knows the primary representational system of his customer, a salesman might
stress different features to appeal to his customer’s “model of the world” and be more
influential in making a sale. For an auditory customer, the salesman could stress the thud
of the reinforced doors, the upscale stereo system, and the whisper quiet ride. To a visual
customer, the salesman would stress the clean, sleek lines, the clear view of the scenery
through the large tinted windows and sun roof, and ask them to picture themselves behind
the wheel, etc. A kinesthetic person might respond more to the feel of the full grain
leather seats, the smooth ride that makes you feel like you are floating on air, the feeling
of the wind in their hair and the warm sun on their face through the sun roof as they drive
along the highway.

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 It would be wise as a salesperson to use language that appeals to all representational
systems because we all use more than one system. This would also take into account
another person who might be involved in the decision process, i.e. the spouse or parent
accompanying the buyer, etc.

As a therapist it is easy to understand that language that more accurately defines an

individual’s representational system is just another way of gaining rapport with the client.
We can use this to our advantage to create greater influence with our subject and
establish more effective means of communicating to the subconscious mind. A client’s
responsiveness to treatment is enhanced by the use of these processes.

In the real world an auditory husband might leave socks on the floor, dishes on the
table, shoes in the corner, newspapers here and there. A visual wife might feel that she
married a total slob who doesn’t appreciate that she tries to create a pleasant tidy house.
If he loved me, she thinks, he would care that I spent all day cleaning, etc.

On the other hand, the auditory husband may come home from work and sit down to
read the paper. Meanwhile, the wife has the food processor running making supper, the
TV is on, one teenager has the CD player blaring, and the other one is teasing a barking
dog. The husband who is auditory and trying to engage in a visual task, screams, “Can’t
I get some peace and quiet in my own home?” Again, misunderstandings can occur. It
might save a trip to divorce court if both realized:

To the visual wife, the appearance of the home or her clothes or the lawn
is important to her, but makes little impression on an auditory person.

To the auditory husband, the bombardment of all these sounds at the same time is
comparable to a visual person watching a laser show in an electrical storm.

Just understanding differences can make things run much smoother.

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 Also, the example of teenagers coming home late and your asking where they have
been is one way to utilize eye accessing cues. If the teenagers look up and left, they are
visually remembering and telling you where they were. If they look up and right (visual
construct), it is possible they are fabricating a story that you would accept. It does not
mean they are definitely lying, but it may be that the parent should ask a few more
questions.

A good way to practice these techniques is to watch any show that interviews people
(i.e. Oprah Winfrey, Larry King, etc.) These programs show real people who respond to
questions subconsciously. You can record these shows and study the eye accessing cues
of the interview subjects to get a better understanding of how they are thinking.

Eye-Tracking Software May Reveal

Autism and other Brain Disorders
The eyes of people with neurological conditions, including ADHD and
Parkinson’s, have a distinctive motion that could form the basis of clinical
diagnosis

By Nadja Popovich
Scientific American Mind

Eye-tracking has become the tech trend du jour. Advertisers use data on
where you look and when to better capture your attention. Designers employ
it to improve products. Game and phone developers utilize it to offer the
latest in hands-free interaction.

But eye-tracking can do more than help sell products or give your finger a
rest while playing Fruit Ninja. Years of research have found that our tiny,
rapid eye movements called saccades serve as a window into the brain for
psychologists just as for advertisers—but instead of giving clues about our
preferred cookie brands (pdf), they elucidate our inner mental functioning.
The question is, can capturing such movements help clinicians make
diagnoses of mental and neurological disorders, such as autism, attention-
deficit hyperactivity disorder, Parkinson’s disease and more? For many
researchers in this growing field, the outlook so far looks positive.

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“Visual scanning reflects a model of the world that exists inside the brain of
each individual,” explains Moshe Eizenman, a leading eye-tracking
researcher at the University of Toronto. “People with mental disorders have
a model of the world that is slightly different than that of normal people—
and by moving their eyes, they provide information about this different
model.” Autistic children, for example, tend to avoid social images in favor of
abstract ones, and they also more rarely and fleetingly make eye contact
when looking at faces in an image or video in comparison with nonautistic
kids. Similarly distinct, abnormal eye-movement patterns occur in a number
of mental disorders, scientists have found.

Until recently, such insights have remained relegated to the lab setting,
where researchers traditionally rely on special tools (like mounted
headgear) and instructed tasks (like following a moving target across a
computer screen). Now, as the cost of the technology drops and accuracy of
more common—and practical—tools improves, eye tracking may find wider
use in the clinical setting. “There is going to be a huge growth in the
accessibility of eye-tracking devices to clinicians and others,” Eizenman
predicts. “It won’t remain the domain of experts.” But technological
advancements themselves are not enough to make eye-tracking for mental
health monitoring go mainstream. The big challenge ahead, he says, is
meaningful analysis of eye movement information.

Laurent Itti of the University of Southern California’s iLab is a part of a team

working on this very challenge. Along with a group of researchers from
U.S.C. and Queen’s University in Ontario, last year Itti devised a data-heavy,
low-cost method of identifying brain disorders via eye-tracking. Subjects in
this “free viewing” test sit and naturally watch a video on TV for 15 minutes
while their eye-movements are recorded. The result is a deluge of data (the
average person makes three to five saccadic eye movements per second), so
Itti’s team uses advanced machine learning—algorithms that enable a
computer to recognize patterns without explicit human instruction—to parse
the results and distinguish deviant eye-movements from normal patterns.

In a small, proof-of-concept study (pdf) Itti’s team found that their algorithm
could classify mental disorders through eye-movement patterns: They
identified elderly Parkinson’s patients with nearly 90 percent accuracy as
well as children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or fetal
alcohol spectrum disorder with 77 percent accuracy. “This is very different
from what people have done before. We’re trying to have completely
automated interpretation of the eye movement data,” Itti says. “So you don’t
need to have a scientist look at the data to figure out what’s going on; we’re

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using algorithms and machines to [identify] the linkage between eye-
movement and cognition.”

Neuroscientists find neuron-network area that filters

visual information and ignores distractions!
Research has implications for people who suffer from diseases such as autism, ADHD, and schizophrenia
and for better brain-mind interface devices

Anatomical location of multielectrode-array implant (red square) in the macaque lateral

prefrontal cortex area (8A), where simultaneously an active neuron network filters visual
information and allocates attention (credit: Tremblay et al./Neuron)
McGill University researchers have identified a network of neurons in the lateral
prefrontal cortex of the brain that interact with one another to enable us to quickly filter
visual information while ignoring distractions.
The discovery could have far-reaching implications for people who suffer from diseases
such as autism, ADHD, and schizophrenia and for brain-mind interface devices.
Our ability to pay attention to certain things while ignoring distractions determines how
good we are at a given task, whether it is driving a car or doing brain surgery.
Predicting where a monkey will look next
The researchers recorded brain activity in macaque monkeys as they moved their eyes to
look at objects being displayed on a computer screen while ignoring visual distractions.
These recorded signals were then input into a decoder (running on a computer) that
mimicked the kinds of computations performed by the brain as it focuses.
There were some startling results. “The decoder was able to predict very consistently and
within a few milliseconds where the macaques were covertly focusing attention even
before they looked in that direction,” says Julio Martinez-Trujillo, of McGill’s
Department of Physiology and the lead author of the paper. “We were also able to predict
whether the monkey would be distracted by some intrusive stimulus even before the
onset of that distraction.”
Practical uses for therapy and brain-machine interfaces

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 21

But even more interesting, the researchers could manipulate the decoder’s ability to
“focus” by subtly manipulating the neuronal activity that was just recorded to induce
“focused” and “distracted” states.
“This suggests that we are tapping into the mechanisms responsible for the quality of the
attentional focus, and might shed light into the reasons why this process fails in certain
neurological diseases such as ADHD, autism, and schizophrenia,” says Sébastien
Tremblay, a doctoral student at McGill University and the first author of the paper
published in the current edition of Neuron.
The researchers also found that the neural ensembles in this area were more effective than
single neurons for focusing attention and controlling gaze, suggesting that tapping into
these signals might be helpful in neural prosthetics, such a brain-mind machines, to allow
people who are paralyzed to use their thoughts to control objects in their environment
more effectively.

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 Representational Systems

Seeing [Visual]

Eyes These people look up to their right or left, or their eyes may
appear unfocused.
Gestures Their gestures are quick and angular, and include pointing.
Breathing & High, shallow and quick.
Speech Fast
Words The words that capture their attention include:
See, look, imagine, reveal, perspective.
Presentations They prefer pictures, diagrams, movies.

Hearing [Auditory]

Eyes These people look down to the left and may appear “shifty-
eyed."
Gestures Their gestures are balanced, touching one’s face (i.e. rubbing
the chin).
Breathing & Mid-chest, rhythmic.
Speech Speak rhythmically
Words The words that capture their attention include:
Hear, listen, ask, tell, clicks, in-tune.
Presentations They prefer lists, summaries, quotes, readings.

Feeling [Kinesthetic]

Eyes These people look down to the right.

Gestures Their gestures are rhythmic, touching their
chest (basically true for men) – Bill Clinton.

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Breathing & Deep and slow with pauses.
Speech Speaks slowly.
Words The words that capture their attention
include:
Feel, touch, grasp, catch on, contact.
Presentations Toward [Goals]: achieve, attain, gain.
Away From [Problems]: avoid, relieve, out.

To be more persuasive with all groups, make the representation: BIGGER,

CLOSER, MORE COLORFUL, 3-D, MOVING, CLEAR SOUND and INTENSE
IN FEELINGS.

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 Predicates

The following lists are predicates in language (verbs, adverbs and adjectives) that
are associated with specific representational systems. A way of detecting the primary
(most commonly used) representational system a person has in consciousness is by
listening to the language, the sentences generated, and noticing the predicates used.

Visual Auditory Kinesthetic Unspecified Olfactory/Gust

See Sound Feel Think Smell

Picture Hear Relax Decide Fragrant
Perceive Discuss Grasp Understand Stink
Notice Listen Handle Know Reek
Look Talk Stress Develop Aroma
Show Call on Pressure Prepare Pungent
Appear Quiet Smooth Activate Sour
Clear Inquire Clumsy Manage Sweet
Pretty Noisy Rough Repeat Acrid
Colorful Loud Hard Advise Musty
Hazy Outspoken Grip Indicate Fresh
Observe Articulate Warm Consider Bland
Flash Scream Rush Motivate Stale
Focus Pronounce Firm Plan Fresh
Bright Remark Euphoric Anticipate Bitter
Scene Resonate Clammy Create Salty
Perspective Harmony Touch Generate Nutty
Imagine Shrill Calm Deduce Delicious
View Oral Dull Direct Salivate
Vista Whimper Burning Achieve Spoiled
Horizon Mention Stinging Accomplish Sniff
Make a scene Tongue-tied Get the drift Initiate Smokey
Tunnel vision Ring a bell Boils down to Conclude Bitter pill
Plainly see Loud and clear Hang in there New Fish notion
knowledge
See eye-to-eye Idle talk Sharp as a tack Creative option
Mind’s eye To tell the Slipped my Aware of
truth mind
Bird’s eye view Word for word Pull some Intensify
strings
Catch a Rap session Moment of Incorporate
glimpse of panic
Bright future Unheard of Smooth operator Differentiate
In light of Call on Get the drift Represent

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 Sense and non-sense
When talking or writing, it is possible to make use of our five senses. It is also possible
to exclude the senses from the what is said, leading to a more objective way of
speaking.
Sensory language references and stimulates the senses, thus:

The cool morning sun cast long fingers of shadow and light across the
green field as our visitors tramped across rough and the dewy grass.

Objective language seeks to engage the logical mind, but not the senses, which are
considered too emotional. It is thus common in such as legal, scientific and business
writing.

Morning came and the people arrived.

Senses in language
Language can make reference to any or all senses by deliberate use of appropriate
sensory words. Note that these can be both direct description and also sensory
metaphors.
Sight
The visual sense is referenced by talking about light and dark, shades and hues, visible
shape and appearance.

Her brilliant red blouse fitted her slim figure like a glove.

Sound
Auditory senses are triggered by reference to loudness, timbre, actual words spoken,
and so on.

He shouted harsh approval at the sound of her pure warbling Italian

soprano.

Feeling
Tactile feeling and emotional feeling are closely connected, as we sense our emotions as
tensions and other physical bodily experiences.

His heart thumped as he grasped the meaning of her smile.

Taste and smell

Our gustatory senses are closely linked and are often used in the metaphoric sense.

She could stomach his words no longer and smelled a bitter rat in his
intent.

Smell in particularly is powerfully evocative sense and can easily trigger early
memories.

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Sense preferences
While we can detect five senses, we tend to have a preference for some rather than
others. Whilst some of us might be evenly balanced, many of us have a significant
preference for visual or auditory information.
Sense preferences can be detected in the language that people use. If I am a 'pictures
person' then I will use more visual words, including visual metaphor. On the other hand,
if I pay particular attention to sounds, then I might use more sound-base metaphors.
Likewise I might use tactile language.
The power of sensory language
The power of stimulation
Sense language is more powerful at engaging others simply because it triggers our
senses rather than requiring the cognitive effort that more abstract or objective talk
needs.
If you paint pictures, sounds and sensations with words, you will immediately gain
attention and greater understanding, and hence be better able to communicate
effectively and persuade others to your cause.
Reflecting the sense preference
As with any communication, if you reflect back to a person those things that they
prefer, then they will pay even more attention to these things than others.
Using their preferred sense channel will also make you appear to be more like them and
hence create a bond with them and consequently gain their trust.

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 Witches Brew
This technique involves four or more participants. One serves as the subject, one uses
Visual predicates, one uses Auditory predicates and one uses Kinesthetic predicates.

The subject states a goal that he/she would like to realize. For the next ninety seconds,
the other three, in turn, speak positive affirming statements employing the
representational system they represent. For example, the subject states that his/her
goal is to lose weight, then the person sitting in the Visual chair (sitting directly in front
of the subject) might say, “Imagine how good you will look after you have lost the
weight,” the person sitting in the Auditory chair might say, “Hear the positive comments
of your friends and relatives after you have lost the weight,” and the person in the
Kinesthetic chair might say, “Feel how much more energy you will have once you have
lost the weight.”

Then, for the next ninety seconds, instead of speaking in turn, the people sitting in the
V-A-K chairs make their affirming statements as a group, in unison.

After that has been accomplished, the person who has been sitting in the Subject chair
moves to the Visual chair, the person from the Visual chair moves to the Auditory chair,
the person from the Auditory chair moves to the Kinesthetic chair, and the person from
the Kinesthetic chair becomes the new Subject and has to state a goal that he/she
would like to realize. The process continues until everyone has had the opportunity to
sit in the Subject chair and state a goal.

Chairs could be added for both the Olfactory and Gustatory representation systems, or
one person could represent both, depending on the number of participants available for
the Witches' Brew.

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 Sub-Modality Distinctions

Sub-Modality Questions
Visual Color/Black & White  Is it in color or black and white?
 Is it full-color spectrum?
 Are the colors vivid or washed out?
Brightness  In that context, is it brighter or darker than
normal?
Focus  Is the image sharp in focus or is it fuzzy?
Texture  Is the image smooth or rough textured?
Detail  Are there foreground and background
details?
 Do you see the details as part of a whole or
do you have to shift focus to see them?
Size  How big is the picture? (ask for a specific
size)
Distance  How far away is the image? (specific
distance)
Location  Where is the image located in space?
 Show me with both hands where you see the
images(s).
Movement  Is it a movie or a still picture?
 How rapid is the movement: faster or slower
than normal?

Association /  Do you see yourself or do you see the event
Dissociation as if you were there?
Perspective  From what perspective do you see it?
 If dissociated, do you see yourself from the
right or left, back or front?
Dimension  Is it flat or is it three-dimensional?
 Does the picture wrap around you?
Auditory Location  Do you hear it from the inside or from the
outside?
 Where does the sound (voice) originate?
Pitch  Is it high-pitched or low-pitched?
 Is the pitch higher or lower than normal?
Mono / Stereo  Do you hear it on one side, both sides, or is
the sound all around you?
Kinesthetic Intensity  How strong is the sensation?
Quality  How would you describe the body
Movement sensations: tingling, warm, cold, relaxed,
tense, knotted, diffused?
Location  Where do you feel it in your body?

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 Mapping Across Love to Disgust
You can also feel differently about a situation. It’s just a matter of shifting your submodalities.
There are steps you can take to change motivation to un-motivation, or turn love to disgust. Of
course, it’s great to be able to change an unmotivated goal to a motivated goal, but the reverse is
sometimes necessary, as well. Think about when you are motivated toward that bowl of ice
cream…a whopping 500 calories. In order to break your food addiction and achieve your dream
weight, you must become unmotivated quickly. With that in mind, here are the five steps to
control motivation:

Step One: Elicit the submodalities of a food you love

Imagine a food that is not the healthiest choice, but that’s one you really want. Perhaps it’s a big,
juicy steak. Whatever the food, make mental notes about the submodalities. (Because this food is
a substance, most of the submodalities will involve kinesthetics.) Imagine the smell, feel and,
most of all, the taste. On a scale of 1-10, rate all the things you like about this type of food. (Since
you like this food, most of them should be up toward 10.)

Step Two: Elicit the submodalities of a food you hate

Now think of a food that you don’t like at all. Deviled eggs, perhaps. Imagine eating it. Imagine
the smell and the taste. Think of how it makes you feel. Imagine what you would feel like
chewing and swallowing the food. Are you feeling sick? Probably. Now, take note of all the
submodalities involved in disliking this food.

Step Three: The difference between the liked and disliked foods
There are some definite differences here, as there should be. One food you like, and the other you
despise. The differences between the two are called drivers. The steak is hot. Deviled eggs are
cold. The steak smells good. Deviled eggs smell nasty. Steak is dark and pleasing to the eye,
while the deviled eggs are pale and pasty.

Step Four: Replacing the likes with dislikes

Now, imagine that hot and juicy steak, but replace it with those deviled eggs. Imagine yourself
eating the steak, but imagine that it tastes and feels like those deviled eggs that you absolutely
hate. Imagine how they taste and what they feel like going down. Separate yourself from that
steak by stepping out and making the visual smaller. How badly do you want that steak now?

Step Five: Test it

Granted, you wouldn’t always want to replace steak and never eat it again, but this kind of
replacement can be used as a tool to control intensity and state of mind. We’ve used food in this
example, but this replacement method is a great way to neutralize any type of craving or
compulsion. It can help you turn off those obsessions for things you don’t need or that are bad for
you.

These are a few of the ways the Neural Reprogramming Technique can help you overcome
addictions and reach your goals. That’s not the whole story, though. Next, we’ll take a look at
how your brain and its programming affect your behavior.

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 Sensory Perceptual Strategies

Every person has his own Sensory Perceptual Strategy program that he uses when
he communicates. These strategies are the primary, secondary and tertiary
representational styles of the communicator. For example, a person can be a V-A-K,
which means his strategy is Visual-Auditory-Kinesthetic. When you communicate with
that person, you want to use the processor words that pertain to the V-A-K strategy. The
same is true for all the other representational strategies.
Theoretically, there can be an infinite number of possible strategies. These are
the six most common:
V-A-K Visual-Auditory-Kinesthetic
V-K-A Visual-Kinesthetic-Auditory
K-V-A Kinesthetic-Visual-Auditory
K-A-V Kinesthetic-Auditory-Visual
A-V-K Auditory-Visual-Kinesthetic
A-K-V Auditory-Kinesthetic-Visual
It is very easy to learn another person’s Sensory Perceptual Style, or
representational strategy. All you have to do is UNPACK it. Unpacking a strategy is
very simple. Just ask the person to remember a time when they were very happy. Then
ask them to tell you what it was about that experience that made them so happy. Keep
asking them to tell you another two times and listen for the processor words. They will
tell you it was things they saw, felt or heard. When they have told you three times, you
have their basic strategy. Now, all you have to do to communicate effectively with them
and to develop rapport is to PLAYBACK their strategy.
Strategy playback involves communicating with another person in their
modalities of reality. You use the same order or representation, such as V-A-K, but you
use it in a different context. Basically, you tell them a story using the appropriate
processor words. When they experience this story through their sensory perceptual style,
they will develop a rapport with you and communication will be easy. You will find that
more people will enjoy being with you and doing things with you simply because you can
now communicate effectively with them.

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 Natural Theory of NLP

The Dissociation integral to Trance NLP or Hypnosis – causes

Perceptual, Conscious, & Non-Conscious Processes to Dis-
Associate; this more Independent Operation may Permit these
Processes to Self-Optimize, & Better Deal w/ Threats
Dissociation of Conscious & Non-Conscious Processes un-
couples Thought (Cognitive) Processes that are Linked & often
hierarchal Disrupts the Flow of Info from
Level 1> Experience
Level 2> Disassociation
Level 3 – Result in Number Block,& Pos./Neg. Hallucinations!

What is the RAS?

The functions of the reticular activating system are many and varied. Among other functions, it
contributes to the control of sleep, walking, sex, eating, and elimination. Perhaps the most
important function of the RAS is its control of consciousness; it is believed to control sleep,
wakefulness, and the ability to consciously focus attention on something. In addition, the RAS
acts as a filter, dampening down the effect of repeated stimuli such as loud noises, helping to
prevent the senses from being overloaded

Imagine that you're wanting a new car, but you have not decided the type of auto you want, so
you are looking around. Then you decide to get a Jeep, suddenly you notice them everywhere.
The day before you did not pay attention to them, now you can’t miss them.

Think of all the noise - hundreds of types of cars but you sort out the one you want, easily and
quickly. How much of this clutter is brought to your attention? Not a lot.

True, you can see, hear and even feel general background noise, but not many of us bother to
listen to each individual sound. The hum of an air-conditioner, the sight of passing cars, even the
feel of your clothes. Ever got new shoes and they hurt, but then you focus on a task and you
forget your pain. Think of an athlete injured in a game who does not feel it until it’s over (or of
course combat)

When your attention is correctly focused your RAS is the automatic mechanism inside your brain
that brings relevant information to your attention.

Your reticular activating system is like a filter between your conscious mind and your
subconscious mind. It takes instructions from your conscious mind and passes them on to your
subconscious. There are some interesting points about your RAS that make it an essential tool for
achieving goals.

So you can deliberately reprogram the reticular activating system by self choosing the exact
messages you send from your conscious mind. For example, you can set goals using NLP and

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 32

add visualizations to your goals. Napoleon Hill said that we can achieve any realistic goal if we
keep on thinking of that goal, and stop thinking any negative thoughts about it. Also your
reticular activating system cannot distinguish between 'real events' and 'synthetic' reality. In other
words it tends to believe whatever message you give it. Imagine that you're going to be giving a
speech. You can practice giving that speech by visualizing it in your mind. This 'pretend' practice
should improve your ability to give the speech.

Recent advances lets us map the mind and if you are eating say chocolate cake (and you like it)
certain parts of your brain lights up with this real action. Now we know that when you vividly
imagine eating that cake the same mechanisms “light up” in your mind. WOW Napoleon Hill and
Maxwell Maltz were correct!

The reticular activating system appears to play an important role in dreaming. Scientific
observation using brain scans and electronic equipment shows that during deep sleep, the activity
in this area is much reduced. During rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, however, which is when
dreaming occurs, the activity in the reticular activating system increases to levels similar to those
that are seen during wakefulness. In his classic 1960 self-help book Psychocybernetics, Dr
Maxwell Maltz discusses our automatic goal seeking 'servo-mechanism'. He doesn't use the
words reticular activating system, but it is the same process.

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 Sensory Acuity and Rapport

Work with a partner and use the following methods to develop rapport with them. Take
turns playing the role of the client.

1. Always breathe with the person. If they are breathing fast, pace them and slow
down.

2. Directly mirror the person’s posture and movements. Don’t mimic – just flow with
them naturally.

3. Match the type of words (predicates) the client uses: If the client says that they
don’t see something working out, or they can’t clearly picture the outcome, you
would match the visual predicates and ask them to see the picture of some experience
clearly.

4. Backtrack over what the client tell you to enhance rapport. Spend a few minutes
doing this.

THEN: Mismatch as many words, processes, and questions that you can and notice
what happens.

Mirror Neurons

You see a stranger stub her toe and you immediately flinch in sympathy, or you
notice a friend wrinkle up his face in disgust while tasting some food and suddenly
your own stomach recoils at the thought of eating. This ability to instinctively and
immediately understand what other people are experiencing has long baffled
neuroscientists, but recent research now suggests a fascinating explanation: brain
cells called mirror neurons.

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In the early 1990s, Italian researchers made an astonishing and quite
unexpected discovery. They had implanted electrodes in the brains of
several macaque monkeys to study the animals’ brain activity during
different motor actions, including the clutching of food. One day, as a
researcher reached for his own food, he noticed neurons begin to fire in the
monkeys’ premotor cortex—the same area that showed activity when the
animals made a similar hand movement. How could this be happening when
the monkeys were sitting still and merely watching him?

During the ensuing two decades, this serendipitous discovery of mirror

neurons—a special class of brain cells that fire not only when an individual
performs an action, but also when the individual observes someone else
make the same movement—has radically altered the way we think about our
brains and ourselves, particularly our social selves.

Before the discovery of mirror neurons, scientists generally believed that

our brains use logical thought processes to interpret and predict other
people’s actions. Now, however, many have come to believe that we
understand others not by thinking, but by feeling. For mirror neurons
appear to let us “simulate” not just other people’s actions, but the intentions
and emotions behind those actions. When you see someone smile, for
example, your mirror neurons for smiling fire up, too, creating a sensation in
your own mind of the feeling associated with smiling. You don’t have to think
about what the other person intends by smiling. You experience the meaning
immediately and effortlessly.

Mirror neuron research, therefore, is helping scientists reinterpret the

neurological underpinning of social interactions. These studies are leading
to:

 New insight into how and why we develop empathy for others.

 More knowledge about autism, schizophrenia, and other brain

disorders characterized by poor social interactions.

 A new theory about the evolution of language.

 New therapies for helping stroke victims regain lost movement.

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Direct evidence of individual mirror neurons continues to come from
research involving macaque monkeys implanted with electrodes. Building on
research in animals, researchers have conducted brain imaging studies that
reveal a possible mirror neuron “system” in humans, as well. Several key
findings have been made. One is that mirror neurons appear to allow us to
determine other people’s intentions as well as their actions. For example,
one area of the mirror neuron system exhibits greater activation in our
brains when we observe someone picking up a cup to have a drink than
when we watch the same person picking it up to clear it from a table.

The mirror neuron system also appears to allow us to decode (receive and
interpret) facial expressions. Whether we are observing a specific expression
or making it ourselves (a frown of disgust, for example) the same regions of
our brain become activated. And the better we are at interpreting facial
expressions, the more active our mirror neuron system.

These findings suggest that the mirror neuron system plays a key role in our
ability to empathize and socialize with others, for we communicate our
emotions mostly through facial expressions. And, indeed, studies have found
that people with autism—a disorder characterized, in part, by problems
during social interactions—appear to have a dysfunctional mirror neuron
system. The more severe the symptoms of autism, the less active the mirror
neuron system seems to be. Studies have demonstrated that children with
autism have difficulties understanding the intention of others on the basis of
the action they observe. In order to decide what others are doing, they rely
on object meaning or the context in which the action is performed. To them,
a cup means “drinking” even when others would intuit that the intention is
to clear it from the table. Attempts are now being made to use imitative
behavior to try to counter this deficit. Similar imitative training techniques
are also being explored to rehabilitate people whose motor skills have been
damaged by a stroke or other brain injury.

Among other intriguing mirror neuron research is the discovery that

complex hand gestures activate the same brain circuits as the complex
tongue and lip movements used in making sentences. Some scientists
believe these findings suggest that spoken language evolved from hand
gestures.

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 36

Do mirror neurons form the basis of communication and empathy? That has
yet to be determined. But research into this intricate and pervasive neural
system is providing fascinating new insight into the mechanisms by which
we acquire social skills and communicate our innermost feelings and
intentions to others.

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 Major Presuppositions of NLP

NLP is one way of looking at the world. These are the filters of that viewpoint:

1. We are always communicating.

2. The meaning of the communication is the response that you get.

3. People respond to their map of reality, not to reality itself.

4. Requisite variety. The element in a system with the most flexibility will usually be

the controlling element.

5. People always make the best choice available to them.

6. Every behavior is useful in some context.

7. Experience has a structure. Chunking. Anything can be accomplished if we break it

down into small enough pieces.

8. People already have most of the resources that they need.

9. There is no failure, only feedback.

10. If what you're doing does not work, do something else.

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 Introducing The Meta Model

A model, developed by John Grinder and Richard Bandler, which bears a close
resemblance to the list of ten “cognitive distortions” found in Cognitive-Behavioral
Therapy. The meta model identifies commonly occurring language patterns which
actually hamper good communication, and shows how they can be tackled to open up
clearer, more effective communication.
Grouped under three basic headings – Deletions, Distortions, and Generalizations
– the meta model covers a variety of misleading language patterns such as: unspecified
nouns, unspecified verbs, unqualified comparisons, unqualified absolutes and
unquestioned rules, missing referential indices, etc. These are each described elsewhere
in the glossary under the relevant headings: Deletions, Distortions, Generalizations,
Nouns, unspecified, Verbs, unspecified, and so on.

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 Information Gathering: The Key to Successful Interactions
The Meta Model
William Horton
From the work of Alfred Habdank Skarbek Korzybski

The Key Questions

1) What do you want?

2) What will that do for you? (specifically)

3) How will you know when you have it?

4) How will this affect other aspects (or people) in your life?

5) What stops you from having this already?

6) What resources do you already have that will help you obtain your outcome?

7) What additional resources do you need to obtain it?

8) How are you going to get there?

a) First step. Be specific and achievable.

b) Is there more than one way to get there?

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 Exquisite Information Gathering

This summary of the Meta-Model is reprinted from an Appendix to Solutions, by

Leslie Cameron-Bandler, ©1985 Future-Pace Inc., and may not be duplicated or reprinted
without written permission from the author and publisher.

The Meta-Model

The meta-model is an explicit set of linguistic information gathering tools designed

to reconnect a person’s language to the experience that is represented by their language.
Fundamental to the useful application of this material is the concept that language is
not experience, but rather a representation of experience, like a map is a representation of
a territory. While I’m sure that you are familiar with the notion that the map is not the
territory, I wonder if you have fully realized that, as human beings, we will forever
experience only the map and not the territory. Actually, as persons who assist people in
changing, this is to our advantage. We alter maps: that is, we change people’s subjective
experience of the world, not the world itself.
We make our maps out of the interaction between internal and external experience.
Because we humans represent (or build) maps of our experience with language, a set of
tools like those provided by the meta-model is invaluable. Essentially, the meta-model
serves as an interface between language and experience.
All of the following material was developed by Richard Bandler and John Grinder,
and a more detailed presentation can be found in The Structure of Magic. What follows
is a summation of their material, reorganized to facilitate its usefulness to you.

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 Three Universal Modeling Processes

Because we must assess the world we live in based on information that is filtered
through our five senses, our brains create models or maps of the world that we use to
guide our behavior. The models allow us to make sense out of our experiences. They are
not to be evaluated as good, bad, healthy, sick, or crazy – but rather for their ability to
make it possible to cope successfully and respond creatively to the world around us.
To be an effective therapist, you must understand your client’s model or map of the
world. Human behavior – no matter how bizarre or resistant it may seem – makes sense
when we see it in the context of the choices, or the lack of choices, generated by the
client’s model. It is not that our clients are making the wrong choices. It is just that they
do not have enough choices available to deal effectively with an issue.
Each of us makes the very best choices available to us from our model of the world.
However, many people have adopted models lacking in useful choices as displayed by
the endless conflicts both within and among humankind. “It is not the world that lacks
choices but the individual’s model of the world,” say Grinder and Bandler.
We create our models through three universal modeling processes: generalization,
deletion, and distortion. These processes allow us to survive, grow, learn, understand,
and experience the richness the world has to offer. But if we mistake our subjective
reality for reality, these same processes limit us and squelch our ability to be flexible in
our responses.
Generalization is the process by which people apply parts of a model they
developed during their original (and often forgotten) experience to the entire category of
which the experience is an example. We learn to function in the world by generalizing.
A child learns to open a door by turning a knob. He then generalizes this experience to
the many types of phenomena he recognizes as doors and attempts to open all of them by
turning the knobs. As a man enters a darkened room, he reaches for the light switch. He
does not have to learn a new strategy for producing light in every new room he enters.
However, the same process can work as a limitation. If a man fails once to perform
sexually in a way that he deems adequate and then generalizes his experience to deciding
that he is no good at sex, he would deny himself much indeed. Or, if a woman decides

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that all men are insensitive based on limited and selective experiences, she loses a great
deal.
Each of us makes many generalizations that are useful and appropriate in some
situations and not in others. For example, a child might learn from his family's responses
that crying and whining will get him what he wants, yet the same behavior will likely get
him abuse from his peers. If he generalizes only the former behavior and not the latter,
he may not be able to generate more appropriate and useful behavior in the company of
his peers. If a young man generalizes only those behaviors that are useful among fellow
males, he may experience great difficulty in obtaining respect and interest from women.
Whether or not a generalization is useful must be evaluated in the particular context.
Deletion is a second method that can enable us to cope effectively or to limit
ourselves. We delete when we selectively pay attention to certain aspects of our
experience and exclude others. This allows us to focus our awareness and attend to one
portion of our experience over others. Thus, someone can read a book with people
around him talking, or with the TV on, or with the stereo playing. This process enables
us to cope and prevents us from being overwhelmed by external stimuli.
Again though, the same process can be limiting if we delete portions of our
experience that are necessary for a full and rich model of the world. The adolescent who
believes he is being unjustly treated and picked on and doesn’t perceive his own
participation in creating the situation has not developed a useful model of the world. A
therapist who deletes sensory information because she becomes bored during sessions is
limiting her own experience as well as that of her clients.
The third modeling process is distortion. Distortion allows us to make shifts in how
we experience sensory information. Without this process we could not plan for the future
or make dreams into reality. We misrepresent reality in fiction, art, and even science. A
microscope, a novel, and a painting are all examples of our ability to distort and make
misrepresentations of reality. However, we can limit ourselves with distortion in many
ways.
Think, for example, of the person who distorts all criticism with the response, "I'm
unlovable." As a result of such distortion, any value in the criticism is lost - together with
the opportunities for change and growth. Or, consider the frequent use of distortion in

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 43

turning a process into a thing. When the process of relating , for example, is
disassociated from “relationship,” those involved suffer a loss. The relationship becomes
something out there to be talked about, out of control, and no longer dynamic. Because
these three universal modeling processes are expressed in language patterns, we can use
the set of linguistic tools known as the meta-model to challenge them when they limit
rather than expand a person's behavioral choices.
The meta-model is designed to teach the listener how to hear and respond to the form
of the speaker’s communication. The content may vary infinitely, but the form of the
information given allows the listener the opportunity to respond in such a way as to
obtain the fullest meaning from the communication. With the meta-model, it is possible
to quickly discern the richness and the limits of the information given as well as the
human modeling processes used by the speaker. By listening and responding using the
meta-model distinctions, we create the most understanding and learning from any specific
communication.

The meta-model distinctions fall into three natural groupings:

 Gathering Information

 Limits of the Speaker's Model

 Semantic Ill-formedness

Gathering information refers to gaining, through appropriate questions and responses, an

accurate and full description of the content being presented. Again, this process assists in
reconnecting the speaker's language with his or her experience. There are four sub-distinctions in
this category. Note: the parenthesis to the right helps to explain each category.

 Deletion (About Whom or What?)

 Lack of Referential Index (Who or What?)

 Unspecified Verbs (How?)

 Nominalizations (Thing or Event rephrased as a Process)

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 44

 Deletion - Recognizing when a deletion has occurred and assisting in recovering the
deleted information aids in restoring a fuller representation of the experience. To recover
the missing material, the meta-modeler asks: ABOUT WHOM? or ABOUT WHAT?

“I don't understand.”
(Response) “You don't understand what?”
(Or) “What don’t you understand?”

“I'm afraid.”
(Response) “What or whom are you afraid of?”

“I don't like him.”

(Response) “What about him don't you like?”

“He's the best.”

(Response) “He's the best what?”

“He’s the best listener.”

(Response) “He’s the best listener amongst whom?”
(Or) “Between whom?”

In the case of deletion, asking the question, “How, specifically?” will elicit
information concerning the representational system being used by the client.

“I don't understand.”
(Response) “How, specifically, do you know you don't understand?”
“It's just not clear to me.” (i.e., visual representation)

Lack of Referential Index - This is a type of generalization that limits a person's

model of the world by leaving out the detail and richness necessary to have a variety of
options for coping. With this process, a person takes an experience and generalizes it in

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 45

such a way that it's totally out of perspective or out of proportion. To challenge a lack of
referential index, ask: WHO SPECIFICALLY? Or WHAT SPECIFICALLY?

“No one wants me.”

(Response) “Who, specifically, doesn't want you?”

“They are obstinate.”

(Response) "Who, specifically, is obstinate?”

"This is hard”
(Response) “What, specifically, about this is hard for you?”

Unspecified Verbs - These leave us in the dark about the experience being described.
All verbs are relatively unspecified. However, "kiss" is much more specific than “touch.”
If someone says he's been hurt, it could have been from a harsh look given by someone
important to them, or they might have been hit by a car. Asking for verb specification
reconnects the person more fully to his or her experience. To challenge unspecified
verbs, ask: HOW SPECIFICALLY?

“He rejected me.”

(response) “How, specifically, did he reject you?”

“They ignored me.”

(response) "How, specifically, did they ignore you?'

“The children force me to punish them.”

(response) "How, specifically, do the children force you to punish them?"

Nominalizations - These are words that have been transformed from verbs, or
process words, into nouns – making an ongoing process into a thing or an event. When
this happens, we lose choices and need to be reconnected with the ongoing, dynamic

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 46

process of life. Reversing nominalizations assists a person in being able to see that what
they had considered an event – over and beyond their control – is, in fact, a continuing
process that can be changed.
Nominalizations can be distinguished from regular nouns in several ways. For those
who enjoy visualizing, picture a wheelbarrow in your mind's eye. Now put a chair, then a
cat, then your mother in the wheelbarrow. Now try putting failure, virtue, projections,
and confusion into that wheelbarrow. As you can see, nominalizations are not persons,
places, or things that can be put into a wheelbarrow. Another way to test for
nominalizations is to check whether the event word fits into a syntactic frame, an ongoing
__________. If it does, it is a nominalization.
an ongoing problem (nominalization)
an ongoing elephant
an ongoing chair
an ongoing relationship (nominalization)

To transform a nominalization back into a process word, use it as a verb in the

response:

“I don't get any recognition.”

(Response) “How would you like to be recognized?”

“Pay attention.”
(Response) “What do you want me to attend to?”

“I regret my decision.”
(Response) “Does anything stop you from re-deciding?”

“I want help.”
(Response) “How do you want to be helped?”

The next group of meta-model distinctions is referred to as limits of the speaker's

model. These distinctions identify unsupported generalizations or restrictions in a

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 47

person’s thinking. By challenging them appropriately, you can assist a person in
enriching their model of the world by expanding it. The two distinctions in this category
are:

 Universal Quantifiers (All or nothing thinking)

 Modal Operators (Must and can’t thinking)

Universal Quantifiers - These are the words typified by “all,” “every,” “always,”
“never,” “nobody.” Emphasizing the generalization described by the speaker's universal
quantifiers by exaggerating it - both by voice quality and by inserting additional universal
quantifiers – serves to challenge them. This assists them in finding the exception to their
generalization and thus helps them identify more choices. Another way to challenge
directly is to ask whether the speaker has had an experience that contradicts his or her
own generalization.

“I never do anything right.”

(Response) “You absolutely never ever do anything right?”
(Or) “Have you ever done anything right?”

“You're always lying to me."

(Response) “I'm always lying to you?”

“It's impossible to get what I want.”

(Response) “Have you ever gotten something you wanted?”

Modal Operators of Necessity - These words indicate a lack of choice: “have to,”
“must,” “can’t,” “it’s necessary.” Challenging these modal operators takes a person
beyond the limits they have heretofore accepted. Two excellent responses that serve to
challenge these limits are: WHAT STOPS YOU? And WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF
YOU DID?
The response, “What stops you?” serves to take the person into the past to find the
experience from which this generalization was formed. “What would happen if you

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 48

did?” demands that the client go into the future and imagine possible consequences.
These responses assist someone in achieving a richer and fuller model of the world.

“I can’t do it.”
(Response) “What stops you?”

“You have to finish by Tuesday.”

(Response) “What would happen if I didn’t?”

“I have to take care of other people.”

(Response) “What will happen if you don’t?”

“I can’t tell him the truth

(Response) “What will happen if you do?”
(Or) “What stops you from telling him the truth?”

The third group of distinctions is concerned with semantic ill-formedness. The value
of recognizing sentences based on unsubstantiated responsibility, assumptions or
judgments is that it allows you to assist the person in identifying the portions of their
model that are distorted in some way. Making the speaker aware of those portions of
their model based on unsubstantiated beliefs rather than fact gives him or her greater
choice and freedom. It is these ill-formed portions that frequently stop the person from
acting in ways they would otherwise choose to act. The three classes of semantic ill-
formedness are:

 Cause and Effect (Perceived responsibility)

 Mind Reading (Assumptions)

 Lost Performative (Judgements)

Cause and Effect - This involves the belief that some action on the part of one
person can cause another person to act in a particular way or to experience some emotion

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 49

or inner state. In other words, the person believes he or she has no choice concerning
how to respond. When this belief is challenged, it allows the person to explore and
question their cause-effect connection. They can then begin to wonder about other
possible responses they could choose. The challenge is, HOW DOES X CAUSE Y?

“Your writing on the wall bothers me.”

(Response) "How does my writing on the wall bother you?”
(Or) "...make you feel bothered?”

“You frustrate me.”

(Response) “How do I frustrate you? How is it possible for me to frustrate you?”
(Or) “ ... make you feel annoyed?”

“I'm sad because you're late.”

(Response) “How does my being late make you feel sad?”

Mind Reading - Mind reading is the speaker’s belief that one person can know what
another person is thinking or feeling without a direct communication from the second
person. In other words, the speaker is acting on assumptions rather than information.
Obviously, mind reading can do much to inhibit the usefulness of a person's model of the
world. The challenge to mind reading is, HOW, SPECIFICALLY, DO YOU KNOW X?
This helps the speaker become aware of, and even to question, those assumptions he or
she may have previously taken for granted.

“Everybody thinks I’m taking too much time.”

(Response) “How, specifically, do you know that everybody is thinking that?”

“I’m sure you can see how I feel.”

(Response) “How, specifically, can you be sure I see how you feel?”

“I know what’s best for him.”

(Response) “How, specifically, do you know what is best for him?”

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 50

 “He never considers the consequences.”
(Response) “How, specifically, do you know he never considers the consequences?”

Lost Performative - Lost performative refers to statements made in the form of a

generalization about the world itself rather than recognized as belonging to the speaker’s
model of the world. Usually, they are judgments. The speaker is using a lost
performative when he applies “rules” from his model of the world on others. Phrased in
the vernacular, this is called laying your trip on somebody else. The purpose in
challenging this is to enable the speaker to have his own rules and opinions while
comfortably allowing others to have their own. Frequently, with lost performative, there
is no indication that the speaker is even aware of other options or possibilities. To
challenge that mindset, ask FOR WHOM?

“It’s wrong to be on welfare.”

(Response) “It’s wrong for whom to be on welfare?”

“This is the right way to do it.”

(Response) “This is the right way for whom?”

“That’s a sick thing to do.”

(Response) “Sick for whom?”

As stated at the beginning, the meta-model is a set of tools for building better
communication. It requires that your client make his communication more clearly
understandable by asking what, how, and who in response to the specific form of the
client’s language. Your skills as a meta-modeler depend on your willingness and ability
to implement the questions and the responses provided by the meta-model.
As you practice the meta-model, pay careful attention to your internal processes.
Since it is a formalization of intuitive behavior, you would turn to the meta-model
responses rather than refer to an your own internally generated experience to understand
a client’s communication. For example, when a client says, "My father hurt me," in

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order to understand fully what is meant by this statement, you must ask, "How?" The
client may have been beaten, yelled at, scowled at, or simply ignored. If you decide that
you understand what is meant by the word "hurt" by simply calling on your own
experience, then you are, in fact, meeting the client at your model for the world, not his.
The meta-model allows you to stay attuned to your client’s perception of the world
instead of slipping into your own subjective experience for understanding. Simply insert
the appropriate meta-model responses at those points where you previously would have
had to refer to your own internal experience to understand (or attempt to understand) your
client's meaning.
As an example, suppose a client says to you, “I'm afraid of crowds.” If you go inside
and decide, “Oh yeah, afraid of crowds, yes, I know about that,” then you have missed
the opportunity to further connect the client with his own experience. But the responses
provided by the meta-model – “How do you know you are afraid of crowds?” or “What
about crowds frightens you?” or “What stops you from being comfortable in crowds?” –
serve to keep you with the client’s experience and help them generate answers and new
possibilities for growth from his or her own resources. What’s more, those resources
might be ones you have yet developed.
Finding those points at which you do go inside to internal experience to understand a
given communication and inserting the meta-model questions instead will greatly
enhance your effectiveness as a therapist. And it will facilitate integration of the meta-
model into your automatic unconscious behavior. One way to do this is by having a
friend generate sentences that contain a meta-model violation. With each one, determine
how your intuitions express themselves.
For example, if you hear the statement, "My feelings were hurt," and form a mental
picture, how do you know how the other person’s feelings were hurt, and by whom or
what? If you remembered a time (whether visually, kinesthetically, or aurally) when
your own feelings were hurt then you are "understanding" from your experience, not
theirs. As you become keenly aware of your own internal processes, you will learn those
cues that signal you when you are going inside to make sense instead of staying in the
present. Once you have identified what your own signal is, you can utilize it by inserting
the meta-model responses instead of your own internalization. Each time you are

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 52

signaled that something is missing or doesn't make sense, you will know that a meta-
model response would be useful and appropriate.
The meta-model is based on human intuitions. Therefore, if you become keenly
aware of those intuitions, learning the meta-model can be a quick and easy process.
Those intuitions can be expressed in any representational system – visual, auditory,
kinesthetic, etc. If I say, for example, “The giraffe was chased,” you have an intuition
that something was left out. Perhaps your picture is incomplete. Or, if you represent
kinesthetically, you don't know how fast the giraffe should be running. Neither of these
representations is complete until you know the answer to "Chased by what?" Regardless
of how your intuitions express themselves, you would insert the meta-model question at
this point to extract the fullest possible meaning from the communication.
To utilize these intuitions in teaching the meta-model distinctions, begin by (1) generating
sentences to the learner that contain one pattern of meta-model violation; (2) ask the learner what
his experience is; and (3) once you have determined how the learner’s intuitions express
themselves concerning this pattern, have them ask the appropriate meta-model question – making
it an integral portion of the expression of those same intuitions. So, if he has an incomplete
picture, he asks for the rest of it. If he feels puzzled, insert the question that will put the piece in
place. If it doesn’t sound right, or if it is out of tune, insert the question that will make harmony
of the discord. By varying the content of the statements containing the meta-model violations,
the repetition necessary to integrate the meta-model question with the intuition can remain
stimulating.
The intuitions will vary within a person for the various patterns. There may be a
feeling for universal quantifiers, a picture for nominalizations, and a sound for cause and
effect. Each person will have a unique set, but each person will also fall into consistent
patterns. Once the patterns have been learned, these exercises can help to further
integrate them into everyday behavior.
Be sure to learn (or teach) the meta-model in the three categories outlined in this
appendix: Gathering Information, Limits of the Speaker’s Model and Semantic Ill-
formedness. In this way, you (or the student) will have appropriately organized the meta-
model for easy and full integration and conscious and unconscious processes.

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Meta-Model Outline Summary:

A. Gathering Information

1. Deletion
2. Lack of Referential Index
3. Unspecified Verbs
4. Nominalizations

B. Limits of the speaker’s model

5. Universal Quantifiers
6. Modal Operators

C. Semantic Ill-formedness
7. Cause and Effect
8. Mind Reading
9. Lost Perfomative

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 54

 Body Language in Sports
Sports is all about the body, movement and nonverbal communication. Teammates have
to read each other’s cues, while competitors have to stake their claim and show nonverbal
prowess.
What are some of the body language cues in sports? Here is a rundown of the nonverbal
cues you can spot while watching your favorite team:

The Body Language of a Winner

Across countries, across cultures, across sports, there is universal body language of
pride. Research done by the University of British Columbia studied blind and seeing
athletes around the world. They found that all athletes made the same body language
expression when they won a race—even blind athletes who had never seen anyone do it
before. The body language of a winner is classic. Arms and hands above head, mouth
open, face pointed up towards the sky exclaiming in triumph.

The Body Language of a Loser

Sadly, losers also have a unique body expression. We do not learn this expression by
observation, we are innately programmed to do this when we lose. Losers roll their
shoulders in, hang their head low, make a pained or sad expression and clench their hands
into fists of defeat. It looks similar to a balloon deflating as the air, adrenaline and
excitement leaves the body it wilts in sadness and frustration.

Body Language in Action

Teammates have to be able to closely read each other’s movements. Especially in quick
moving sports like soccer, hockey, rugby and basketball. Typically, players have to
communicate with each other on the court or field nonverbally—without saying anything
they have to know when to receive a pass or when someone will move left or right to be
open. There are a few nonverbal ways athletes do this:

•The eyebrow flash is something that humans do instinctively when they want to attract
attention. If you hang out in a popular bar you will notice that men flash their eyebrows at
attractive women as they walk by hoping the woman will stop to chat. Players do this for
teammates when they want to initiate a pass. It is a nonverbal way of saying, “You
ready?”
•Torso tilting is another thing that players do when they want another player to engage
with them. You will notice basketball players sometimes will aim their torso at a player a
split second before they pass to them. This nonverbally tells their teammate to get ready.
•The chin salute is a more subtle way we point. When players want to point towards an
opening, a goal or a player they often use their chin as a substitute finger. It is more
subtle than using their hands and sometimes the only area of their body open when their
hands are dribbling, holding sticks or rackets or defending against the other side. Watch
players chins as they move down the court and you will see how their chins nod
directions at each other.

The Body Language of Shame

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 55

 When a player misses a goal, makes a mistake or feels embarrassed they often do the
body language of shame. This is when someone puts the tips of their fingers up to the
side of their forehead. Its as if the player is trying to shield himself from the insults
hurdled upon him from the crowd. In a true moment of devastation a player will cover
both her eyes with her hands or her entire face to block out the shame. This is called eye
blocking and we do this subconsciously because we hope by covering our eyes we will
stop seeing what makes us feel so bad.

The Body Language of Camaraderie

Team members sweat, train and sometimes even bleed together. That creates immense
opportunities for bonding. How does this camaraderie show up in body language?
Through the power of proxemics, a fancy word for the distance between people, and
haptics, a fancy word for touch. Teammates have much higher rates of touch than average
friends. They pat each other on the back, butt, head and torso in gestures of congeniality.
Team players also maintain smaller distances between each other. They stand close
together, huddle on sidelines and close talk much more comfortably than normal friends.
Of course, this comes from frequent body touching with close proximity during play.

The Body Language of an Alpha

Typically on a team or any group of people there is an alpha, or unspoken group leader.
This is usually the most powerful player on a team. Alpha’s not only have a higher level
of skill but also show different body language movements. You will notice that team
alphas strut, hold their head higher and back further than other players and puff their
chest out both on and off the field. These subtle confidence cues remind other players
“who’s boss” and are a show to the outside world. You can practice this by viewing a
team you are unfamiliar with. While the team waits on the sidelines, try to spot the player
with the highest head, most puffed out chest and strutting walk. Then look up their
rankings. You will almost always find this person is the top one or two players on the
team.
Sports provide a great opportunity to view body language in action. Players have high
emotions, adrenaline pumping and close social and territorial interactions with team
members and coaches—it gives us plenty of fun body language spotting opportunities.

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 56

 Anchoring
Multiple Accessing Representations

Often in the process of communicating with a client, the achieved level of rapport
can change as the discussion changes. It is important to have a method of quickly re-
establishing the initial rapport. Anchoring allows you to do this. Below are the basics
about anchoring.

1) It does not take a long period of time to establish an anchor. Repeated

motivations and conditioning will reinforce an anchor.

2) Reinforcement and direct rewards are not required for an anchor’s association.

3) Internal responses and experiences are significant. Although

internal reactions are not measurable....they are a definitive response.

4) Anchors are ‘set’ and ‘fired off’. The more profound the experience when
the catalyst is set, the stronger the retaliatory response.

5) Timing is crucial while establishing an anchor. It is necessary that the correct

trigger sets off the desired response. The strength of the response will guide
the client’s mind in the necessary and desired path.

6) The more original the motivation, the easier it is to re-establish the desired
rapport. The repercussions of mixed responses due to general stimuli could
often be detrimental to the client as well as the relationship as a whole. By
establishing unique stimuli, it allows for little margin of error and eases the re-
accessing of the desired state.

7) Anchors can be established in the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic

representational systems.

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 57

 8) Anchors can be set and fired off both consciously and unconsciously. People
regularly create anchors in everyday experiences. They may watch a
news show about an incident or situation they feel strongly about (negative
or
positive). From that point on, any time a word, sound or image comes up that
brings forth the memory of that news show, it will elicit a certain response in
the subject. In effect, an anchor has been ‘set’ and ‘fired off’.

Classical conditioning (also Pavlovian conditioning or respondent conditioning) is a

form of learning in which the conditioned stimulus or CS, comes to signal the occurrence
of a second stimulus, the unconditioned stimulus or US. (A stimulus is a factor that
causes a response in an organism.) The conditioned response is the learned response to
the previously neutral stimulus.[1] The US is usually a biologically significant stimulus
such as food or pain that elicits a response from the start; this is called the unconditioned
response or UR. The CS usually produces no particular response at first, but after
conditioning it elicits the conditioned response or CR. Classical conditioning differs from
operant or instrumental conditioning, in which behavior emitted by the subject is
strengthened or weakened by its consequences (i.e. reward or punishment).[2]
There are many examples of these innate (unconditioned) reflexes (corneal, coughing,
swallowing, withdrawal reflexes etc.) or learned (conditioned) reflexes.[3]:p. 82
"In any animal, regardless of its prior history, painful stimulation of the foot causes the
leg to be withdrawn by bending at all its joints. This flexor reflex is an example of an
unconditioned reflex, an innate response based on fixed connections in the chain of
neurons from the receptor (sensor) to the effector. Of still more interest in everyday life
are the acquired or conditioned reflexes, in which the functional connections between the
excited sensors and the patterns of activity in effector organs become established by
learning process."[4]:p. 155
Conditioning is usually done by pairing the two stimuli, as in Pavlov’s classic
experiments.[5] Pavlov presented dogs with a ringing bell followed by food. The food
elicited salivation (UR), and after repeated bell-food pairings the bell also caused the
dogs to salivate. In this experiment, the unconditioned stimulus is the dog food as it
produces an unconditioned response, saliva. The conditioned stimulus is the ringing bell
and it produces a conditioned response of the dogs producing saliva.
It was originally thought that the process underlying classical conditioning was one
where the conditioned stimulus becomes associated with, and eventually elicits, the
unconditioned response. But many observations do not support this hypothesis. For
example, the conditioned response is often quite different from the unconditioned
response. Learning theorists now more commonly suggest that the CS comes to signal or
predict the US. In the case of the salivating dogs in Pavlov's experiment, the bell tone
signaled and predicted the arrival of the dog food, thus resulting in the dog salivating.

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 58

 Anchoring and Adding a Resource

1. Identify Resourceful Behavior or State. “Think of something that you already do

well, some behavior or state that is already resourceful, but you’d like to do even
better.

2. Access and ANCHOR #1. “What is it like to be doing that behavior?” Elicit
submodalities. As the subject accesses this state, reach over and ANCHOR gently
with a light touch of the arm or shoulder.

3. Identify Additional Resource (ANCHOR #2). “Think of some other resource, state
or behavior that you could add to this resourceful behavior so that you’d be even
more delighted with the behavior mentioned before.” Elicit submodalities. As the
subject accesses this resource, ANCHOR gently in a different location on the body.

4. Integration. “Take this resource (fire and hold ANCHOR #2) and relive that
resourceful behavior (fire ANCHOR #1 while holding ANCHOR #2) with this
additional resource available to you. Watch and listen to everything that happens as
those two experiences combine to make you even more effective. Take the time you
need and come on back.”

5. Break State.

6. Test. Fire ANCHOR #1 and ask “What happens now when you think of (behavior).

Note: Anchors should be set/installed at the peak of the experience. Have the client use
all senses (seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting) that were associated with the
experience. Ask the client to nod when they have reached the peak of the
experience. Then set the anchor. The purpose of setting the anchor is to be able to
recall that particular state when necessary.

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 59

 Chaining Anchors

1) Elicit Stuck/Problem State

Ask subject to briefly describe stuck state or negative behavior. Set
Anchor # 1

2) Elicit Dissociation
“Imagine you are in a movie theater and you can see yourself on the
screen.” Elicit submodalities. When the subject has accurately described
the dissociated experience set Anchor # 2

3) Chain to Dissociation
Fire Anchor # 2 (Stuck/Problem) and release. Then fire Anchor #1
(subject on the screen.)

4) Test - Have subject think of stuck/problem state and ask for feedback.

Behavior Transfer

5) Select a past resource or behavior that you would like to have had when
experiencing problem/stuck state.

6) Ask subject to think of a time when they displayed this resource. Elicit
submodalities and Anchor # 3.

7) Break State.

8) Now fire Anchor #2, then #1, and then #3 in sequence.

You can say the following: “Whenever you are put into this problem (Fire
#2), you will pull back (Fire #1) and like magic you will find yourself
more resourceful than ever (Fire #3).” You can attach a self-anchor here.
Break State and Test.

NFNLP Basic Practitioner - 60

 Changing Personal History

1. Identify the Problem State. “Think of a time in your life when things didn’t go so
well for you and you would like to feel differently about that memory. Or think of a
memory that you still think of from time to time, and it leaves you feeling
upset/uneasy/unsettled in some way.”

2. Access and ANCHOR the Problem State. “When you think of this now do you feel
bad?” Get a response and set ANCHOR #1

3. Identify the Resource. “What resource (courage, humor, awareness, etc.) would have
made it possible for you to have had a better experience in that situation?”

4. Access & ANCHOR the Resource State. “Think of a time in your life when you
experienced a lot of (resource).” Elicit submodalties. As they access this state,
ANCHOR gently in a different location on the body (ANCHOR #2).

5. Break State.

6. Integration. “Take this experience of (resource) [fire ANCHOR #2] back into that
problem memory [fire ANCHOR #1] and observe what happens while this resource
of (resource) is available to you. Watch, listen and feel as you relive that old memory
in a new way.... take your time, and come back to the present when you are ready.”

7. Break State and Test. Ask the subject to think about that memory and notice what
happens. Check non-verbal responses to ensure that there has been a shift in
perception.

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 Re-Parenting

1. Identify Problem State. "Think of a time when your parents did not make the
best choice(s) for you, something that still has some impact on you today.

2. Access and ANCHOR Problem State. "When you think of this now, do you feel
bad?" ANCHOR the state with a gentle touch. ANCHOR #1.

3. Identify Resource. "What resource (courage, humor, compassion, etc.) do you

now have that you wish your parents had back then?”

4. Think of a time you had a lot of this resource. Elicit submodalities and set
ANCHOR #2.

5. Integration. "Take this experience of (resource) [fire ANCHOR #2] back into
that memory with your parents [fire ANCHOR #1] and observe what happens as
you gift this resource of (resource) to your parents. Watch, listen and feel as you
relive that old memory in a new way.... take your time, and come back to the
present when you are ready.”

6. Break State and Test. Ask the subject to think about that memory and notice
what happens. Check non-verbal responses to ensure that there has been a shift in
perception.

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 Circle of Excellence & Power

1. Identify Powerful State. “What state/feeling would you like to have more of in your
life? In what state/feeling would you be performing at your absolute best?”

2. Set up a Circle of Power. “I’d like you to imagine a circle on the floor in front of
you. Can you see it? What significant achievements or accomplishments in life had
you feel (resourceful state or feeling)? Imagine those experiences inside the circle.
What color is your circle? Is it moving or still? Does it have a sound? (continue to
elicit submodalities)”

3. Access Circle of Power and ANCHOR. “Now think of a time in your life when you
were (resourceful state or feeling) in a way that was fully satisfying to you. When
you can feel it, step into the circle.” When the person accesses this state and steps
into the circle, the programmer places his/her hand on the subject’s shoulder
(ANCHOR).

4. Separator State/Testing. “Now step out of the circle and relax.” After a few
moments have subject step back into the circle as you restate submodalities to subject
(ANCHOR). “Again step back out of the circle and relax.” Repeat 2 to 3 times.

5. Desired Context. “From this point on, whenever I touch you on the shoulder I want
(ANCHOR) you to step into the circle. Now, think of a time in a future situation, or
context, where you would like to have more of this (resourceful state or feeling).”

6. Chaining. How, specifically, will things be different in that stuck/problem situation

now?” (ANCHOR)

7. Break State and Test. Finally, have the client step out of the circle and think about
the stuck situations. Check non-verbal responses, to ensure that there has been a shift
in perception.

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 Eliminating Fears and Phobias
The Fast Phobia/Trauma Relief Technique

This technique neutralizes the powerful, negative feelings of phobias and

traumatic events.

Remember: most people learned to be phobic in a single situation that was

actually dangerous, or seemed dangerous. The fact that individuals can do what
psychologists call “one-trial learning” is proof that a person’s brain can learn quite
rapidly. That ability to learn rapidly makes it easy the subject to learn a new way to
respond to any phobia or trauma.

In speaking with a client you can say “The part of you that has been protecting you all
these years by making you phobic is an important and valuable part. We want to
preserve its ability to protect you in dangerous situations. The purpose of this technique
is to refine and improve your brain’s ability to protect you by updating its information.”

1. Scale fear/trauma on a level of 1 to 10

2. “With your eyes open or closed, imagine you’re sitting in the middle of a movie
theater and you can see a black and white snapshot of yourself on the screen.”

3. “Now, float out of your body and up into the projection booth. Looking down, you
can see yourself sitting in the movie theater seat, and looking forward you can see the
black and white frame of you on the screen. You may even wish to imagine Plexiglas
over the booth’s opening, protecting you.”

4. Now, watch and listen, from the projection booth, as you see a black and white movie
of a younger you going through a situation in which he/she experienced that
phobia/trauma. Watch the whole event, starting from some time before the beginning

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 of that incident and observe until you are beyond the end of it, when you felt safe and
everything was OK again.

If you are not fully detached, make the theater screen smaller and farther away, and
make the picture faded and grainy. Stop the film so that when you’re done viewing it,
you’re completely detached. End the movie after the phobia-causing event, with a freeze
frame of yourself in a much better space.

5. Next, leave the projection booth and slip back into the present you in the theater seat.
Now step into the freeze frame of the younger you on the screen, who is feeling OK
again, at the movie’s end. Now, run the entire movie of that experience backwards
and in color, taking two seconds or less to do so. Be sure to go all the way back to
before the beginning. See, hear, and feel everything going backwards in those two
seconds or less as best you can. Repeat 2 to 3 times from step 2.

6. Break State.

7. To test the process, ask the client to return to the phobic state in any way they can.
Ask, “What if you were in that situation now?” Scale the fear/trauma again with the
client to ensure it has been reduced. If you still get a phobic response, repeat steps 2
to 5 again, faster each time, until none of the phobic response remains.

8. “Since you were phobic/traumatized, you perhaps have stayed away from situations
that bring on the phobic feelings, and so you haven’t had the opportunity to learn
more about them. As you begin to encounter and explore these situations in the
future, I suggest you exercise a certain degree of caution until you learn to be more
comfortable with them.”

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 Eliminating Fears and Phobias
The Fast Phobia/Trauma Relief Technique
Milton Erickson

This technique uses the original model, lost in the pass down through the
years.

Remember: most people learned to be phobic in a single situation that was

actually dangerous, or seemed dangerous. The fact that individuals can do what
psychologists call “one-trial learning” is proof that a person’s brain can learn quite
rapidly. That ability to learn rapidly makes it easy the subject to learn a new way to
respond to any phobia or trauma.

In speaking with a client you can say “The part of you that has been protecting you all
these years by making you phobic is an important and valuable part. We want to
preserve its ability to protect you in dangerous situations. The purpose of this technique
is to refine and improve your brain’s ability to protect you by updating its information.”

9. Scale fear/trauma on a level of 1 to 10

10. “With your eyes open or closed, imagine you’re sitting in the middle of a theater and
you can see a dim stage with actors playing out the scene on stage”

11. “Now, float out of your body and up into the balcony. Looking down, you can see
yourself sitting in the theater seat, and looking forward you can see the stage with the
actors on it. You may even wish to imagine Plexiglas over the balcony, protecting
you.”

12. Now, watch and listen, from the balcony, as you see a dim stage and a play of a
younger you going through a situation in which he/she experienced that
phobia/trauma. Watch the whole event, starting from some time before the beginning

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 of that incident and observe until you are beyond the end of it, when you felt safe and
everything was OK again.

End the play after the phobia-causing event, with a freeze frame of the actor playing
you in a much better space.

13. Next, leave the balcony and slip back into the present you in the theater seat. Now
step into the stage and into the younger you on the stage, who is feeling OK again, at
the play’s end. Now, run the entire play of that experience backwards and in color,
taking two seconds or less to do so. Be sure to go all the way back to before the
beginning. See, hear, and feel everything going backwards in those two seconds or
less as best you can. Repeat 2 to 3 times from step 2.

14. Break State.

15. To test the process, ask the client to return to the phobic state in any way they can.
Ask, “What if you were in that situation now?” Scale the fear/trauma again with the
client to ensure it has been reduced. If you still get a phobic response, repeat steps 2
to 5 again, faster each time, until none of the phobic response remains.

16. “Since you were phobic/traumatized, you perhaps have stayed away from situations
that bring on the phobic feelings, and so you haven’t had the opportunity to learn
more about them. As you begin to encounter and explore these situations in the
future, I suggest you exercise a certain degree of caution until you learn to be more
comfortable with them.”

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 How to Mend a Broken Heart
Will Horton, Psy. D.

Recently I have received several calls from people wanting tips on helping others
who are in bad straights from failed relationships. They want to know how to help. There
comes times when it is hard to let go of a failed or terminated relationship, it is at these
times that our conscious mind cannot override these deep feelings. It may be even more
painful during special days like anniversaries or the holiday season. When I have a client
with this I use a version of the phobia technique, which I jazzed up, called Mending a
Broken Heart Process.
This is not only for lover relationships, but friendships, even job loss can be listed
here.
When many people lose their jobs (as in the current downsizing) they go through
more of these grieving/loss feelings than most people realize.
How can we help? When you look at how people naturally overcome this
grieving/loss experience? I think we can use our tools to speed up the natural process.
Have the person think of someone they used to be in a relationship with but now they
have no feelings for, maybe a high school love, or an old friend who now is out of your
life.
The first time I used this I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked. I had a
weight loss client, who appeared very down at one of her follow up sessions, When I
inquired into this she told me of her recent break up with her boyfriend. (I knew from
previous conversations that this was an ongoing on again/ off again relationship). I asked
her if she would like to be rid of her strong attachment to this relationship, she answered
quickly, YES! So I walked her through this process. I made a note to follow up on her
next visit.
She returned and I asked her what happened, she told me the following. "I felt
fine after our session but a couple of days later he called and wanted to talk, I told him
no. The next days he sent flowers to my work, and called me, I was not interested. The
next day he showed up at work with more flowers and a ring. I thought about it but I did

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not want to get back on the merry go round. It was strange, this would have worked
before, but not now.”
At this point I asked her if she would like her attachment for him back, since we
could install that, she laughed and said no. The moral, make sure they want to remove the
strong feelings.
Here are the steps.
First we must acknowledge the protection process involved
The part of you that has been protecting you all this time by making you feel bad is an
important and valuable part. We want to preserve its ability to protect you in future
situations. The purpose of this technique is to refine and improve your brain’s ability to
protect you by updating its information. We will not remove the memories, just the strong
emotional response.

1. Scale emotion/hurt on a level of 1 to 10

2. “With your eyes open or closed, imagine you’re sitting in the middle of a movie
theater and you can see a black and white snapshot of yourself on the screen.”

3. “Now, float out of your body and up into the projection booth. Looking down,
you can see yourself sitting in the movie theater seat, and looking forward you
can see the black and white frame of you on the screen. You may even wish to
imagine Plexiglas over the booth’s opening, protecting you.”

4. “Now, watch and listen, from the projection booth, as you see a black and white
movie of a younger you going through the entire relationship, the good, the bad,
from the first meeting to the end. Watch the whole event, starting from some time
before the beginning of that incident and observe until you are beyond the end of
it, when you felt safe and everything was OK again.”

If you are not fully detached, make the theater screen smaller and farther away, and
make the picture faded and grainy. Stop the film so that when you’re done viewing it,

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you’re completely detached. End the movie after the relationship event, with a freeze
frame of yourself in a much better space.

5. Next, leave the projection booth and slip back into the present you in the theater
seat. Now step into the freeze frame of the younger you on the screen, who is
feeling OK again, at the movie’s end. Now, run the entire movie of that
relationship experience backwards and in color, taking two seconds or less to do
so. Be sure to go all the way back to before the beginning. See, hear, and feel
everything going backwards in those two seconds or less as best you can. Add
some circus music, and imagine your ex-partner with a clown nose, and clown
feet. Repeat 2 to 3 times from step 2.

7. Now bring up a collage of all the negative times you had with this person (be
honest, all the hurts and slights should be here), and let these images fade away
into your past a few hundred feet behind you. Let them disappear.

8. Now bring up an image of this person, and notice all of the connections you have
with this person. You may notice cords of light, or energy strings connecting you
to them. Pay attention to all the connections. Head to head, heart to heart, sex to
sex, spirit to spirit. In whatever way is right for you, cut the cords completely.
You may want to use a silver sword, or special scissors. Once you have cut the
cords, imagine your cords retracting back into your body where they belong,
Release them to find their highest good, as you release your self and imagine their
image floating away.

To test the process, ask the client to attempt to return to the bad feeling state in any
way they can. Ask, “What if you were faced with that person now?” If they still get a
negative response, repeat the steps 1 to 8, faster each time, until none of the phobic
response remains. “Thank your higher self for helping and commit to moving forward
with your life.”

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 Visual Squash (revised)
Will Horton, Psy. D.

Recently I have changed the way I do the Visual Squash, and several of you in
recent trainings have asked for a copy. Here it is.
Remember, a Visual Squash is for when a client has a polarity response, part of
them wants to do something, and part of them fights it. You could use it for someone who
says part of them wants to give up emotional eating, but a part of them likes the comfort
foods. The visual squash work great for addictive behaviors.

1. First, have the client think of a person, place, or thing that they love. Where do
they feel this feeling? Have them locate it and describe it, color, shape, sound, and
location.

2. Do a relaxation that you like. It is not necessary for them to go into a deep state,
just a relaxation, to get their conscious mind out of the way. I use Dave Elman, or
my Escalator technique.

3. After the client is relaxed: “Imagine, in your mind’s eye, the part of you that
wants to change, the part of you that brought you here, that really wants this goal
_______ (you would repeat it here, in the positive, of course). You know the
reasons (list a couple if they have told you, like to look better, more confidence,
health, etc.) and there may be others that you’re not consciously aware of, and
that’s okay. Just let this part take a color, shape, sounds, and feeling. It could be
anything, a white cloud, a pink heart, whatever it is, it is. I would like to thank this
part, and you should also, as it only wants what’s best for you. Great.”

4. “Now imagine next to it, in your mind’s eye, that part of you that, for whatever
reason, stops you from achieving this change. You may know the reasons, or you
may not consciously, and that’s okay. Just let this part take a color, shape, sound,

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 and feeling. Whatever pops into your mind is fine. It’s the part of you that holds
you back from achieving this goal. Now I would like to thank this part, and you
should also, we may not like what it has done, but it has been doing this for a
reason. I would like you to let this part look at all the behaviors and beliefs that
has caused it to do this.” Many times, as we are growing up, we learn things that
were not intended. A child may hear, ‘Clean your plate, people are starving in
parts of the world.’ The parent means to not waste food, not overeat. So really, we
mis-learn information. (Insert specifics here, such as: Sometimes, our
subconscious minds misunderstand events or situations. It is not uncommon for a
parent or authority figure to tell us to ‘work harder or you will never succeed,’ or
‘you’re a loser,’ and our minds only hear the negative.) Sometimes an event that
did not work out, a dropped ball, a bad move, a split-second pause, can cause us
to replay these events as if they were a part of us, not just something that
happened that we can learn from.

5. “Now I invite this part to release this event and any others that may be holding
you back. You may allow yourself to see these events or causes in a new light. So
now this part can relearn what it needs to do to take care of you even better.”

6. “Now let these two parts face each other in your mind’s eye, each part
acknowledging the other. Many people notice an energy connection between the
two. Both parts realize they are not giving anything up, they will be stronger for
the merger. Each has something the other needs. That’s right.”

7. “Now watch and listen to both these valuable parts of yourself, allowing the two
parts to come together only as fast as those two parts can blend and integrate in
ways most comfortable and useful to you…in such a way that neither part loses
anything, retaining the usefulness and importance of both parts, each gaining from
the other, the qualities and capacities that are lacking in themselves and present in
the other. You may be fascinated to observe some of the changes that occur in
these two images as they start to come together…only as fast as they can

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 comfortably assimilate these changes. You may also be surprised by the image
that is created when the two images finally join and become a single image as
they melt into each other and take on each other’s capacities. And notice what the
new image looks like, because this new part represents a combination of abilities
you’ve never had before…as such, this new part will have additional skills and
abilities that you could never have guessed at, that you can enjoy…new ways of
accomplishing all of these important outcomes simultaneously…”

8. Elicit submodalities to help subject associate with the new integrated part.
(ANCHOR)

9. “When you are ready, imagine this part coming into yourself, into that place
where you feel love and belief – into your body somehow, so that it becomes a
part of you and all your behaviors, easily and readily available. It will be as true
for you as the love you feel for this person, place, or thing. As you do this, you
feel a surge of energy in your body as this part reunites with you…take a few
moments to appreciate and enjoy the qualities of this unique new part.”

10. Future Pace. “Now think of the specific times and places where you want these
integrated qualities and capacities to be fully at your disposal in the future…”

11. Break State and TEST

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 The New Behavior Generator

The New Behavior Generator is a great way to bring about new behaviors that the
subject has not performed well before. This technique works well with performers and
athletes that are wanting to increase their abilities with a particular skill or behavior.

1. “Pick a person you want to model; a person who has the skills and abilities you would
like to have more of.”

2. “Watch a movie of your model doing the things you would like to do.”

3. “Watch the movie again and be sure to notice all the nuances and details (observe
how comfortable they are performing this activity).”

4. “See your model’s energy (aura or life force). Notice the color, vibration, and sound
of their energy. Notice how it gives them that special way of being, and know that
the more they give this away the more they have.”

5. Now watch the movie and look through the film and see the person’s practice and
“homework” that got them so good. The rehearsals, the coaching, the reading &
Studying and work at it.

6. “Now watch the movie again, but this time replace your model with yourself. Watch
yourself perform/do everything your model did while keeping their energy about
you.”

7. “Watch yourself again, noticing the nuances and details. See how comfortable you are
now as you have really absorbed their life force.”

8. “Now step into the movie and play the main character. Step right into that special
energy and imagine being that person. Do all the things you witnessed your model
doing before as if you were living from inside their body and looking out through

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 their eyes. See, hear, and feel everything as you replay the scene 3 to 5 times. Make it
more intense and compelling each time.”

9. Break State and TEST

ROLE MODELING

If a role model relationship is to help you think and act more intelligently, you’ll have to
choose the right person to emulate—and as is so often the case, science has some
surprising and counter-intuitive insights to contribute here. The right role model may not
be the brightest light in your field, but rather someone more humanly flawed.
In an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, for
example, Jerker Denrell of the University of Oxford and Chengwei Liu of the University
of Warwick counsel us to model ourselves on solid, second-tier performers, not the flashy
types who come in first. The researchers reported on the results of a game played in many
rounds. Over time, the most skilled players came to inhabit a second tier of reliable
competence. Those who succeeded spectacularly—who took their places in the first tier
—were often not the most skilled, but rather were those who got some lucky breaks early
on or took big risks that happened to pay off.
Emulating these top performers would probably lead to disappointment, since imitators
would be unlikely to replicate their good fortune. Because luck and risk play a dominant
role in extraordinary outcomes, Denrell and Liu write, “extreme success or failure are, at
best, only weak signals of skill,” and top performers “should not be imitated or praised.”
Better, they advise, to learn from individuals “with high, but not exceptional,
performance”—those whose success can be attributed to solid skill and not to a rare
lightning strike.
Modeling ourselves on the most accomplished individuals can have another drawback: it
can actually make us less motivated. In an article published in the journal Social
Psychological and Personality Science, psychologists Diana E. Betz and Denise
Sekaquaptewa note that women in STEM fields—science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics—are often labeled “unfeminine,” an image that may discourage female
students from pursuing these fields.
But when the researchers exposed middle-school girls to women who were feminine and
successful in STEM fields, the experience actually diminished the girls’ interest in math,
depressed their plans to study math, and reduced their expectations of future success. The
women’s “combination of femininity and success seemed particularly unattainable to
STEM-disidentified girls,” the authors conclude, adding that “gender-neutral STEM role

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models,” as well as feminine women who were successful in non-STEM fields, did not
have this effect.
Does this mean that we have to give up our most illustrious role models? There is a way
to gain inspiration from truly exceptional individuals: attend to their failures as well as
their successes. This was demonstrated in a study by Huang-Yao Hong of National
Chengchi University in Taiwan and Xiaodong Lin-Siegler of Columbia University.
The researchers gave a group of physics students information about the theories of
Galileo Galilei, Issac Newton and Albert Einstein. A second group received readings
praising the achievements of these scientists. And a third group was given a text that
described the thinkers’ struggles. The students who learned about scientists’ struggles
developed less-stereotyped images of scientists, became more interested in science,
remembered the material better, and did better at complex open-ended problem-solving
tasks related to the lesson—while the students who read the achievement-based text
actually developed more stereotypical images of scientists.
I’ll leave you with this excerpt from the experimental materials, about the development of
Newton’s theory of gravitation: “While the famous fable suggests that Newton was
inspired by seeing an apple drop from a tree, it was actually his hard work and inquisitive
nature that led to his formulation of a gravitational theory. As he said, ‘I keep the subject
constantly before me, till the first dawnings open slowly, by little and little, into the full
and clear light.’”

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 Big-Yes/ Huge -No
Big-Yes/Huge-No. It is a very powerful way to link emotions to thoughts or
actions. For example, the hypnotist can link very negative feelings to wanting a
candy bar and very positive feelings to the thought “I’m a do not want chocolate!.”
A benefit of the Yes/Meta-No is that one doesn’t have to use in hypnosis. It can
be done as a conversational process. Waking Hypnosis/NLP.
The example of candy is useful because it will allow me to demonstrate how
both positive and negative emotions can be used to make behavioral& Thought
changes.
To begin you will need to find out what they want changed and what they want it
to be changed to. That usually begins with the simple question “What do you
want?”. For a person who wants to stop PTSD thinking they want a clear mind.
Positive Attitude.
Here is the version I use for stopping intrusive thoughts.
“In a moment when I count to three both you and I are going to say the word
‘no’. Think of something that you would ‘no’ to. Maybe it’s a food you don’t like or
seeing a child run into the street.. You would tell them “No!” and really mean it.
When you know how you’re going to say that ‘no’ nod your head. (Wait for
nod). Good! Now, you don’t have to yell but you DO have to really mean it.
On the count of three we both say ‘No!”. I’ll be moving my finger like
this (I move my finger from the shoulder to the elbow. This is to create a
kinesthetic anchor to the “No!” feeling.) Feel it. Make it strong. … 1,2,3,
No! (moving the finger). Again… 1, 2, 3, No!”...(repeat this until the feelings are
linked to the anchor)
Good! Now, think of a that negative thought… at the count of three say
‘No!’. 1,2,3, No! (moving the finger). Again… 1, 2, 3, No!”...(repeat this while
associating it with other aspects of negative thoughts, depression, anger, fear)
Good! This is now your permanent response to negative thoughts!.
The negative feelings are now associated to all things negative thought
related. Now, your intent is to link powerfully positive feelings to being a stressed
negative person.
“In a moment when I count to three both you and I are going to say the word ‘Yes’.
Think of something healthy (or not) you would absolutely say ‘Yes’ to … and this
will be the most joyful, happy, exciting ‘Yes” you can imagine. When you know
how you’re going to say that ‘Yes’ nod your head. (Wait for nod). Good! Now, you
don’t have to yell but you DO have to really mean it. Something you really
want!!!!!
On the count of three we both say ‘Yes!”. I’ll be moving my finger like
this (I move my finger from the elbow to the wrist downward This is to create a
kinesthetic anchor to the “Yes!” feeling.) Feel it. Make it strong. … 1,2,3,
Yes! (moving the finger). Again… 1, 2, 3, Yes!”...(repeat this until the feelings are
linked to the anchor).

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 Good! Now, in your mind hear yourself SHOUTING loudly… in your
mind… the words “I’m a calm person” and say ‘Yes!’. 1,2,3, Yes!(moving the
finger). Again… 1, 2, 3, Yes!”...(repeat this while associating it with other aspects
of the negative thoughts depression anger fear, etc.)
Good! This is now your permanent response to being a Calm & Positive
Person.
Yes/-No does quick work in very short order. As a testament to the power it alone
can be used to stop thoughts/behaviors without any form of hypnosis or hypnotic
induction. It’s that powerful. By pass the critical factors!
Consider now it’s other applications
Link joyful feelings to being in someone’s presence...
 Remove all thoughts of not following my instructions exactly…
 Create fear of not following through
You can also insert the words
STOP GO
Try these and see which you like better.

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 The Swish Pattern
Will Horton, Psy. D.

This technique takes any unwanted behavior and transforms it into a desire to become
more the person you want to be. It is useful anytime you want to change unwanted
behaviors or feelings.

1. “Get a large disassociated picture of yourself at your very best. This image will be of
the way you want to be (an image on a book cover, a film actor/actress, etc…). Make
this picture as big and colorful as possible. If you wish you may attach sounds and
smells to this picture to make it as real as possible. Store this as ‘your very best you’
picture.”

2. Establish a picture of the problem or behavior you wish to remove (fingernail biting,
cigarette smoking, etc.). This is an associated picture (you are seeing it through your
eyes). Store this picture separately as your negative image.

3. “Put the negative image (image of the unwanted behavior) in front of the positive
image (‘very best you picture’).”

4. “Place a dot in the center of the negative image. Now when I say ‘swish’ have the dot
open up quickly (similar to a camera shutter) so that all you see is the big colorful
picture of you at your very best.”

5. “Ready? SWISH!” Repeat this process 5-6 times (always starting with the negative
image in front and ending with the positive image in front).

6. Break State and TEST

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 Computer Swish
Will Horton

1. Imagine the problem/stuck situation. See it through your eyes.

2. Imagine the ideal you, the ‘you’ who would never have this problem. The ideal
you looks, acts, behaves way beyond this problem.

3. Imagine a computer screen in front of you. See the problem/stuck situation. Now
imagine a mouse in your hand and notice a special icon in the corner labeled
Ideal You.

4. Double-click on the Ideal You icon and watch the problem instantly disappear to
the corner and be instantly replaced with the ‘ideal you’ image.

5. Repeat 5 to 6 times.

6. Now drag the small Problem icon to the trash folder or recycling bin. Empty the
trash and see it vanish forever.

This is a great way to track how fast your brain works. FAST. It can open up to
rewrite a program, and once changed, the system runs differently. Test it!

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 Godiva Chocolate Pattern
Richard Bandler

1) Create an intense and associated picture of something that you really love or are
compelled to do.
Elicit Submodalities and Anchor. (Anchor #1)

2) Break state.

3) Create a picture of something you know need or should do but have trouble
getting started, such as paperwork, cleaning up, exercise, etc.
Elicit Dissociated State (See yourself performing these actions.)
Anchor. (Anchor #2)

4) Bring up picture from step 1. Fire and hold Anchor #1. Then release Anchor #1.
Bring up picture from step 3. Fire and hold Anchor #2. Then release Anchor #2.

5) Bring up picture from step 1. Fire and hold Anchor #1.

While holding Anchor #1, fire and hold Anchor #2. Then release both anchors.

7) Break state.

8) TEST (Ask “What happens now when you think of doing paperwork?”)

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 Godiva Chocolate Pattern Advanced
William Horton

1) Create an intense and associated picture of something that you really love or are
compelled to do.
Elicit Submodalities and Anchor. (Anchor #1)

2) Break state.

3) Create a picture of something you know need or should do but have trouble
getting started, such as paperwork, cleaning up, exercise, etc.
Elicit Dissociated State (See yourself performing these actions.)
Anchor. (Anchor #2)

4) Bring up picture from step 1. Fire and hold Anchor #1. Then release Anchor #1.
Bring up picture from step 3. Fire and hold Anchor #2. Then release Anchor #2.

5) Bring up picture from step 1. Fire and hold Anchor #1.

While holding Anchor #1, fire and hold Anchor #2. Then release both anchors.
6) Imagine a negative state, Not brushing your teeth, not showering Anchor #3
7) Get your procrastination voice to not do desired behavior fire #3
8) Break state.
9) Repeat process Put it together

10) TEST (Ask “What happens now when you think of doing paperwork?”)

Tie into a strong personal belief for extra power!

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 Swish Pattern Exercises

1. Have your partner choose a compulsion he/she wishes to remove. Ask them to
visualize a large brightly colored image of the unwanted compulsion and set it aside
for a moment.

2. “Picture yourself as if you were already in control of your own destiny, having
achieved all your desires in your life. Visualize this with a deep compelling intensity.
To complete this picture, add a forceful voice that is confirming your need of this
future.”

3. “Take the large, bright, unwanted compulsion image and put a small dark image of
your desired state in the lower left-hand corner. Have the large bright picture
suddenly get dark and move to the lower left-hand corner, as the small dark picture
simultaneously springs up in size to replace it and gets very big and bright.”

4. Repeat this process very quickly five times in a row, and make the sound “swish”
each time. Have the subject open their eyes quickly for a moment after each time the
positive image springs up in front of them.

5. Break State.

6. “Try in vain to have the unwanted compulsion image affect you again in any but the
most positive way. Notice how it is different now.”

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 Swish Pattern Exercises (continued)

1. Have your partner choose a compulsion he/she wishes to remove. Ask them to
visualize a large brightly colored image of the unwanted compulsion.

2. Ask them to place the image of the unwanted compulsion on a rubber band and
push it all the way out to the horizon in front of them. “When it is very small,
replace the image with a tiny image of how you want to be instead.” Release the
rubber band quickly so that it ‘snaps back’ rapidly right into your face as the
desired images expands and intensifies in front of you.” Repeat 3 to 5 times.

3. Break State.

4. “Try in vain to have the unwanted compulsion image affect you again in any but
the most positive way. Notice how it is different now.”

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 Developing Self-Appreciation
Seeing Yourself Through the Eyes of Someone Who Loves You
William Horton
Based on: Enhancing Love, Sex & Relationships by Leslie Cameron-Bandler.

This technique helps you to gain the appreciation for yourself that others have for you. It
is useful for building self-appreciation and confidence.

1. Identify someone who loves you. Or think of someone who you’ve done something
for and who, as a result, sincerely appreciates you. They do not have to be alive. It
can be a religious figure. It can be a pet.
2. Then, imagine you are writing your autobiography. As you do so, glance up to see,
on the other side of a glass door, the person who loves or appreciates you.

3. Next, float your awareness outside the room and stand next to this person. Now see
yourself through the glass door, making your own observations. Take all the time
you need when your done nod your head.

4. Then enter the body of the person who loves you. See yourself through this
person’s eyes of love or appreciation. Also, listen to this person’s thoughts of love
about you. Have this person’s feelings. Again take your time when your done nod
your head.

5. When this is completed, float back into your body and write the qualities and
aspects of yourself that you saw and heard when you looked through the eyes of
love and appreciation. Take your time when your again nod when finished.

6. Think of possible times and places, both now and in the future, when you’ll want to
re-experience this sense of deep self-appreciation.

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 Building Self-Confidence
A Strategy for Responding to Criticism

This technique allows you to stay resourceful when you’re criticized, whether it’s
at home, at work, or with friends. This enables you to use criticism as feedback to
improve your relationships.

1. See yourself, in front of you. That self in front of you is going to learn a new approach
to criticism, while you watch from the outside. Do whatever you need to do to feel
detached from that self. You can see that self farther away, in black and white, or behind
Plexiglas, etc.

2. Watch and listen as that self gets criticized and instantly dissociates. There are several
ways that self can dissociate. He/She can surround him/herself with a Plexiglas shield
when he/she was criticized. Or, that self can see the words of criticism printed within a
cartoon balloon (like the comic strips), etc. That self uses one of these methods to keep
feeling neutral or resourceful.

3. Watch as that self makes a slide or movie of what the criticizer is saying. What does
that person mean? Does that self have enough information to make a clear, detailed
picture? If the answer is “no,” gather information. If the answer is “yes,” proceed to the
next step.

4. Have that self decide on a response. For example, that self can agree with any part of
the criticism that you agree with. Or, that self could apologize, saying “I’ll give it some
serious thought,” or, “I see things differently now,” and so forth.

5. Does that self want to use the information you got from this criticism to act differently
next time? If so, have that self select a new behavior. That self will then imagine using
the new behavior in detail in the future. Next, that self can step into this movie of using
the new behavior, to feel what it will be like.

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6. Having watched that self go through this entire strategy, do you want this for yourself?
If the answer is “no,” ask inside how you can modify this strategy so it fits for you. If the
answer is “yes,” continue.

7. Thank that self for being a special resource to you in learning this strategy. Now pull
that self into you, feeling her/him fill you, so that this knowledge becomes fully
integrated into you.

From Heart of the Mind, by Connirae and Steve Andreas. Used with permission. © 1989
Real People Press.

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 APPENDIX I: Enhancing Awareness

Visual
Sit or stand in a comfortable position and put your hands in front of you with the
index finger extended upward so that you can see your two fingernails beside one
another. Focus on your nails for a few seconds. Now very slowly pull your fingers apart
from each other and extend your arms out and way from each other. Move your fingers to
the edge of your peripheral vision and stop just before they disappear from your field of
vision. Hold your focus there for a few seconds. Now rest your hands and eyes and notice
how you feel.

Auditory
While seated or standing, close your eyes and slow your breathing. Breathe as soft
as you can and as slow as you can for a few minutes in silence. Notice all the different
sounds you hear and list them to your self as you maintain this stillness. When you’ve
listed them all in you mind, open your eyes and be mindful of all of these sounds. Now
notice how you feel.

Kinesthetic
Stand up and use your hands to gently and softly rub your body from your head to
your toes and back up again as if you were taking a shower and washing your body with a
bar of soap. Now begin at the toes and wash upward toward your upper body, neck and
head. Be silent for a moment and notice how you feel.

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 APPENDIX II: Timeline
Hurry Up and Slow Down

What could I give to you therapists out there that you could use right now, that
would enable you to be more effective in every area of your lives? To give you an
internal edge? It came to me in early August as I was preparing for the NGH
Convention. I needed help! I thought of a statement I heard at my NLP Master Trainers
Training.
Learning to control our internal time clocks can be one of the most beneficial things
we can learn how to do. When I was getting ready for the convention, I was really
pressed for time trying to see clients, plan new business, go over my convention
presentation, work on my book, and maintain my family ties. I was frazzled,
overwhelmed and confused. Then it dawned on me that what I really needed was to be
able to “hurry up and slow down”; to reset my internal time clock to be focused on the
moment and feel like I had more time.
NLP is the study of how people’s brains work. The more I thought about it, the more
I realized that time is a subjective experience. As hypnotists we know about time
distortion which Milton Erickson used for many client problems, including weight
control. He would have his clients go into “slow time” whenever they ate, so they would
be aware of how much they ate, and to allow themselves to feel full.
Most people have had the experience of time moving very slowly, and of time flying.
The language reveals it: time drags, or time flies. In keeping with what NLP is all about,
if you can break the experience down into small enough pieces, or chunks, you can repeat
it and have consistent results.
I set out to understand how people function in relation to time. What I found would
cover many articles, but to highlight my findings:
People naturally change how they process timed fun events, and things that are
physically and mentally involving tend to speed up the internal clock. “Time flies when
you’re having fun.”
Things that are repetitive or boring tend to slow time down. “This class drags.”

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 Occasionally people will be able to slip into a mode where time stops, or at least the
outside world slows down, and inside they seem to be in control. Sports seem to be a
good example: the baseball seems to be moving slowly; everyone on the court is slower
than how you seem to be moving. The term “In the Zone” describes it loosely.
There seem to be events that will distort time: driving down the expressway going
70, then pulling off onto a side road and going 35, everything seems to be going very
slowly while you’re at normal speed. Traumatic events throw time out the window; there
seems to be no time relation to events.
Well, if these finding were true, then it would follow that you could speed up or slow
down how you process time. You could even mix and match time processes as needed.
As therapists it would be nice to be in slow time to take in all the information that your
client gives you and use it. It is also nice to be able to drop into fast time on an airplane,
or in a boring meeting.
Here is the exercise that I did at the convention that teaches how to explore this
wonderful world of time. Try it for yourself and let me know what you think. You may
find some very interesting uses for this in your work.

Giving Yourself More Time – Control Your Internal Clock

1. Find a time in your life when time moved very slowly.

Examples are: sitting in a very boring class or lecture where time drags, minutes
seem like hours; stuck in a traffic jam; waiting for bad news; sitting for your
child to return home; sitting in a doctor’s office; sitting in a dentist’s chair.
2. Pick one or two and step into the experience. Notice everything about you. What do
you see, hear, smell, feel, etc.? Look for all the little things.
SEE: Is your vision narrow and focused, or broad and open? Are there colors,
or does it seem dull and in grays?
HEAR: Are the sounds loud or quiet, clearer, muffled, close or far away? What
about internal sounds? Where are the voices?
FEEL: Where is your center? Are you externally or internally focused? How is
your stomach and chest? Do you feel heavy or light?

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 SMELL or TASTE: Do you notice anything?
Be as specific as possible. These are your sub-modalities.
3. Clear your mind; break the state.
4. Find a time where time moved very quickly.
Some examples are: a party where the evening is gone before you know it; a
really good movie, where you’re lost in it; a sporting event you’re enjoying
(participating); being with someone you love.
5. Find your sub-modalities for this experience.
6. Compare the differences. Try to mix and match some of these.
Step into “Slow Time,” but with a sense of excitement, try this on to give yourself
more time.
* Try accessing a time in which you used SLOW TIME naturally. Driving down the
expressway, or freeway, going say 70 m.p.h., then when you got off onto a slow road,
things seemed to be moving slowly on the outside. Did you ever just miss having an
accident where time seemed to slow down or stop? Step into this slow time, to give
yourself more time. Try it when you’re with a client and notice how much more
information you can take in.
Step into slow time, add a little background music in your mind and notice the effect
on your focus!

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 There are two basic types of Timeline:

Through Time – This is where your timeline never touches you. Your past, present
and future are in front of you; you can see through time. This type of person may be very
organized, like to have things planned out, and may have trouble being in the present.
Numbers 1 and 4 above are typical lines of this type.

In Time – This is where your timeline goes through you at some point as illustrated
in numbers 2, 3 and 5 above. This type of person may be more in the moment, and have
trouble planning and following through.
Remember that this is not written in stone! Also keep in mind something that a lot of
“timeliners” don’t. People have timelines for different things. It is not uncommon for
someone to be very Through Time in his work, i.e. very organized and planned out, but
very In Time in his personal life. Addictions are an In Time phenomenon. You can’t see
your past actions in regard to your addiction.

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 APPENDIX III: Lie / Truth Submodalities Exercise

1. Do the lie- truth exercise. (Tell two stories, one the truth, but something unbelievable from
your past, and make up a believable fabrication. Tell them both to the group. Get feedback on
which one they thought was true/false. Do not reveal which story was true and which was a
lie.)
2. Get into pairs and elicit the submodalities of:
A: The truth
B: The lie
3. Map across, make the lie like the truth and the truth a lie.
4. Test
5. Switch

Think of where this could be useful in the real world. This exercise is important for

both the teller and listener. You will learn how you utilize your sub-modalities when you

tell a story (truthful and lie) as well as how you pick up clues when listening to someone

else. Pay attention to what goes on inside of you when telling the truth as well as when

telling the lie.

Next time you watch a movie, make a conscious effort to track the little details that

either sell you on the movie or totally blow the plausibility of the movie. If the little

details are plausible, the larger “lies” are more easily believable.

If you get into rapport with someone, and mirror and match them while they are

telling their story, try to put yourself into “think” mode while listening and in rapport,

and you will be better able to detect the lie. External behavior models an internal process.

Being in rapport will tune your senses while you listen.

This is why it’s harder to lie to (or be lied to by) family or a friend versus a stranger.

The better rapport you have, the more in tune you are with them and they with you.

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 If you are the one telling the story, really use your sub-modalities to try to sell the

story. The more in state you are, the more difficult time the listener will have determining

if you are telling the truth or the lie. If you try to build rapport while telling the story,

mirroring and matching the listener, it becomes even more difficult for them to tell

whether or not you’re telling the truth.

The more subtle you are at building rapport, the less effective you will be.

Remember, be blatant!

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 APPENDIX IV: Reframing for Change!

Reframing can be one of the most powerful tools that you have to open up new levels of
communication, or it can make you seem like a pushy manipulator who uses word games
to swindle people. One of the bad raps about NLP comes from the misuse of reframing.
So what is reframing? It is a method of using language to have influence over someone’s
thoughts about an event, belief, or feeling by shifting their perspective. Causing them to
see, hear, or feel differently about it. Changing the frame of reference is called reframing
in NLP. The purpose of reframing is to help a person experience their actions, the impact
of their beliefs, behaviors, and feelings from a different perspective (frame) and
potentially be more resourceful or have more choice in how they react.
An event, belief, feeling, has no meaning on its own. It just is. People give it meaning
according to their beliefs, values, preoccupations, likes and dislikes.
During the 1984 campaign, there was considerable concern about Ronald Reagan’s age.
Speaking during the presidential debate with Walter Mondale, Reagan said “I will not
make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my
opponent’s youth and inexperience.” Reagan’s age was not an issue for the remainder of
the campaign!
Reframing is changing the way you perceive an event and so changing the meaning.
When the meaning changes, the response and behavior changes, also.
There are 5 things you must know to have reframing be effective, and these are often
over looked by NLP practitioners, because they focus too much on the technique and
being slick, and not enough on the “Big Five”.
1. RAPPORT, you must be in Rapport or your reframe will come across as
interfering and pushy.
2. Understanding of how the techniques work, not just theory, but understanding on
a deeper level of what is happening in your subject’s mind.
3. Correct information. A reframe before you have all the information leads to
interruptions in your technique, which will make you look clumsy and possibly
less effective.
4. Permission to offer it
5. Reframes are natural if done right.
Then and only then will a reframe do what it is supposed to do. Now here is the big
secret of reframing. It is not a complete technique by itself! That’s right, I said it. It will,
not in and of itself, do a complete change in someone. (I do not believe stories where a
one line reframe totally shifted a person.)

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Reframe techniques are only meant to “open the doorway” to a person’s mind. It gives a
glimpse of other possibilities, and you can use this momentary opening, with your rapport
skills and correct information, to lead them in an alternate direction.
In other words, the meaning of an experience is dependent on the context, or on the
content.
One of the great reframes of all times comes from Thomas Edison, and it is still used to
this day to reframe the idea of failure. When it was pointed out that it took 1000 (or
10,000 according to which story one hears) attempts to successfully get the electric light
bulb to work, a reporter asked him how he felt about the 1000 failures. Edison replied,
“We did not fail, we found 1000 ways that did not work.”
Of course, in NLP and hypnosis we often quote Milton Erickson, when asked about his
failures with clients, he reframed it as, “There is no failure, only feedback. Always be
willing to try something else.”
Then, there is a story about the first President of IBM. A young worker had made a
mistake that lost IBM $1 Million in business. She was called in to the President’s office
and as she walked in said, “Well, I guess you have called me here to fire me.” “Fire
you?” the president replied, “Why would I fire you? I just spent $1 Million on your
education! That is an MBA in real world experience.”
There are two types of reframing:
Context Reframing
Almost all behaviors are useful in some context. A context reframe can be used to see
that the behavior itself can be useful. The question to ask is, “In what context would this
behavior have value?” Context reframing refers to your ability take a negative situation
or behavior and make it positive in another context.

Example:
I wanted to go for a walk in the park today, but I can’t because it’s so rainy.
Reframe:
Well at least your car looks nice and shiny, and you were planning on washing it anyway.

Example:
My Partner works all the time.
Reframe:
But I bet you’ll be thanking him when you get your new dream home.

Content Reframing

Content reframing involves changing what a situation means. It can used to shift virtually
any perspective. By reframing the focus, you change the meaning of the content. Some
examples of how to elicit this from a subject are: ‘What else could this mean?’ or ‘In
what way could this be positive for you?’

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Example:
Saying means things means he’s a bad person.
Reframe:
He may be the only one that cares enough to say the things you need to hear.

Example:
You being late means you don’t care about me.
Reframe:
Most people judge caring on being sensitive to another’s feelings, not their awareness of
time.

The positive value could be related to the subject’s behavior (as above) or it could be
related to your subject’s behavior. A possible reframe might be: “Isn’t it great that you
know your boundaries and are not prepared to allow someone to violate them?”

Reframing is going on all around us. Politicians are masters at reframing. The whole idea
of a positive spin is reframing. Listen to a conservative talk show, then listen to a liberal
one and observe the different spin on the same story.

Application of Reframing
-Negative Beliefs
-Negative Events
-Negative behaviour

Reframing is going on all around us. Politicians are masters at reframing. The whole idea
of a positive spin is reframing. Listen to a conservative talk show, then listen to a liberal
one and observe the different spin on the same story.

Fairy tales and children’s stories use reframes to open up a child’s model of the world or
get them to see different perspectives, they can also teach consequences, chicken little
and the sky is falling...the boy who cried wolf, etc.

Inside the world of reframing there are levels that once can look at. Several years ago I
went to training on Sleight of Mouth patterns which uses reframing in its core. I came
away and developed the dandy dozen that gives some overview of this skill set. Robert
Dilts wrote an excellent book on the subject.

Here are the Dandy Dozen with examples and levels of reframes:

Reality Strategy using causes, evidence:

Saying mean things means you are a bad person.

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How specifically do you know that it is bad or mean for me to say them? It is bad
according to whom?

Your being late means you don’t care.

How do you know that lateness and caring are equal?

Intent using cause, evidence:

Saying mean things means you are a bad person.

My intention is not being mean but to teach you something about time.

Your being late means you don’t care.

My intent was not to be late, but to finish my work so we would not be interrupted once I
got home.

Model of the world on cause evidence:

Saying mean things means you are a bad person.

It may be mean in your family, but in mine that’s how we showed we cared.

Your being late means you don’t care.

In your world time is number one, in my world, I focus on finishing tasks, so I can truly
be with the person I am spending time with.

Apply to self on cause evidence:

Your being late means you don’t care.

Now you tell me, I wish you cared enough to tell me this earlier!

Saying mean things means you are a bad person.

That is a pretty mean thing to say to me.

Change Frame Context, Size:

Saying mean things means you are a bad person.

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It might look bad now, but when you see the whole picture you’ll understand.

(This is what you see the government and politicians use, “If you had access to the
information I had (or intelligence), then you would understand.”)

Your being late means you don’t care.

Better to arrive late, than never!

Counter Example:

Saying mean things means you are a bad person.

Do you think one can be a bad person and not say mean things?

Your being late means you don’t care.

Is it possible to be late and still care, have you been late, do you care?

Redefine Cause Evidence:

Saying mean things means you are a bad person.

I am not being mean, I am expressing my point of view, stating the facts as I see them.

Your being late means you don’t care.

I am not late, I was delayed.

Chunk Size on Cause Effect:

Saying mean things means you are a bad person.

So one day, one mean thing said, and one is doomed to being bad or evil forever?

Your being late means you don’t care.

Our whole relationship is based on me being on time?

Redefine Beliefs:

Saying mean things means you are a bad person.

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I am not bad I am just not as sensitive as you. I am more flexible.

Your being late means you don’t care.

I show my caring differently than you.

Chunk Down:

Saying means things means you are a bad person.

Bad how specifically, according to whom specifically, which things exactly?

Your being late means you don’t care.

How specifically does lateness mean not caring, not care how specifically?

Consequence:

Saying mean things means you are a bad person.

I am only saying mean things to try to make them better in the long run.

Your being late means you don’t care.

If I had not been late, I may have lost my job as I had to finish a project, and I care too
much for you not to provide.

Apply to Self on Beliefs, Effects, Values:

Saying mean things means you are a bad person.

Did you ever notice only bad person tend to find the bad in other?

Your being late means you don’t care.

A truly caring person should be able to overlook a little tardiness once in a while.

In closing once should always remember the basics: rapport, techniques, gathering
information. Then you can pick this up.

Watch comics for true rapid reframes, a joke or funny story usually has a reframe in it.

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I recently heard a comic tell this story:

Have you ever noticed that people are nicer in church then change when they leave, I
went to church a couple of weeks ago and everyone was so nice, but the church was
packed so the parking was crazy. When I was leaving I accidentally cut a guy off and boy
did he get angry, called me every name in the book, names that would make a sailor
blush. He even gave me the finger, boy how people change. I felt bad, so I said, “ I am
sorry Reverend”

Have fun and reframe someone today!

Credits and references:

Robert Dilts, Steve Andreas, Richard Bandler, John Grinder, Todd Epstein, Roger
Ellerton, William Horton, Larry the Cable Guy, other comics

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 APPENDIX V: Glossary of Common NLP Terms

Our primary goal is to provide you with reference experiences for the attitudes that
characterize the NLP way of perceiving reality and for the trail of techniques that have been
generated as a consequence. Since many people desire a map (no matter how vague) of the
territory before proceeding with their journey, we also offer this glossary of terms. We trust that
you understand that dictionary definitions are, of necessity, “circular” and are most useful when
they direct you to the reference experiences.

Accessing cues – Behaviors that are correlated with the use of a particular
representational system; i.e. eye movements, postures, breathing, etc.

Analog change – A change which varies continuously; e.g. a dimmer control for lights or
a shift in body position.

Analog marking - Emphasizing a part of a sentence using verbal or non-verbal means;

e.g. a louder tone or a hand gesture.

Anchor – A trigger that leads to an experience as fully and completely as possible (with
all the senses); looking out from one’s own eyes.

Auditory – Referring to the sense of hearing.

Backtrack – To review or summarize.

Break state – To change a person’s state dramatically.

Behavioral flexibility – The ability to vary one’s behavior in order to elicit a response
from another person.

Calibrate – To “read” another person’s verbal and non-verbal responses and associate
specific behaviors with specific internal processes or states.

Calibrated loop – An ongoing interaction in which specific behaviors of each person

trigger specific responses in the other.

Chaining anchors – Firing anchors sequentially in order to direct a person’s experience

along that sequence.

Channel – One of the five senses or representational systems.

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Chunk size – The size of the object, situation or experience being considered. This can
be altered by chunking up (a broader focus), chunking down (a more specific focus) or
chunking sideways or laterally (focusing on others of the same type of class). For
example, beginning with a car, “chunking down” might be to a Ford, “chunking up”
might be to a means of transportation, and “chunking sideways” might be to a plane or
train.

Collapsing Anchors – Firing anchors simultaneously in order to promote integration of

the experiences.

Complex equivalent – A linguistic term to describe the complex set of behaviors that
equal a certain nominalization in a person’ map of reality; e.g. the behaviors that are
“proof” that a certain person “loves” you.

Congruent – When all of a person’s internal strategies, behaviors and parts are in
agreement and working together.

Contrastive analysis – To determine the differences between the submodalities of two or

more representations.

Conversational Postulates – Behavioral presuppositions which are part of the culture

and language patterns but are not identified overtly; e.g. “Do you have a watch?” lead the
other person to tell you the time.

Critical Submodalities – The submodalities which most determine a person’s response.

Cross-over Mirroring – Matching a person’s rhythms but with a different type of

behavior.

Deep Trance Identification – See second position.

Digital Change – A change which is all-or-none, on-or-off with no steps or positions in

between the ends; e.g. a light is on or off, language.

Dissociated – Experiencing from a perspective other than your own.

Driver – The most crucial submodality so that changing it, “automatically” changes
many other submodalities.

Dovetail – To fit together more than one outcome, story, etc..

Ecology – Considering the effects on the whole system instead of on just one part or one
person.

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Embedded command – Nesting a command so that it is grammatically not a command
but is marked out as a command by your analogs; e.g. “It might be worthwhile
considering how to do that!

Eye accessing cues – Movements of a person’s eyes that indicate the representational
system being used.

Firing an anchor – Repeating the overt behavior that triggers a certain response.

First position – Experiencing the world from your own perspective or being associated
into yourself.

Flexibility – Having more than one choice in a situation.

Future Pace – Rehearsing (mentally and physically) so that a specific behavior will
occur naturally and automatically in a future situation.

Generative intervention – An intervention that solves the presenting problem and also
generates other changes that make the person’s life better in many other ways.

Gustatory – Referring to the sense of taste.

Incongruent – When two or more of a person’s parts or programs are in conflict.

Installation – Acquiring a new strategy or behavior.

Kinesthetic – Referring to the sense of feeling. May be subdivided into tactile feelings
(Kt – physically feeling the outside world), proprioceptive feelings (Kp – internal body
sensations such as muscle tension or relaxation) and meta feelings (Km – “emotional”
responses about some object, situation or experience.)

Lead system – The representational system initially used to access stored information.

Leading – Guiding another person in a specific direction.

Lost performative – A linguistic pattern in which the person performing the action or
judgment is missing from the sentence.

Map of reality – A person’s perception of reality.

Mask – See perceptual filter.

Meta-model – A model of language patterns that focuses attention on words people use
to delete, distort, generalize, limit or specify their realities and also provides a series of
outcome specification questions useful for recovering lost or unspecified information and
or loosening rigid patterns of thinking.

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Metaphor – Usually a story, parable or analogy that relates one situation, experience or
phenomenon to another.

Meta-outcome – The outcome that is more general than the stated one; e.g. getting my
self-respect back is the meta-outcome in “Killing that person will get my self-respect
back.” It is the “chunked up” outcome, so that killing that person becomes only one
member of a class of behaviors that can be used to recover self-respect.

Meta-person – Being in third positions.

Milton model – A categorization of language patterns useful for delivering a message in

such a way that the person readily accepts it.

Mirroring – Approximately matching one’s behavior to that of another person.

Modal operators – A linguistic term for the way one judges or evaluates actions; e.g.
choice, possibility, impossibility, desire, necessity.

Modality – One of the five senses.

Modeling – Observing and specifying how something happens or how someone thinks or
behaves, and then demonstrating the process for others.

Negative command – A command that is marked out with analogs although it is

grammatically stated in the negative; e.g. “Wouldn’t that be a good idea!”

Nest – To fit one thing (outcome, story, etc.) within another.

Nominalization – A linguistic term for the words which result from the process of taking
actions (verbs) and converting them into things (nouns) which actually have no existence
as things; e.g. you can’t put them in a wheelbarrow. Examples of nominalizations are
“love”, “freedom”, “happiness”, “respect”, “frustration”, etc.. See complex equivalent.

Olfactory – Referring to the sense of smell.

Organ language – Words that refer to specific body parts or activities; e.g. “Get off my
back,” “pain in the rear,” etc..

Outcome – Desired goal or result.

Pacing – Matching or mirroring another person’s verbal and/or non-verbal behavior.

Useful for gaining short-term rapport.

Parts – Metaphoric representations of different facets of a person’s strategies, programs,

“Personality” or ego states; e.g. the “parts” that want you to be safe, independent, in

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control, loved, respected, spiritual, etc.. To be distinguished from the specific behaviors
adopted by the “parts” to get their positive outcomes.

Perceptual filter – An attitude, point of view, perspective or set of presuppositions about

the object, person or situation. Also called a “mask.”

Polarity response – A response which reverses, negates or takes the opposite position
from the previous statement.

Predicates – Process words or words that express action or relationship with respect to a
subject (verbs, adverbs and adjectives). The words may reflect the representational
system being used or they may be non-specific; e.g. “That looks good”, “Sounds right to
me”, “that feels fine” or “I agree”.

Preferred representational system- The representational system which a person

habitually uses to process information or experiences; usually the one in which the person
can make the finest distinctions.

Process words – See predicates.

Quotes – A method of expressing the desired message in quotations as if someone else

said it.

Rapport – A condition in which trust, understanding, harmony and cooperation has been
established.

Reframing – A process by which a person’s perception of a specific behavior is altered.

Usually subdivided into context, meaning and six-step reframing.

Remedial Intervention – An intervention that only solves the presenting problem.

Representational systems – Referring to the five sense of seeing (visual), hearing

(auditory), feeling (kinesthetic), tasting (gustatory) and smelling (olfactory).

Resource state – The experience of an ability, attitude, behavior, characteristic,

perspective or quality that is useful.

Second position – Experiencing the world from the perspective of another person.

Secondary gain – The positive or desired result (often hidden) of a seemingly undesired
or problem behavior.

Sensory acuity – The ability to use the senses to make distinctions between different bits
of incoming information.

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Sensory based – Information which is correlated with what has been received by the five
senses (as opposed to “Hallucinations”).

Separator state – See break state.

Shift referential index – To take the perspective of someone else but to keep your own
criteria.

Six-step reframe – A process in which an undesirable behavior is metaphorically

separated from the desired outcome of the “part” so that the “part” can more easily adopt
new behaviors that satisfy its positive intention and do not have the undesirable effects of
the original behavior.

Sorting polarities – Separating tendencies or “parts” that pull a person in opposite

directions.

Stacking anchors – Using the same anchor for a number of resources.

State – A state of being or a condition of body/mind or an experience at a particular

moment.

Stealing an anchor – Identifying an anchored sequence (stimulus-response) and then

firing that anchor.

Stimulus-response – The repeated association between an experience and a particular

response; e.g. Pavlovian conditioning.

Strategy – A sequence of mental and behavioral steps which leads to a specific outcome;
e.g. decision, learning, motivation, specific skills.

Submodalities – The subdivisions of the processing of the representational systems; e.g.

visual information can be divided in black and white, color, 2-D, 3-D, bright, dim, clear,
fuzzy, moving, still, large, small, etc.

Switch referential index – To take the perspective and the criteria of someone else.

Synthesia – An overlap between representational systems such as “see/feel” (feelings

overlap with what is seen) or “hear/feel” (feelings overlap with what is heard).

Tag questions – Negative questions tagged onto the end of a sentence in order to diffuse
polarity responses; e.g. “Don’t you?”, “Can’t you?”, ”Aren’t you?”, etc..

Tape editing – A process of reviewing past behavior and then future pacing in order to alter
future responses in similar situations.

Third position – Experiencing the world from a distant position, outside all the persons
in the interaction (as an “Observer”, “Fair Witness”, “Guardian Angel”, etc.)

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Transderivational search – The process of searching back through one’s memories to find a
reference experience.

Translating – The process of rephrasing words from one representational system into
another.

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 APPENDIX VI: NFNLP Activity Summary

Page Title Concepts Examples (add your own)

Sensory Mirroring, Matching, Meta Client Interview job interview
Perceptual Model Submodalities
Strategies
Circle of Power Establishing self-confidence Future sports or job performance
or future excellence
Information Mirroring, Matching, Meta Client Interview, job interview
Gathering Model Sumodalities
Anchoring and Using a new resource with a Defusing anger, Getting out of
Adding a problem “reaction” mode and into “proactive”
Resource mode
Chaining Anchors Breaking connection Breaking procrastination or reluctance
between event and emotions to act because of associating action
with “bad” event in past
Behavior Transfer Substitute different resource Defusing anger, Getting out of
or behavior “reaction” mode and into “proactive”
mode
Changing Reframe old memory Eliminating feelings of shame, guilt,
Personal History etc.
Re-parenting Reframe old memory Eliminating feelings of shame, guilt,
disappointment, etc.
Eliminating Fears Neutralize negative feelings Fears of heights, water, dark places,
and Phobias of phobias, trauma insects, etc.
How to Mend a Neutralize negative feelings Broken hearts
Broken Heart of excessive love
New Behavior Using all senses to imagine Sports achievement or improvement
Generator self in desired action
Visual Squash Integrating internal conflicts Generate motivation, eliminate
within client procrastination
Swish Pattern Change unwanted behaviors Fingernail biting, cigarette smoking,
or feelings shyness, -- any compulsion or
addiction
Godiva Chocolate Establish desire to Doing paperwork, taxes, routine
Pattern accomplish an action housework, etc.
Building self- Enables client to stay Job performance, sports development,
confidence resourceful when criticized schoolwork
Developing Self- Claim feeling of one who Self Esteem, depression
Appreciation loves you as your own
Reframing Reframing subconscious Developing new behaviors for any
response situation

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