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NLP was developed in the mid-70s by John Grinder, a Professor at UC Santa Cruz and Richard Bandler, a graduate student. NLP, as most people use the term today, is a set of models of how communication impacts and is impacted by subjective experience. It's more a collection of tools than any overarching theory.

Much of early NLP was based on the work of Virginia Satir, a family therapist; Fritz Perls, founder of Gestalt therapy; Gregory Bateson, anthropologist; and Milton Erickson, hypnotist.

• Lara J. Coulson has used NLP to help a Cerebral Palsy patient.
• Peta Heskell
• Bob Janes - Manager
• Carol Anne Ogdin - Organizational Culture Consultant

Peta Heskell

UPW 95

I have just come back from Tony Robbins stormin' UPW 95 seminar in Birmingham, UK. For 3 and a half days, 1800 people screamed, danced, thrilled, massaged, communicated soul-searched networked and thoroughly enjoyed themselves thanks to the master motivator. The event had an enormously powerful affect on my life. Tony's exhilirating and foreceful style of fire, brimstone and NLP tools crystallised everything I had learnt about NLP into a bright sword of immediate power. Suddenly it all became clear, this shit works.

MAJOR DECISIONS

For some time now I have desperately wanted to move out of computer training[it was never 'me'] into Personal Development training. I never quite knew where to start. I did know that I had to do some serious personal development on myself in order to walk the walk and talk the talk. 9 days Foundation skills NLP helped but didn't inspire me to action. I have spent the last 2 months drawing up the pros and cons of exchanging my current, not too rewarding but cushy job for a hard working potentially developmental one.

At UPW I made a major decision and took massive action. I sought out my boss, handed in my notice [we both work for Local Government] and now I'm on my way. I shall be starting with an organisation run along radical lines. Workers have the final say on all decisions - everyone attends a co-counselling course, the staff all hug each other in the morning and even more wowee is that the boss attended Bandler's London seminar and is now an ardent NLP fan. The company is called Happy Computers - training with a smile. I have even negotiated 2 weeks paid leave to attend Practitioner training and what is more I have been asked to put together a using NLP in training workshop for the other trainers on my return. What a great opportunity!

RADICALLY CHANGED RELATIONSHIPS

My boss attended UPW - against my wishes. He found the leaflet in the photocopier and booked up. I was convinced it would ruin my weekend. How wrong can you get. I had always liked the man on a personal level. He is spiritual, intelligent and a practising Homeopath but workwise yuk! I was awkward and non-cooperative and bad mouthed him all the time. He was selfish and greedy, refused to share information and only interested in his own development. During the seminar we spoke several times. On our return to work, a completely new atmosphere existed - created by our mutual enthusiasm and new found motivation.

We are following a healthy diet regime together. His wife and my partner are accompanying us to an NLP workshop next week. We start each day with a hug and our post-it telephone messages are now illustrated with motivational cartoons. We lift each other out of bad states. He purchased and recorded a non-stop tape of Chariots of Fire for me to which I do my exercise each morning. I am taking him along to my NLP practice group. Our colleagues are both puzzled and impressed by the amazing aura of love, kindness and positivity that we exude.

GREATEST GIFT

The greatest gift this seminar gave me was a new insight into the NLP toolkit I already possess. It was like turbocharging the batteries. I now find it immensely easy to put myself into 'peak state' in a 'heartbeat'. My partner tells me and everyone else that I am a changed woman. He too is reaping the benefits of my investment. And boy what a low cost investment. For the price of a cheap holiday, I have gained a major new force in my life - the power of me. A substantial improvement on a suntan, 6 extra pounds, flu and some interesting photographs. That was what I gained from my most recent holiday which cost twice as much!

MAUI WOWEE

I am off to Maui to attend Date with Destiny [and Tony Robbins!] in December 96. I feel as if I am soaring onwards and upwards and this will be the booster I need. Some people question the merits of spending money on this kind of thing. I use the holiday analogy as an example. But how many of us think absolutely nothing of spending thousands on a flash motor car or designer clothes [none of which I can afford]. For me an investment that brings me such rich rewards and enables me to give so much to others is worth its weight in gold [that makes it cheap at any price].

GOOD MORNING

I now make it my practice to say good morning witha smile to as many people as possible. This simple act of kindness towards strangers is so rewarding. I have never seen so many smiles suddenly crease the faces of previously gloomy head down low state people. For me all this stuff is about the simple things reaping the greatest rewards. I just love it and my life is so much richer and happier for all of it.

ON-LINE LIFE

I decided yesterday that given the choice of keeping my computer or my TV I would choose the computer. The access to new worlds that I gain through this little bit of metal and chips is priceless. I have made many new friends throughought the world. I love being able to pour out my thoughts,send them to someone knowing that they will read them at their leisure when they want to. I get a chance to 'talk' without interruption and in turn I can'listen' at length and absorb without interruption when I am ready to do so. So much less intrusive than the telephone, so much easier and faster than the snail mail.

ON STAGE AT UPW

When I stood up on the stage in front of all those people, I felt an enormous exhilaration. Tony used the example of words 'Public Speaking' as a kind of anchor that freezes people up. When he spoke those words, I jumped up, spread my arms wide, looked at the audience and whilst screaming YES!! I thought this is me. This is the destiny I have been dreaming of for years, I just never dared to believe it could be done. I know I can do it. What a buzz.

- Peta Heskell

Bob Janes - Manager

04 April 1993

Michael,

I have been pondering on my personal benefit whilst driving round
the countryside the last few days -- funny how your messages crop up
whilst I'm driving.  I find it hard to attribute much directly and
absolutely to NLP I have covered a lot of ground in the last twelve
months or so and I 'm not sure how much has stuck or where it came
from.  I doubt that it matters too much.

In no particular order: I get on much better with my children, the
hug count has gone up immeasurably; I read to my son in a way that we
both enjoy; he has settled down markedly.

I have become significantly better at interfacing with all kinds
of people at work -- to the extent that others mentioned instances
back to my ex-boss.  I am also coping with massive change and
uncertainty with internal equanimity (it used only to be external --
until I went over the threshold).  I have a close colleague who has
moved from complete uncertainty about a new job to almost
over-confidence in the last couple of months, due in part to a steady
stream of "supportive" Milton model comments -- "I wonder if you'll
get that sorted out today or tomorrow".

I do things that I would not have done before because they did not
fit with my self-image -- like writing this message, taking piano
lessons, experimenting with Alexander technique, and so on.  Some
where down the line I have also integrated two parts of me that were
on significantly diverging tracks -- and I think they are now more or
less in step.

Ask me again in a few months time and I'll see if I've noticed
anything else.

Bob

Carol Anne Ogdin - Organizational Culture Consultant

Here are a couple of war stories from Carol Anne Ogdin. They are copyright © 1995, by Carol Anne Ogdin. Please do not use them without explicit permission.

Article 3220 of alt.psychology.nlp:
From: CAOgdin (Carol Anne Ogdin) @ deepwoods.com
Subject: Re: Sharing our NLP Successes
Date: 27 Jun 1995 08:10:02 -0500

Sunday, May 24, 1981; Washington, D.C.

It was a fine day to play hookey.  It was the third day of the second
weekend of NLP Practitioner Training.  I'd signed up because I'd
heard neat things from Ron Klein, a hypnotist I respected...and I'd
been impressed with his skills in a weekend workshop.  I had more
money than time, so had signed up for the entire 27-day program with
a check, in advance.  I figured, if I didn't like it, I'd have all
those "booked" weekends to have fun in...and I could afford to write
it off it didn't deliver what I expected.

So, the first weekend we spent learning mirroring, and pacing-and-
leading, and simple patterns of metaphor and storytelling (and I 
had my first public altercation with Richard Bandler...which set a
pattern we didn't change for another two years).  As the second 
weekend began, Todd Epstein and Robert Dilts were teaching anchors,
and outcome frames, and by Saturday we were doing "chains" of an-
chors.  I was having fun, but I figured I was getting the changes
I saw because the "subject" was always another NLP student.  So,
I remain unconvinced.

So, on this fine, sunny Sunday, I drove out to Prince Georges County
Airpark, where I'd learned to fly in '69.  I'd rented 734ND, a trusty
Cessna 172 for the entire day, because back in March I'd made a pact
with Suzanne, Sheila and Joyce for a day of fun-in-the-sun at
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina...the site of the Wright brothers' first
flight.  We departed the small, valley airport at about 8:30 am,
and flew in cloudless, warming air, arriving at First Flight Airport
in Kitty Hawk about two hours later.  Uneventful, and a great time
for all.  Because it was the first flight in a single-engine, four-
seat airplane for all my passengers, I kept turns gentle, and we
took the scenic route over major cities and along major highways.

Arriving, we walked down to the beach, had a full day of sun and fun,
and decided we were getting hungry.  I proposed that we fly back
up to Washington via Williamsburg, the restored historic town that
preserves the customs and aura of the late 18th century.  We lifted
off the runway at about 4:00 pm, into very hot air...outside air
temperature was in the high-90's.

Now, on cloudless, hot afternoons as the earth cools below, there
is rising hot air, and falling cool air, and these alternating
columns of air set up turbulence, which can be from negligible to
rodeo-level.  Today's air was comparatively still, with little wind,
but the turbulence was moderate, owing to the rapid cooling of the
greenery below.  We'd been airborne about ten minutes when I looked
over at Joyce; my lovely African-American friend was getting green
about-the-gills.  I turned to glance at Suzanne and Sheila in the
backseat...they were fine.

So, here I was, at 4,000 feet, airborne with four souls on board in
moderate turbulence...and I was having visions of having to hose
out the cabin upon landing!  "So," I muttered to myself under my
breath, "I wonder if this NLP s(tuff) really works!"  I decided that
my newfound skill with chains of anchors would be useful...and the
desired state was one of nonchalance, or of pleasure...and it seemed
like a lo-o-ong way for Joyce from near-nausea to pleasure...but,
as I like to say, never "go for the Bronze!"

Besides, this was Joyce's last day as a "civilian."  The next day,
she was due to catch a flight to Minneapolis-St. Paul to enter
"Stew" school for Republic Airlines.  Hey...if anybody needed to
have a strategy for coping with turbulence, Joyce was IT!

"Say, Joyce...this turbulence is quite normal, the result of the
earth cooling after a hit day."

Didn't phase her.  The best she could manage was a gutteral, "Yeah."

[Okay, that simple explanation didn't work.  I wonder if I can dis-
tract her with a story...but, what story...First, I figure, I've got
to get her into a state *other* than focusing on how miserable she's
feeling...and imaging how miserable she *thinks* she's going to be
feeling.  How about a quick joke?  My goal:  To link her present
state into a state of humor...no matter how wan.]

"There was this lady on a flight to Chicago...she turns to the flight
attendant [pointing to her] and asks, 'How many air pockets before
we get to Chicago?'"  Joyce responds with a mild chuckle.

[So far, so good.  Okay, how 'bout a state of curiosity next?]

"Say, Joyce, can you look in there at the map pocket on the door and
see if there's a small white bag in there?"

[Actually, I'm getting her to look for the 'burp cup,' because if
she's gonna spew, I want her to aim into the bag. I make a small, 
low whistling sound while she gropes, anchoring the searching. Alas,
no bag.]

So, I'm still cruising along at 100+ knots, at 4,000 feet, and I'm
trying to figure out what to do next.  Fortunately, Suzanne and
Sheila are talking animatedly in back.  So, I remember this story
about how certain phenomena in an airplane can be pleasurable for
women.

"I have this friend, Steve...he flys sailplanes...some people call
them gliders, but they're really sailplanes.  So, one day, he's out
at the airport on a cloudless hot day...sort of like today...and this
gorgeous red headed lady shows up and says she'd like to learn to
fly sailplanes.  So Steve, being VP of the Soaring Society of
America, and all, took executive privilege and preempted the rest of
the willing pilots, and took her aloft.  They flew that day, and
several times the next, and Steve and his new student were getting
to know each other (actually, they eventually married!) better and
better. ...  So, one day, Steve and his new girlfriend were out
boring holes in the sky when Steve gets this bright idea:  "Say, do
you know a sailplane can LOOP?...Here, lemme show you."  Whereupon,
Steve took the two-place sailplane through a perfect loop.

[Now Joyce was interested, but only distracted...as the lingering
green tinge would attest.]

"Now, what's fascinating, is that on the bottom side of the loop,
when both of them were being pressed ... *down* into their seats 
[timed, of course, to coincide with an up-draft!], she let out a
squeal of delight.  When Steve inquired, he got a quick explanation
of the...er, um, sensitive part of Patty's anatomy that had been
firmly pressed into the seat, giving her a jolt of pleasure!

"So, Steve, being ever-willing, offered:  'Should I do it again?'"

"'Sure,' Patty replied.

"Except for the sequential squeals, Steve didn't hear another word
until Patty said, 'Now, let ME do ten!'

"Then Steve did ten, then Patty did ten more.  All told, they think
(for they're not certain) that they may've performed over 100 full 
loops in the sky over the Appalachian mountains that day!

"They *do* know that when they landed at Calistoga airport later
that afternoon, Patty had to lifted out of the airplane.  Her legs
wouldn't work!"

[At that, of course, Joyce laughed...and I knew something was work-
ing...so I decided to tighten the loop, running the chain of anchors
closer together.  And, of course, I'm still flying along in Visual
Flight Rules, scanning for other planes and half-heartedly listening
to the radio.]

"So, in the afternoon turbulence like this, things get a little
bumpy...and the little ole lady bound for Chicago would probably
wonder how many more...but she could search in the seat pocket in
vain for some help ...but I'll bet she would wish
she could be Patty, making all those loops, each one giving her a 
little, tiny orgasm!"

[Chuckle from Joyce...hey, mebbe this is workin', huh?  Now, tighten
the chain a little more...]

"And, when it's bumpy...on the way to Chicago...we can search for
help ...or we can just ride along and enjoy the 
bumps, like Patty."

[Whew!  The green's gone, and Joyce is actually looking around,
outside the airplane!  Well, just one more time.]

"What d'you think...Chicago or Williamsburg?...searching for 
...a way to enjoy this, like Patty."

We chatted amiably for the remainder of the 85-minute flight into
Williamsburg.  The turbulence on final grew worse, closer to the
ground.  Suzanne and Sheila fell quiet.  Joyce just watched the
runway coming nearer and nearer.  I figured she'd be glad to be back
on "terra firma."  We taxied in, tied the 'plane down.

We had a taxi take us in to Williamsburg...and none of my friends
drank with dinner, knowing I couldn't join them.  Besides, we were
all laughing and cutting up and having a ball as it was!  After
dinner, we caught another taxi, back to the small airport.

[I began to worry...does this stuff really work...would the effects
last, or diminish?  How was the flight home going to be?]

There were Suzanne, Sheila and Joyce, lined up in the back seat of
the taxi.  Just as we came onto airport grounds, I turned around from
the front seat to chat with them, watching Joyce out of the corner
of my eye.  Just as the airplanes hove into view...Joyce glanced at
me and broke into an immense, broad grin!  The preflight, loading,
departure and flight were uneventful, followed by a smooth-as-glass
landing back at Prince George's Airpark, just before sunset.

Joyce didn't mention my talking to her at all...and I began to wonder
whether what I'd done was just a "fluke."  However, I got my double-
convincer the following year.

In December, '81, I'd moved to California.  So, one day in the early
Autumn of '82, I was changing planes at MSP (Minneapolis-St. Paul
airport), and who should I see walking down the hall toward her plane
but..."Joyce!"..."Carol Anne!"  We hugged and tried to cram a year's
worth of experiences into the few minutes we each had left.  But
there was one thing she said that will remain with me always.

I asked, innocently, "How'd you feel, after that flight to Kitty
Hawk?"

"Ya know, the strangest thing," she said, winking at me.  "I'm al-
ways the first one in the cabin to sit down and buckle up when the
Captain announces turbulence ahead!"  And her flight companions
nodded, affirmingly.  I may've even seen them smirk...but I'm not
sure.

Copyright, 1983, 1995, Carol Anne Ogdin


[Is there evidence, proof?  None anyone but Joyce and I would ac-
knowledge.  I have my log book, with pax names in the remarks column
before me...but would that convince you?  I only know that I went
back to the Practitioner training with confidence, and pursued 
further training...and as recently as this past weekend, I was 
still learning how to do NLP even better in a course by Christina
Hall.  My experience convinced ME.  I hope my story has proved at
least curiosity-provoking to you, hasn't it?]

--Friday


Sunday, June 25, 1995, Sunnyvale, CA

[In the following, the subject's name has been changed to conceal
her identity.  However, several readers/lurkers on this newsgroup
were in the room, watched the interventions, and can attest to the
before-and-after presentations of the subject.]

Mary had been subject of a demonstration conducted by Chris Hall,
during her "Relanguaging" workshop sponsored by NLP Institute of
California this past weekend.  However, I noticed that during all
the work, Chris hadn't responded to or addressed a clear, lingering
issue.  (Later, when I asked Chris, she said "Yes, I saw that, but
I was running longer than I'd planned...")  The phenomenon was
easy to demonstrate, and at the coffee break after the demo, I
invited Mary to come join a group of us who where talking.

I first established rapport, tested it by making sure I could
get her to follow my gestures.  I also did a quick mental inventory
of the various resources that Mary had brought into the demo, and
those that had been built during the past 45 minutes.  In casual
chatting, I ran several of those patterns by her to check for
appropriate responses, and demonstrated to my satisfaction that
I had access to plenty of resources that Mary could use.

Me (to Mary):  "So, Mary...I have this suspicion that 'leaving'
   has a special meaning for you, doesn't it?"

Mary:   "Yes."

Me:  "Sort of...well...I have this hallucination it means some-
   thing like *abandonment* to you...?"  [Goal:  Define it,
   go for "compulsion blowout" to see if it works.]

Mary:  "Yes.  Many years ago my first husband and I divorced, and
   I've never gotten over it...even though I almost immediately 
   started making more money than the both of us combined...and 
   I got remarried and I have the wonderful, lovely life ...
   but, I can't shake this feeling of feeling abandoned, left.
   It bothers me that my divorce still bothers me so!"
   [N.B.:  Notice present tense to description of divorce and
   her feelings about it.]

Me:   "Well, I don't have an agreement for change work with you..."
   [Goal:  See if she wants me to intervene or not.]

Mary:  "...oh, yes...yes you do!"

Me.    "Well, I just wonder if this has anything do with some-
   thing even bigger...like Life...and Death...because, Mary,
   in order for somethings to be born, something may die.  When
   you choose a different path, the path you were on dies...and
   it is that rebirth, that renewal that gives life to all the
   wonderful things that  came after.  So, Death
   is just a part of Birth, of living, of going out the door of
   one room, into another room...and we can look back with some
   fondness [oops...wrong image..it pays to keep calibrating!]...
   or sadness...at the past we let die a natural Death, from this
   perspective of a new and wonderful, lovely life ...since you can have that new perspective now,
   can't you, Mary?
   [Goal:  Equate the old divorce with stage-setting for the
   current success in her life, link them together so the pain
   of the past becomes precursor to the "wonderful, lovely"
   present and future.]

Mary:  "Why, sure.  I guess I never thought of it that way.  It
   WAS sort of what came before, isn't it?"
   [N.B.:  Notice shift of tense to thrust event in the past,
   demonstrating her internal state change about the event.]



Me:  "Say, Mary, let me ask you a question...Would you play with
   me for a moment?"

Mary:  "Sure."

Me:  "So, Mary, let's imagine there was this wonderful small gift
   that you just KNEW that I would want to have...but it's at the
   store...So, what's the first thing you'd have to do to go get
   that gift?..."
   [Goal:  Test the work, by getting her to utter the difficult
   word.  Frankly, I expected to have to lead her up to this one
   gently, with "and before that?" and "and before that?"...but
   I'm always pleasantly surprised by the people who GET it!...]

Mary:    "I'd have to LEAVE!"  

Me:  "Thank you for that wonderful gift.  We can remember it
   always."



--Friday

------------------------------------------------------------------
Carol Anne Ogdin                "Great minds discuss ideas,
Deep Woods Technology            average minds discuss events, 
CAOgdin@deepwoods.com            small minds discuss people." 
                                    --Adm. Hyman G. Rickover