By: Shlomo Vaknin, C.Ht

We’re not teaching the old fashioned NLP. We teach the new one, which is also the more useful one.

The best way to learn NLP is by not learning it. This is the fastest root to understand and utilize the tools. And when I’m saying “not learning it”, I mean not fixing it in your memory, not accepting the terms and concepts as they are and not practicing the tools according to their pure (or poor) state.

And I’m suggesting it since it is quite obvious to me, after 10 years of researching NLP and Hypnosis, that many (if not almost all) people approach NLP as if it was a fixed science, proven and unchallengeable. This is a mistake, that will cost you greatly later on, after you’re “hooked” into the madness of knowing more about yourself and others to the point of being a control freak.

Every once in a while I stumble upon a person who claims NLP is a mind washing methodology, and with great pleasure I have to agree with him. Since, in a sort of operation, many new NLP practitioners act as if they are a part of a cult. They worship Bandler (a co-founder of NLP) to the point of swallowing every single word the man says, without giving enough thought or raising serious discussions.

When people around them contradict their beliefs about NLP, they get upset and protective. And I found that to be very strange. Why would you need to protect the reputation of a person who you hardly know, let alone of a set of concepts that were never proven scientifically? Why would you follow blindly after a few people and pay so much for their presentation of lies?

And now I bet you have another question in your mind – is this really an introduction to the NLP course? Am I trying to teach you NLP by convincing you that it is a mind washing methodology? No.

Apparently, though I am sending quite a lot of warnings about this phenomenon through my articles and posts, it is not clear enough to some people. NLP can be dangerous if you accept it as is, without trying to resolve its inner contradictions and lies and false beliefs, without extracting whatever works for you and dumping the rest – without thinking. Yes, without thinking. NLP practitioners are known to be thinkers, but in my own opinion – they think in the limits they place when they enter the training room or read a book. They put those boundaries around them, in disguise of not being able to contradict the expertise of the person who’s teaching them.

NLP is not a medical science. My course of studies is extremely different than the course of studies regular NLP students get. It is different because NLP was never a part of science. Because of Mr. Bandler, NLP has the reputation of negating the concepts of psychology and psychiatry – which is fine by me, though, since I can’t stand most of those analysis freaks. However, the rebel that NLP offered the world did not help it to grow. NLP has been inserted into the niche of “new age” on the border of “self help alternative therapy”, which in my opinion – is the worst process that happened to it.

Is NLP a definite methodology? No. It is not. Many of the older NLP concepts won’t work today and may not even work in the future, although there are testimonials that at least some of them worked in the past.

Let me give you a short example – NLP in the 70’s introduced the concept of matching, which is a part of building a good rapport with another person. Matching is actually mimicking the other person’s movement, but intelligently and with a systematic fashion so that person feels intuitively as if you two are “alike”, and therefore he or she would be more suggestible to your influence.

That may have been true in the 70’s and even in the 80’s. However, we’re now in the 21st century. These days people communicate faster, better and to longer distances. These days we have a born suspicion towards strangers. We are accustomed to be bombarded with numerous messages all around us, and we are now masters in criticizing sensory information and deleting them almost immediately if they are not appropriate for us. We also check very closely any new person because these days, you just have to protect yourself and your family against scam artists, criminals and social engineers. Sometimes, it can be all of them in one person.

If someone tries to mimic you, there’s a good chance you’d notice and get upset or at least suspect him for trying to manipulate you. Since you and I are reacting this way, how would you think other people will react?

Yes, of course, there will always be someone who’ll fall for that strategy, but these days – more often than not – it does not work this way. You in fact may get in trouble, or at least lose a chance to get what you want, by matching a person using a technique from the 70’s.

Another mistake in the construction of NLP is the “step by step” fashion of teaching a concept. Instead of letting a person experience the leverage point and then letting him evolve, the techniques of the old NLP are defined within a set of steps. First you put it this way, then you take it this way and then you end in that point.

Self improvement is not a set of techniques and step by step recipes involving controlling your mind. To improve yourself, you start with a leverage point and join the ride. You don’t determine a finish point, since it will never end there. And if you’re trying to control the process to the point of knowing in advance every single “mile stone” and every single possible response (in the business world it is known as focal points), you will end up just like 99.9% of the self improvement enthusiasts – with lots of dreams and endless amount of hidden disappointments.

That is exactly what bothers me in the self improvement scene and of course – with the old NLP.

To end this introduction with a personal note, since many people asked me to tell some more about myself, let me share with you this:

I am NOT an NLP practitioner, master practitioner or trainer. Yes, of course I was “certified” by an organization that is titled “NLP institute”, but I do not view myself or call myself an NLP practitioner, master practitioner or trainer.

I am a hypnotherapist. The reason I went on researching NLP was my thirst to know more. That’s all. I am a hypnotherapist, and I call myself one, because Hypnotherapy is recognized as a profession worldwide. NLP is not. In fact, legally, you don’t even need a certificate to practice NLP. You don’t need to pass board exams to qualify and there are no entrance exams for it. Every single person is accepted, as long as they offer the cash required.

That is why I do not want to be associated with the group of people who have a huge lack of skills to help other people therapeutically, who delude themselves and others of having a super natural ability, and some of them even use mind washing techniques to make money under the title NLP.

If this is what you expect from this course and my site, go somewhere else. It is not what I teach and it is not what this site is about. If you have a blind faith in Bandler or in anyone else, I personally ask you not to participate in our discussions. I feel a great deal of disgust towards people who go blindly after others, especially since if they look close enough – they would freak out from the truth.

What Is The New NLP?

The new NLP is different than the old one in only one single concept – it is more flexible. I will offer you everything I can. However, I will constantly ask you to challenge it, modify it, dump it or accept it – after you think by yourself. That’s a very different training concept than what is done so far in this field.

I will do my best to direct you towards that focal point – that leverage point – instead of having you constrained within the limits of thoughts that were originated 30 years ago.

This is a journey, a process, without a fixed set of steps or directions. We have of course a compass, which will be influenced by your participation and creativity. By your influence on yourself and others. By your own imagination, which is (unlike some claim) limited in how high it can reach but not how deep.

Since this is going to be a group journey, the more people who join the greater and more fascinating each of us will become – so if you know other people who want to grow, either in your daily life or online encounters – invite them over. The variety of minds will increase the speed of growth for each and every one of us, and it is certainly wanted and welcome.

Are you ready for the journey?

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