Graham C. Lee
Clinical Hypnotherapy
For 23 years I have worked as a senior manager in both public and private sectors and gained a wide range of skills and experience enabling me to motivate, inspire and coach staff. I have an in depth understanding of high pressure and stressful working environments and how this can impact individuals in their work place and private lives.
This combination of professional experience, training and personal motivation, lets me work with clients to help achieve significant and positive change in their lives.
What is NLP?
Maybe you’ve never been given the opportunity, or your responsibilities are holding you back from reaching your goals. While a daily routine and habit can be difficult to break out of, the excuses you tell yourself are not what is stopping you from making these achievements.
NLP practitioners harness the power of language to break down the mental barriers we unknowingly create for ourselves.
Because of this, NLP is considered to be one of the most useful and accessible tools to come from modern psychology. NLP is used to assist the development of:
- stress management
- improving feelings of empathy#
- improving communication skills
- resolving destructive relationship patterns.
NLP is used to teach us how changing the way we perceive the world can lead us to adjust and adapt our behaviours in order to live the life we dream of. An NLP coach will work to encourage the client to move out of their comfort zones. Breaking barriers and taking chances only helps to develop a fuller, happier and infinitely more satisfying life.
Understanding NLP
The technique was developed in 1972 by John Grinder and Richard Bandler. Fascinated with human excellence, they decided to look at the work of Fritz Perls, the psychotherapist behind gestalt therapy, Virginia Satir, the “mother of family therapy” and Milton Erickson, the first therapist to use hypnosis for medical purposes.
While NLP is a vast and complex technique, the fundamental ideas behind the subject can be broken down into three parts:
Subjectivity – At the heart of NLP lies the understanding that each one of us has a unique perspective of the world we live in.
Maps – The belief that our own worlds are made up of complex territories and boundaries that are drawn out for us as we grow.
Language – It is understood that we have the power to shift and redraw these boundaries using our ‘control systems’. The most influential control system we hold is language.
What to expect
While the methods used by professionals will all differ, the standard NLP coaching session will follow the same, basic pattern.
Initially, the practitioner will ask what you want to change and the problems you want to overcome. They will pay close attention to what you are saying, how you say it and tailor the session to your responses.
The NLP coach will then work through a range of exercises with you in order to piece together your “life map”. They will begin to introduce new thought processes in order to help you widen your boundaries.
It is common for the practitioner to give you a number of exercises to practise at home. This will help you get accustomed to the techniques learnt in the NLP coaching session. While the main neurological changes will have occurred during the session, they may take time to settle in. It is normal for the changes to progress over time, as you get back into your daily routine.
They may ask you to record how you felt before, during and after sessions. This is so you and the NLP practitioner can look back on the results. You will also make note of any changes you have noticed since starting the sessions and record any at-home exercises you have completed. When you are ready, both you and the practitioner will decide on the next stage of your life and what change to begin.
It is thought that NLP is such a popular technique because it focuses on the future. It works to explore future possibilities and solutions, rather than encouraging you to dig up past memories or experiences. NLP coaching is about adding opportunities and widening perceptions, rather than dwelling on the negatives.
How can NLP help?
Neuro-linguistic programming is often regarded as “a tool-kit for the mind”, because of this; NLP is used to improve all areas of a person’s life. It is known to be particularly effective for improving the following situations:
Anxiety and stress
NLP coaching can be an effective method for fighting feelings of stress and anxiety because it identifies the thought patterns that may be causing the pressure. As soon as these unconscious thought patterns are recognised, they can be challenged.
Health and well-being
One of the most important ideas underpinning NLP is that the mind and body are closely connected. When exercising for example, people will experience positive mental and physical energy. By improving the way we approach and think about the world, we can improve the health and well-being of our bodies.
Fears and phobias
NLP is well-known for its effectiveness in helping people cope with fears and phobias. Like with anxiety and stress, NLP can reveal the thought process behind the often ‘irrational’ fear. NLP can help to change how a person thinks and feels about what was causing them fear, so that they are no longer afraid.
Relationships
Relationships are based on communication and problems often arise when people are not communicating or expressing how they feel. NLP can help a person become more aware of how they communicate. Understanding this can help people accept that others may have different views. One opinion is not wrong or right. With NLP coaching, practitioners hope that by developing empathy skills, a person will find it easier to build strong and long-lasting relationships.
Confidence
It is common for people to see an NLP practitioner for relief from their own fears and limitations. The techniques used can help the person break the old habits and beliefs and gain new opportunities. NLP is effective in boosting an individual’s confidence by teaching them how to make decisions based on their dreams, rather than fears.
Business
NLP is an excellent tool for understanding people and their ways of communication. In terms of business, learning these tips from an NLP coach will help a person improve how they communicate and improve their ability to empathise and negotiate with colleagues, employees and managers.
