Unleash Your Passion for People
Unleash Your Passion for People
NLP AND LIFE COACHING
What exactly is NLP?
What does NLP have in common with Life Coaching?
What is meant by 'NLP life coaching'? Does it differ from regular life coaching, and if so, how?
NLP EXplained
MORE ON NLP
For an interesting and relatively objective article that goes into more depth explaining NLP, we suggest you visit the Medical News Today website.
There is much debate and misunderstading about how NLP and Life Coaching relate to each other and even about what NLP actually is. So we offer a brief explanation of NLP here:
Back in the 1970s, two men by the names of Richard Bandler (a master’s student in information science) and John Grinder (a professor in linguistics) were conducting research at the university of Santa Cruz in California. Their specific interest was in communications ability and how some psychotherapists were more effective than others in helping their clients to effect positive change.
To cut a long story short, they came up with a method of modelling human states of mind. This area of study grew into what is now known as Neurolinguistic Programming.
That’s quite a mouthful to remember. So it's no wonder that the acronym, NLP, is in far more common use!
Although the name implies complexity, the concept is actually quite simple.
It may be easier to think of NLP in terms of the connection between the mind (neuro), how one communicates (linguistics) and how this affects one's behaviour (programming).
In even more simple terms, NLP can be looked at as a way to understand what makes people tick and a technique to help change disempowering behaviours.
So, you will appreciate that it can be a very useful tool when it comes to mastering the art of building rapport, framing effective communications, and encouraging behaviour change – all fundamental skills required of life coaches.
WHAT DO NLP AND LIFE COACHING HAVE IN COMMON?
It is important to recognise that life coaching is a discipline that covers a wide range of skills and utilises a large number of tools and techniques to achieve the aim of empowering clients to lead better, more meaningful and more fulfilling lives.
NLP is essentially a technique, or suite of techniques, that aims to improve communication and change disempowering patterns of behaviour.
As these are of fundamental importance in life coaching, a knowledge of NLP and its application can be very useful for life coaches.
That said, NLP is just one of the many concepts and techniques that life coaches can choose to employ in their practices.
WHAT IS 'NLP LIFE COACHING' AND DOES THIS DIFFER FROM REGULAR LIFE COACHING?
Of late, there has been something of a trend developing to try to position NLP as a form of life coaching in and of itself.
In an effort to exploit this 'new niche' for commercial gain, some institutes even present what they call 'NLP life coaching' as an enhanced form of life coaching.
We
think this is a distortion of the truth. We suggest that it is more
accurate to consider NLP as a range of techniques that can be
employed within the broader ambit of life coaching.
Useful and important though it may be, NLP is just one of a wide range of techniques that life coaches may choose to employ.
It is neither a replacement for life coaching nor a more advanced form of life coaching but rather one element of a good life coach's overall toolset.
BROADBASED LIFE COACH TRAINING
By 'broadbased life coach training', we mean training that covers all aspects of life coaching, rather than being confined to one or more narrow niches, defined by certain philosophies or techniques.
Broadbased life coach training includes equipping the trainee life coach with a variety of different philosophies, skills, tools and techniques that can be used to help clients to reach their goals and dreams and live more meaningful and fulfilling lives.
The New Insights Life Coach Training and Certification Programme is broadbased and comprehensive in nature.
Its aim is to fully equip and prepare one to become a successful, professional, certified life coach.
Amongst other things it promotes a good understanding of NLP and NLP techniques and advocates the use thereof where and when appropriate in the overall life coaching context.
At New Insights chooses not to use or endorse the term NLP life coaching as we feel it can mislead one into thinking this is some advanced or specialist branch of life coaching.
However, we do agree that life coaching can be enhanced
through the use of NLP techniques. The New Insights Life
Coach Training and Certification Programme incorporates, but is not limited to NLP, in what it teaches.
find out more about NEW INSIGHTS TRAINING
well If the idea of becoming a successful, professional, certified life coach appeals to you, then training with New Insights may be your best option. We keep things simple with just two courses, both of which are world-class.
You can get a quick overview of the two courses by clicking the button immediately below.
Alternatively, go directly to the page of the course or programme of interest to you (below) for a more detailed understanding:
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