My Journey with Neuro Linguistic Programming started when I was in class XI. I stumbled upon this book called Frogs into Princess when I was exploring what makes some people a genius.

Neuro Linguistic Programming proposes that if ‘someone can do something, anyone can do it’. It is a field that explores what makes geniuses do what they do by a process known as ‘unconscious assimilation’. The process of assimilation, codification, and testing is known as NLP Modelling.

NLP in the early days modeled geniuses in the field of therapy, including Milton Erickson (the greatest hypnotist ever known), Fritz Peril (founder of Gestalt), Virginia Satir (exceptional family therapist), and Frank Farrelly (author of Provocative Therapy). And then went on to model people who overcame their challenges naturally like phobia, schizophrenia, an so on. This allowed the founders of NLP, Dr. John Grinder and Dr. Richard Bandler, develop a variety of patterns that seemed like magic to the onlookers. In the days when brief therapy was 10 sessions, Grinder and Bandler demonstrated that they can cure any phobia in less than 45 minutes.

Soon, the founders started modeling people from other fields like sales, business, education, art, music, and so on. And what developed are hundreds of various patterns that can help an individual explore life to the fullest. From personal change to creativity and skill development, NLP soon became the choice of many leaders in the industry, including the presidents of United States. Techniques from the  field were adopted by the military, corporates, education institutions, doctors, and so on.

The efficacy of this was challenged by many, including the Marshall University, which has documented tapes of how Bandler demonstrated solving three of their most challenging cases in less than 45 minutes. It is also documented that these three participants evolved in many other areas of their life when interviewed years later.

Dr. John Grinder and Judith Delozier (early contributor to NLP) released a compilation of case studies, featuring use of NLP by doctors, artists, and various other professionals, called Leaves Before the Wind.

Since NLP has been highly unregulated, there are all types of clowns claiming as NLP practitioners and trainers. There are even very expensive courses producing highly unskilled practitioners of NLP.  Dr. John Grinder and Carmen Bostic started New Code NLP, fixing some of the design challenges with the classic NLP as well as helping in regulating the field.

The challenge that Dr. John Grinder noticed was that there were very skilled NLP practitioners who could get results for others, but their very life was inconsistent and needed intervention. So, with New Code NLP and skill transfer, the epistemology has been to help an individual with both the wisdom and tools necessary to lead quality life in addition to all the tools and patterning that NLP has been instrumental in developing.

My first brush with NLP outside of whatever I learned from the books happened with Dr. Richard Bandler. And I was soon making quite some nice progress and getting results with people. I helped people quit smoking, study smarter, and sleep better, and was also independently verifying that whatever NLP claimed works!

I had the same challenge that millions of practitioners around the world used to face. A bottleneck on using NLP patterning for personal transformation. This changed in a brief exchange I had with Judith Delozier. She spun some magic on me. And things have been very different since then.

Judith gave me a very valuable advice. She asked me to learn from John and also from her.

I soon enrolled for my course with Dr. John Grinder. And at the same time, Phani sought help after the fatal accident that left him paralyzed. This was when Dr. John started teaching me to help Phani Kumar. At this stage my good friend Harini (Singer Megha) joined me in all my practice activities, and we continued to do everything John asked us to. And this journey still continues. And it has been fantastic – exploring beyond what has been documented as NLP, developing new patterning, and stretching the boundaries of the field.  Since then, we have done thousands of change work, making the impossible happen and pushing our own boundaries of personal excellence.

My sincere thanks to Dr. John Grinder for both developing the field and all the magic in helping both Harini and I explore, enrich, and expand this field.

The Business of Evolving People