Playfully Achieving NLP Excellence

NLP is a language—the language of change. An NLP training is like a language course, and the classic NLP “formats” are example sentences in this language course. And just as with any other language class, you won’t be able to get by in the “Land of Change” simply using those example sentences you learned, because they’re just that: examples. To become good at NLP, you have to vary and adapt these sentences. To become really good, you should play with the language.

This e-book invites you to do precisely that!

Foreword

In this e-book, I’ll introduce some ways you can play around with NLP formats. These represent a small selection of what I’ve developed over the past twenty years and teach in my NLP training courses—especially in the NLP Master Class. Each of these variations could be explained in much more depth; each one could practically fill an entire book or seminar of its own. Some of them we explore more fully on the NLP Master Class days, and for some of them we devote more time in the NLP Master Class as a whole—but not for everything. NLP is an open system that develops and evolves each day; it’s impossible to learn “all” of NLP—just like you can’t ever learn a language “completely.” There’s always more room for new developments!

If we compare this to music, the practice approaches in this e-book are like finger exercises. Finger exercises are great for developing your own virtuosity so that you can express exactly what you want to express, but you’ll rarely perform them in a concert or record them for an album. Finger exercises have value in a bigger context, alongside composition skills, musical interpretation, and theory.

Likewise, the NLP practice methods in this e-book achieve their full effect only within a larger framework—for instance, alongside a functional understanding of NLP or with other NLP variations (like how any NLP format can be done in three minutes, or even in one single statement during small talk; how a format can be done over days or weeks for a greatly heightened effect; how to combine NLP with the Hero’s Journey, etc.). The overarching structure is modelling, because that’s where NLP emerged from and also how NLP continues to evolve.

When you apply the methods in this e-book, new or varied formats will result. These variations are often longer or more complex than the basic format, so it’s important each time to be clear about the difference between the variation and the basic form. If the variation is different, then the effect must also be different—at least a bit. The more precisely you can describe how the effect differs, the better. This will let you quickly find out whether a given variation is worthwhile. Some variations will find their way into your NLP repertoire, while others may just be for the moment—but all of them will help make you an NLP native speaker before long.

“In a typical therapeutic setting, a client often has to learn the therapist’s language first. An excellent therapist will develop a unique therapeutic approach for each client.” (Milton H. Erickson)

Each NLP Format Works at a Specific Structural Level of NLP

Typically, NLP formats are designed so that they impact a specific “structural level”¹ and use resources from the next higher level:

Points A () and B () lie on the same level, while the resource () is a level above. This “Structure Model of Change” (after Robert Dilts) is the key to understanding all NLP interventions, which makes it extremely important.

1. An important model for understanding NLP’s structure is the so-called “logical levels” of NLP (often called “neuro-logical levels”). Robert Dilts developed it based on Gregory Bateson’s learning-levels model. In my opinion, these levels are essential to grasping NLP. However, I’ve evolved and adapted them over the last twenty years to the point that I’m no longer comfortable calling my current version “Dilts’s model,” since he might not agree with my changes. Hence, I now refer to them as the “structural levels of NLP.” You’ll find a brief version of this model in the appendix of this e-book.

In my NLP training sessions, we discuss this model nearly every day, and in the NLP Master Class, we’ll decode the entirety of NLP using it. The common rule that a resource should come from the next higher level mostly applies when performing planned NLP interventions: it’s correct—but it’s only part of the story. In fact, most problems can be solved at the level on which they occur—or at any other level as well.

A typical person deals with thousands of “problems” every day—most of which they just resolve: you feel hungry and you eat; something itches and you scratch it; you don’t understand something and you quickly think it through; someone says something weird, so you clarify it with them. All of that is no big deal, and most of it doesn’t really register in your consciousness.

But sometimes the problems are big or persistent enough that you actually spend a little time thinking about them—and then solve them. Some might require hours or days of reflection, yet eventually you find a solution. And some things remain unsolved—yet you learn to cope with them.

Only the very few issues that are both severe and long-lasting are ones you truly “work on”—maybe even go to a coach for help. In other words, the topics clients bring to coaching are that tiny fraction that they really can’t fix themselves. For these particular topics, we generally recommend not even trying to solve it at the same level on which it arose—because if it were solvable at that level, the client likely would have solved it already.

And that’s why, in professional NLP practice, the usual guideline is that we look for a resource at least one level above the problem.

1. Varying the Level of Execution

Any NLP format that aims to change something on a higher structural level must use (at least) one lower level as the “vehicle” or “medium” to work with. Because there’s no V.A.K.O.G. on higher levels (they’re content-free), you always need at least one of the lower levels to serve as your practical “tool.” That lower level might be any one of the three “lower” levels:

Level I: Working with environmental or contextual variables, such as physical objects (floor anchors) or figurines (in constellations).
Level II: Working with behavior—e.g. taking certain positions, going to specific places, saying certain sentences.
Level III: Working internally—visualizations, fantasy journeys, or other forms of internal experience (e.g., submodalities).

Of course, you can combine these levels, giving you four additional possibilities:

I + II: For example, working on the behavioral level, supported by meaningful objects you move around.
I + III: For instance, using figurines (or objects), combined with visualizations (“the figurines send each other energy”).
II + III: Working on the behavioral level, supported by internal imagery (like sending someone energy in a re-imprinting).
I + II + III: A combination of behavior, visualization, and symbolic objects.

Pick a format that works on one of the upper levels, like Re-Imprinting, and vary the execution level. You have seven possibilities! How do the results differ in their impact?

Every NLP Format Follows, in Its Core Structure, a “Collapse Anchors” Logic:

Within that logic, the resource () exists twice: once as an explicit resource in the format, and again as an implicit resource in the format’s structure. The second is more powerful! If a format’s structure means it works from (for example) Level V on Level IV, it doesn’t matter too much if the explicit resource is “only” on Level IV. If a format tries to work from Level V on Level IV, but you discover that the problem is actually on Level V—thus the intervention isn’t working—then you can either switch to a more appropriate format or simply add a Level-VI resource into the format. In practice, the second option is generally more elegant and quicker.

For me, the structural levels of NLP are the fundamental model to understanding how NLP works. Together with the Structure Model of Change, it’s the key to NLP. On the NLP Master Class days and in the NLP Master Class, we’ll delve deeply into these models and how to “speak” them, i.e., how to create a living, up-to-date NLP.

2. The Resource in the Format

Look at an NLP format and pinpoint where the resource is—in both the implicit structure of the format and the explicit form. Then try varying the level of the explicit resource. A Change History, for instance, structurally works from Level IV to Level III. If in your Change History you use resources like “joy, humor, courage, trust,” these are Level-IV resources. What happens if you intentionally use Level-V resources instead—like self-love, self-esteem, self-value? Or Level VI? Or even Level VII? Notice how easily and spontaneously you can shift the level in practice, simply by selecting a different resource!

Note: In many NLP trainings, this phenomenon can cause problems. For example, the trainer might demonstrate a Change History and realize midway that the client’s issue is on Level IV (one level too high for the standard Change History). The trainer senses that “something is missing,” though perhaps they can’t articulate exactly what. Then they spontaneously suggest “self-love” as a resource for the Change History—and it works! Meanwhile, the participants go off to practice in small groups. They unconsciously follow the trainer’s demonstration, so they also choose a Level-IV topic. But the small-group coach, who has never done a Change History before, follows the script strictly and only uses Level-III resources… so the technique doesn’t quite work. The participants conclude that they “can’t do it,” or worse, that NLP itself doesn’t work. That’s unfortunate!

Each NLP Structural Level Has Typical Resources—or “Key Resources”

Level II: Behavior (doing something)
Level III: Conscious inner work with the senses, submodalities, anchoring
Level IV: Timeline; personality “parts”
Level V: The “disassociated self” (older self, younger self)
Level VI: Significant Emotional Others (S.E.O.), such as mentors, parents, children…
Level VII: The “source state”

3. The Implicit Resource in the Format’s Structure

Identify the implicit resource in the structure of a format, then vary that resource. In the classic Six-Step Reframe, the resource is the dialogue with a personality part—that’s a Level-IV element. But how does the Six Step look if you vary it so that the dialogue is with an older or younger self? Or with a significant emotional person from your biography? Or even with a divine energy?

When you play with these variations, you’ll see that Collapse Anchors, Change History, Self-Nurturing, and Re-Imprinting are, in essence, the same format:

In Collapse Anchors, you anchor a resource to an unwanted experience (the technique works from Level III to Level II).
In Change History, you anchor that resource onto the Timeline (the Timeline is an implicit Level-IV resource in the format’s structure) and then bring it forward to the present (the format works from Level IV to Level III).
In Self-Nurturing, the resource is provided by the present self to the younger self (the format works from Level V to Level IV).
In Re-Imprinting, the resource is provided by the significant emotional others to the younger self (the format works from Level VI to Level V).

So, how would you vary the format so that it works from Level VII on Level VI?

4. Timeline Variations

In a physics article, I once read an interview with a physicist who stated that from a physics standpoint, any statement we make about the future should also apply to the past—and vice versa. I found that idea intriguing for NLP: what if you applied all the past-oriented formats to the future, and all the future-oriented ones to the past?

So Change History becomes Change Future, Self-Nurturing can address both past and future, and even a Re-Imprinting could be done with future events. Then again, how might we do an Outcome process “in the past”?

In every format, you can pull resources from either your past or your future. The same principle is valid on the spiritual level: “after” is also “before.” That opens interesting questions: With a Change History, for instance, you typically install the resource right before the S.E.E. (Significant Emotional Event). So in the “Change Future,” do you also install the resource right before the S.E.E. in the future? Or do you “mirror” it so that it’s right after the S.E.E.? And do you traverse your timeline from the present into the future (the normal direction) or from the future back to the present? You’ll discover that all these variations work and each produces a unique effect. Try them out! Remember to take the third timeframe into account: the present. How would a “Change Presence” function?

5. Shifting Perspectives (Positions)

Every NLP format consists of at least two components—often more. It can be fun to assume the position of each component and experience the format from that viewpoint. You can also add a meta-position. How is a Change History from the point of view of the resource? From the viewpoint of the problem? Or even from the perspective of the timeline itself?

How is a Six Step Reframe from the perspective of the symptom-causing part? Or from the perspective of the creative part?

How is a Phobia Technique from the perspective of the spider? Or from the perspective of the movie screen?

6. The “Dark Side of the Force”

Typically, NLP formats are performed to improve an undesired state, ending up in a desired one.

But it doesn’t have to be that way!

How would you use the same format to create a problem? How could an internal negotiation be used to provoke an inner conflict? How might you set up a trauma with Self-Nurturing, or a compulsive behavior with the Swish, or create a phobia using the Phobia Technique?

By playing with these “evil” variations, you’ll see that many real-life issues (problem constructions) exhibit the structure of classic NLP formats! Recognizing that structure can make it easier to undo the problem.

7. Doing It “Wrong” on Purpose

When practicing NLP, you can use a trick often seen in music, Feldenkrais, or theatrical improvisation: if you can do something deliberately wrong, you can also do it deliberately right. So pick an NLP format and ask yourself: “How would I do this format in a way guaranteed to render it completely ineffective?” Are there multiple ways—like skipping rapport, ignoring resources, messing up the sequence, or omitting the final Collapse Anchors step?

Are you absolutely certain that approach would fail?

8. Transferring Elements

Each NLP format has at least one unique hallmark. Without that hallmark, it would merely be a variation of another format. Take a hallmark element from one NLP format and apply it to another.

For example, consider the “good-intentions dialogue” from the Six Step Reframe. What if you brought that idea into a Change History, letting you have a dialogue with the “problem”? Or with the significant emotional figures in Re-Imprinting?

In an Internal Negotiation, two parts show appreciation for each other by acknowledging each other’s value and offering mutual support. How might you adopt that technique in the Disney Strategy?

One variant of the Fast Phobia Technique uses submodalities to, say, wrap the TV screen in plush teddy fur. So how about doing Self-Nurturing with a timeline wrapped in plush teddy fur?

9. NLP “Fitness Training”

You can borrow ideas from sports or fitness training for practicing NLP! For instance, you can do a format extremely fast (“a Re-Imprinting in three minutes”)—or extra slow (“a 60-minute Mapping Across”)—or ultra-intense (with heightened emotions and deeply engaged states).

Conditioning or endurance often plays a critical role in NLP sessions. If a Re-Imprinting lasts 90 minutes, sometimes the coachee might be exhausted after an hour, so the crucial final steps might not land effectively. Worse, the coach themselves might be too drained at that point to perform a strong intervention. Thus, building “NLP stamina” can be important.

10. Combining Formats

Many “big” NLP formats are clever combos of smaller formats—for instance, Brandon Bays’s “The Journey” or Robert Dilts’s “New Belief Generator.” So take any two formats and merge them! (This can be especially fun if you write each format on an index card, shuffle them, and pick two at random.)

How could you blend the Six Step Reframe with a Change History? Try doing biographical work with the symptom-causing part!

And how about the reverse combination—a Change History with a Six Step? Find the problem’s positive intention and uncover fresh methods to fulfill that intention!

Looking Ahead

If you love language, you won’t just use it to communicate; you’ll also enjoy it at the meta-level and play around with it. If you love language, you appreciate the beauty and elegance of certain phrases, you savor good wordplay or surprising turns of phrase. You’re likely also curious about the structure of language, its subtleties, and its history. And now and then, you might even do something completely silly with it, just for fun.

That’s exactly the kind of relationship with the language of change that I hope you’ll develop! NLP formats are example sentences—wonderful, extremely refined ways to “speak” NLP. But these formats aren’t some fixed canon to memorize and replicate without alteration. They’re just a starting point, a foundation for speaking your own NLP language.

There’s so much more to discover in NLP, especially once you shift your focus from the individual example sentences to the higher level—the level of real NLP, that is, the process by which those sentences are created. That was the original idea the NLP founders had:

“One of the expectations which I personally carried at the time of discovery and development of NLP was that people interested in our work would cleanly make the distinction between NLP and applications of NLP. My hope at the time was that given this distinction, there would arise a group of committed men and women who would recognize the meta-level tools which we had either discovered (the Milton Model…) or created (the verbal patterns of the Meta Model or Precision Model, Representational Systems…), and go out and identify and create new models of excellence to offer the world. This has not happened and is very disappointing to me. NLP is popularly represented and commonly practiced at least one logical level below what it was clearly understood to be at the time by Bandler and me.” (John Grinder)

In that quote, the distinction between “NLP” and “applications of NLP” never fully caught on; nowadays, what John Grinder calls “applications of NLP” is typically referred to as “NLP.” To distinguish these two levels, I now label the higher-level aspect (the original sense of “NLP” for Grinder) as the “Neuro-Linguistic Code.”

I would be thrilled if you joined that group of committed people, the ones John Grinder spoke of, to help advance NLP further. Right now, NLP only uses a fraction of its potential—much remains undiscovered.