What many don't teach you during your NLP Practitioner
For the past one year, I have managed to interact with a lot of NLP graduates from various NLP schools in India right from Bandler to Grinder's camp and was completely surprised to learn what they were not taught. The reason am surprised is because when I questioned these graduates on very basic NLP concepts, they had no idea and were out of words, to come up with even close answers. Below I will describe and explain the 4 meta domains with the fewest words possible, but these are not the only stuffs we trained practitioners on, the rest are pretty similar in content with other NLP schools except the four meta domains.
NLP Practitioner atleast is comprised of the four Meta domains namely- the Meta modalities, the Meta Model, the Metaprogram and the Meta states. The meta modalities is commonly misunderstood in many NLP circles as sub-modalities when it actually is not "sub" or "lower" but "meta", due to the power of its associated meaning to each cinematic features. For example the power of whether something is far or near, bright or dim is always a result of its meta semantics in the cinematic screen of your mind. Most NLP school focus too much on the so called sub-modalities and thinks, most changes happens there when it actually is not. Most transformational changes happen at the "meta" levels of awareness, understanding,decisions, beliefs,values,identity and purpose. If you don't believe turning your favorite dish into the most disgusting food in the theater of your mind is real, no matter how hard you try, you will still relish the dish.
John Grinder was a linguist and brought the linguistics expertise on the table that brought the creation of the Meta-model, one of the earliest NLP model based on the modeling of 2 therapists Virginia Satir and Fritz Perl,geniuses of their time. Meta model is one of the pre-requisite model to learn to be a trained and certified coach or practitioner of NLP, because within the model are sets of linguistics distinctions and questions that helps the practitioner to extract the missing puzzle in the mind of a confused client or to recover what has been deleted, generalized or distorted when a client states their problems. Without this tool and model, a practitioner is basically handicapped and will have no way of taking a client through the self actualization process or change. Sadly, in India most NLP schools do not emphasized or teach this model in the Practitioner's course, not even the very Grinder camp. In our Meta NLP Practitioner, we train participants atleast on 17 Meta-model categories, being fully aware that it is the tool every practitioner must be equipped with.
Meta-program is one of the later model that was co-created originally by Richard Bandler and Leslie Cameron Bandler when they realized that traditional NLP method of facilitating change was obstructed when the metaprograms interfered in making the client want to make the change. Later it was expanded by many other co-developers like Wyatt Woodsmall and Michael Hall and in our Meta NLP Practitioner, we train participants atleast on 50-60 Meta-program filters for one full day, because practitioners can now detect the metaprograms interfering or enhancing a client's behaviours by learning to figure out people. Metaprograms are basically, the way the mind sorts for information cognitively, emotionally, conatively and semantically. It deletes and sorts for or pays attention to one side of a continuum in a specific context when it comes to interacting with self or others or in simple words it is "Perceptual viewpoints". For example whether one sorts for globally or specifically, closure or non-closure,options or procedures, self or others etc. Michael Hall our Founder has written an entire book on this and well there are over 60 plus metaprograms. These metaprograms are not set on stones although your whole personality is reflected through these programming. They can be changed and we train practitioners how to do so in our Meta NLP.
Meta states is one of the latest meta domain added to the field of NLP in the year 1994, which was developed by the Founder of Neuro Semantics, Dr.Michael Hall while he was working on a project of modeling on "resilience", for which the International Association of NLP Trainers recognized it as the most significant contribution to the field of NLP. This was how Neuro Semantics was born or Meta NLP also globally as NLP 2.0 for its cutting edge models. The Meta states model has changed the whole dynamics of NLP and has taken it to the next level based on the psychology of Self Reflexivity and the higher psycho-logical levels of the mind based on Alfred Korzybski and Gregory Bateson's work. Neuro-linguistics programming focused primarily on the representational experience a person goes through based on the stimulus-response trigger, whereas Meta states or Neuro Semantics focuses on the higher levels of the mind, where we think about our thoughts, where feelings are felt for feelings at a reflective layers. Out of the meta states models have been birthed several powerful models which have been successfully applied in creating the Meta Coaching system, one of the most powerful coaching system in the world. Sadly there are hardly NLP schools that teaches this stuff and to my knowledge there is only one association that does this apart from us.
Other than the 4 meta domains there are other valuable concepts and tools that are not taught in many NLP schools. For example, I don't see any NLP school in India that does timeline therapy training even for one day at the Practitioner level although they cover it in the Master Practitioner. We at Leaps Management Consulting dedicate 2 days on Timelines alone during the NLP Practitioner and found it to be the most hypnotic process of the entire NLP training. The Milton Model is widely used to induce people into Meta trance like states and to re-edit the past of unwanted memories and also looking forward towards a brighter future. We also introduce the Mindline concept during the Practitioner for participants to be primed up for it when they do it at the Master Practitioner level. And how can I forget Modeling without which NLP is never complete. At ISNS-USA, we dedicate one day to deal with Modeling Level 1, because we believe most successful patterns and techniques were birthed out of modeling projects. Credit of the Meta State model creation goes to modeling project done by Dr.Michael Hall, remember? And finally, who in India does NLP certification from a professionally coaching perspective? The most powerful coaching system in the world called the Meta Coaching SystemModule 1 is embedded in the Practitioner's course so that participants can complete their Coaching Essentials approved by MCF, and has been approved in many countries as ICF's CCEU. Of course there are many other concepts and tools we train on at the Practitioner level. For the complete list, check the below link.
For those who have gone through various NLP certifications your comments and experiences would be highly appreciated as am writing based on my experience of graduates I've encountered so far. Please feel free to correct me or let me know if your experience was different.
For those of you, who wish to know if you are truly NLP Practitioner competent please click the link to assess your NLP Practitioner knowledge if it's at least 70 percent of what you were taught.
Article by: Romeo Haokip is one of the only 2 practicing Licensed NS-NLP Trainer of ISNS-USA in India authorized to issue certificates under ISNS-USA and MCF approved courses.
Sources: Mostly on the works of Michael Hall's research.
Diagram Credit: Master Trainer Colin Cox.
