Neuro - Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Health : Using NLP to Enhance Your Health and Well-Being

241 Pages·1996·10.52 MB·English

by  Enrico Melson

Meeroctical
ways to
bring mind

and body into

harmony
ISBN 0-7225-3288-1
~NLP&

HEALTH

Practical ways
to bring mind
and body into
harmony

IAN McDERMOTT
& JOSEPH O'CONNOR

~ Thorsons
For Paulette

Thorsons

An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

Published by Thorsons 1996
This edition 2001

1098765
© Ian McDermott and Joseph O’Connor 1996, 2001

Ian McDermott and Joseph O’Connor assert
the moral right to be identified as the authors
of this work

A catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 7225 3288 1

Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Creative Print and Design (Wales), Ebbw Vale

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior
permission of the publishers.
OORT WON

CONTENTS

Foreword by Dr Enrico Melson
Acknowledgements
Introduction

: Health, Medicine and Logical Levels
: The Four Pillars of Health

A Picture of Health

: Beliefs and Health

The Placebo Effect

: The Immune System — Our Physiological Identity
: Metaphors of Health

Stress

: Worry and Hope

: Pain and Pleasure
: Healthy Ageing

: Death

: Congruence Heals

Glossary of NLP Terms
Glossary of Medical Terms
Bibliography

NLP and Health Resources
Training and Resources
About the Authors

Index
FOREWORD

The ‘magic’ of NeuroLinguistics has had much attention this past
generation. This has had the effect of increasing the popular
demand for learning and applying NLP principles in ever broader
contexts.

In 17 years of using mind-body integration techniques in clini-
cal medicine, I’ve witnessed many examples of ‘proper-and-
successful’ as well as ‘improper-and-unsuccessful’ applications of
such techniques and methods. However, I’ve also witnessed many
instances of ‘improper-and-successful’ as well as ‘proper-and-
unsuccessful’ applications of mind-body integration techniques —
including what could be called formal NLP methods. This channel
for success is therefore not via the formalistic, rigid application of
‘Specific-Technique-X for Specific-Problem-X’ - whether it is an
NLP technique or otherwise.

The Primary Assumptions, or Presuppositions, of NLP are also
its Guiding Principles. The ‘principal-principle’ is, indeed, respect
for the other person’s model of the world! Such presuppositions are as
essential to the process of learning NLP as they are to the applica-_
tion of the discipline. The process simply cannot work if these
principles are violated.

So, we recognize a number of guiding principles: that all behav-
iour has an underlying positive intention. That all techniques
should serve to increase perceived choice. That there is no failure,
only feedback. That people have all the ability they need to
succeed. That the person with the greatest flexibility is the one
who will most successfully navigate problem situations to achieve
desired change. We also recognize that holding inflexibly to a
preconceived notion of necessary technique will elicit resistance in
a client/patient,; it is a sign of lack of rapport. The problem, there-
fore, is not a client’s resistance to change — rather, it is an inflexi-
ble communicator/practitioner. And since the meaning of the
Foreword v

communication is the response one elicits, the practitioner must
be ever-flexible in the interaction, in order to achieve in the
patient the state of greater flexibility, greater perceived choice,
greater learning opportunity and greater expression of one’s own
ability for achieving desired change.

OK - but so what?

Well, given that we already have within us all we need to
succeed, then the application of mind-body integration methods
such as NLP simply allows us to more readily access and harness
our own abilities for change. If some principles and skills of NLP
can be shared and taught in a clear and simple, ‘de-mystified’
manner, then an even greater contribution to humanity is made —
for it allows more and more people to express these abilities, and
thus to grow.

This is what Joseph O’Connor and Ian McDermott have accom-
plished in this book. ,

Through my association with Dr Deepak Chopra over the
past two years (as the former Associate Medical Director of the
Center for Mind Body Medicine, now the Chopra Center for ~
Well-Being), I have had the great privilege of being the principal
clinician in an environment of tremendous synthesis of many
different healing traditions, disciplines and methods of spirit/
mind/body integration.

Some time ago, I discovered that the NLP Presuppositions are
consistent with principles of communicating and healing the
mental and emotional Ama (toxins) within the Self written in
the Caraka Samhita. This is the ancient Sanskrit text of Ayurveda,
the Science of Life, which was written several thousand years ago!
Although NLP may appear to be a ‘new’ discipline of barely 20
years age, its essence has been recognized and applied throughout
the history of civilization. It has been a natural fit for me in adapt-
ing and integrating the principles and practice of NLP into the
overall science and practice of Ayurveda and Mind-Body
Medicine.

Many present-day practitioners of healing have found a
comfortable balance of the NeuroLinguistic process of change
within an overall paradigm of spiritual growth, transformation
and evolution. In fact, it is precisely the ‘Spirit’ of the Pre-
suppositions as guiding principles that creates the environ-
ment/state for change within which the specific techniques -of
NLP can have efficacy.
vi NLP and Health

The authors understand this and communicate this clearly.

I am impressed with their ability to demystify — to reduce
complex concepts into a framework of simplicity, while retaining
the needed efficacy and clarity. Indeed, it is a mastery of the
mystery.

I applaud their work.

The result is a well-written, easy-to-absorb guide to healing and
change. It is a great asset for all of us — as practitioners of healing
and as students of life.

I invite you to read on and enjoy!

Enrico Melson, MD
San Diego, California, USA
March 1996
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Our thanks to all our teachers, and we want to give credit and
recognition to John Grinder and Richard Bandler, co-developers
of NLP, and to Robert Dilts for contributing so much to the field.

Many people helped us with this book. We would particularly
like to thank Tim Halibom, Suzi Smith and Janet Konefal for their
help in making material available. Thank you to Dr Suzi Strang
and Dr Jonas Miller, our medical proofreaders. Thank you to
Hanne Lund for making her research on NLP and allergies avail-
able to us, and to Arron Williams for his help with the exercise and
health sections.

We work together as equals, bringing our skills to this project
and many others. Therefore the order in which the names appear
on the cover of this book has no significance.

Tan McDermott and Joseph O’Connor
January 1996
INTRODUCTION

Is being healthy the same as not being ill? Surely there is more to
health. For us, physical health is both a state and an ability — the
energy and capacity to do what we care about and enjoy doing,
and the ability to heal ourselves.

Health is paradoxical: you cannot directly ‘will’ yourself
healthy, only watch as the body’s marvellous healing ability comes
into play naturally. However rich or poor, virtuous or cruel you .
may be seems to make little difference.

Health is positive. It does not mean giving up pleasures. It
comes naturally from our lifestyle — relationships, diet, where and
how we live. Health is not a possession, but a process. It is some-
thing we do and the result of how we think and feel. It is a state of
being.

It is interesting that medical research is increasingly straying
into fields that until now have been the province of the psycholo-
gist, and it is becoming difficult to draw the line between physical
and mental factors in disease. To try to separate body and mind in
health and illness is like trying to separate the salt from sea water
with a knife. Mind and body are constantly influencing each other
towards health or illness. Bodies do not get ill - people do.

This book is about health and healing, not about disease and

curing. We want to complement the existing medical model, not

try to supplant it or give an alternative. We want to explore how to
enhance the incredible natural healing powers we all have — to
reach the parts that standard medical science cannot reach.

Modern medicine excels in the treatment of medical and surgi-
cal emergencies, such as broken bones, bodily injuries, appendici-
tis and serious bacterial infections such as pneumonia that
respond well to antibiotics. It can be truly life-saving. It also has
good procedures for dealing with medical emergencies such as
heart attacks, strokes and complications during childbirth. For the