NLP stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming.  It derived from three fields of science--neurology, linguistics and the cognitive sciences. These three components are the most influential in learning how to reprogram your brain in order to have more choices in your experiences and outcomes.  It also uses principles of computer programming and systems theory.  NLP is a behavioral model with a set of explicit skills and techniques.  NLP studies the patterns or "programming" created by the interaction between the brain (neuro), language (linguistic) and the body.

Neuro refers to the nervous system and the brain, through which our experience is processed through our five senses: visual, auditory, kinesthetic (feeling), olfactory (smell) and gustatory (taste).

Linguistic refers to how we use language and other nonverbal communication systems through which our neural representations are coded, ordered and given meaning.  They include pictures, sounds, feelings, tastes, smells and words (self talk).  It is one of the main ways a person can stimulate the nervous systems of other people, as well. The basic premise of NLP is that the words we use reflect an inner, subconscious perception of our personal beliefs.  If these words and perceptions are negative, they will create problems for us until we change them.  Conversely, empowering language generates empowered behavior.  Our thoughts, either positive or negative, is our internal dialogue, or what we say to ourselves, and can have a significant influence on our behavior.

Programming refers to our habits—our repeated patterns of thinking and behaving.  These programs are run at the subconscious level so you may not always be aware of them.  We have programs for everything we do from knowing how to walk to choosing which people we will like. Many of these programs were taught to us before we had a choice about them from our parents, our culture, society, teachers, etc. and so they are ingrained in us.  NLP helps you by becoming aware of the programs you are running and teaches you how you can change them at the subconscious level and replace them with more productive programs that serve you and enhance your life. 

According to NLP, our thinking, remembering, creating, vision-making and all other cognitive processes are a result of programs executed within the human nervous system.  Human experience is then a combination, or synthesis, of the information that we receive and process through our nervous system.  This involves the senses--seeing, feeling, hearing, smelling and tasting.

NLP is about learning to use your brain in more functional ways, or put more simply, it's taking control of one’s own mind.

NLP was developed in the 1970’s by Dr. Richard Bandler, a mathematician and Gestalt therapist; and by linguist Dr. John Grinder who were inspired by and began to study the work of the most successful therapists and thinkers of their time such as Virginia Satir, an internationally renowned pioneer of family therapy; Dr. Fritz Perls,  a psychiatrist and psychotherapist and the creator of Gestalt therapy;  Dr. Milton Erickson, founder of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis and one of the most widely acknowledged and clinically successful psychiatrists of our times; and Gregory Bateson, a famous anthropologist, social scientist, cyberneticist and linguist.  Bandler and Grinder set out to find if they could model what it was that these therapeutic geniuses did so well, as well as synthesize a number of different kinds of scientific theories and models such as the principles of psychology, computer programming and systems theory so that they could produce the same results and pass on the methods to others.

They studied how the brain codes learning and experience.  This coding affects all communication and behavior and is key to changing programs in your brain through a set of techniques that focus on identifying, using and changing patterns in the thought processes that influence your behavior and action in an effort to give you more choices in life and improve the quality and effectiveness of your life.

Grinder and Bandler formalized their modeling techniques and their own individual contributions under the name “Neuro-Linguistic Programming” to symbolize the relationship between the brain, language and physiology. The methodology of NLP has since been applied with success to many other areas of communication and problem solving, including: business, law, personal development, education, sales, psychotherapy, and medicine to name just a few.

NLP has been defined as "The study of Subjective Experience" or "Modeling Excellence, " meaning that any resourceful behavior or skill of a particular person can be modeled, or learned, by another to get the same outcome.  You can also model your own successful strategies and then transfer them into other parts of your life that may not be as effective. NLP helps to break down existing effective strategies into precise code that can then be copied by another to get the same effect by simply utilizing our senses.