# What is NLP and why some people combine it with the Enneagram?



## amethyst_butterfly (Mar 14, 2011)

I see that in certain places they are used together because supposedly they compliment each other but what is NLP about?


----------



## MagiaPhoenix (Oct 24, 2012)

NLP means Neuro Linguistic Programming. It can refer to both the way ourselves and others might be influenced by words, patterns and language in general. 

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy can include elements of Neuro Linguistic Programming.

With the enneagram, there are two applications which spring to mind.
1. Personal Growth. It may be that you can identify though patterns which have been embedded, and which feed into the base fears of your type. For example "I'll never be good enough" or "everyone leave me". These are often things which might once have been said; by ourselves or others, and perhaps repeated. We have continued to think that thing when something triggers it, so it has become embedded. We might be able to use neuro linguistic programming to help retrain ourselves to try and overcome some of the fear to an extent, so that the personality we build up to protect us from these fears can greater serve us, rather than the other way around.
2. Helping someone else achieve the above. Often those fears which motivate us can be easier for someone else to spot, embedded within our speech patterns. We might be able to help someone else, using a combination of theory from both fields, in order to help resolve issues or overcome obsticals.

And yes, it can, and often is used for less noble purposes, particularly in advertising, sales and by those people we might call "players" (ie to try to get someone to sleep with them...) I would be suprised if a good proportion of 3s weren't versed in it to some extent. Hope that helps.


----------



## amethyst_butterfly (Mar 14, 2011)

Wow interesting. Thanks.



MagiaPhoenix said:


> NLP means Neuro Linguistic Programming. It can refer to both the way ourselves and others might be influenced by words, patterns and language in general.
> 
> Cognitive Behaviour Therapy can include elements of Neuro Linguistic Programming.
> 
> ...


----------



## enneathusiast (Dec 15, 2012)

NLP is used to understand an individual's subjective experience of reality. In other words, how they create that reality through sensory representation (visual, auditory, kinesthetic), the internal dialogue and language they use, etc. It doesn't bother with conceptual understanding but goes directly to the actual experience of the individual (how they're representing reality internally). It cuts through all the bullsh!t (the stories and conjectures made up around what's actually happening).

Another aspect is to think of the Enneagram as a map. It tells you where you are and where you might go but you still need some sort of vehicle or method to actually make the journey. NLP is one method that can help not only in better understanding the reality underneath the presentation of type but also offers many therapeutic methods and techniques to understand and work on yourself (often by cutting through to what's really driving the behavior).

Here's a video clip where Tom Condon explains all this.
youtube.com/watch?v=81DY1LxgI2U

You can search for some other Condon clips on YouTube where he's explaining NLP or working with Enneagram type using NLP. But, because NLP works with people on an unconscious level (getting to what's beyond their awareness), it's difficult for people not trained in NLP to understand or even notice the techniques being used in a therapeutic session.


----------



## MagiaPhoenix (Oct 24, 2012)

I'm not super-trained in it, but I understand some of the basics- enough to sometimes spot when people are using various techniques. I tend to also expect it more with some personalities than others, so I'd probably pay more attention to understanding what they're trying to do then. For me, it probably comes from being an 8, with the fear of people trying to control me. Plus I kind of enjoy bringing people up and challenging them on it in a jokey, friendly kind of way.


----------



## amethyst_butterfly (Mar 14, 2011)

I really don't know anything about NLP. I just recently saw some books on amazon about the enneagram and NLP which caugh my attention and I though that perhaps NLP was just another personality theory but now I see is like some type of tool to use in theraphy. I also read somewhere that hypnotherapy is used in NLP. Is that true? For what reasons hypnosis is used in NLP.

I am very curious about this but it appears to be a complex and deep subject that requires professional training. 




MagiaPhoenix said:


> I'm not super-trained in it, but I understand some of the basics- enough to sometimes spot when people are using various techniques. I tend to also expect it more with some personalities than others, so I'd probably pay more attention to understanding what they're trying to do then. For me, it probably comes from being an 8, with the fear of people trying to control me. Plus I kind of enjoy bringing people up and challenging them on it in a jokey, friendly kind of way.


----------



## enneathusiast (Dec 15, 2012)

amethyst_butterfly said:


> I really don't know anything about NLP. I just recently saw some books on amazon about the enneagram and NLP which caugh my attention and I though that perhaps NLP was just another personality theory but now I see is like some type of tool to use in theraphy. I also read somewhere that hypnotherapy is used in NLP. Is that true? For what reasons hypnosis is used in NLP.
> 
> I am very curious about this but it appears to be a complex and deep subject that requires professional training.


The only book about the Enneagram and NLP that I've seen was by Anne Linden. I didn't much care for it.

There are a few good beginning books on NLP that are not complex. They describe some interesting aspects from it like building rapport (mirroring and pacing), sensory representation and how to notice and use that, language patterns that indicate how someone's thinking can create limitations, etc. The deeper stuff requires going through live exercises with others to learn and practice but you don't need that to understand the basics. It does have some roots in Eriksonian hypnosis. A lot of the techniques work with unconscious motivations, habits, and resource states.


----------

