What Is HNLP?
Humanistic Neuro-Linguistic Psychology (HNLP) was the creation of John Overdurf and Julie Silverthorn as a reaction to the disconnection they found in the models of traditional NLP. Begun back in the late 1990's, John and Julie began a movement to weave the latest research in the quantum sciences with ancient spiritual disciplines and traditional NLP together to birth forward a new approach to the study of subjective experience. Gary De Rodriguez became involved in the HNLP development early on in its design and has contributed to the foundational development and expanded many of its core processes.
Humanistic Neuro-Linguistic Psychology integrates NLP technologies, quantum physics, modern neuroscience, performance psychology, hypnosis, spirituality, and common sense. Humanistic Neuro-Linguistic Psychology (HNLP) is the study of how Mind creates reality through language and behavior. The foundation of Humanistic Neuro Linguistic Psychology is: we belong to an interconnected whole which is intrinsically intertwined in the ecology of life.
HNLP differs from traditional Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) in that it is a study of this connectedness and how each of us is generating our realities through our mind, language and behaviour. NLP has often times been criticised for lacking a sense of connection and being too oriented toward techniques and "programming." HNLP is an expansion upon the core NLP techniques and principles that brings new techniques into application with a greater degree of quantum physics, and interconnectedness.
Through this approach, HNLP has developed modernised techniques working from higher logical levels that effects change at the life purpose and personal identity levels. The changes created at these higher logical levels create pervasive change on all levels of existence, therefore acts as a powerful set of skills for coaching and client breakthrough sessions.
HNLP can be broken down into four parts:
- Humanistic: The belief that HNLP is actually all about people, their interconnectedness, and the potential that exists in each and every one of us to create evolution and generate a more fulfilling life. When one person generates significant change they affect an entire ecology of relationships that can create a positive cascading effect through families, organizations and communities. We are interconnected and affect one another through our relationship to ourselves and each other with a wider purpose for why we live. We are here to actualise our True Self with a purpose and a reason for each one of our existences;
- Neuro: We view the nervous system as the vehicle through which we interpret what is our reality through our five senses. It is the vehicle in which our consciousness expresses itself and our Spirit animates. The bodymind is the intricate interconnection between spirit and the flesh and can only be at its optimum when the vehicle is running at peak performance;
- Linguistics: Language is the creator of physical reality and acts as the principle building blocks for creating material reality. Deepak Chopra says, "Language is how we create something from nothing." First there was the WORD and the creation sprang into being. Language is a symbol of our thoughts, our thinking shapes our realities, as we think and speak so we become. Language wraps boundaries around our experiences and limits us as well as acts as a means of communicating so we can express ourselves to others and create understanding through our communication; and
- Psychology (instead of Programming): We believe the word psychology broadens the scope of possibilities which will make NLP more readily accessible to the general public. People are more than a series of programs but are mysterious, dynamic beings generating endless possibilities for experiencing reality.
