Contact: Mike Houghton, telephone 01244 378276 or e-mail Mike@chestermesh.org.uk

Tony Dunn (a Chester MESH member) gave a very interesting talk on Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) on Saturday July 1st. He told us that this is based in the mind and body working as one. Just as feelings can affect our patterns of thought so our thoughts can change our feelings and mood. NLP takes established patterns of thought and makes us realise that these patterns affect our behaviour. He talked about people with phobias as established negative patterns of thought and said he had helped many people with phobias by getting them to change these patterns. He also told us of a teenager who was anorexic and had been going to a consultant once a month for five years without appreciable improvement. Tony asked her to ask herself what the problem was and got the answer that because she was considered bright she could accept nothing less than 100 percent perfection at school and was using anorexia as an excuse for imperfection. Once she had worked this out she could then accept less than perfect of herself and started to quickly improve.

These subconscious patterns are not mysterious dark forces, he likened it to learning to drive. At first we have to consciously think about every action but these soon become automatic ­ taken care of by our unconscious mind. NLP tries to get us to recognise these unconscious patterns and change them. He asked us to think of a pleasant memory (perhaps on a holiday) and to think of exactly how we felt, what we smelt, our breathing and heart rate, the sounds we heard; everything that went to make this pleasant. We could then use this memory when we were in stressful situations to consciously take stress away.

He also asked us to look at our ‘inner critic’ and examine the way we criticise ourselves. Is this voice strident and punishing? Often it is the voice of a parent. We should ask this critic ‘What is it you want from me?’ and try and re-tune it to a more constructive and positive voice.

Tony gave examples of bad practices. He told about a person who was trying to give up smoking and plastered her house with posters saying ‘No Smoking’ and ‘Stop Smoking’, which Tony said simply reminded her about smoking ­ a negative message. He also asked us why we all repeat in our head stressful conversations we have had, endlessly reliving the unpleasant emotions and re-creating the stress without solving anything.

He concluded by saying that the brain consists of an incredible number of cells. If we counted one every second it would take us 22 million years to count the number in one single brain. WE should regard the brain as a computer that comes without an operating manual and set about writing our own!

Whilst all statements are given in good faith they are for information only. Any mention of treatments or products does not imply that they have been tested or endorsed by Chester MESH