Most people think NLP is about changing the way you talk to yourself, language patterns, changing your physiology, or changing one state. None of those are wrong, they're just incomplete. NLP goes deeper than that, into the internal programming, the patterns running underneath behavior, and physiology is one piece feeding into that programming, not the whole picture. Neuroscience is now backing this up directly, and the first lesson in Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain reframes a lot of what people assume change work is actually doing. The lesson is called "Your Brain Is Not for Thinking." The title is intentionally surprising. The core finding is that the brain's primary function isn't to think, reason, or solve problems. Its most important job is to manage your body's resources so you stay alive and healthy. The technical term for this is allostasis, the body budgeting nickname is just the accessible version of it, and once you see it, you realize NLP has been working with this mechanism since the beginning, just without the biology to explain why it works. State is simply the sum of your physiology and where your attention is focused in any given moment. It's easy to assume state is the target, get into a resourceful state and the work is done. But state isn't the target. State is the output. The allostasis or body budget concept names the engine that's actually generating it, which means the real work goes deeper than the state itself. It means changing the programming that decides what state a person defaults to before they've even thought a thought. Picture your body as a bank account. Sleep deposits into it. Good food deposits into it. Exercise builds the account over time. Stress, worry, illness, and lack of sleep withdraw from it. The brain is constantly tracking these deposits and withdrawals across energy, water, salt, glucose, hormones, and oxygen, predicting what the body will need next and trying to prepare for it before there's any conscious awareness of the need. This is the program running underneath every state someone walks into a room with. You can change the state for an afternoon. You can't out technique a depleted budget.

Lately I have been working with my stepson using some modality work to improve his communication skills. So far it has been working, but I am amazed at how easy it is to get into structure with him and his brother compared to working with adults. Has anybody else who has worked with adolescents found the same pattern? I do not want to draw a conclusion from a sample size of two. It seems like with adults, not only do they get pulled into content, but there is also a hesitance to say what is really going on in their mind. And when they do, they preface it with things like "this might sound weird" or "you might think I am crazy." At this point, when I hear phrases like that, I know I am doing my job.

I just got in contact with a gentleman who has been working with one of the original founders of NLP. Back before it was called Neuro-Linguistic Programming, it was called Meta. Everybody attributes the creation of NLP to Richard Bandler and John Grinder, but those two would have never been successful in creating it without their first student and co-creator, the third and often hidden gem, Frank Pucelik, who was a Vietnam veteran suffering from the turmoil of being in combat and was one of the first to be transformed by NLP. P.S. Still looking to practice some of the advanced processes that I am learning with anybody who is willing, before I go back to my day job. Hit me up. https://youtu.be/XFAULwn5mNM?si=LDtCixf1O1oqkHG4

Hey everyone, I'm currently a graduate student one year away from finishing my LMHC. I'm currently providing 1-on-1 therapy as an intern at a local clinic predominantly serving Chinese-Americans. I hope to learn new practices and techniques to grow my skillset in therapy sessions. I'm from Brooklyn, NY. I don't have any immediate needs, unless someone wishes to offer me therapy haha. Excited to learn from you all.