Most NLP technique guides give you theory. This one gives you step-by-step instructions you can practise in your next conversation, your next meeting, or the next time anxiety shows up uninvited.
Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP, is a collection of communication and personal development techniques first developed in the 1970s by Richard Bandler and John Grinder at the University of California, Santa Cruz. [1] At its core, NLP explores the relationship between how we think (neuro), how we communicate (linguistic), and our patterns of behaviour and emotion (programming). By understanding and adjusting these patterns, NLP practitioners believe we can achieve specific goals in personal development, communication, and therapeutic change. [2]
Whether you are a coach, a therapist, a business leader, or simply someone who wants to communicate more effectively and manage your emotional state with greater skill, NLP techniques offer a practical toolkit worth exploring. In this guide, we will walk you through 15 of the most widely used NLP techniques, explain exactly how each one works, and show you how to start practising them today.
What Is NLP and Where Did It Come From?
NLP was born from a simple question: what makes the difference between somebody who is merely competent at something and somebody who excels? In the early 1970s, Richard Bandler, a mathematics student and computer programmer, and John Grinder, a linguistics professor, began studying three exceptional therapists: Fritz Perls (Gestalt therapy), Virginia Satir (family systems therapy), and Milton Erickson (clinical hypnotherapy). [8] By carefully modelling the language patterns, behaviours, and strategies these therapists used, Bandler and Grinder distilled a set of techniques and principles that could be taught to others. [1]
Since those early days, NLP has expanded well beyond the therapy room. Today, NLP techniques are used in coaching, education, sales, leadership development, sports performance, and personal growth. The field has also evolved, with significant contributions from practitioners like Tad James, who developed Time Line Therapy®, often dubbed ‘NLP 2.0’ for its powerful approach to releasing negative emotions and limiting decisions stored along a person’s internal timeline. [4]
15 Powerful NLP Techniques: Step-by-Step
1. Anchoring
Anchoring is one of the foundational NLP techniques. It works on the principle that specific stimuli can be deliberately linked to emotional states, much like how a particular song might instantly transport you back to a vivid memory. [9]
How to practise anchoring:
Recall a time when you felt supremely confident. Close your eyes, step fully into that memory, and notice everything: the sights, the sounds, the feelings in your body. When the feeling reaches its peak, press your thumb and forefinger together firmly. Repeat this process three to five times with the same memory or different peak-confidence memories, always using the same physical gesture. After several repetitions, simply pressing your thumb and forefinger together should begin to trigger that confident state on demand.
Use anchoring before presentations, job interviews, difficult conversations, or any situation where you want to access a resourceful emotional state quickly.
2. Reframing
Reframing is the art of changing the meaning of an experience by altering the context or perspective through which you view it. There are two primary types: context reframing (the same behaviour has different implications in different situations) and content reframing (the meaning of a situation is changed by focusing on a different aspect of it). [10]
How to practise reframing:
When faced with a setback, ask yourself: ‘In what context would this behaviour or situation actually be useful?’ or ‘What else could this mean?’ For instance, if a colleague gives you blunt feedback, instead of interpreting it as hostility, reframe it as evidence that they respect you enough to be direct. Reframing does not deny reality; it expands your perception of it.
3. The Swish Pattern
The Swish Pattern is a visualisation technique designed to break unwanted habits and automatic responses by replacing them with more desirable ones. [11] It is one of the most popular NLP techniques for behaviour change.
How to practise the Swish Pattern:
First, identify the unwanted behaviour and the trigger image associated with it (e.g., the sight of your phone when you should be working). Create a bright, vivid picture of this trigger. Next, create a second image of the person you want to become, someone who handles that moment brilliantly. Make the trigger image large and bright, and place the desired image as a small, dark picture in the corner. Then, in one rapid motion, ‘swish’ them: shrink the trigger image whilst simultaneously expanding the desired image until it fills your mental screen. Clear your mind and repeat five to seven times, getting faster each round.
4. Rapport Building Through Mirroring and Matching
Rapport is the foundation of effective communication. Research by Dr Tanya Chartrand and Dr John Bargh at New York University found that subtle mirroring of another person’s posture and gestures can increase the sense of rapport by up to 30%. [5] In NLP, this natural phenomenon is used deliberately through mirroring (reflecting someone’s body language as if you were their mirror image) and matching (adopting similar posture, gestures, or vocal qualities with a slight time delay of a few seconds).
How to practise:
In your next conversation, gently match the other person’s posture. If they lean forward, lean forward a few seconds later. Match their speaking pace and volume. If they use visual language (‘I see what you mean’), respond in kind. The key is subtlety: you are building unconscious connection, not mimicking.
5. The Meta Model for Precision Communication
The Meta Model was one of the first formal NLP models, developed directly from Bandler and Grinder’s study of expert therapists. [1] It is a set of language patterns and questions designed to challenge and clarify vague or distorted communication. When someone says ‘Everyone thinks I’m terrible at presenting’, the Meta Model prompts you to ask: ‘Everyone? Who specifically?’ or ‘How do you know what they think?’
This technique is particularly valuable for coaches, managers, and therapists, as it helps uncover the deeper structure beneath surface-level language, revealing assumptions, generalisations, and deletions that may be holding someone back.
6. The Milton Model (Conversational Hypnosis)
Where the Meta Model seeks precision, the Milton Model, inspired by the legendary hypnotherapist Milton Erickson, uses deliberately vague and artfully ambiguous language to bypass the conscious mind and speak to the unconscious. [8] Phrases like ‘You may find yourself beginning to feel more comfortable’ or ‘People can, you know, learn to change in ways that surprise them’ are examples of Milton Model patterns.
This is one of the more advanced NLP techniques, widely used in therapeutic contexts and by skilled communicators who want to create openness and possibility in conversation.
7. Representational Systems (Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic)
NLP proposes that people process information primarily through three sensory channels: visual (seeing), auditory (hearing), and kinaesthetic (feeling). [9] By listening to the language someone uses, you can identify their preferred system. A visual person might say ‘I see what you mean’; an auditory person might say ‘That sounds right’; a kinaesthetic person might say ‘I can’t quite grasp it’.
How to use this:
Once you identify someone’s preferred system, communicate using language that matches it. This creates an immediate sense of being understood and builds rapport naturally.
8. Working with Submodalities
Submodalities are the finer details within each representational system. For a visual image, submodalities include brightness, size, colour, distance, and whether the image is a still picture or a moving film. [10] Changing these submodalities can dramatically alter how you feel about a memory or a future event.
How to practise:
Think of a mildly unpleasant memory. Notice the mental image: is it bright or dim? Close or far away? In colour or black and white? Now deliberately push the image further away, shrink it, and drain the colour. Notice how the emotional intensity decreases. This is the power of submodality work.
9. Time Line Therapy®
Developed by Tad James in 1985, Time Line Therapy® is often referred to as ‘NLP 2.0’ because of its powerful ability to release negative emotions such as anger, sadness, fear, and guilt, as well as limiting decisions, by working with a person’s internal representation of time. [4] Your ‘timeline’ is how your unconscious mind stores and organises memories of the past and expectations of the future.
This technique involves floating above your timeline to the root cause of a negative emotion, learning from the event, and releasing the emotional charge. Time Line Therapy® is typically facilitated by a trained practitioner and forms a core component of many comprehensive NLP training programmes, including those offered by ABNLP-accredited providers such as Accelerate NLP. You are advised not to try Time Line Therapy® on yourself and should, instead, seek out a properly trained practitioner or master practitioner.
10. Well-Formed Outcomes
NLP places great emphasis on the quality of goal-setting. A ‘well-formed outcome’ goes beyond SMART goals by ensuring your objective is stated in the positive, is within your control, is ecologically sound (fits harmoniously with the rest of your life), and is backed by a clear sensory-based evidence procedure so you know when you have achieved it. [2]
How to practise:
Instead of ‘I don’t want to be anxious’, restate your outcome as ‘I want to feel calm and confident when I present to the board’. Then ask: ‘Is this within my control? What will I see, hear, and feel when I have achieved it? How does this fit with the rest of my life?’
11. Perceptual Positions
This technique involves exploring a situation from three different viewpoints: first position (your own perspective), second position (the other person’s perspective), and third position (a detached observer’s perspective). [9] It is an extraordinarily useful technique for resolving conflict, preparing for negotiations, and developing empathy.
How to practise:
Physically move to three different chairs or positions in a room. In each position, fully adopt the corresponding perspective and notice what new insights emerge. You will often find solutions that were invisible from a single viewpoint.
12. Parts Integration (Visual Squash)
When you feel pulled in two directions (‘Part of me wants to take the new job, but another part wants to stay’), Parts Integration helps resolve that internal conflict. [11] The technique involves identifying both ‘parts’, understanding the positive intention behind each, and finding a higher-level outcome that satisfies both.
This is a powerful NLP technique for decision-making and resolving the kind of inner tug-of-war that keeps people stuck.
13. NLP Modelling
Modelling is arguably the most important NLP technique because it is the process through which all other techniques were discovered. It involves carefully studying someone who excels at a skill, identifying the beliefs, strategies, physiology, and language patterns that make them successful, and then replicating those elements. [1]
How to practise:
Choose someone you admire for a specific skill. Observe them closely. What do they believe about themselves and the task? What is their physiology like? What internal strategies do they use? What language patterns do they employ? Then begin to adopt those same patterns and notice the results.
14. Chunking (Up and Down)
Chunking is a language and thinking technique that involves moving to higher levels of abstraction (‘chunking up’) or greater levels of detail (‘chunking down’). [2] Chunking up helps find agreement and shared values (‘We both want what’s best for the team’), whilst chunking down helps get to specifics and actionable steps (‘What exactly would ‘best for the team’ look like this quarter?’).
This technique is invaluable in negotiations, coaching conversations, and meetings where clarity and consensus are needed.
15. The Circle of Excellence
The Circle of Excellence is a variation of anchoring that uses spatial anchoring to create a powerful resourceful state. [11]
How to practise:
Imagine a circle on the floor in front of you. Recall a time when you felt absolutely at your best: confident, focused, energised. When the feeling reaches its peak, step into the imaginary circle and anchor that state to the physical location. Repeat with several powerful memories. Once the anchor is set, simply stepping into your Circle of Excellence before a challenging event can trigger a flood of resourceful feelings.
Taking Your NLP Techniques Further: Accredited Training
If you want to go beyond reading about NLP techniques and truly integrate them into your personal and professional life, structured training with an accredited provider makes a significant difference. The American Board of Neuro Linguistic Programming (ABNLP) sets the global standard for NLP training, requiring a minimum of 120 hours of supervised study at Practitioner level.
Accelerate NLP is an ABNLP-accredited training provider whose programmes go well beyond standard NLP Practitioner content. Their comprehensive certification covers four integrated disciplines: NLP, Hypnosis (certified through the American Board of Hypnotherapy), Time Line Therapy® (often called NLP 2.0), and NLP Coaching. This integrated approach means that graduates do not just learn individual techniques in isolation; they develop a complete toolkit for facilitating lasting personal and professional change.
All training is delivered by an ABNLP-certified NLP Trainer, ensuring that the modelling, demonstrations, and supervised practice meet the highest international standards. Whether you are a coach looking to add depth to your practice, a therapist exploring complementary approaches, or a professional who wants to communicate and lead more effectively, an accredited NLP training programme provides the structured foundation that self-study alone cannot.
Conclusion: Start Practising Today
NLP techniques are practical tools for anyone who wants to communicate more effectively, manage their emotional state, break unhelpful habits, and develop greater self-awareness. From anchoring and reframing to the Meta Model and Time Line Therapy®, these techniques offer structured approaches to challenges that most people face daily.
The best way to understand NLP is to experience it. Pick one technique from this guide, try it today, and notice what happens. And if you find yourself wanting to go deeper, consider investing in accredited training that gives you the supervised practice and expert feedback needed to truly master these skills.
About Accelerate NLP
Accelerate NLP offers ABNLP-accredited NLP Practitioner and Master Practitioner certification programmes integrating NLP, Hypnosis, Time Line Therapy®, and NLP Coaching. To find out more, visit our NLP Training Page.
References
[1] Bandler, R. & Grinder, J. (1975). The Structure of Magic I: A Book About Language and Therapy. Science and Behavior Books.
[2] Dilts, R. (1990). Changing Belief Systems with NLP. Meta Publications.
[3] Sturt, J. et al. (2012). ‘Neurolinguistic programming: a systematic review of the effects on health outcomes.’ British Journal of General Practice, 62(604), e757–e764.
[4] James, T. & Woodsmall, W. (1988). Time Line Therapy and the Basis of Personality. Meta Publications.
[5] Chartrand, T.L. & Bargh, J.A. (1999). ‘The chameleon effect: the perception–behavior link and social interaction.’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(6), 893–910.
[6] Kotera, Y. et al. (2019). ‘The applications of neuro-linguistic programming in organisational settings: a systematic review.’ Human Resource Development Quarterly, 30(1), 101–116.
[7] Passmore, J. & Rowson, T. (2019). ‘Neuro-linguistic programming: a critical review of NLP research and the application of NLP in coaching.’ International Coaching Psychology Review, 14(1), 57–69.
[8] Erickson, M.H. (1980). The Collected Papers of Milton H. Erickson on Hypnosis. Irvington Publishers.
[9] O’Connor, J. & Seymour, J. (2011). Introducing NLP: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People. Conari Press.
[10] Bavister, S. & Vickers, A. (2004). NLP: Teach Yourself. Hodder Education.
[11] Andreas, S. & Faulkner, C. (1996). NLP: The New Technology of Achievement. William Morrow Paperbacks.
[12] Wake, L. (2008). Neurolinguistic Psychotherapy: A Postmodern Perspective. Routledge.