NLP, Hypnosis & Time Line Therapy® Glossary
The most comprehensive glossary of NLP, Hypnosis, and Time Line Therapy® terms on the internet — over 220 definitions to support your learning and exam preparation.
Accelerate NLP
A leading provider of NLP, Hypnosis, and Time Line Therapy® training and certification, founded by Ralph Varcoe. Accelerate NLP is dedicated to delivering high-quality, accredited training that empowers individuals and professionals to achieve excellence in their personal and professional lives.
ABNLP — American Board of Neuro-Linguistic Programming
The official international certification and standards body for NLP practitioners, coaches, and trainers. Founded in 1996, the ABNLP sets the curriculum standards for NLP Practitioner, Master Practitioner, NLP Coach, and NLP Trainer certifications, and approves training institutes worldwide. Certification from an ABNLP-approved trainer is internationally recognised and is the benchmark of quality in the NLP profession.
ABH — American Board of Hypnotherapy
The official international certification and standards body for hypnotherapists. Founded in 1982 by Dr A.M. Krasner as the California Board of Hypnotherapy, the ABH has grown to include over 1,000 approved training institutes worldwide. The ABH sets the standards for hypnotherapy certification and maintains a register of certified hypnotherapists and approved trainers.
Abreaction
An emotional or physical outburst that can occur during hypnosis or deep change work, typically as a result of accessing a repressed or highly charged memory. Abreactions may be spontaneous or deliberately facilitated by the practitioner to help release stored emotional energy. In NLP and hypnotherapy, abreactions are managed carefully to ensure client safety and to facilitate therapeutic progress.
Accessing Cues
Subtle behavioural signals — including eye movements, breathing patterns, voice tone, posture, and gestures — that indicate which representational system (visual, auditory, or kinesthetic) a person is currently using to process information. Developed by Richard Bandler and John Grinder through their modelling of Milton Erickson and others, accessing cues allow a skilled practitioner to track a client's internal processing in real time.
Adriana James
Co-developer of Time Line Therapy® alongside Tad James, and a highly respected NLP Master Trainer, Time Line Therapy® Master Trainer, and Hypnosis Master Trainer. Adriana James has made significant contributions to the fields of NLP and TLT, including the development of new techniques, the exploration of values and consciousness, and the authorship of the book Values and the Evolution of Consciousness.
Age Regression
A hypnotic or NLP technique in which a person is guided to re-experience or revisit earlier memories or life events. In hypnotherapy, age regression can be used to identify the root cause of a presenting issue. In NLP and Time Line Therapy®, it is used to locate and release the first significant emotional event associated with a limiting pattern.
Alpha
A brainwave activity state associated with a relaxed but awake condition, also known as the hypnoidal state. Alpha is slower than Beta (the normal waking state) and faster than Theta (a deep hypnotic state). Alpha is typically the entry point for hypnotic induction and is associated with light trance and the hypnoidal depth of hypnosis.
Amnesia
A hypnotic phenomenon in which a subject has no conscious recall of events that occurred during a trance state. Amnesia may occur spontaneously or be induced by suggestion. In therapeutic hypnosis, post-hypnotic amnesia is sometimes used deliberately to allow unconscious processing without conscious interference.
Analogue
Refers to information that exists on a continuously variable scale, as opposed to digital information which exists in discrete units. In NLP, analogue distinctions describe variations in submodalities (e.g., brightness, volume) and in communication (e.g., tone of voice, which varies continuously rather than in discrete steps).
Analogue Marking
A hypnotic and NLP language technique in which specific words or phrases are emphasised through subtle changes in tone, volume, tempo, or gesture, causing them to be processed differently by the listener's unconscious mind. Analogue marking is a key component of the Milton Model and was modelled from the work of Milton H. Erickson.
Anchor
A stimulus — which may be visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, or gustatory — that has been associated with a specific internal state or response, such that when the stimulus is presented, it reliably triggers that state. Anchoring is based on the principles of classical conditioning and was developed as an NLP technique by Richard Bandler and John Grinder.
Anchoring
The NLP process of creating a reliable link between a stimulus (anchor) and an internal state or response. Anchoring techniques allow practitioners to help clients access resourceful states at will. Variants include stacking anchors, chaining anchors, collapsing anchors, and spatial anchoring.
Arm Raising Induction (Primary Induction)
The primary hypnotic induction technique used in the first session to create an association between hypnotic depth and the client's experience. The therapist uses misdirection and a combination of inferred and literal suggestions to cause the client's arm to rise from the table and make contact with their face.
Arm Rigidity
A hypnotic deepening technique and depth test in which the subject's outstretched arm is made rigid as a steel bar through direct suggestion. The therapist instructs the client to draw all tensions into the arm from a count of five to zero, at which point the arm becomes rigid.
As-If Frame
An NLP and coaching technique in which a person is invited to think, speak, or act as if a desired outcome has already been achieved, or as if a particular condition were true. The As-If Frame bypasses current limitations and stimulates creative problem-solving by encouraging the mind to explore possibilities beyond present constraints.
Associated
A perceptual position in which a person is fully inside an experience, seeing through their own eyes, hearing through their own ears, and feeling their own feelings — as opposed to being dissociated. In NLP, being associated into a positive memory intensifies its emotional impact, while dissociation from a negative memory reduces its emotional charge.
Auditory
One of the five primary representational systems in NLP, relating to the sense of hearing. Auditory processing includes both external sounds (Ae) and internal sounds such as self-talk and imagined voices (Ai). People with a strong auditory preference often use language predicates such as 'sounds good,' 'I hear you,' or 'that rings a bell.'
Auditory Digital
A representational system in NLP referring to internal self-talk, internal dialogue, and the process of making sense of experience through words and logical reasoning. People who are primarily auditory digital tend to be analytical, procedural, and highly attuned to the logical structure of communication.
Auto Dual Induction
A hypnotic induction technique primarily used with intellectually suggestible clients, in which the client believes they are hypnotising themselves. While feeling their own pulse in an outstretched arm, the client repeats the hypnotherapist's words, leading to a count from five to zero and a deep sleep suggestion.
Aversion Therapy
A form of psychological treatment in which an unwanted behaviour or stimulus is repeatedly paired with an unpleasant experience, creating a conditioned aversion. In hypnotherapy, aversion therapy may be used to reduce the appeal of addictive substances or behaviours.
Away From (Meta-Program)
A motivational meta-program in which a person is primarily motivated by moving away from what they do not want, rather than towards a desired outcome. People with a strong away-from pattern are often highly effective at identifying problems and avoiding negative consequences.