Mind your language

People

In this month’s Breathe magazine Francesca Baker has written an article on the role of language and the different ways that we communicate.

I am quoted in the following paragraph:

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) was developed in the 1970s by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. Neuro refers to the brain; linguistics is the verbal and non-verbal content that moves through its pathways; and programming is the way the content is converted into useful information, thinking patterns and behaviours. Javier Orti is an NLP therapist, and he explains: ‘Our mind will respond to the images and words we say. When we talk about “an uphill struggle” or say things like “that meeting is going to be a train crash” we generate images and our subconscious brain reacts to those to protect us.’ His work focuses on helping people to use different words to alter their ways of thinking. ‘Changing the words we use will change the images we create in our head,’ he says, ‘and thus change our beliefs and ways of being.’