Exploring Affordable NLP Certification Options in NCR-Delhi: Any Recommendations?

Hi, I want to pursue the NLP certification course. However, I have heard of a few training organizations that provide this, like the School of Excellence. But the cost is INR 56,000. Please guide me about various other sources from where I can do the NLP certification. I live in NCR-Delhi, India.

Niketa, NLP is vast, and there are institutionalized scammers out there. No kidding. What specifically do you want to learn about in NLP? Forget that. What specifically do you want to be able to do in your life, office, and relationships as a result of learning NLP? If you have an answer to that, I can point you to how you may go about learning it.

Understanding NLP

One thing you must know: NLP is not a science or accepted as part of any branch of human sciences. However, in my opinion, NLP is the most effective tool in organized communication (mind-body) (self-to-self) (self-to-external). That being said, with the assumption that "everything is a communication."

If you read the Original NLP books, which are actual training seminars printed verbatim, you will realize the depth of its application, which is unlimited. It is evolutionary.

Recent Developments in NLP

Off lately, and I mean a decade, so many new NLP practitioners have added to the original NLP patterns. If you may go now to a certification session, what they will teach you there will be a refined version of those and some new added material by each trainer who teaches it. It's uncontrolled and therefore corrupted in a sense where you are not studying what the original creators of NLP, Bandler & Grinder, established.

If you are interested, PM me, and we could have a private conversation. My exposure to the NLP Tech can definitely guide you to make a right beginning.

Best Wishes

Thank you for your reply. Pardon me for the delayed response. I work as a Behavioral Trainer, specializing in personal development, behavioral, and soft skills. It's been just 2 years in this field, and I believe adding NLP to my skills will enhance my competencies. Plus, an NLP certification is an asset on my resume for career growth. I am planning to move towards core behavioral workshops, including stress management, positive attitude, therapies, etc. In short, I aspire to become a 'Life Coach' in the coming years. Please let me know how to go about it and what other certifications or training would enhance my skills.

Regards.

Thank you for your post. Your question raises further introspection of various myths related to NLP.

Firstly, I agree with Erstine that NLP is not accredited by any Human Sciences faculty. What you have to understand is that NLP, while raising awareness and emotional intelligence, does not qualify as a criterion when adding to your skills list.

Secondly, the institutions or trainers that are offering NLP certifications are doing so in a commercial capacity. If you ask them if they are affiliated with any University or Academic body that endorses and recognizes NLP, the answer will be "NO." I have had a case where a candidate in one of the interviews I was conducting claimed that he had learned Hypnosis using NLP and can use it effectively on others. Well, honestly, he could not hypnotize me into getting the job. Common sense can be applied here, wherein hypnosis therapy, which takes years to master, is at the disposal of an NLP practitioner. I find that baseless and immature.

What I would suggest is to consider the certifications provided by institutions such as CIPD, ASTD, City & Guilds as these are institutions that are accredited as learning and development bodies and are affiliated with many universities across the globe. NLP as a product has been packaged well by institutions in India at a time when there were very few offerings from a certifications point of view. Don't fall prey to the glamour quotient of NLP as there is not a single medical or human science body that endorses the practice.

Regards,

Good to see your reply. I am happy to see your response to my question and that you plan to become a "life coach."

The Journey of Becoming a Life Coach

Being a Life Coach carries a great deal of everything in it, meaning anything you pick up along the way will be useful. For now, park those 50 grand in your piggy bank. In some time, we'll discuss how to spend them. This is a long post. Grab something to drink to keep you at it.

Understanding NLP and Its Impact

From within the frame of being a Life Coach, let's work back to how NLP can help you. I have been around those who get certified and practice NLP, and I have seen two kinds of people emerge. One, those who get into NLP thinking it to be a magical box of everything and therefore they will now control others. That's one category. The other type are those who are looking forward to taking their own life skills to another level and genuinely help others after realizing how NLP had changed their life.

So, NLP does offer you a set of tools and techniques to be able to do the above in both categories. Primarily, NLP gives you linguistic models which help you gather information in a conversation at two levels: verbal and non-verbal. Similarly, it gives you filters to arrange the information you receive from a client (you are treating for a challenge they need help with) and change a few things about their internal experience (based on what they say to you), and you ultimately give them a choice about how they want to be able to respond to that challenge.

In many ways, NLP is a quantum leap because compared to traditional psychology, in NLP you don't assume that people are messed up in the head and something needs to be fixed about them. You also don't corrupt a client's model of the world by proposing your way as the best way of dealing with that challenge. Ever have someone tell you that their way is the best way? NLP stays clear of such self-advocating idealisms about life. You are rather working with a client at the level of the process and structure of their subjective experience.

Exploring NLP Resources

Now just how does one ever do that? That's where I am going to throw in my sales pitch, right? :-) Heck no! I have been too long around NLP that I outgrew the certification market. They weren't around that time.

So here is what I would say. Get into knowing how NLP works the way it works and there is only one way it works, and that is pretty much how it came into being. That is Modeling Human Excellence. Period.

So you still have a budget of 50 grand, right? Let me suggest how to spend it.

Recommended Books on NLP

1. **NLP: The New Technology of Achievement** - This is a simple way to understand what NLP is, what it really does, and how to go about first trying out NLP tools on yourself. Feel the difference. See if that stays around. See if you feel resourceful in life with these new changes. Trust me, to be able to get good results as a Life Coach with human beings, you are going to need to know what to do with your own head first. How do you code your experience? What is your model of the world? What if you come across someone whose natural skills are something you want to be able to learn?

The books that install NLP in you. Oh yeah!

The below books are actual verbatim seminar transcripts put together in parts by people who knew what was being taught. Read any of these and you will have actually been to a seminar learning from the creators of NLP. Just like it was meant to be. There is nothing like this in the market even to date, that can forever alter your experience of how you will be using your brain to experience life each day.

This is not motivational or inspirational stuff. These are tools - weapons of choice! It puts you in control. You will be doing things you never knew you could do before. Most of what you did was intuition to you. NLP will help open the black box.

Even after 15 years today when I open these books I realize I am still into that seminar learning what they were talking about, and there is something new that I previously didn't see it quite that way, and yet, it taught me well at whatever level of understanding I approached it from whatever level of evolution I was at that point in time.

It's something we now know as Multi-level communication. The books are stacked with all the NLP language patterns and tools which simultaneously run with other patterns of NLP that assist in unconscious learnings. (The premise of Ericksonian hypnosis)

Yep - Linear, non-linear seemingly harmless stories, nested with deeper metaphors delivered with powerful language patterns.

OMG! Am I even making sense to you anymore! You tell me when you finish one of these books.

Truthfully, as you grow in your NLP knowledge and its real-life application to self and in helping others, you will realize from that perspective how this book actually works with your mind at multiple levels.

Even as NLP is being described and taught about, you will realize it's being parallelly (within the same time) demonstrated by Bandler and Grinder. Killer, eh! You bet!

Here are the books:

1. **Frogs into Princes** - You will mainly learn about Representational Systems and Verbal and Nonverbal patterns of Rapport, Anchoring behaviors and change, and Reframing. They are useful when you do a session as a life coach with people. Imagine first being able to learn how your clients "experience" the external world. Here they show you how to use the Meta Model of information gathering. Meta model is something you may learn from a certification course but it's freely available to learn on the net. But first, read this book then go out and explore. Again Meta Model is not the stuff of beginners. Only get to it when the time is right. You will know when it is so.

2. **Trance-formations** - This is a book about using the Milton Model who was a hypnotherapist, one of his kind. He was radical for his time and trust me only 5% of the population is able to do what he did 23 years back! The above post by TTS on the experience with the newbie "I am an NLP hypnotist" was what I call a type/category one, kind of person. I know NLP and I will control you. You do bump into such clowns once in a while. I figured it's fun to use the Meta model on them. Like asking them "how do you know that I am not in a trance right now?" and leading from there. You can join me in that joke six months from now. Frankly, Hypnosis doesn't work that way. Every communication offers an opportunity of deepening the trance. The question is, what do you want to learn in that state? That clown missed out a basic little something that is a pre-requisite for trance but hey I am not here to sell anyone a course or teach NLP right? Let's get back to the books. I'd suggest picking this 6 months after you finish FIP. Yeah, it's going to take some time to comprehend your new reality. But will you notice the time that's passed by? This is a book about going into trance yourself first and then putting others in trance. Well, what does one do in a trance anyway? Trance state allows you to slow down or speed up a regular waking state experience such that being in trance you are able to creatively approach the challenge. You can release traumas, deal with limiting beliefs, create new representations, build an overall attitude towards life. It's endless. This is precisely the reason why NLP is different than any other form of behavioral science approach. When someone who is really good at a particular skill comes to you and says... I know I am good... but I want to be better. You can use NLP tools, techniques, and patterns to give them a way of taking control of elements of their own experience and enhance it. Is that even possible? Whoa! Didn't I mention Modeling Human Excellence... you will figure.

3. **Reframing** - This is quite an advanced book and it demonstrates first and explains later. Imagine being able to change limiting beliefs about things linguistically. This book teaches you how. Anyone thinking that hey I want to change XYZ's belief about me. You are welcome to try only that don't end up losing your own reference structure while you are too busy figuring out how to change someone else's. Oops! Did I give away too much? Ah! You will have to read the book to figure that :-)

Conclusion: The Role of NLP in Life Coaching

In summary, being a Life Coach is like a life purpose in its own. And NLP will really help you a long way in it. Frankly, if you start right here, you can never go wrong. You will never need an NLP certification. And while you spend your 50 grand and some of it wisely on other "recognized" qualifications which are "accepted" by the industry, and when those continuously fail to assist you with their limited ways, then it is only what you will have learned through NLP that will give you a choice to go about it freely and do something that works! Boy! I just ruffled too many feathers there but let's risk it anyways, don't I always do that? It takes all types to run this world. Let's settle at that. Besides, I think I am more focused on giving you a lot to think about.

Throughout this post, I have shared an overview of NLP. When you take it up yourself, you will have your own view too. It will be pleasant and positive. This is a no-brainer.

One thing I must reiterate, there are two types of people who learn NLP. One that becomes the "I am the showman of

Regards.

Hi Erstine, your posting highlights the present status and recognition levels of NLP courses. I was one of those lured to take up the course to enhance my skills. You have nicely prioritized the necessity to read a few books to get an idea of the concept.

Thanks for the post.

Regards,
V. Raghunathan

Thank you for your kind words and appreciation. I know that sentiment you speak of, and it's been shared by many.

Selling NLP Training

As far as selling the NLP training goes, it's important to set the right expectations with the audience. In general, they advertise it as a "circus act" - come one, come all! NLP is one of those knowledge areas that can never benefit from such promotional tactics, and it does more harm than good to NLP's reputation.

Regarding NLP knowledge, after one attends such workshops, one definitely comes out better and basking in a new light of awareness of what is possible now. No arguments on that. The problem is, why is it 50k when all you will learn is hardly 20% of what you can already learn from those three NLP books written by the creators in the 80s?

The bottom line is they want to create a business out of it, and one cannot really blame them when it comes down to business, can we? And this is again not only limited to NLP; it's pretty much everywhere.

Understanding the NLP Model

If one reads these books, one will learn that NLP is about learning from demonstrations. Meaning everything you learn in the NLP model can be replicated behaviorally (in a gauge, yeah). It's about modeling Human Excellence. The NLP Model functions at two levels. One, that you can learn from the model and apply it as an application to get enhanced behavioral results. Two, that you can use the NLP Model to model NLP and other excellent skills-behaviors that one comes across.

This, I am afraid, cannot be taught in a 2-5 day workshop. And if one is not learning this in a workshop, no matter how advanced a skill it's often said to be in the NLP circle, then one must think ten times before they shell out that much money for it.

Oh! I ventured into product pricing now! So if someone says, "Hey, we can do a six-month course with you," go for it. And take it in, in small measures. When you think too much is happening that you cannot immediately verify in your own behavior, stop the course, sit out, learn, and get back in it.

All in all, I hope this thread is visited by those who are seeking NLP and those who teach NLP. The above-stated are my views, and let's keep it limited to that.

This is cliché but need to make a point here - Everybody has a right to experience what they want to, and it's a choice that is well made by them. Thank you all for your time.

I won't be contributing to this post anymore as all that I could say has been said. Period.

Good day.

Regards,
Erstine

Thank you very much for providing yet another detailed account of your views. It emphasizes the importance of doing sufficient homework before enrolling in any NLP course. You have expressed the details very nicely.

Regards,
V. Raghunathan