Meta-NLP: The New Edition

Archive note: this article was published in March 2025. Its training dates and registration information describe a past event, not a current invitation.

As best that I remember, the last time to conducted NLP Practitioner (which we call Meta-NLP in Neuro-Semantics) was 2004. By that time we had approximately 200 Neuro-Semantics NLP Trainers, so there really was no reason for me to continue running that training. Additionally I thought it inappropriate to compete against those I had trained. It was time to turn over Meta-NLP to the trainers so I can focus on Meta-Coach which we were just developing. And that’s what I did.

Now it is not the case that I didn’t teach the basics of NLP any longer. I did. That’s because just about everything we do in Neuro-Semantics is founded on the basic NLP model. In Meta-Coaching everything in NLP that involves rapport, listening, questioning, framing, etc. is fully embedded into Meta-Coaching. When I began the frame game series of books and trainings, that also has basic NLP inside it (frames, beliefs, Meta-Model). Similarly in the self-actualization series of books and trainings. So while I was not formally training Prac., I continued training all of its pieces in various forms. That especially became evident when I began studying Critical Thinking (2016) because I went through the entire NLP model, especially the Meta-Model, looking at it through the eyes of critical thinking. That resulted in Executive Thinking (2016) and the first draft of Brain Camp I.

Later, there was a request to update Prac. which I did in 2012. Later in 2019, due to a reduction in the demand for “NLP Prac,” I redesigned Prac. in three modules: Communication Excellence, Linguistic Excellence, and Communication Magic. That formulated Prac. into three modules of three days. In that way trainers could offer shorter 3-day trainings as stand alone modules and those interested in the NLP certification could achieve that in 9 intensive days.

Fast forward to the post-pandemic years, and my wife Geraldine who had been traveling with me since 2018 kept hearing bits and pieces of NLP and saying, “I was not taught NLP that way.” I would also frequently concluded, “And that’s NLP 101.” Yet often people would say, “What? Huh?” That led us to talk about the natural problem in which each generation, the information passed onto the next generation of trainers being reduced to some extent or a different emphasis would arise. In the end, some of the standards and distinctions of the original model would be slowly lost by the 4th or 5th generation. This would be especially true for trainers who did not constantly renew their knowledge by reading the original books, but getting their understanding second-hand or fourth-hand.

Eventually Geraldine encouraged Bruneau, Joyce, and Jameel in Mauritius to urge me to train it “one more time.” She urged others. Then she urged Mohamed in Egypt and his team of trainers. “Just one more time, we will record it, and you don’t ever have to do it again.” Finally I capitulated to them—at first thinking they would forget it. But they didn’t.

Now in the meantime I learned something else—something deeper and more profound about NLP. Through all of these years I thought NLP was “A Communication Model.” That’s what almost everyone in the field had concluded. And it made sense. But digging deeper, I discovered that it is more of a Thinking Model. Communication is its application, not its core. And strange enough, the founders partially knew that and would say that “it is all about the kind and quality of thinking.” But then they moved on from that and never developed that understanding. One author, Joseph Yeager, even titled his book, Thinking about Thinking with NLP. For me, as I realized that NLP is about thinking, that led me into the thinking series of books and trainings (now 11 of them).

So now here I am, 21 years later with the prospect of training Meta-NLP one last time. What shall I do? How shall I approach it? Here’s what I’m planning for August of 2025. There will be three modules of three-days each, each one focusing on the three aspects of NLP. The application will be personal empowerment.

Theme: Living Personal Empowerment The art of discovering, owning, and developing your innate powers of personality so you can live with energy, vitality, and passion and be as effective and productive was you want to be.

I. Neurology: The Source of Personal Empowerment. The core of NLP—sensory systems, states, VAK, rapport, acuity, etc. As it turns out— Human functioning itself is the source of personal empowerment. Discover how your mind works, your powers of thinking, the dynamics of your consciousness as you communicate to yourself and others, the art of self-management of your thinking and emoting, and lots of patterns for making this real in your life (Circle of Excellence, Movie Rewind, Detecting states, etc.).

II: Linguistics: The Expression of Personal Empowerment. The magic of words to change minds and lives. The model of all models, the Meta-Model— how your neuro-linguistics work in creating your states and experiences. How to detect words as doorways into your mind, how to de-hypnotize you from dis-empowering trances, the magic of hypnotic thinking and speaking, the art of constructing skills and competencies, how to model excellence, etc. We will use many patterns for learning the patterns of clear thinking, persuasive speaking, and strategic thinking.

III. Programming: The Hidden Secrets of Personal Empowerment. The multiple meta-models that govern your thinking, emotions, and responses: the Meta-States Model, the Meta-Programs, the Strategy Model, etc. All of which works mostly unconsciously and via repetitions create your deeper behavioral patterns or programs. We will explore the Meta Domain of your mind (the Meta Place) as the hidden powers of your empowerment. This will give you the ability to call out unconscious programs and update them. And we’ll use many patterns to actualize all of this into everyday behaviors (Personal Change History, Reframing, Expanding Meta-Programs, Strategies for living, etc.).

When and Where: Living Personal Empowerment will be in August in Cairo Egypt at Lucid Trainings. The first module: August 2-4, second: August 6-8, and the third: August 10-12. For details contact [email protected] . Soon there will be a devoted website for this training.