What is NLP?

In recent years, we have been hearing more and more about NLP, and it seems that everywhere, there are therapists using the NLP method and people claiming they can bring about significant and profound changes in life through mental programming with the NLP method. It is indeed a tool with powerful potential capabilities, which is also used on stage and in entertainment shows, as well as in the breathtaking and reality-challenging performances of the master mentalist and illusionist Lior Suchard.

Today, we will explain what NLP is, what NLP programming is, and how this technique is used to enhance and enrich the experience and results of the most successful mentalism shows in Israel and around the world by Lior Suchard.

The essence of the NLP method

NLP stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming. It is a psychological approach that explores the relationships between how we think (neurological) and how we communicate (linguistic) with behavior and emotional patterns (programming) – among other things, to influence and change these patterns for the better. At its most basic psychological essence, NLP aims to understand how people organize their thinking, emotions, linguistic communication, and behavior to achieve certain results.

Originally, the NLP approach was intended to understand how successful people think and act, to apply this effectively and therapeutically, and to help people achieve successes and achievements in therapy, professional fields, and various areas of life more quickly and efficiently. It can be said that it is sort of like a reprogramming of thinking, communication, and action patterns to promote more positive results.

Much of what we see today in the fields of coaching and personal training actually originated from NLP and the discoveries made by the field’s developers and their successors.

NLP programming

Over the years, the field has evolved, and today it includes countless therapeutic and practical techniques and an immense variety of models on which the data, knowledge base, and different techniques for applying NLP programming are built. What is common to all these is the perception that every thought and action of ours is based on patterns and representations, which are often personal and subjective representations of reality. Thus, different people perceive the same reality or situation very differently and therefore achieve different results, some very positive and some negative, even under the same conditions and supposedly in the same reality.

NLP programming starts with the premise that if we can map these patterns of thought and representations of reality, we can change them through “reprogramming” based on practices developed from this understanding of each individual’s mental representation.

From here, as one can use NLP techniques for therapeutic purposes and to help people change thought patterns and achieve better results in dynamic conditions, including changing their perception of reality, it is a short step to using these techniques to enrich, enhance, and improve the experience and outcome of a mentalism and illusion show intended to entertain, surprise, captivate, and be fun.

NLP in entertainment and mentalism performances

In practice, NLP techniques are widely used in entertainment shows, especially in mentalism and illusion performances, often without the audience even being aware of it but definitely enhancing and upgrading the overall entertainment experience. We will even say that there are mentalism segments where NLP techniques are fundamental to the surprising and unbelievable success of the act, much like a key component in a language.

Examples of the use of various NLP programming techniques in mentalism performances include:

• Creating a quick and quality connection with the audience and participants in the show: Through elements like mirror movements of body language, matching language patterns, unique and specific language structures, and the like.
• Reading micro-expressions and body movements: NLP training enhances a person’s ability to “read” very subtle and small facial expressions and seemingly minor changes in body language and extract valuable information from all these in relation to mentalism and illusion segments. Often, this is a significant part of the amazing acts where it seems Lior can read the thoughts of participants in the show.
• Linguistic patterns: Special and carefully developed linguistic and verbal patterns are foundational elements of NLP programming. They are used to build and create strong suggestion, in what seems like implanting thoughts in the participants’ minds, for example, and predicting participants’ choices and actions.
• Anchoring: An NLP technique that creates a connection between a gesture or physical touch and a certain mental or thought state. A mentalist can use anchoring gently and precisely to influence a participant’s mental state or decision in the show.
• Reframing: Presenting information or a situation in a specific context, the illusionist can influence how the audience perceives or interprets certain events, leading to changes in behavior or decision-making and advancing the show to its entertaining and breathtaking goal.
• Manipulations of mental-perceptual models: The NLP method examines how people internally represent experiences. Mentalists can variously direct participants to change these internal representations, which again leads to changes in behavior, decision-making, and the like, in a way that seems inexplicable and magical to the audience.

Of course, all of this is done ethically and only to enhance and enrich the entertainment experience of the participants themselves and the entire audience as part of a show aimed at entertainment, fun, and breaking the boundaries of our consciousness and perception of reality – in a good spirit and for entertainment purposes only!

In the context of mentalism and illusion performances, NLP programming is a hidden art, and this is what makes it so significant and enhances the experience. NLP is a powerful tool precisely because of its subtlety, in that a master mentalist like Lior uses it in a way that you as the audience are unaware of, but you fully experience the great and unique experience, one of wonder, surprise, laughter, entertainment, and a show that breaks boundaries.