NLP - what is it and why you should care as a filmmaker

[jcs]

Someone private messaged me asking about NLP. I felt this info would be useful to everyone, so here it is.

In college I read Carlos Castaneda's books on shamanism (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Teachings_of_Don_Juan), presented as fact, but later found to be mostly fiction. He spoke of psychedelics and alternate realities which were just as real as this one. It was fascinating stuff, and even though what he wrote was a bit of fiction, the shamanistic concepts were still pretty accurate.

Years later I picked up this book: https://www.amazon.com/Introducing-NLP-Psychological-Understanding-Neuro-Linguistic-ebook/dp/B00906LTH8/. I was focused on software projects at the time, skimmed it, then lent it to someone and never saw it again. I was familiar with hypnotism, thinking it was useful for making people do silly things on stage shows. Which I later filmed with actress Jacqui Holland and her friend who performs these shows. Seeing all those people being hypnotized and following instructions from another person was entertaining and also a bit eye-opening. Frankly, I didn't want someone hypnotizing me and having me run around on stage like a chicken, then having no recollection of having done so.

When we started Cosmic Flow, we wanted to cover far-out concepts from the point of view of the believer (Jacqui) and of the open-minded skeptic/scientist (me). Then create drama on camera, kind of like the X-files but as a green-screen talkshow / YouTube channel. Jacqui suggested we take a shamanism class in San Francisco: https://www.ciis.edu/ciis-news-and-events/campus-calendar/mokelke-susan-sp17. It's based on this book: https://www.amazon.com/Way-Shaman-Michael-Harner/dp/0062503731/. I figured we could interview the shamanism folks and while in Santa Cruz could stop by the Bigfoot Museum for a fun interview (off the record I think most Bigfoot sightings, as with UFOs and all things potentially paranormal, are hoaxes. Until there's an @theRealBigfoot run be a real Bigfoot, I remain skeptical of the evidence presented so far. It's possible that Bigfoots are just visiting aliens (let's combine two fields!), say Chewbacca and friends here for vacation, and that's why there's very little physical evidence, because they are very 'green' and don't leave trash or waste in the forest like humans do ).

During the shamanism class we had to retrieve "spirit animals" which I thought sounded like hokey mythology, but went ahead and did the exercises. I was surprised to find out that while doing the exercises with a drum being played at 4-7Hz, I had very vivid imagery which I wasn't expecting. What I was learning was how to better access my unconscious mind with the use of the drum as a tool. I learned that the drums helped get my brain into theta and also found academic research in this area: https://web.stanford.edu/group/brainwaves/2006/Maxfieldabstract.html. I have a degree in Cognitive Science from UCSD though never studied rhythmic drums and brain states.

Jacqui mentioned she'd taken a course on NLP and was thinking about going back for the second course. I remembered the NLP book and after doing a bit of research, including finding out a big part of what Tony Robbins does is NLP, decided to take both courses, for a total of one month of intense training in Nevada with the Tad James company: http://www.nlpcoaching.com/.

Since we were somewhat near Area 51 we did a live stream test on UFOs and aliens, yielding 0 viewers (we had fun though):

During the NLP classes I began to understand that NLP encompasses modern psychology, hypnosis/trance and theta states of the brain, which are all derived from thousands of years old shamanism! Most of our behavior is unconscious, and if you truly want to change your own behavior, you need to reprogram your unconscious mind. Using hypnosis and other methods to get into trance (theta brainwave dominant), is a useful tool for learning, improving cognitive skills, eliminating unwanted behavior, weight loss, PTSD and so on. I then remembered the old Carlos Castaneda books on shamanism and psychedelics, and after searching for books on early human/hominid development and mind-expanding psychedelics, I found Food of the Gods by Terrance McKenna where he posits the same theory: that these compounds, especially DMT, found in many plants and mushrooms, helped early pre-humans to expand their consciousnesses and evolve into modern humans. These compounds are still mind-expanding and the real reason they are not easily available. Instead with have fluoride, heavy metals, xenoestrogens, and lithium in our food and water for the opposite effect. Supplement tip: take boron, magnesium malate, DIM, and alpha lipoic acid to help remove these toxic compounds from your body and brain. Also grab some plant-based omega 3-6-9 for neuron health and CoQ10 for energy. Have ADD? Grab some DHA. I'll go into more detail on nutrition with an eBook I'm writing.

Kundalini yoga, transcendental meditation, chanting, and other physical and mental techniques can cause naturally occurring (endogenous) DMT to be released into the body, providing similar experiences to consuming DMT. See DMT and the Soul of Prophecy and Supernatural where it becomes clear that early religion was heavily influenced by visions which appear to be from DMT, either endogenous or consumed. What happens to your consciousness on a sufficient dose of DMT? You cease to be a human being, and instead experience reality in a whole new way, being one with the universe and accessing your unconscious mind in novel ways. DMT is only legal in the US in a special church setting and is being used in research and therapy settings to help with PTSD, drug addiction and other issues. See the documentary, DMT the Spirit Molecule for more info.

Now why is it important to learn about NLP and the unconscious mind as a filmmaker? First, it's important to realize that experts in NLP, especially the mainstream media, advertisers, government officials, and the intelligence community, all use NLP techniques to control how the masses think and influence what they buy. Folks who tell you it's not real or doesn't work have an agenda. What do you think that could be? When you realize how it works, you can protect yourself from influences that may not be in your best interest. On the positive side, you can use NLP to better communicate in your work, on screen as well in personal and business relationships, e.g. rapport, sales, family, love life, etc. For the skeptics out there, a great example of someone who uses NLP and effectively teaches it is Tony Robbins. The biggest takeaway is to become aware of your unconscious mind, how it influences your behavior, and how to interact with it for the benefit of yourself and those around you.