NLP Lisbon · Reference
The NLP Glossary
Plain-English definitions of the core Neuro-Linguistic Programming terms — the words you’ll actually hear in a Practitioner training, explained without the jargon.
What is this glossary?
This NLP glossary defines the key terms of Neuro-Linguistic Programming — the study of how language, thought and behaviour shape our results — in clear, everyday English. Each term has a one-line definition here and a full guide a click away.
A
Anchoring — Linking a stimulus — a touch, word, image or gesture — to an emotional state, so the stimulus can re-trigger that state on demand.
C
Calibration — Reading the subtle changes in someone’s face, voice and breathing to gauge their internal state moment to moment.
Chunking — Moving a conversation up toward the bigger picture or down into specific detail to shift how something is understood.
Collapsing anchors — Firing a positive and a negative anchor together so the resourceful state neutralises the unwanted one.
E
Ecology check — Testing whether a desired change genuinely fits the rest of a person’s life before making it.
Eye accessing cues — The idea that eye movements hint at whether someone is picturing, hearing or feeling something — a classic but debated NLP model.
F
Fast phobia cure — A structured visualisation technique for reducing the emotional charge of a phobia or distressing memory.
Future pacing — Mentally rehearsing a new behaviour in an imagined future situation so it becomes more automatic.
L
Limiting beliefs — Deeply held assumptions — “I’m not good enough” — that quietly constrain what a person attempts or achieves.
Logical (neurological) levels — Robert Dilts’ model of change across environment, behaviour, capability, belief, identity and purpose.
M
Meta Model — A set of questions that recovers the detail we delete, distort and generalise in everyday language.
Meta programs — Habitual filters — towards/away, options/procedures — that shape how a person perceives and decides.
Milton Model — Deliberately vague, artfully imprecise language patterns modelled on hypnotherapist Milton Erickson.
Mirroring & matching — Subtly reflecting another person’s posture, gestures and speech to deepen rapport.
Modeling — The founding NLP method: studying an expert to reproduce the structure of what makes them excellent.
P
Pacing & leading — Meeting someone exactly where they are, then gradually guiding them toward a new state or idea.
Parts integration — Resolving inner conflict by helping two opposing “parts” discover a shared higher intention.
Perceptual positions — Viewing a situation from your own, the other person’s and a neutral observer’s perspective.
Presuppositions — The guiding assumptions of NLP, such as “the map is not the territory.”
R
Rapport — A state of trust and responsiveness between people that makes communication flow.
Reframing — Changing the frame around an experience to shift its meaning and your response to it.
Representational systems (VAK) — How we process experience through visual, auditory and kinaesthetic channels.
S
Sensory acuity — The trained ability to notice fine sensory detail in another person’s behaviour.
Sleight of Mouth — Verbal reframing patterns for loosening a limiting belief in live conversation.
State management — Consciously shifting your own emotional state to access resources like calm or focus.
Submodalities — The fine qualities of an internal image, sound or feeling — brightness, volume, location — that encode its meaning.
Swish pattern — A rapid visualisation technique for replacing an unwanted response with a desired one.
T
Timeline therapy — Working with your internal “timeline” of past and future to release old emotions and set goals.
TOTE model — A feedback loop — Test, Operate, Test, Exit — describing how we run any strategy until a goal is met.
V
Values elicitation — Drawing out what matters most to someone so goals and decisions can be aligned with it.
W
Well-formed outcome — A goal defined so clearly and positively that the mind can actually organise itself to pursue it.
Good to know
NLP glossary FAQ
What does NLP stand for?
NLP stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming — a model of communication and personal change developed in the 1970s that studies the link between neurology (neuro), language (linguistic) and learned patterns of behaviour (programming).
Is NLP the same as Natural Language Processing?
No. Both are abbreviated “NLP,” but they are unrelated. This glossary covers Neuro-Linguistic Programming, a field of coaching and communication. Natural Language Processing is a branch of computer science and artificial intelligence.
Is NLP scientifically proven?
It’s mixed. Some individual techniques rest on well-established psychology — anchoring, for example, builds on classical conditioning — while several broader NLP claims lack strong empirical support and some, such as eye-accessing cues, have been challenged by research. Many people find NLP tools useful in coaching, but NLP is not a substitute for medical or psychological treatment.
Where should a beginner start?
Begin with the foundations most other techniques build on: rapport, representational systems, anchoring and the well-formed outcome. From there, the Meta Model and reframing open up how language shapes experience.
See these techniques in practice
Reading the definitions is one thing — feeling the shift is another. Learn NLP hands-on with a certified Practitioner training in Lisbon.