The book is typically presented for the layperson, but there is much practical insight and value here for experienced practitioners and master practitioners alike. The Afterword tells why the attitude of curiosity is so essential for NLP and our ongoing journeys through life. Some of the things that Using Your Brain -- for a CHANGE covers include:

Fast Phobia Cure: An approach to a workshop participant's fear of "elevators." Of particular interest here is the discussion of the principles and effects of dissociation and the application of submodalities within this context.

Motivation Strategies: Motivational strategies explored from a submodality perspective, and within the context of toward and away from motivation. The most personal change issues that are brought into therapy have a lot to do with motivation, and workshop participants' motivational strategies for "waking up" are used to explore how our own submodalities can be utilized to enhance motivation in other areas of our lives.

Contrastive Analysis and Belief Change Patterns: An in-depth exploration of contrastive analysis of submodalities is presented in order to show how confusion can be made into understanding. The underlying pattern of contrastive analysis is then modified to create the "belief change pattern" for removing limiting beliefs and installing new, more positive beliefs in their place (utilizing the submodalities of doubt at key stages). Significant emphasis is also placed on the importance of information gathering and set-up to understand how use of a specific pattern should be best tailored for each individual.

Swish: The reader is able to gain a clear understanding of the technology behind one of the most well-known NLP techniques. This book is worth reading for the important insights and invaluable information to be gained on the Swish alone.

Starting with the deliberately ambiguous title, what you get in this book is pure Bandler. Not surprising, really, since the text is an edited version of several seminars Bandler conducted in 1982.

It seems to me that you can treat the book as an educational exercise, or as an interactive experience. Indeed, the editing is so effective that I could imagine myself strolling through town letting Bandler show me the world through his eyes, listen to it with his ears, and so on. And a mightily enjoyable experience it was.

At the surface level the book covers topics such as submodalities, learning, the "swish" pattern, etc. - keeping in mind how much of our experience is objective, and how much is subjective. Better yet, having pointed out that the majority of our experience subjective - it goes on to explain how we can radically change our lives for the better by "reprogramming" the bits we don't like.

Personally I found this to be an excellent book on the subject, with plenty of amusing and relevant cartoons by Gustav Russ Youngreen, and practical exercises and demonstrations throughout.

With regard to the difficulties mentioned by other reviewers, I would say that there are plenty of guys doing what Abby describes who wouldn't know NLP from a hole in the ground.
It is also worth pointing out that NLP is, after all, just another tool. And like any other tool, *some* people are bound to misuse it.

As for whether you can become proficient in NLP just by attending one or two trainings and reading some books, I agree - you can't.
And if you tell yourself that you don't understand, then you won't (that, too, is "reprogramming"!)

Like any other subject, you will only "learn" NLP when you "do" it. So anyone who thinks that reading this book, or any other, will make them into a master communicator overnight would probably be better off saving their money.

For readers who take the book in the spirit in which it was written, on the other hand, I'd guess you may find this a very enjoyable and beneficial addition to your bookshelf.

19 of 20 found the following review helpful:


Brings Things You Already Know To a Conscious Level  Apr 24, 2003
My title may seem a bit surprising consdering the fact that NLP is all about tapping into your subconscious mind; however, Bandler hits home (and hits a home run) in not only stating various truths about how we think on a day-to-day basis, but in also providing the technology to "train your brain" to provide the results and the life you desire.

At the time of this review, I haven't worked on the recommended practices enough to qualify them (or to qualify myself, yet, for that matter), but I can say that I am extremely optimistic!!!

I have read numerous (again: numerous) self-help books that deal primarily/only with our conscious level of thinking, and having read Bandler, I now firmly believe that most (not all - most) self-help books that address the conscious level are worth next to nothing until one has addressed their subconscious. I was told, only today - by an NLP practitioner I have been seeing - that Bandler was once quoted as saying that "the conscious mind is the office boy; the subconscious is the CEO."

Bottom line? Buy it, highlight it to the max, and keep it handy as a reference guide. Most importantly (as I plan to do) - apply the matierial within! Good luck.......

30 of 35 found the following review helpful:


Richard Bandlers book is hypnotizing!  Jun 26, 1997
Richard Bandler, known for his development of Neuro Lingustic Programming with fellow partner John Grinder, has stepped alone to write this wonderfully self theraputic style book, from his uses and experiences in NLP and hypnosis training from master Milton Erickson. There is nothing your brain cannot accomplish, and Bandler provides the steps to take you to levels of brain development that you have not begun to think about...yet. In Using Your Barin for a Change, you are now in control of what you think, and how you think of life, concentrating all of your past miseries into one moment and then having it disappear to refocus your energy into the moment which we call the 'now'. A powerful book for anyone looking to change the way they see reality

66 of 81 found the following review helpful:


Richard on doing his thing with submodalities ...  Aug 03, 2000 By Joseph
Let's start off with the disclaimer: I am a fan of Richard Bandler and his professional work. This is not an "objective" review. I do and train others to do NLP professionally. Richard in addition to being one of the creative geniuses behind the development of the technology does what works. This book is the movement forward for Richard (in publication) that steps away from "old" NLP to "new" NLP in terms of the utilization of submodalities. This was a massive jump for Richard in terms of his thinking about and practice of NLP (IMHO). NLP was and remains organized around how people make the distinctions that create their subjective experience ... or reality as they know it to be. The first movement was the realization of the impact and power of representational systems (the five senses - visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory and gustatory). The first wave of books by Richard and John (Grinder) are about how to access and utilize this information to model subjective experience and instigate change. Internal representations (V-A-K-O/G) were the critical component of "old" NLP for generating behavioral response and change. "New" NLP suggests that the critical components are the submodalities (smaller more precise elements of internal representation within the larger V-A-K-O/G distinctions). As is typical this book is in the form of edited transcripts taken from live training. The best way in is to read it as though it were occurring in real time - straight through letting it unfold and emerge for you as you go. What you'll find will be a series of descriptions and techniques for eliciting, recognizing and utilizing submodalities. In "Using Your Brain for Change" Richard says he's going to give the reader a "manual for running the brain" and in so doing offers a slew of examples of personal change work that are possible using submodalities and the techniques offered. Specifically 'visual' submodalities. In NLP terms this book could be called the "Swish Manual" - a particularly effect NLP change technique. However as with all NLP techniques this too is just a technique, not NLP. That said this is an excellent primer to doing "new" NLP and what's possible when you do. Enjoy this next step into NLP as one more on an ongoing journey ...

12 of 14 found the following review helpful:


More solutions  Mar 24, 2003
I had read Frogs and Princes and I hated it. I only got this book because the reviews were good and I could not get a copy of trance formations. The book does have good graphics and some good points. I though it was interesting how he teaches you to think. He does have some interesting points on looking at things from different view points: yours, old people, young people, the ceiling, one hundred years in the future (I had a girl at school that always used this one). He tells you to make your happy times bright and your sad time duller. This is not a bad strategy.
He also has some good points on motivation. What motivates you to do something? Is it the good results of success or the advantages of avoiding the problems? I rated this book six stars.

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