New Code NLP

1. Introduction

Version followed: the New Code of NLP as John Grinder and Carmen Bostic St Clair set it out in Whispering in the Wind (2001) and as it is taught by their approved training route (NLP Academy, UK, led by Michael Carroll, certifying through the ITA). The earlier DeLozier and Grinder book Turtles All the Way Down (1987) is cited for history only. [source: NLP Academy, New Code NLP; WikiDoc, New Code of NLP]

What it is. New Code NLP is a re-coding of classic neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). John Grinder began it in the 1980s, "initially with Judith Delozier", and later developed it with Carmen Bostic St Clair. Grinder's stated aim was to correct what he called "serious coding flaws" in the classic patterns he had built with Richard Bandler. He had also noticed that many practitioners got results with clients but could not apply NLP to themselves ("personal incongruence"). [source: NLP Academy, New Code NLP; Carroll 2020; WikiDoc]

New Code is a set of patterns plus one generic change format, not a staged psychotherapy with a manual. It is taught mainly as a coaching and personal-change method. No source cited gives a clinical-psychotherapy version, so every clinical framing in this guide is marked [synthesis].

How change happens, according to its developers. The claims below are the developers' and trainers' theory. They are not established findings and should be read as attributed claims.

• Grinder and Bostic St Clair hold that change should work at the level of state, not behaviour. In their account, a state contains many behaviours, including some the client cannot reach by consciously thinking up new choices. [source: NLP Academy, New Code NLP]
• In their account, the unconscious selects the new state, resource or behaviour. In classic NLP the client chooses the resource consciously, for example in anchoring, the swish pattern and submodality mapping. [source: Carroll 2020]
• They hold that any new behaviour must satisfy the positive intention of the old one. They also hold that change must be checked with the unconscious through involuntary signals. [source: Carroll 2020; NLP Academy, New Code NLP; WikiDoc]
• The usual vehicle is a New Code game. Trainers describe the games as combining visual, auditory and kinaesthetic channels, cross-lateral movement and adjustable difficulty. They say the games produce a content-free "high performance state" or "know-nothing state" with "no historic attachment", which is then linked to the problem context. Trainers explain this in terms of the two brain hemispheres; that is the trainers' explanation, not an established mechanism. [source: NLP Academy, Alphabet Game article; NLP Academy, New Code NLP]
• Judith DeLozier calls New Coding an "alternative description". She traces its roots to her and Grinder's understanding of NLP, to Gregory Bateson, to Carlos Castaneda's books and to her own experience of drumming, dance and storytelling in the Congo. She lists its themes as states, the conscious–unconscious relationship, perceptual positions, attention and multiple description. [source: DeLozier, NLP and Mastery]

2. Framework

New Code has no phase model and no published session count. The only fixed structure is a single change format of four or five steps, whose third step can vary. Grinder calls the six-step reframe the "N-step reframe" because its number of steps varies. [source: WikiDoc; NLP Academy, New Code NLP; NLP Academy, Six Step Reframe video page]

The New Code change format (generic structure).

[source: NLP Academy, New Code NLP; NLP Academy, What is New Code NLP?; NLP Academy, Alphabet Game article. The articles count the steps differently (four or five) but describe the same sequence.]

Session format. Formats are done face to face and standing, with the coach calibrating throughout. Single formats take about 15 to 25 minutes; the Alphabet Game alone runs about 14 minutes across its conditions. Sanctuary is repeated three times in one sitting. [source: Alphabet Game article; Sanctuary article]

Sources give no course length, frequency or number of sessions [uncertain]. Practical suggestion [synthesis]: in therapy, treat one format as one segment of a 50-minute session, preceded by assessment and consent and followed by debrief. Review at the next session whether the client's response in the target context has changed, because New Code trainers rarely use future pacing to test (see 3). Repeat the format or add another (Sanctuary, reframe) if nothing has changed.

Overall clinical sequence [synthesis].

1. Assessment, formulation and screening (see 5).
2. Agree a specific context and outcome.
3. Set up and test the signal system if a signal-based pattern will be used.
4. Run the format.
5. Debrief briefly. The developers' preference is to say little to the conscious mind.
6. Review real-world change at follow-up.

New Code is best used as an adjunct inside a broader evidence-based treatment plan, not as a stand-alone treatment for a mental disorder.

3. Guiding principles

All of these are the developers' and trainers' principles [source: Carroll 2020; NLP Academy, New Code NLP; WikiDoc], except where marked.

• Work at the level of state, not behaviour. Change the state the client is in when meeting the context, rather than scripting a new response.
• The unconscious selects the resource. Do not ask the client to pick a resource or a memory; set up conditions and let the new response emerge.
• Involve the unconscious explicitly at every critical step. Use involuntary signals to check agreement before proceeding.
• Preserve positive intention. Any new choice must meet the purpose the old behaviour served. Ask about the purpose rather than attacking the behaviour.
• Content-free resources. Prefer a game-induced state with no attached history over anchoring a past memory, which may carry old associations.
• Congruence and a clear signal system. One source says "Without the congruency of a clear signal system the pattern is ineffective." Do not proceed on verbal agreement alone.
• Ecology lives at the unconscious level. Treat any involuntary objection as information. Stop and adjust.
• Minimal conscious involvement; little future pacing. Do not ask the client to imagine the future or analyse. Let the real context test the change.
• Use metaphor and tasking. Developers prefer indirect work (stories, assigned tasks) to explanation.
• Coach in a know-nothing state. Be fully present and externally attentive rather than running internal theories.
• Calibrate rather than ask. Judge state from posture, breathing, rhythm, effort and colour. Self-report is secondary.
• Self-application. Certification requires the practitioner to use the formats on themselves. Practise every format on yourself before using it with a client.
• Perceptual flexibility. Move cleanly between first, second and third positions, and "clean" each one so that no leftover state carries over. [source: Carroll 2008]
• Clinical overlay [synthesis]. Informed consent, screening, scope of competence and an evidence-based primary treatment come first. In therapy, the developers' theory is an explanatory story offered to the client, not a mechanism to promise.

4. Intervention inventory

The inventory has three parts:

• the change format and its state-building games (4.1–4.7);
• the signal-based and state-choice patterns (4.8–4.12);
• the perceptual and verbal patterns (4.13–4.22).

Several patterns are named in the sources cited but not described step by step. For those, this guide gives only what the sources state and marks the rest [uncertain]. It does not supply invented steps. All example language is my own illustrative wording.

Physical safety, for all games [synthesis]. The games involve arm raising, leg lifts and small jumps.

• Screen for balance problems, falls risk, joint or cardiac limits, pregnancy, vestibular conditions and dyspraxia.
• Adapt the game: seated version, arms only, no jump.
• Clear the floor space.
• Stand within reach of clients who are unsteady.
• Screen out or adapt for dyslexia and visual impairment, since the letter chart requires reading.

4.1 New Code change format (the core format)

• Purpose / when to use. Give the client more choice in one specific recurring context: performance anxiety, a difficult conversation, a stuck reaction. Trainers say it can also be used for contexts where the client already does well, to improve further. [source: NLP Academy, Alphabet Game article]
• Steps.
  1. Agree a single, specific context.
  2. Mark three floor spots: an observer spot, a context spot and a game spot about 1 m from the context spot.
  3. From the observer spot (third position), the client sees and hears themselves in that context. Ask for no analysis.
  4. The client steps into the context spot (first position) and sees, hears and feels the situation fully, without trying to change it. Calibrate the problem physiology.
  5. Move to the game spot. Run a separator state, then the chosen game (4.2–4.6) until the coach sees a stable high performance state, for about 10 to 15 minutes.
  6. While the state is at its peak, guide the client straight back into the context spot with no pause and no chat.
  7. Let the client stay briefly, then end without discussion or future pacing. [source: NLP Academy, New Code NLP; What is New Code NLP?; Alphabet Game article]
• Example language (illustrative).
  • "Stand over here and just watch yourself in that meeting… see who's there, hear what's said."
  • "Now step in, and be there. Don't change anything, just notice."
  • "Good, step out, over here. Shake it off."
  • (after the game, while moving) "And straight back into that spot, now."
• Watch for.
  • In step 4, a clear problem physiology. If the client stays detached, the context has not been accessed.
  • The game state degrading before the return.
  • Any hesitation or talk during the return. Trainers say the move must be direct and "never through a separator state".
  • Signs it is working: at the return, the client's posture, breathing and colour stay closer to the game state than to the step-4 state. At follow-up, the client reports a different response in the real context. [synthesis]
  • Trauma caution [synthesis]: step 4 associates the client into the context. Do not use a traumatic memory as the context unless the client is stabilised and you are competent in trauma treatment (see 5).

4.2 The Alphabet Game

• Purpose / when to use. The best-documented game for producing the high performance state in step 3 of the change format. The NLP Academy version is adapted from Bostic St Clair and Grinder (2001). [source: NLP Academy, Alphabet Game article]
• Steps.
  1. Prepare a chart of the letters A to Y, five letters per row, ending at Y "for symmetry". The chart can be in any language.
  2. Under each letter, write one instruction at random: L (raise left arm), R (raise right arm) or T (raise both arms together). Post the chart at eye level.
  3. Condition 1 (about 2 minutes). The client reads from A to Y, saying each letter aloud while raising the arm(s) shown. Repeat until coach and client agree the play is rhythmic and free of tension.
  4. Condition 2 (about 2 minutes). The same task backwards, Y to A. The coach monitors coordination, balance, rhythm and minimum effort.
  5. Condition 3 (about 10 minutes). Still backwards, the client also lifts the opposite leg with each arm (left arm with right leg, and so on). On T, the client makes a small jump.
  6. At the end, move the client directly into the context spot (4.1, step 6). [source: NLP Academy, Alphabet Game article]
• Example language (illustrative).
  • "Say the letter, move the arm underneath it, keep a steady rhythm."
  • "Mistakes don't matter, just keep going."
  • "Let your eyes go soft; take in the whole chart."
  • The "mistakes don't matter" stance and soft focus are my additions. The source cited does not describe a failure frame or speed levels [uncertain].
• Watch for.
  • Rising tension or self-criticism. Slow the pace, or go back to the previous condition. [synthesis]
  • Signs of the target state: even rhythm, relaxed shoulders, steady breathing, a fluid looking-and-moving pattern, the client "performing without thinking". [source: NLP Academy, New Code NLP]
  • The physical safety screen above. The jump and leg lifts are the main falls risk.

4.3 The NASA Game

• Purpose. Named by trainers as a New Code game for step 3 of the change format. [source: NLP Academy, New Code NLP; What is New Code NLP?; WikiDoc]
• Steps. Not described in any source cited [uncertain]. Do not run it from this guide. Learn it from an approved trainer or from Bostic St Clair and Grinder (2001).

4.4 Croydon Ball Game and other ball games

• Purpose. Ball games are listed as New Code games. The "Croydon Ball Game" is demonstrated by Michael Carroll in an NLP Academy video. [source: NLP Academy, Alphabet Game article; New Code NLP article; search listing of the video page]
• Steps. Not described in text in the sources cited [uncertain].

4.5 Alpha Touch

• Purpose. Listed as a New Code game played within the change format. [source: NLP Academy, Alphabet Game article]
• Steps. Not described in the sources cited [uncertain].

4.6 Trampoline formats (variants of Roger Tabb's exercises)

• Purpose. Listed as alternatives for step 3. [source: WikiDoc; NLP Academy, New Code NLP]
• Steps. Not described [uncertain].
• Risk. A trampoline adds an obvious injury risk. It is unsuitable for most clinical rooms [synthesis].

4.7 Separator state, calibration and digital/analogue state marking

• Purpose. Supporting skills used throughout. A separator (break) state clears one state before the next one is accessed. Calibration is reading state from physiology. States can be marked and used as discrete (digital) units, or worked with as overlapping (analogue) blends. [source: NLP Academy, New Code NLP]
• Steps.
  1. Note a baseline of breathing, posture, skin colour, muscle tone and voice.
  2. Note the problem-state shifts against that baseline.
  3. Break the state with movement to another spot, shaking off and a neutral question.
  4. Check that the client has returned to baseline before going on. [synthesis for the details]
• Example language (illustrative). "Step out of that… shake it off… what did you have for breakfast?"
• Watch for. A break state that does not clear: the client is still flushed, tight or tearful. Extend the break, or use grounding (see 5) before going on.

4.8 Setting up an involuntary signal system

• Purpose / when to use. Needed before any pattern that consults the unconscious (4.9, and ecology checks elsewhere). Trainers credit the six-step reframe as the first NLP pattern to use an involuntary signal that the client cannot consciously control. They treat eliciting and testing the signal as part of the intervention, not a preliminary. [source: NLP Academy, New Code NLP; What is New Code NLP?]
• Steps. The sources cited state the requirement but not a detailed procedure. These steps are therefore [synthesis], consistent with that requirement:
  1. Ask the client to turn attention inward and ask, inside, whether the part or system responsible for X is willing to communicate.
  2. Ask the client to notice any change at all (a sensation, warmth, a twitch, an image, a sound).
  3. A kinaesthetic signal is "probably preferable" [source: Hypnomanchester, Six-Step Reframing].
  4. Test the signal. Ask for it to intensify for "yes". Then ask the client to try to produce it deliberately. A usable signal is one the client cannot simply reproduce at will.
  5. Establish "no" as absence of the signal or as a different signal.
• Example language (illustrative).
  • "Just ask inside, silently: will the part of you that runs this habit communicate with me in consciousness? Then wait and notice whatever changes."
  • "Now try to make that feeling happen on purpose… is it the same?"
• Watch for.
  • Signals the client is clearly producing on purpose. Keep waiting, or re-ask.
  • Ambiguous signals. Ask for a stronger or clearer response.
  • Clients with high suggestibility or dissociative symptoms. Ideomotor-type work can intensify dissociation; screen first (see 5) [synthesis].

4.9 Six-step (N-step) reframe, New Code emphasis

• Purpose / when to use. A habitual or compulsive behaviour or response the client wants to change, where a part of them seems to keep producing it. Grinder calls it the "N-step reframe" because it can have more or fewer than six steps. NLP Academy calls it the "bridge pattern" between the classic code and the New Code. [source: NLP Academy, Six Step Reframe video page]
• Bostic St Clair and Grinder present it as one example of effective, ecological change, "not a ritual" to repeat mechanically. In their version, Erickson-inspired unconscious patterning is part of the process, and choices such as the desired state are given to the unconscious. [source: NLP Academy, Whispering in the Wind review page]
• Steps. Sequence from a secondary description (Hypnomanchester, Six-Step Reframing). The New Code emphasis comes from Carroll 2020 and NLP Academy, New Code NLP. All wording is mine.
  1. Identify the behaviour or response X. Check that it is compulsive rather than simply habitual.
  2. Establish communication. Contact the part responsible for X and set up a yes/no involuntary signal (4.8).
  3. Separate intention from behaviour. Ask the part what it is trying to achieve for the client through X. In the New Code emphasis, the intention need not become conscious; the part may simply signal that it has one. Ask whether it would try new ways that meet that intention at least as well as X does.
  4. Generate alternatives. Ask the client's creative resources ("the part that creates") to produce many new ways of meeting the intention: at least three, ideally closer to ten. The responsible part signals each time it receives one. In New Code, the alternatives may be generated and selected without the client knowing what they are.
  5. Selection and commitment. The part picks the three best options and agrees to use them in place of X for a trial period, in the contexts where X used to happen.
  6. Ecology check. Ask whether any other part objects. If a signal comes, return to step 2 with the objecting part, or to step 4 or 5, until there is no objection.
• Example language (illustrative).
  • "Thank that part for answering… Ask it: would it be willing to let you know, in consciousness, what it's trying to do for you by doing this? You don't need to understand the answer; a signal is enough."
  • "Ask the creative part of you to come up with other ways to get that same benefit, and to signal each one to the first part."
  • "Ask inside: is there any part of you that objects to these new choices?"
• Watch for.
  • Congruent signals at each step. If they are faint or absent, slow down.
  • Objections. Treat them as useful; trainers stress that ecology lives at the unconscious level.
  • Signs it is working: X reduces in the real context and the client reports "doing something different without trying".
  • Clinical caution [synthesis]. For addictive, self-harming or eating-related behaviour, use the reframe only as an adjunct inside a standard treatment and risk-management plan. Its "positive intention" framing should never be used to minimise risk.

4.10 Sanctuary

• Purpose / when to use. Created by Grinder and Bostic St Clair to give the client choice over an unwanted state of one of two kinds:
  • fast-onset states that engulf the client (the article's examples are rage and fear);
  • slow-onset states that build unnoticed (the article's example is depression).
• It links the earliest trigger of the unwanted state to a resourceful "sanctuary". The article contrasts this "state choice" with will-power control. [source: NLP Academy, Creating State Choice with Sanctuary]
• Steps.
  1. From third position, the client builds a visual and auditory representation of themselves in the unwanted state, independent of context, on a spot on the floor. With extreme states, extra work may be needed first to reach a clean third position.
  2. Still from third position, the client places a sanctuary about 2 m from that spot. It is an impenetrable space holding the missing resources. It may include metaphors such as characters, animals, colours or armour.
  3. The client steps into the sanctuary and builds it up by intensifying what they see, hear and feel there, adding any useful qualities.
  4. The client steps out and completely shakes off the sanctuary state. The client then tunes in to how the body feels in its usual state, before choice is lost.
  5. Starting from the side, the client walks slowly toward the unwanted-state spot. At the first sensation of the unwanted state, the client shakes it off and jumps to the sanctuary.
  6. Repeat the full approach three times. [source: Creating State Choice with Sanctuary]
• Example language (illustrative).
  • "From here, just watch that version of you in the anger, over there."
  • "Now find a place, a couple of metres away, that nothing can get into, and that has exactly what you'd need."
  • "Step in and make it richer… What do you see? What colour is it?"
  • "Step out and leave it all behind. Now walk slowly toward that spot… the very first flicker, jump!"
• Watch for.
  • The client approaching with sanctuary resources still active. The source says this blocks detection of the earliest cue and defeats the purpose.
  • Calibrate the first micro-signs of the state. A skilled coach may spot them before the client does and call the jump.
  • Signs it is working: in daily life the client finds themselves accessing the sanctuary state automatically when the cue occurs.
  • Clinical cautions [synthesis]:
    • The article uses depression as an example but gives no screening. In therapy, assess risk and treat depression with standard care; Sanctuary can be at most an adjunct.
    • For rage, combine with a safety plan.
    • If the unwanted state is trauma-linked fear, stabilise first (see 5).

4.11 Trigger-point work

• Purpose. Working with the kinaesthetic trigger point, meaning the moment before an unresourceful state takes over. NLP Academy says this is useful for addictions and allergies. [source: NLP Academy, New Code NLP]
• Steps. No separate procedure is given in the sources cited [uncertain]. Sanctuary (4.10) shows the trigger-point principle in practice.
• Caution [synthesis]. Allergies are medical conditions. Any use must be an adjunct to medical care after medical assessment, never a substitute. Do not reduce allergy treatment or avoidance on the basis of this work.

4.12 Overlap work

• Purpose. Using overlapping states, handled analogically rather than as discrete states. It is aimed at situations where a state either overwhelms the client quickly or builds slowly without awareness. [source: NLP Academy, New Code NLP]
• Steps. Not described in the sources cited [uncertain].

4.13 Perceptual positions and triple description

• Purpose / when to use. Grinder and Bostic St Clair list multiple perceptual positions, especially "triple description" (first, second and third position), as a core New Code pattern. DeLozier names perceptual positions and multiple description among the themes of New Coding. [source: WikiDoc; DeLozier, NLP and Mastery]
• The three positions, as NLP Academy defines them [source: Carroll 2008]:
  • First: your own fully associated view, through your own filters.
  • Second: associating into another person's perspective and map; used for empathy and modelling.
  • Third: the observer view, seeing yourself and others "as if on a cinema screen".
• Uses: conflict, planning, empathy, performance review, stepping back from charged events, learning. Carroll suggests that first position suits focus and performance, second suits empathy and learning, and third suits objectivity. He warns that overdoing second position is a problem and gives co-dependency as the example.
• Steps (triple description of an interaction; a generic sequence, mostly [synthesis] beyond the definitions).
  1. Set out three spots on the floor.
  2. First position: the client stands in their own spot and describes what they see, hear and feel.
  3. Break state.
  4. Second position: the client stands in the other person's spot and takes on their posture and breathing. The client describes the situation as that person, using "I".
  5. Break state.
  6. Third position: the client stands in an observer spot and describes both people in the third person, "he/she". Ask what the observer notices that neither participant did.
  7. Return to a "clean" first position and ask what the client now wants to do.
• Example language (illustrative).
  • "Stand where she stands… take on how she sits… 'I' am her now. What do you notice?"
  • "From over here, watching those two, what's happening between them?"
• Watch for.
  • Contaminated positions, such as the client's own anger leaking into second position, or "I" creeping into third. Re-break and re-enter.
  • Over-identification with an abuser in second position. Do not use second position with a perpetrator of abuse unless the client chooses it and is stable [synthesis].

4.14 Second-position modelling

• Purpose. To learn a skill or understand another person from the inside. [source: Carroll 2008]
• Steps. [source: Carroll 2008; paraphrased]
  1. Clear your mind.
  2. Breathe in rhythm with the person you are modelling.
  3. Make micro-movements that mirror their muscles, without actually lifting your limbs.
  4. Repeat with whole-body movements.
  5. Imagine floating into their body and experiencing the world as them.
  6. Do the activity the exemplar is doing.
  7. Return to a clean first position.
• Example language (illustrative). "Just match her breathing for a while… now let your muscles move the way hers move, only slightly."
• Watch for. Clients losing their own perspective. Always end in a clean first position.

4.15 Be your own coach (third-position review)

• Purpose. Self-feedback straight after a performance. [source: Carroll 2008]
• Steps.
  1. Immediately after the activity, stand upright at a spot with a clear view of where you performed.
  2. From memory, see and hear yourself performing, like watching a film.
  3. Pause at key moments and give yourself verbal feedback.
• Example language (illustrative). "Run it again from the doorway… pause there. What would you tell that person?"
• Watch for. Harsh self-criticism in the client's voice. Ask for coaching feedback rather than judgement [synthesis].

4.16 Explicit framing (outcome, intention, consequences, relevancy challenges)

• Purpose. To make the frame of an interaction explicit at the start: the outcome sought, the intention behind it and its consequences. Later contributions can then be tested for relevance. Grinder and Bostic St Clair list it as a core New Code pattern. [source: WikiDoc]
• Steps. Not described in detail in the sources cited [uncertain]. Practical use [synthesis]:
  • State and agree the session outcome and its purpose at the start.
  • When talk drifts, ask how the current topic relates to the agreed outcome.
• Example language (illustrative). "We agreed today is about the presentation on Friday. How does this connect to that?"

4.17 The Verbal Package

• Purpose. A slimmed-down Meta Model. It mainly challenges unspecified nouns and verbs ("noun and verb deletions"), adds the framing of intention and the use of paraphrase, and distinguishes description from interpretation and evaluation. [source: Carroll 2020; WikiDoc]
• Steps (applied form; [synthesis] beyond the components named).
  1. Listen for nouns and verbs that are unspecified.
  2. Ask for specification: who or what specifically, how specifically.
  3. Paraphrase back to check understanding.
  4. Separate what was observed (description) from what it was taken to mean (interpretation) and how it was judged (evaluation).
• Example language (illustrative).
  • "'They' meaning who, specifically?"
  • "Ignored you how, specifically?"
  • "So what you saw was that he didn't reply to the email; what you concluded was that he doesn't respect you. Is that right?"
• Watch for. Rapid-fire questioning that feels like interrogation. Pace the questions and use paraphrase between them [synthesis].

4.18 Ordering relationships and logical levels

• Purpose. Grinder and Bostic St Clair work with hierarchies and logical levels. They distinguish their version from Robert Dilts' "neurological levels", and they distinguish logical levels from logical types. [source: WikiDoc; NLP Academy, Whispering in the Wind review page]
• The clinical implication the trainers draw: change at the level of state, which they place above behaviour. Do not try to solve a problem at the same level as the problem. [source: NLP Academy, New Code NLP; Carroll 2020]
• Steps. No stand-alone exercise found [uncertain].

4.19 Timelines

• Purpose. Listed among New Code patterns. Grinder says timelines began as an exercise in a joint seminar with Dilts in the early 1980s. [source: WikiDoc]
• Steps. Not described in the sources cited [uncertain].
• Trauma caution [synthesis]: do not use timeline work to search for or "recover" past events.

4.20 Characterological adjectives

• Purpose. Listed by Grinder and Bostic St Clair as a New Code pattern. [source: WikiDoc]
• Steps. Not described in the sources cited [uncertain]. Do not use without the primary text.

4.21 Metaphor and tasking

• Purpose.
  • Metaphor is described as a key feature of New Code coaching, more so than in the classic code.
  • Tasking (assigning between-session tasks) is used for future orientation, in place of future pacing, which trainers say limits outcomes to "conscious constructs". [source: Carroll 2020]
• Steps [synthesis].
  • Tell a short story whose structure mirrors the client's situation and contains a resource. Do not explain it.
  • Assign a small, specific real-world task linked to the target context.
  • At the next session, ask what happened. Do not interpret.
• Example language (illustrative).
  • "Before next week, find one occasion to speak first in the team meeting — and just notice what happens."
• Watch for. Clients who experience indirectness as evasive. Be transparent about why you use stories [synthesis].

4.22 The coach's know-nothing state and self-application

• Purpose.
  • Trainers describe the know-nothing state as performing at a very high level "without any conscious awareness" or conscious interference. They say Grinder and Bandler first identified it in their original modelling, and New Code sets it for learning and coaching. The coach is to be fully present, with all resources available. [source: NLP Academy, New Code NLP; Carroll 2020]
  • Self-application is a certification requirement: the practitioner must access the New Code states and carry them into everyday life. [source: Carroll 2020]
• Steps [synthesis].
  • Before sessions, play a game (4.2) yourself.
  • Use the change format on your own difficult clinical contexts, such as a challenging client.
  • In session, keep attention outward on the client's physiology rather than on internal hypotheses.
• Watch for. Mistaking "not knowing" for not formulating. Keep your clinical formulation and risk assessment explicit [synthesis].

5. Handling problems

The New Code sources cited say little about problems beyond the cautions noted in 4.1 and 4.10. Most of what follows is my own clinical synthesis and is marked accordingly.

Screening and contraindications [synthesis unless cited].

• Psychosis, mania or severe dissociative disorders. Avoid the involuntary-signal work and the strongly associated first-position steps. Signal and "part" work can blur boundaries and increase dissociation.
• PTSD and complex trauma. Do not use the change format or Sanctuary on traumatic memories until the client is stabilised. Do not use any New Code pattern to "find" or "recover" memories. Treat whatever emerges as the client's experience, not historical fact.
• Suicide risk, depression, substance use, eating disorders and anger with violence risk. Use New Code only as an adjunct inside a standard treatment and risk plan. The Sanctuary article's use of depression as an example does not mean it treats depression.
• Physical limits. See the game safety screen at the start of 4.
• Medical conditions. Trainers describe trigger-point work as useful for allergies [source: NLP Academy, New Code NLP]. Any such use is an adjunct after medical assessment and never replaces medical treatment.
• Consent. Explain plainly what the client will be asked to do (standing, moving, a game, "asking inside"). Make clear that the theory is the developers' model. Get explicit agreement, and confirm the client can stop at any time.

Stuck: the high performance state does not appear.

• Make the game easier: go back a condition, or slow the pace.
• Check for performance pressure ("I'm getting it wrong"). Normalise errors and redirect attention to rhythm.
• Try a different game or a seated version.
• If self-consciousness persists, model the game yourself first, then play it alongside the client. [synthesis]

Stuck: no change in the real context after the format.

• Check that step 4.1(4) truly accessed the problem state. A detached client gives the format nothing to work on.
• Check that the return was immediate.
• Narrow the context to one concrete moment.
• Repeat the format, or add Sanctuary for the early trigger.
• Consider whether the problem is in fact maintained by skills deficits, relationships or circumstances that need other interventions. [synthesis]

No or ambiguous signal in signal work.

• Wait longer, and reassure the client that any response is acceptable.
• Ask for a different channel (image, sound, sensation).
• If the client is consciously producing the signal, say so neutrally and re-ask.
• If no signal after reasonable attempts, switch to a format that does not depend on signals (4.1, 4.10). [synthesis]

An objecting part or a failed ecology check. Treat the objection as information about an unmet need. Return to the intention step (4.9, steps 2–4) with the objecting part. Developers locate ecology at the unconscious level, so do not override it. [source: NLP Academy, New Code NLP; synthesis for the procedure]

Resistance and scepticism.

• Many clients find games, floor spots and "talking to parts" odd.
• Frame the work as an experiment and offer the developers' rationale as their model, not as fact.
• Respect a refusal; this is a technique-level preference, not "resistance" to therapy.
• Clients who want to understand can be given a brief explanation after the format, which preserves the developers' wish for minimal conscious interference during it. [synthesis]

Overwhelm or dissociation during first-position or Sanctuary steps.

1. Stop the format.
2. Move the client physically to a neutral spot.
3. Orient them to the room: name five things you see, feel your feet on the floor, describe the chair.
4. Slow and lengthen the breathing. Use the client's name and ask simple present-tense questions.
5. Do not return to the context in that session.
6. Close with a stabilising activity and check the client's state before they leave.
7. Next session, re-assess readiness and move to stabilisation work before any further associated work. [synthesis]

The Sanctuary article notes that extreme states may need extra work to reach a clean third position. Do that dissociation-reducing work before stepping into the state spot. [source: Creating State Choice with Sanctuary]

Non-adherence to tasks.

• Make tasks smaller and more specific.
• Explore what got in the way, without blame.
• Remember that New Code tasks are meant as experiments; "didn't do it" is also information. [synthesis]

Ruptures.

• These can be triggered by indirect methods (stories, signals, the not-knowing stance) if the client feels manipulated or unheard.
• Name the rupture, take responsibility for your part, explain your intention, and invite the client's preference about method.
• Be fully transparent about any technique that uses suggestion or unconscious work. [synthesis]

Modality-specific difficulties [synthesis].

• Over-reliance on calibration. Trainers prefer physiology to verbal report. In therapy, combine both, and use standard outcome measures to track change.
• Claims to clients. Do not repeat hemispheric or "rewiring" explanations as established fact; present them as the developers' model.
• Fidelity. Several core patterns (NASA game, Alpha Touch, characterological adjectives, timelines, overlap work) are not described in the sources cited. Learn them from the primary text or an approved trainer rather than improvising.
• Scope. NLP certificates are not clinical licences. Use New Code within your own professional regulation and competence.

Training and certification

• New Code NLP practitioner, coaching and trainer certificates are issued by NLP Academy (UK). They are signed by John Grinder, Carmen Bostic St Clair and Michael Carroll and issued "through the ITA". [source: NLP Academy, New Code NLP Practitioner course page; New Code Trainers Training page]
• WikiDoc spells out ITA as the International Trainers Academy (of NLP). It says approved New Code Trainers trained by Grinder, Bostic St Clair and Carroll certify practitioners through it, and claims they are the only ones who can certify New Code practitioners. That exclusivity claim comes from the developers' side and has not been independently verified [uncertain].
• WikiDoc also lists "NLP Zaa Corp (Institute for NLP New Code Training)" as an external link [uncertain].
• Judith DeLozier teaches her own New Coding-based approach. Her current training body is not given in the sources cited [uncertain].
• No statutory body regulates NLP or New Code NLP; this is [synthesis] and is not checked against a source. [synthesis]

Sources

Sources:

• New Code NLP Games, High performance States and The Alphabet Game (NLP Academy, 2016)
• New Code NLP (NLP Academy)
• The Distinctive Features of New Code NLP (Michael Carroll, 2020)
• What is New Code NLP? (NLP Academy)
• Creating State Choice with Sanctuary (NLP Academy, 2017)
• Using Perceptual Positions (Michael Carroll, 2008)
• Whispering in the Wind (NLP Academy review page)
• Six Step Reframe – Practice Session July 2020 with Michael Carroll (NLP Academy; page text only)
• New Code NLP Practitioner (NLP Academy course page)
• New Code Trainers Training (NLP Academy course page)
• NLP and Mastery (Judith DeLozier; excerpt only)
• New Code of NLP (WikiDoc; secondary)
• Six-Step Reframing (Hypnomanchester; secondary, used for the reframe step sequence)

Further reading (not drawn on):

• DeLozier, J. & Grinder, J. (1987). Turtles All the Way Down: Prerequisites to Personal Genius. Scotts Valley, CA: Grinder & Associates.
• Bostic St Clair, C. & Grinder, J. (2001). Whispering in the Wind. Scotts Valley, CA: J & C Enterprises.
• Bandler, R. & Grinder, J. (1982). Reframing: Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the Transformation of Meaning. Moab, UT: Real People Press. This is the classic source of six-step reframing [uncertain].