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Mind Games: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Kaleidoscope
What if you could hypnotize yourself into a better you? Or…. secretly hypnotize others into giving you anything you want? That’s the promise of NLP, which emerged in 1970s California and then took over self-help… in spite of its connection to a gruesome unsolved murder in the late 1980s . NLP is the secret sauce connecting life coach Tony Robbins, Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belfort, pick-up artist Ross Jeffries, as well as NXIVM, the most infamous sex cult of the 21st century. Journalists and best friends Zoë Lescaze and Alice Hines investigate the controversies behind NLP, put the techniques to the test on themselves, and ask the ultimate question: is mind control real? Mind Games tells the story of NLP and its crazy cast of disciples, including the fake doctor who invented it at a New Age commune, took it to Fortune 500 boardrooms, and whose gruesome murder trial did little to stop its rise. The biggest mind game of all? NLP may actually work.
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- Mar 17, 202647 min
Meeting Bandler
After following Neuro-Linguistic Programming from a groovy West Coast commune to the inner circles of NXIVM, we track down its elusive creator, Richard Bandler. Our search leads us to a London seminar, where Alice experiences his techniques firsthand. Finally, we hear from the man himself and decide once and for all if NLP is a tool worth using, or a pseudoscientific hustle best left alone. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Mar 10, 202639 min
NXIVM
How did Neuro-Linguistic Programming become an indoctrination tool for one of the most notorious sex cults of the 21st century? Co-founder Nancy Salzman reveals how she brought NLP to NXIVM, and how leader Keith Raniere—now serving a 120-year sentence for sex trafficking and other crimes—turned the methods against her. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Mar 3, 202636 min
The Pickup Artist Playbook
A new group of fans flocked to NLP in the 90s: pickup artists. At the center of the movement was Ross Jeffries, a hypnotist and purported expert in getting women into bed. Jeffries lets Zoë in on the secret to his success, as she and Alice grapple with the realization that maybe they, as journalists, have more in common with pickup artists than they’d like to admit. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Feb 24, 202638 min
Murder in Santa Cruz
Three people walked into a room…only two came out alive. In 1986, Richard Bandler was charged with murdering a woman in his inner circle. We dig into the trial that nearly sank Neuro-Linguistic Programming, the unsolved mystery of what really happened that night, and how Bandler walked away acquitted while the technique he fathered only grew more infamous. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Feb 17, 202626 min
A Human Technology
In the 1980s, the U.S. Army was in a weird place. So weird, it was willing to hire Richard Bandler and Tony Robbins to try to turn ordinary soldiers into expert marksmen in just a few days with NLP. Zoë hits the shooting range with an NLP expert to see if she can become a sharpshooter. Plus, the little-known NLP backstory behind another psychological technique the military still actively uses: EMDR. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Feb 10, 202638 min
The Self-Help Empire
How do you turn mind games into hundreds of millions of dollars? We ask Tony Robbins, who discovered Neuro-Linguistic Programming, adapted its techniques, and built an empire of infomercials and firewalking, all while spawning a self-optimization craze he’s ambivalent about today. Meanwhile, Alice tests NLP on Zoë’s mom to see if they can use Bandler’s techniques to conquer an unusual fear. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Feb 3, 202641 min
All In Your Head
Could a few words really change your mind–or your memories? Zoë tests hypnosis on herself, trying to unlock memories of her late father. Alice experiments with NLP to calm her anxiety around giving birth. Meanwhile, they chart the spread of NLP from therapy groups into corporate America, where it made its founders rich. But does NLP really work, or is this just the placebo effect? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Jan 27, 202639 min
The Drummer with the Knives
1970s Santa Cruz, California–a world of barefoot psychology students, mountain communes, and underground therapy sessions led by a charismatic but troubled young man: Richard Bandler. We go back to the moment Neuro-Linguistic Programming was born, and meet a teenage misfit rocker whose talent for persuasion came with a dangerous edge. We hear from the Bandler’s early followers, including one woman who ended up tied to a burning cross in a therapy game gone wrong. As the origins of NLP come into focus, another question emerges: how did a fringe experiment in an alternative college town grow into a global force for both transformation and manipulation? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
About Mind Games
What if you could hypnotize yourself into a better you? Or…. secretly hypnotize others into giving you anything you want? That’s the promise of NLP, which emerged in 1970s California and then took over self-help… in spite of its connection to a gruesome unsolved murder in the late 1980s . NLP is the secret sauce connecting life coach Tony Robbins, Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belfort, pick-up artist Ross Jeffries, as well as NXIVM, the most infamous sex cult of the 21st century. Journalists and best friends Zoë Lescaze and Alice Hines investigate the controversies behind NLP, put the techniques to the test on themselves, and ask the ultimate question: is mind control real? Mind Games tells the story of NLP and its crazy cast of disciples, including the fake doctor who invented it at a New Age commune, took it to Fortune 500 boardrooms, and whose gruesome murder trial did little to stop its rise. The biggest mind game of all? NLP may actually work.
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