The name Neuro-Linguistic Programming is believed to have been the result of an attempt to describe in a succinct manner the scope of this extensive body of insights and skills:

• Neuro refers to how the mind and body interact.
• Linguistic refers to the insights into a person’s thinking that can be obtained by careful attention to their use of language.
• Programming refers, not to the activity of programming, but to the study of the thinking and behavioural patterns or ‘programmes’ which people use in their daily lives. 

You could think of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) as an owner's manual for the human brain. It's the study of how we think, feel and act, marked by an intense curiosity about how (rather than why) human beings get the results they do.

NLP is a fairly recent development, originating at the University of Santa Cruz in the mid-seventies when a group of talented people led by Richard Bandler and John Grinder came together to share information and insights across disciplinary boundaries.

It incorporates insights from behavioural and Gestalt psychology, family therapy, hypnotherapy, linguistics, information theory and anthropology,  among many other disciplines.