Lightning Process® FAQs
Hopefully this covers most of your questions but please get in touch if you need more information.
What is the Lightning Process®?
The Lightning Process is training course designed to teach you how to influence your health by powerfully changing the way the brain and body interact. It is designed around the understanding of neuroplasticity which is the brain’s ability to change when used differently, which is something we can all do at any age. The training empowers you to decide which brain pathways you choose to use based on your new found understanding of which ones will improve your health and well-being
You can hear from Dr Phil Parker in the videos below
How does it work?
Neuroplasticity
If you do the same thing or think a certain way frequently, the brain will recognise this task and start to build shortcuts in your brain in order to do this on autopilot. The power of neuroplasticity is like the brain constantly being ‘under construction’. It is building simple foot pathways at first, then as it notices more usage of that pathway it creates paved roads, super highways and finally bullet trains in your neural network based on whatever you are doing often. This means that the brain can effectively start to do this activity without thinking about it to save on processing power. Driving or riding a bike is a really good example of this. Initially it’s a lot of effort and brain-power; there’s a lot of focus and conscious effort to coordinate the brain and body. After a while, because the brain strengthens this pathway, you can do these tasks on autopilot and you may have had the experience of driving home without remembering the journey or operating the car.
Awareness
The brain behaves like a group of muscles. When you exercise a particular muscle consistently it becomes stronger. The same is true for our neural pathways created in our brain. The more you use a particular route or network it becomes stronger and prioritised. The Lightning Process helps you to recognise any unconscious destructive patterns that are keeping you stuck and are influencing your body in a negative way, leading to chronic illness and stress. Once you have awareness of these less helpful pathways you will learn how to change the patterns and behaviours and overwrite them with new neural pathways that are a super-highway to health and vibrant well-being
PER or the Fight or Flight Response
Much of the LP looks at the fight or flight response or stress response. This is a useful response of the body when reacting to a physical threat to try to save our life. It produces a flood of chemicals and hormones in the body to get us out of that situation. However it’s only designed to be used rarely, for emergency situations that likely last just a few seconds. When it is switched on for long periods, by modern stressors like illness, work, or life events it causes biological damage that builds up in the body over time which is called ‘Allostatic Load’. When we are in fight or flight, our body also switches off our natural healing system. With these interferences to our bodily systems we often experience issues with digestion, sleep, healing, brain function, immunity as well as our general mood and outlook on life.
Coming Into Balance
Our modern lives have changed the way we respond to threats and just our fast-paced world today is enough to upset the balance of these systems and can lead to chronic issues. The tools of the Lightning Process training put you in the driver’s seat and allow you to identify when this stress response is activated and use your body and mind to interrupt and build new, helpful brain pathways to restore your body to equilibrium. The exercises are simple and robust using a blend of NLP, visualisation, self-coaching and physical movement. Once the body is calm, the healing systems will come back into balance and the body realigns.
What conditions can the Lightning Process be used for?
One of the best parts of the Lightning Process is that it can be applied to so many different things. The conditions listed below are not an exhaustive list.
People have used the LP to support recovery from a variety of chronic conditions including:
Long Covid
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/ME)
Fibromyalgia
Chronic pain
Multiple Sclerosis
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)
Anxiety and other emotional health challenges
Thousands of people have reported rapid improvements and often full recovery from many conditions such as: migraines, IBS, skin and chemical sensitivities, sleeping patterns returning to normal.
Another really common application of the Lightning Process is for shifting old beliefs and patterns of thought and language. Changing these behaviours at the root is one of the fastest ways to create a more fulfilled life of joy and calm
For some people, they just want to learn the Lightning Process because it is so useful and versatile. They see it as a wonderful tool to have practiced and have ready for whatever life may hold. The training really does maximise potential in every area of life. It also helps to uncover hidden blocks and because you ultimately become your own coach, you may not need much outside help after the training. It can be a great time and cost saving tool to have on your side. Those who complete the training say that it vastly improves their sense of possibility, excitement for life, confidence, focus and emotional well-being. That was overwhelmingly my experience of the training as well. A huge part of the Lightning Process is about operating always from a place of kindness and compassion for yourself.
Is the Lightning Process about thinking positively?
This is a common misconception and is a bit too blunt of an instrument as the process is much more than that. There are elements of encouraging positive neurology but it is a blend of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), life coaching and use of neuroplasticity related to physiology and osteopathy. These elements combined create a highly nuanced and powerful healing modality that allows people to create real agency over their life and maybe for the first time ever create new behaviours and patterns that influence how the body and mind interact. Within the training, we talk extensively about the application of the process and ensure that there is a clear understanding of how to use these tools and that it is never used for ‘toxic positivity’ or refusing to feel certain emotions (toxic positivity = insistence on a positive mindset, ignoring reality or difficult situations).
Does this mean that conditions such as CFS are psychosomatic or “all in the mind”?
Definitely not. The Lightning Process does not suggest that CFS or similar conditions are psychosomatic. These types of conditions are very much physical and typically affect multiple body systems. What the Lightning Process offers is a way to target how the mind and body interact with each other. By learning how to interrupt the automatic responses of the mind it is possible to create new brain pathways that influence the nervous system and as a result can help the body to come back to equilibrium.
What are the most common outcomes post-training? How effective is the process? Can it cure me?
A snapshot survey of 1,297 people showed that 81.3% of clients reported having completely resolved their issues and symptoms. Only two people of the overall group did not experience improvement. We see that most people are successful in reaching their desired goals when they fully embrace and engage with the training, fully participating in the seminar and the homework which is designed to retrain your brain and body out of learned behaviours that are not helpful and equip you with enjoyable and powerful tools to live the life that you love.
I can’t cure anything - I wish that I could! This training relies on you personally showing up and doing the work on yourself. I am here to guide you, teach you all the skills you need but as this isn’t a medical intervention the outcome is dependent on each person. I promise I will continue to show up for you with 100% of my efforts all the time that you are doing that as well.
Will the results last?
The Lightning Process is a training and there is an expectation that you will apply the tools consistently in order to create lasting change. I can reassure you that once these tools are embedded you will likely not need to do quite as much work compared to the very early stages.
We have follow up sessions after the training seminar to ensure that you have understood all the material and techniques and to ensure you have support in order to get the results that you want and maintain them. The timeline is different for everyone but many people say they notice significant change within just days. Then, usually within a period of 5-6 weeks of really working on the processes they will become engrained. Beyond that, people use the tools to enhance their lives and make them even better.
Like with any skill or practice such as going to the gym or learning a language you will need to put more effort in at the start and then the maintenance after that is a lot easier.
Can anyone do this? Will it work for everyone?
One of the reasons for a pre-call together to discuss readiness is because this is a true training and not a therapy or medical intervention and we need people to understand that this isn’t like taking a pill that will “fix you”. We know from the survey data that the training is most effective for people who were ready and understood the need for their own input and commitment.
We have also found that those with a medical diagnosis of active psychosis are not suitable candidates for the LP, as the lack of shared reality makes teaching the skills difficult. As it involves teaching and understanding concepts, it is not suitable for anyone with a level of comprehension less than that of a six year old. Those with cognitive impairment would need to be assessed on a case by case basis.
What is the difference between the Lightning Process and CBT?
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and the LP both work to help you to recognise and become aware of how certain thought and behavioural patterns can have an impact on health. The goal of CBT relies upon successfully identifying unhelpful thoughts and replacing them with more rational thinking. The LP is different as it focuses on how you change your neurology which in turn changes your physiology. Changing the neurology also results in different creations of thought patterns so there is less of a need to ‘replace' and over-power unhelpful thoughts and patterns as they are less likely to come up at all.
What is the difference between your coaching sessions and the Lightning Process?
There is a lot of cross-over as both are NLP based and designed to help you do the same things in terms of rewiring your brain and behaviours. Coaching is always 1:1 and typically will look at one issue or condition at a time - although sometimes there is overlap or you can resolve multiple issues by getting to the root of one behaviour or pattern. The processes used are different to the LP and are part of the wider world of generic NLP techniques taught globally. The Lightning Process is a unique training program created by Dr Phil so differs from processes available elsewhere. It can be done as part of a group or individually. It is a greater time commitment and could be seen as the ‘big guns’ as it’s often the thing that helps people who have been really stuck and tried everything else. I appreciate that it’s not a commitment or route that everyone can take. It can be applied to support a vast range of conditions and issues so is incredibly beneficial and useful to have as a tool that you can continue to use for the rest of your life. It can be applied to many issues covered on the coaching list so many people that do the LP may not need any further assistance. For some people they complete the LP which consists of the seminar and 3 hours of additional sessions and may require some additional coaching sessions if there is something complex or very established.