Facts & Questions

What conditions is the Lightning Process used for?

The Lightning Process (LP) was originally designed to resolve a very specific condition, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/ME), but as the skill to be able to retrain the brain-body response is so fundamental, it was quickly found to be effective with a wide range of issues. Thousands of people have reported rapid improvements and recovery from the following conditions:

This list is not comprehensive. Should you wish to discuss your particular situation and suitability for the course, please get in contact. We cannot advise on diagnosis, but we can talk to you about our experience working with people to make similar changes.

Many people have also used the Lightning Process to change old patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviours to create more calm, ease and joy in their life. The skill to create self-direct neuroplastic change is a skill for life. This powerful training technique empowers people to create a future of wholeness and possibility, boosting confidence, vitality and allows people to maximise their potential in their work, their relationships and their life. 

What is the Lightning Process?

The Lightning Process® is an interactive training course run over three consecutive half-days in a small group workshop setting, or as a 1:1.

Designed by Dr Phil Parker, it is a unique approach that combines concepts from Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), Life Coaching, Hypnotherapy and principals of Osteopathy in a unique way that empowers individuals with a skill set to change their physical and emotional wellbeing.

The training is designed to teach you how to use your mind to influence your body in powerful ways to transform your health and life. It focuses on the science behind how the brain and body interact and teaches the practical skills to influence this powerful brain-body connection. By putting these tools into practice, you are able to change the way your nervous system works, rewiring your brain and body to promote renewed health and vitality for life.

How does it work?

The Lightning Process is designed to teach you how influence your own brain-body connection to reset your body’s innate ability to heal itself. The practical technique involves learning how to identify and break out of physical and emotional patterns keeping us stuck, and how to replace these with more useful patterns that allow the body to re-balance and restore it natural systems.

By learning how to directly influence and change how your nervous system responds, you can get back in charge of two very important processes in your body - The Physical Emergency Response (PER) and Neuroplasticity. Follow the link to learn more about the core concepts behind the Lightning Process.

Is the Lightning Process just positive thinking?

No. Although a positive approach is important, the Lighting Process is a training that empowers individuals with the knowledge and tools to make self-directed change. Given the choice, most people will choose to influence their lives in a positive way, but the fundamental understanding behind the Lightning Process is learning how we can influence our health based on the way the brain and body interact.

Does this mean that illnesses such as CFS are psychosomatic or ‘all in the mind?’

No. CFS, chronic pain and other physical illness affect multiple systems in the body. What we are looking at is the important interaction between the brain and the body and how we can influence what is happening. By utilising this understanding and learning how we can change our neurology we can make changes to our physiology and to our overall health and wellbeing.

How is the LP different to CBT?

Both the LP (Lightning Process) and CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) include developing an awareness of patterns that have an impact on health. The CBT primary focus is to make cognitive shifts to manage and cope with illness better. The LP differs in that it considers how a client can influence their neurology to achieve a change in their physiology. For more read the recent research paper comparing CBT and the LP.

How effective is the LP?

A snapshot survey was completed by 1297 people who attended Lightning Process seminar in the UK and Norway between January 2007 and May 2010. The results showed that 81.3% of clients reported improvements after the LP course.  Read the full survey here and the survey focused on CFS/ME here. 

From our experience, when you fully engage in the training and commit to practicing the skills you are taught in order to retrain your brain, it is possible to achieve your health and wellbeing goals.

It has worked for others, but will it work for me?

The LP is very effective for people who decide it is the right approach for them and undertake the training. We find that the following factors are a major contributor to people achieving the changes they want:

• A strong desire for change

• A firm believe that the changes they want to make are possible with the right tools

• A determination to do the work necessary to retrain their brain until the changes are established.

I get how it works, but will the results last?

The Lightning Process is a training, you are learning a new skill. It’s like learning to play a new instrument or going to the gym, at the beginning you do need to practice and put in the work to get the results you want. It’s unfamiliar to begin with, but with practice it becomes much easier and almost second nature.

It’s the same with the Lightning Process, you need to put the work in to get the results you desire, and maintaining these changes are much easier once established. You also leave with a skill for life; so that you may continue to use the tools you have been taught when required to not only maintain the changes you have made, but to use when you face any new challenge.

Is it backed by medical research?

There is a growing amount of published research on the effectiveness of the Lightning Process with 12 clinical studies as of 2018. If you would like to read more about the research studies which have involved the Lightning Process, and what medical professionals have said about it, please follow the link to the Lighting Process website.

Who is Phil Parker and when was the Lightning Process developed?

Designed in the late 1990s in the UK by Dr. Phil Parker, this unique programme has seen thousands of people worldwide, aged 7 to 87, recover from many different conditions. His background as an Osteopath and extensive research into the psychology of health lead him to develop the Lightning Process to help extremely stuck clients recover where other approaches had failed. Inspired by its effectiveness and motivated to help more people, Phil developed the Register of professionally trained Lightning Process Practitioners. From London he continues to personally train each practitioner to be able to deliver the LP seminars and help people all around the world.

How do I apply to take the training?

There are a few steps involved to prepare to take the training. You can start today by listening to the Part 1 of the Lightning Process, an interactive audio download. When you are ready to apply, simply submit an application from and we will contact you to discuss this. For more information follow the link How to apply.

How do I know if it will be right for me?

Contact me or use my free 5-step checklist to help you. I am happy to have a chat and help answer any questions you may have. You are not alone. Many people have been in the same position as you. Their first step back to health was a conversation, and if they can do it, so can you.