e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1 11b53882-b2ae-488e-81dc-b1bd013835e3 898005b3-4ab4-4dd9-b4ee-b3cb0117508e faac7073-e699-453c-abcc-b3cb01175507 en-US Mind Games https://www.k-scope.com/mindgames 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.

]]> serial 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. iHeartPodcasts applepodcast@howstuffworks.com Kaleidoscope 2026 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia no https://www.omnycontent.com/d/programs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/898005b3-4ab4-4dd9-b4ee-b3cb0117508e/image.jpg?t=1768403847&size=Large Mind Games https://www.k-scope.com/mindgames The Pickup Artist Playbook 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.

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]]> 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.

]]> full 1 7 Kaleidoscope a112045d-50b9-4be9-ab6c-b3f500003897 a112045d-50b9-4be9-ab6c-b3f500003897 Tue, 03 Mar 2026 08:10:00 +0000 2169 https://omny.fm/shows/mind-games-nlp/the-pickup-artist-playbook Murder in Santa Cruz 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. 

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]]> 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.

]]> full 1 6 Kaleidoscope bdd77a08-f68f-4d4b-9ddf-b3f4018a704a bdd77a08-f68f-4d4b-9ddf-b3f4018a704a Tue, 24 Feb 2026 08:10:00 +0000 2281 https://omny.fm/shows/mind-games-nlp/murder-in-santa-cruz A Human Technology 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.

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]]> 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.

]]> full 1 5 Kaleidoscope a64df447-9214-4330-8c84-b3ee012f1f1c a64df447-9214-4330-8c84-b3ee012f1f1c Tue, 17 Feb 2026 08:10:00 +0000 1591 https://omny.fm/shows/mind-games-nlp/a-human-technology The Self-Help Empire 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.

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]]> 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.

]]> full 1 4 Kaleidoscope 114a92a9-cc1e-4f54-9f73-b3e7014f71a2 114a92a9-cc1e-4f54-9f73-b3e7014f71a2 Tue, 10 Feb 2026 08:10:00 +0000 2308 https://omny.fm/shows/mind-games-nlp/the-self-help-empire All In Your Head 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?

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]]> 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.

]]> full 1 3 Kaleidoscope 5ceec379-4aea-4969-8a04-b3e20162298a 5ceec379-4aea-4969-8a04-b3e20162298a Tue, 03 Feb 2026 08:10:00 +0000 2505 https://omny.fm/shows/mind-games-nlp/all-in-your-head The Drummer with the Knives 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.

]]> 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.

]]> full 1 2 Kaleidoscope 78105f23-1807-4074-9ce5-b3da01599f55 78105f23-1807-4074-9ce5-b3da01599f55 Tue, 27 Jan 2026 08:15:00 +0000 2382 https://omny.fm/shows/mind-games-nlp/the-drummer-with-the-knives The Guru’s Guru The Guru’s Guru What if someone told you that you could skip years of therapy with a few mental tricks? It sounded impossible… until we found Neuro-Linguistic Programming. NLP is a form of hypnosis beloved by everyone from sex cults to the U.S. military to fortune 500 companies–yet almost no one knows it exists. 

Long before she co-founded NXIVM, hypnotist Nancy Salzman encountered NLP as a radical method for reprogramming the mind. Her story leads us to its inventor, Richard Bandler, a volatile, self-made guru. As we dig into how it took hold in so many places, we face an unsettling possibility: NLP might actually work.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

]]> What if someone told you that you could skip years of therapy with a few mental tricks? It sounded impossible… until we found Neuro-Linguistic Programming. NLP is a form of hypnosis beloved by everyone from sex cults to the U.S. military to fortune 500 companies–yet almost no one knows it exists. 

Long before she co-founded NXIVM, hypnotist Nancy Salzman encountered NLP as a radical method for reprogramming the mind. Her story leads us to its inventor, Richard Bandler, a volatile, self-made guru. As we dig into how it took hold in so many places, we face an unsettling possibility: NLP might actually work.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

]]> full 1 1 Kaleidoscope 3ae2dd2a-41f8-4a5e-a735-b3d401092583 3ae2dd2a-41f8-4a5e-a735-b3d401092583 Tue, 20 Jan 2026 08:05:00 +0000 2572 https://omny.fm/shows/mind-games-nlp/the-guru-s-guru Introducing: Mind Games Introducing: Mind Games 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.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

]]> 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.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

]]> trailer Kaleidoscope 4750f672-baf6-4767-93e5-b3d0016057ac 4750f672-baf6-4767-93e5-b3d0016057ac Mon, 12 Jan 2026 21:32:55 +0000 159 https://omny.fm/shows/mind-games-nlp/placeholder-trailer