Mind Games
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.
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 17, 2026 • 47min
Meeting Bandler
Richard Bandler, co-creator of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and longtime hypnotherapist, shares his theatrical teaching style and controversial personal history. The conversation covers dramatic live hypnosis demos, pain relief claims, the role of rapport and provocation, debates over manipulation versus defense, and whether NLP is art or science. Tense legal and ethical questions surface alongside stories of practical peer work.
Mar 10, 2026 • 39min
NXIVM
Nancy Salzman, former master NLP trainer and NXIVM co-founder who served time after pleading guilty to racketeering. She recounts bringing NLP into NXIVM and how techniques like anchoring, integrations, and state-control were repurposed for coercion. The conversation covers sleep deprivation, physiological layering, recruitment tactics, and her return to coaching while wrestling with the harm caused.
Mar 3, 2026 • 36min
The Pickup Artist Playbook
Ross Jeffries, a hypnotist and pioneer of 'speed seduction' who adapted conversational hypnosis for pickup, joins to demonstrate covert NLP-based techniques. Short demos and live reactions reveal pacing, anchoring, pattern interrupts and scripted phrasing. The conversation probes power dynamics, ethics, and surprising overlaps between persuasion and everyday interviewing.
Feb 24, 2026 • 38min
Murder in Santa Cruz
A true crime dive into a 1986 Santa Cruz homicide that left one person dead and a famed psychology pioneer accused. The story traces tangled relationships, contentious physical evidence, and dramatic courtroom moments. It also examines claims that a controversial persuasion method influenced jurors and public perception.
Feb 17, 2026 • 27min
A Human Technology
Wyatt Woodsmall, an NLP trainer and former Army-associated instructor, brings marksmanship modeling and range coaching. He demonstrates sight-alignment mantras and rapid skill gains. The conversation covers the Army’s 1980s NLP pistol experiments and the surprising link between NLP ideas and the development of EMDR.
Feb 10, 2026 • 38min
The Self-Help Empire
Tony Robbins, famed life coach and entrepreneur who popularized NLP and built a vast self-help business. He tells origin stories, explains how NLP techniques like the swish and firewalking create rapid state changes, and discusses the commercialization and controversies around the self-help industry. Short experiments and debates explore why these methods sometimes work and where they can go wrong.
16 snips
Feb 3, 2026 • 42min
All In Your Head
They test hypnosis and NLP through playful experiments and personal stories. Memory recovery and vivid sensory impressions get explored without claiming proof. The history of NLP's rise from therapy rooms into corporate and self-help culture is traced. Ethical questions about persuasion and skepticism about bold therapeutic claims are highlighted.
30 snips
Jan 27, 2026 • 40min
The Drummer with the Knives
A trip to 1970s Santa Cruz where experimental therapy, commune life, and charismatic persuasion collide. Stories of dramatic group sessions, hypnotic demonstrations, and a controversial trust stunt gone wrong. The birth of a therapy-turned-persuasion practice and the ethical questions that followed.
60 snips
Jan 20, 2026 • 43min
The Guru’s Guru
Nancy Salzman, co-founder of NXIVM and an expert in NLP and hypnosis, shares her transformative journey with Neuro-Linguistic Programming. She reveals how NLP helped her conquer a public-speaking phobia and discusses its surprising influence across various fields, from corporations to the military. The conversation explores the intriguing intersection of hypnosis and NLP, her training with creator Richard Bandler, and the ethics surrounding NLP techniques. With personal anecdotes, Nancy highlights both the power and potential pitfalls of mind-control methods.
Jan 12, 2026 • 3min
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.
