New from Kaleidoscope: Mind Games - Episode 1. The Guru's Guru.

New from Kaleidoscope: Mind Games - Episode 1. The Guru's Guru.

From ON CRISPR: The Story of Jennifer Doudna with Walter Isaacson by iHeartPodcasts and Kaleidoscope

February 25, 2026 · 43 min

About this episode

The episode explores Neuro-Linguistic Programming and its controversial applications through the story of Nancy Salzman and Richard Bandler.

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.

Topics covered

  • Neuro-Linguistic Programming
  • hypnosis
  • therapy
  • mind reprogramming
  • self-help
  • cult influence

Keywords

  • NLP
  • hypnosis
  • therapy
  • self-help
  • mind tricks
  • cult
  • NXIVM

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NXIVM

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