What is the Lightning Process?
The Phil Parker Lightning Process® (LP) is a training course that focuses on the science behind how the brain and body interact; it gives you powerful tools to use this brain-body link to influence your health and life. The tools involve gentle movement, meditation-like techniques and mental exercises. With practise you can use them to change the way your nervous system works, switching on pathways which promote health and switching off ones which aren’t so good for you. Dr Parker, the LP’s designer, talks more about this in this video.
The Science Behind the Lightning Process
PER & Allostatic Load: The Physical Emergency Response (PER) is our ‘fight or flight’ reaction, designed for short-term threats. 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 – ‘Allostatic Load’. This can lead to poor sleep, healing, and immunity, and contributes to chronic conditions. The Lightning Process helps you calm this response and restore balance.
Neuroplasticity: Your brain can rewire itself through new patterns of thinking. The Lightning Process teaches you how to replace unhelpful patterns with healthier, more beneficial ones, enhancing both life and health.
Imagine having tools help to restore your body’s health systems to their natural balance by harnessing the powerful connection between your brain and body.
To look at the research into these topics in depth >>>
Over the last 25 years, 17 peer-reviewed papers have been published on the Lightning Process. These include a Systematic Review and Randomised Controlled Trial, run by the NHS and the University of Bristol, that showed the LP is effective and safe. These types of studies are considered by researchers to be the best way to assess if something works or not.
5 steps of the LP program
Part 1: The Home Study Audio
“…this was the first step into the unknown that I took to getting my health back. It was like finding the missing piece of the puzzle, after 30 years of asking specialists ‘What can I do to help myself?’ – I finally had an answer.” Jill
The start of your journey is listening to Part 1 of the Lightning Process (LP), an interactive audio programme. It’s about 4 hours long and explores:
The science and research behind the LP
How to spot when your nervous system is switching on unhelpful pathways
How to switch on new healthier neurological pathways
How the LP has helped others with similar issues to you and how it could help you to resolve your issues too
If it feels like this approach is right for you
The changes you experience from this stage of the LP will give you an introduction to what you could achieve through continuing onto the seminar.
The LP Seminar
After completing Part 1 and choosing your practitioner, you can take the Lightning Process seminar, offered online or in person.
Here is an of the seminar
Format: Runs over 3 consecutive half-days (3–5 hours per session) in a small group or 1:1 setting.
Interactive Learning: Led by a skilled practitioner, the LP has been designed to be engaging and keep your attention. They’ll use slides, videos, stories, and handouts to explain key concepts. You’ll explore it further with discussions and applying the ideas using well-tested practical skills.
Topics Covered:
How words and movement can affect brain pathways and health.
How to develop a supportive internal dialogue.
Learn mental rehearsal, simple posture exercises, movements, gestures (including a ‘pause’ process to interrupt unhelpful pathways), and self-coaching tools to guide your brain towards pathways that stimulate better physiology and recovery.
Practitioner Qualifications
All Lightning Process practitioners complete at least 13 months of intensive training with the Phil Parker Training Institute, much of it led by Phil Parker himself. This ensures they are skilled in delivering the process exactly as designed.
Practitioners must pass rigorous written and practical exams, demonstrate their competence, and have in-depth knowledge of the relevant topics. To remain Registered Practitioners, they commit to ongoing professional development, supervision, and adhere to a professional code of conduct which you can view here.
All practitioners are experienced coaches and the Register of Practitioners includes medical doctors and a range of healthcare professionals.
Pricing of the LP
Like other approaches not yet available on the NHS in the UK, the Lightning Process is paid for directly by those attending. We are working to find ways to make this easier for all – our focus on research we hope will ultimately result in inclusion in the NHS, those who have taken the LP often wish to fund places for others and many practitioners offer discounted places for those in financial difficulty.
As with healthcare around the world, the cost of the LP course varies depending on where you take the training. It also depends on which format you take the course in; the training is available in small groups and also as a 1:1.
Your Lightning Process package will always include the 3 half days of training, your course materials – including an audio support programme – and 3 hours of post-course support.
But to give an indication, the average cost in the UK for the 3 day course and follow-up support sessions is £900 – that works out to about £50 per hour, similar to the cost of physio, coaches and counsellors.