We have in a previous article (click to read) learned what is an anchor, and that they are stimulus that triggers or fires via our representational systems, a response.
An anchor can be set by a intense emotional experience, or by a repetitive experience.
An anchor can be set with or without intention by ones self or on others.
An anchor can give a good response, eg confidence, self esteem, or a negative response, eg fears or phobias.
To overcome a certain behaviour, it will be found that perhaps the client could achieve that with a strong state like confidence, relaxation, a “I don’t care attitude”, or any other state, but they cannot get that state when needed.
This is where anchors can be employed.
The first requirement is for the practitioner, or ones self, to find the state or states that would be needed to overcome the problem. It is good if three (3) states, eg happiness, relaxation, confidence, are found, but not necessary.
Establish if these states have ever been experienced before. If the state has not been experienced, then establish what it would be like to have that state.
Establish a Kinesthetic anchor. It is suggested that the touching of the tip of the thumb and one of the remaining four fingers off the same hand be used, therefore there can be four anchors on one hand, and four on the other.
This will be the anchor that will capture the state, and when fired with intention, the brain will trigger the response wanted.
If the anchor being set is by an NLP Practitioner on a client, then the NLP Practitioner should establish an anchor that they can use, be it a Visual (seeing), Auditory (voice or sound), Kinesthetic (touch), Olfactory (smell), and Gustatory (taste) anchor. It is suggested that precise point on the clients shoulder be used.
The NLP Practitioner’s anchor will be used the enhance the client’s experience, to reinforce and build-up the state to be anchored so that the NLP Practitioner has an anchor they can fire only during the process.
Ask the client to close their eyes and recall a time when they had such an experience, or to imagine what it would be like.
Ask them to :-
“See what they saw, hear what they heard, and feel what they felt.”
At this time, do not ask the client to fire or to touch their two fingers, wait until they experience a good strong state.
The NLP Practitioner should watch for any signal which would indicate that the client is experiencing any shift towards the state wanted, and as this is seen, a light touch to the anchor on the shoulder be made.
Continue building the client’s experience by doubling the V,A,K,o,g, spreading them around the whole body.
When it is seen that the client is reaching (just before the peak) a strong state, ask them to “anchor the state” by touching their two fingers together, and at any time in the future they need this state, all they have to do is to touch these two fingers together.
This process for each of the states or anchors should be repeated three (3) times, to establish a good memory or strong neural pathway.
