You’ll hear lots of NLPers and Hypnotists refering to anchors as if everyone knew what they were. Anchors are one of the very basic and over generalised terms for a stimulus that acts as a shortcut for a state or feeling. Our lives are littered with anchors, and often they can be the cause and solution to many problems.

“Whenever he touches me like that, it make me think of how my dad used to treat me.”

“When she talks to me in that tone of voice it makes me feel dreadful.”

“When I see a picture of my daughter when she was 3, it reminds me of how wonderful that time was.”

“When I smell even a hint of cut-grass my mind gets whisked away to a holiday in dorset I had when I was 7.”

Anchors can accommodate all of our sensory repositry and any combination of them as well. We see, hear and feel things that put us into different (un-)resourceful states for different reasons. When an anchor is accessed often, it is common for the anchor to generalise and become a much quicker or stronger state change than it was originally. The neuro-cortical pathways strengthen, and it soon becomes habit to react in that way. This is often, but not always, how phobias are formed, and is also how we learn, as small children to open doors or hold a pencil.

In my practice I use several methods to create and collapse anchors. One of the easiest tricks to use with a simple finger-pinch anchor is “stacking anchors”. This is used to collect a series of similarly resourceful states and anchor them to a single trigger.

Exercise 1

Think of a time in the past where you felt mildly under stress. (DO NOT pick a traumatic or very stressful memory!). When you can remember that event, pinch the thumb and index finger of your left hand together. Hold it for about 5 seconds and then shake your head and stop thinking about the memory.

Now, think of a time when you felt super confident. When you have it, pinch the thumb and index-finger of your right hand together. Hold it for about 5 seconds, release and shake your head to stop thinking about the memory.

Now think of a time when you felt very relaxed. When you have it, pinch the thumb and index-finger of your right hand together. Feel the confidence behind the relaxed feeling. Build up the feeling a little more, and then release and shake your head to stop thinking about the memory.

Now, this is the collapsing anchor part. Fire off the left and right hand anchor at the same time, but when you release them this time, release your left hand first and then 1/2 a second later, release your right hand. Do this at least 5 times in a row.

Now, the test: think about the occasion you felt mildly stressed about before. Does it feel the same? Do the same images and sounds fill your head? Unlikely… you have now succesfully collapsed the anchor.

Hypnotist use stacked anchors to get people feeling ‘hypnotised’. Anyone that speaks in public, such as politicians, use stacked anchors. They are very powerful and often overlooked. How many good states could you stack in to a single finger pinch? What other ways can you think of to anchor? How could you anchor good states in to people you are talking to, without touching them?

If you would like to find out more about this or any other aspect of NLP or Hypnosis, then contact Jonathan directly on 07789 405404 or jonathan@entrance.me.uk. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 at 9:57 pm and is filed under NLP. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.