This article on Anchoring NLP explains all about NLP Anchoring which is a very powerful tool used by many NLP Practitioners.
We hope that it can be of interest to those who use The Personal Development Cafe, whether you are a NLP Practitioner, looking for an NLP Practitioner or you are just interested in NLP, hypnotherapy or other self-improvement techniques.
Anchoring NLP – The Powerful NLP Tool to Achieve Amazing States
by Terry Banner
In NLP terms an “anchor” is something that happens any time that a person reaches a powerful state. If we refer back to a time in history when a Russian man by the name of Ivan Pavlov started to look at the behaviour of his dogs, when they started salivating at the idea of receiving food, not just when they saw food.
Pavlov decided the stimuli being employed to make the dogs slobber, was way more fascinating than other material, and this is where he centered his energy.
Essentially, a prior experience in the dog’s life, had taught the dog to react in a certain way, given a certain stimulus. It is that stimuli that we now call the “anchor”.
So too do humans react a certain way when diverse stimuli are presented in certain circumstances. In the realms of Neuro Linguistic Programming, 4 steps are concerned in anchoring.
4 Steps of Anchoring NLP
The first of these steps is the necessity to put the person (subject) into a state. Either a spontaneous state or a prompted state may be employed.
The sole vital thing is to make certain when anchoring NLP is that whatever state used, it is firmly associated. This implies that the topic must be within their own body and looking through their own eyes, versus looking in from the outside.
Another crucial factor is that the state must be intense and harmonious. As an example of the language that could be used, you might say do you remember a point when you were absolutely at ease.
Are you ready to recall the precise time? As you travel back to that time, are you in a position to step into your body and visualize what you saw through your own eyes, hear what you were hearing through your own ears, and experience the feelings that you felt when you were absolutely at ease?
Different folks move into states at different rates, so it’s critical that you ask them to say when they’re at the top of the experience. They do not have to talk. You can ask them to motion you by moving their head, hand, foot, or by whatever other means might be acceptable at the time.
As they reach the top of their state, and you are mindful of this, you want to anchor the state. The anchor that you opt to use should be the same anchor that’s then applied to every one of the other steps in the anchoring NLP process. It has got to be consistent.
The anchor should start just before the top and end right on the top. An anchor should last for between five and fifteen seconds, and a touch in the same place at the same time at every state, is mostly what’s wanted to brace the situation. So this suggests that say five seconds before the top is coming, touch the person on the arm, and you’ll then ask:
Are you able to recall a time that you were completely relaxed? Are you able to recall a point when you felt completely loved? Are you able to recall a point in time when you knew you were absolutely powerful? Are you able to recall a point in time when you were totally happy?
Every time a state is reached, touch the person in the same way in the same place, to anchor all the states.
As well as the four steps, there are 4 keys to successful anchoring NLP. The power of the reply, the timing of the anchor, the impulse needing to be unique, and the duplication of the impulse.
Terry Banner is an NLP expert.
We hope that you found this article enlightening. If you would like to learn more about anchoring NLP, NLP world provide an excellent NLP glossary A – Z.
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