Pathways to Change - NLP & Tai Chi

Self Anchoring is a method whereby we take a resourceful emotional state or response from one context and take that response into another context. We do this automatically with negative emotions. With this method we take an automatic response and choose to have an empowering response

For example, you could take how you feel when winning at a sport into an interview situation. Noticing what happens when you think about the interview while feeling totally confident and on top of the world.

1) Identify a situation in the future about which you would like to feel more resourceful.

2) Notice how you feel about this situation now

How would you rather feel? What emotional state or response would you prefer to have?

3) Identify a time when you intensely experienced this resourceful state. If you cannot identify an appropriate resourceful state then you imagine what it would be like based on my experience of someone else who you believe has this resourceful state.

4) Remember the experience as though you are there...

What do you see? (People, objects, colours)

What do you hear? (Sounds, internal and external voices, silence etc)

What do you feel? (Emotions, sensations, locations, strengths. etc)

5) Break your concentration on that memory by bringing your attention back to the room - maybe noticing the colour of the carpet or the sounds in the room.

6) Select your anchors...

Choose a visual image that helps you to recall the memory - this could be what you saw then or a picture of you in the situation or a visual metaphor such as a lion or a blazing sun.

Choose a sound or word(s) that helps you to recall the memory - this could be what you heard then or what you were saying to yourself at the start of your favourite piece of music.

Choose a gesture which you do not normally do and which you can repeat in the situation - this could be squeezing your thumb on to your forefinger, squeezing your wrist, holding your hands together.

7) Step back again into the resourceful experience of step 4 and relive it again, intensifying the emotions and sensations that you are feeling.

8) As the resource state approaches its peak, fire' all of the three anchors that you identified in step 6, and hold the state for a few moments.

9) Break your concentration on that memory by bringing your attention back to the room - maybe noticing the colour of the carpet or the sounds in the room.

10) Repeat steps 7 & 8 a few times to reinforce your anchors.

11) Test by thinking of the original situation that you identified in step 1. Fire your anchors. Notice your response. If you want to enhance your response repeat steps 7 & 8.

Well Formedness Conditions for Anchoring

To enhance the self anchoring process ensure that you are paying attention to...

1 Accessing an intense state - the best recalled state
2 Accessing a pure state
3 Having a unique anchor
4 The timing of applying the anchor
5 The accuracy of duplication of the anchor