NLP Anchoring

The visual, auditory, and kinesthetic stimuli constantly get associated with various states of mind-emotion-physiology inside people’s neurology. And these stimuli, also known as anchors, create the responses for thinking, emoting, etc. NLP Anchoring technique, thus, is a means of managing neurology. It can occur in any sensory system and also in the language system.

In NLP, the NLP anchoring pattern enables people to handle the internal, subjective experiences like their memories, their emotional states, etc.

Accordingly, you can anchor resourceful states to fire (start them off) them off and re-experience them when you want. By using just an element of an experience, the anchoring will bring back the full experience as and when you fire the triggering stimulus or anchor.

 

Scope of NLP anchoring technique

Overall, the general purpose of NLP anchoring involves managing an experience so that you can access it at your will.

Anchoring as conditioning presents the NLP practitioners and NLP master practitioners with a practical tool for change. Approximately 90% of therapeutic interventions or personal change work done using NLP involve changing the kinesthetic responses that people have to auditory and visual stimuli. And that involves a direct or indirect application of the anchoring process.

The pattern of the NLP anchoring technique is used extensively to utilize the best states of a person and help them create a process to deal with the unresourceful states more effectively. When people recognize the neurological mechanism of anchoring, they are empowered to set up useful anchors and change their internal experiences in such a manner that it serves them as an internal resource.

 

About anchoring

An anchor refers to an internal or external representation that triggers another representation.

And NLP anchoring technique typically re-induces states without the need to think or re-think things. When you systematically and precisely establish a new anchor, you can elicit desired behavioral responses and states immediately in response to the new stimulus.

Anchoring entails the ability to establish a trigger or link to a state, consciously, so that you can replicate the link and call forth the desired state at your will.

For example, NLP Practitioners and hypnotherapists often use the word “relax” to anchor in a state of relaxation. To anchor the state of relaxation, they speak the word ‘relaaaax’ in a relaxing tone, with a low and soft voice. In this way, both the word and tone establish an auditory anchor for relaxation.

Other auditory stimuli or sounds that can anchor a state include coughing, the snap of the fingers, the click of a pen, so on and so forth. These work well with the groups.

Usually, you do not only have a sound but a particular “face,” expression, posture, etc that adds a visual anchor.

 

The operating principle behind the NLP anchoring technique:

All anchors set in your neurology.

The operating principle behind anchoring is that neuro-linguistically, things become linked together in people’s neurology. And they trigger states, thoughts, and emotional responses.

When you fire the anchor, you can access the anchored state due to the nerves associated with the anchor connect neurologically to those neurons that contain the remembered state.

Pavlov had discovered this principle in working with experimental laboratory dogs. The dogs showed their unconditioned response to meat powder which activated their saliva glands. To this response, Pavlov attached a bell as another trigger and found that exposure to the meat powder with the bell soon conditioned the dogs to salivate just to the ringing of the bell. He then concluded that the dogs learned the response of salivating just to the ringing of the bell by linking up, neurologically, the sound of a bell to meat powder. And, since the dog’s autonomic nervous system would salivate to meat, it taught that part of their neurology to salivate to the sound of a bell as well.

Similarly, human beings begin life with a neuro-physiology loaded with unconditioned responses. Then, when another stimulus becomes attached to the existing stimuli while you are in a responsive state like pain, pleasure, fear, anger, etc, the responses can become so associated neurologically in your associative cortex that they can set off the conditioned response with the original stimulus.

These sensory stimuli, also known as an anchor, then operate in a way that is beyond one’s control. In other words, the anchor becomes linked to specific states in such a manner that it can put a person into an unresourceful state instantly, automatically, and immediately.

Consequently, the meaning begins to carry far more importance than mere stimuli. And you respond to the stimuli from your memories, imaginations, and beliefs.

Simply put, the anchors operate state-dependently. This means their operation and functioning depend upon their state of mind and body that a person experiences when setting the anchor and re-firing it later.

Thus, anchors work because mind-body inevitably work together.

 

The Five steps to the NLP anchoring process:

Anchoring involves performing a series of steps. They are:

1. Establish rapport.

2. Explain the NLP anchoring process (Set the frame).

3. Elicit and anchor the desired state.

4. Interrupt the state (Break state).

5. Test the anchor by firing it.

 

Follow these steps and develop the ability of the NLP anchoring technique as an effective tool for improving life and accessing resources.

The steps of NLP Anchoring technique are explained below in detail:

1. Establish Rapport

Enquire on the behavior, state, or response the other person would like to recreate. And meanwhile, mirror and match the other person’s tonality, physiology, and predicates to enter into his or her world.

 

2. Briefly explain the anchoring process

Give an overview of the process to the other person. This will help them feel comfortable and trusting with the processes.

Then identify what kind of anchor the other person would like to set. The anchor could be a trigger like a silent finger movement, gentle tap on the floor, etc. Or it could be a cue system like a rhythmic gesture.

Also, take prior permission to sit close. A lot of visual people do not like somebody crowding their space by sitting close to them. They prefer to have more space so they can comfortably see things going on around them. So, always ask permission to sit close to them.

Most importantly, explain to the other person the purpose of touching him or her on the top of the knee or the hand. Receive prior permission to touch them. Do not touch them unannounced.

 

3. Elicit the desired state or experience and anchor it

Elicit a response by asking the other person to remember, imagine, or think about the desired state. For example, in working with positive states where the other person wants to experience intense motivation, excitement, competence, resourcefulness, etc firstly ask if they have ever experienced it. Then, when they reply in the affirmative, tell them to recall the details-when specifically did that occur, what did they see at that time, and where.

Tell them to allow themselves to begin to remember now, a time and a place when they experienced that state. As they specify time, place, persons, and specific facets of their memory, they will become more and more focused on a specific event.

Ask them to go back and remember it fully to assist them in re-experiencing a strong, intense, and pure experience.

Some people get flashes of sights, sounds, and sensations from numerous experiences. So, keep in mind that a key to anchoring involves the person having accessed a specific experience with intensity and getting associated with it fully. The person must associate with the state by re-entering the experience and look at the details with their own eyes and hear through their own ears. They must see, hear, and feel the state as if they are reliving the experience, neurologically, in the present moment.

Calibrate to and detect the response. Pay attention to the eye accessing cues, body gestures, posture, breathing, movement, etc to notice when the other person has a response, and calibrate to it.

Then, add a stimulus or anchor in all of the sensory systems to create redundancy and make the stimulus stronger.

Establish the anchor by adding a sight (make a face or gesture), sound (make a noise), sensation (touch), or word to the person’s response.

For establishing kinesthetic anchors, select rarely touched places on your body. Squeeze your earlobe or place your thumb and little finger together for instance. To set auditory anchors use particular words or sounds.

Remember, always anchor with unique triggers, because anchoring links a new stimulus to a response, and creating an anchor in a unique place enables the anchor to last much longer.

Also, choose a location you can easily return to with precision. Though the effectiveness of an anchor comes from the initial quality of the experience, reinforcement of the anchor tends to increase its effectiveness.

 

4. Break the state so the other person’s state is interrupted

Stop the process after establishing the anchor. Break state by saying or doing anything that has nothing to do with the process so that it separates the person from the ongoing state of mind-emotions.

Ask them to stand up and move around to break the state. Or change the subject for a moment. You can also tell them to take a deep breath to clear the screen of their mind. Taking a deep breath usually changes the physiology and hence the state.

 

5. Test the anchor by firing it

To fire the anchor, touch the same place in just the way you did when you established the anchor. Touching in the precise spot and with the precise pressure will provide neurology the same stimulus associated with the resourceful state.

Using your sensory acuity skills, calibrate to their responses. Their desired state should return without them needing to think about it, when you fire the anchor.

If their face, physiology, breathing, muscle tone, etc., indicate the desired state (and they confirm it), then you know you have established a good anchor.

In case you do not see anything that looks like the desired state, take that as feedback and enquire the person about his or her internal state of thoughts and feelings. Then, break the state and attach a new stimulus. You must break state and test again. Notice if the desired response occurs as you re-trigger or fire the stimulus again and again.

Anchoring functions as a non-verbal form of communication. Until you see, notice, and enquire from the person about their internal state of thoughts-emotions, memories, fantasies, beliefs, values, etc, you will never know what specifically you have communicated or what state you have anchored. So feel free to check where did their mind and emotions go, what trans-derivational searches they made.

And know that wherever they went and whatever information they processed during the anchoring—you have anchored that!

 

The Four keys to the NLP anchoring technique:

Unlike stimulus-response, anchoring can occur as a one-time learning experience. And, it can sometimes last years or even a lifetime. When certain conditions (like a very intense state, a very unique stimulus, a most effective linking, etc.) occur at the time of anchoring, then the process needs to occur only once to become permanent.

 

The keys to establishing NLP anchors proficiently include-

1. The uniqueness of anchor or trigger

2. The intensity of the state

3. Purity of the state

4. The precision of adding stimulus

 

The four keys of effective anchoring are explained below in detail:

1. Uniqueness

Select a unique stimulus for the anchor. In other words, use a unique place to set the anchor. The more unique the location of the anchor, the better and more effective the anchoring will be. This gives the anchor more of a chance to get set and to last.

A generalized behavior like just shaking someone’s hand doesn’t usually work for anchoring. The reason being, people shake hands frequently, with many different people. The handshake would forever trigger the person to go into that state. Thus, a handshake lacks enough uniqueness to even set an anchor.

When anchoring kinesthetically, avoid anchoring on to the person’s clothing because clothing moves or changes its position with respect to the person’s body, and gets changed frequently.

If you are doing self-anchoring, choose a stimulus that you can do comfortably. Pay attention to the location, amount of pressure applied, length of time you touch, the size of that place, etc. And select a unique anchor, something that you do not commonly do.

 

2. Intensity

To create an anchor, you must apply a stimulus at the time the person experiences an intense state. Set the anchor at the moment of the state’s highest intensity. This ties the anchor to the highest intensity of the state.

The intensity of a state refers to how strong, emotional, vivid, big, etc that state feels on the inside.

Tracking the intensity of a state in another person requires enough calibration and sensory awareness. People vary in the amount of time it takes to change internal states, as well as how intensely they experience their states. Some change states quickly and instantly.

So, when anchoring a state, once the other person associates into the resourceful state, use your sensory acuity to calibrate to them as they go into a different state. Notice the changes in breathing, face color, skin, and muscle tone. Allow them to associate with the desired state because you will get a more powerful effect with an associated state than with a dissociated state. Then, apply the anchor at the time when they most intensely experience the state.

 

3. Purity

Purity for an anchor means that it has no competing experiences. In other words, it refers to the distinctness of a state.

When accessing the desired state, elicit the resource experience in such a way that it does not elicit contaminating, competing thoughts and emotions. Make the anchor as discrete as possible. Avoid inquiring about two different experiences. And, allow no contradictory or contrary internal dialogues to go on while recalling the state. That’s because contrary internal dialogues usually distract you and do not allow you to go in a useful direction during the anchoring process.

So, elicit a reference experience in its simplest, purest form to ensure against not contaminating the desired state.

When anchoring self, use your internal languaging to amplify the desired state you seek. Your intensely remembered state will have no competing experiences to weaken the state’s intensity.

 

4. Precision

Time the anchor accurately for precision in anchoring. Aim to identify and utilize the proper timing. When you see the state reaching its maximum intensity of neurological response—apply the anchor.

Create the anchor after the state seems to peak, and release the anchor before it starts to decline in intensity.

Let go of the anchor as the state releases so as to not anchor a reducing state response or a shift to another state. Holding the anchor too long may contaminate the anchor if the person accesses another state. So, be observant of the change in the intensity level (increasing and decreasing) in the other person.

The best practice is to first of all, lightly apply the anchor. Then, as the state intensifies, increase the pressure on your anchor. Later, when the state begins to weaken, let go of the anchor immediately. Your sensory acuity skills will inform you as to how long you apply the anchor. Usually, the time of hold the anchor will vary from between five to twenty-five seconds

 

Summary

Anchors function as triggers for state access, and anchoring operates as Pavlovian conditioning tools for state management.

If you are anchoring any other person, first determine and identify the current state, calibrate to the qualities, signals, and indicators of the state. Ask the person to remember the desired state. Elicit the desired state and get a good full sensory description of it. Meanwhile, use your sensory acuity skills to notice when the person associates fully into the intense state. Invite the person to remember the state several times—this will help them to focus. When you see them reach a peak in their experience, set your anchor or trigger (sight, sound, sensation, movement, gesture, word, etc). That is, attach some visual, auditory, or kinaesthetic stimulus to the state and link it to the state. After setting the anchor, break the state and then test to see if the stimulus can re-elicit that state. If it does, then you have anchored the response efficiently.  For an NLP Practitioner / NLP Coach NLP Anchoring is a key skill and the best NLP Coaches in the world, generally would have mastered this skill.

In reality, anchoring entails the natural process by which any element of an experience (any sensory modality component) can recreate (re-evoke) the entire experience.

NLP Anchoring occurs all the time, and it actually represents nothing new. They operate as the conditioning tools for state management.  NLP Anchoring technique is generally covered as part of an NLP Practitioner program.

However, there are numerous things to consider within the anchoring process like uniqueness, intensity, timing, purity.

As an NLP coach if you are working with a client and his/her unresourceful states, sometimes it is useful to first collapse the unresourceful state using NLP collapsing anchors technique., and then move on to establishing the resource anchor.

There are four conditions to anchor a response or state most appropriately. In accordance with that, you must first use a unique place to establish the anchor or use an unusual gesture as an anchor. Second, make the anchor as discrete, distinct, specific, and pure as possible. Third, set the anchor only at the peak of the experience, that is at the moment of the state’s highest intensity. So, wait until you or another person has reached the peak of the experience, and then link your unique trigger to the state. Lastly, precisely time the anchor.