Anchoring - NLP

There are certain songs you can’t hear without instantly being transported back to the sixth form common room, certain smells that invoke fond memories of childhood holidays or certain colours that make you feel happy, or calm, or invigorated.  Using such external stimuli to invoke moods is known as anchoring and NLP uses techniques to establish and use anchors at will to conjure up particular feelings or states of mind.

The above examples of anchors are all subconscious; you just can help that nostalgic feeling when you hear “your” song.  In this example, the anchor is the song, the external stimulus that makes you feel a particular way.  NLP teaches people to build conscious anchors so that particular states of mind can be recalled at will.  This is conscious anchoring and NLP practitioners have used this technique very successfully to help clients in many practical ways, for example, if a person has feelings of anxiety when asked to speak in public, finds themselves intimidated in a group meeting or experiences negative feelings when things aren’t going well.

Clearly great benefits can be experienced on a day to day basis using the techniques of anchoring and NLP provides the framework that allows anyone to use anchors.

The process of anchoring begins with what is known in NLP terms as “the resourceful state”.  Taking our public speaking example, if a person feels anxiety in this situation but would rather feel calm, relaxed and in control, then first the person must recall a time when they felt just that way.  This is the resourceful state.

Next is required an external stimulus to associate with, or “anchor to” the resourceful state.  NLP recognises visual, auditory and kinaesthetic anchors. 

• Kinaesthetic anchors are associated with touch, such as pressing together a finger and thumb or touching an earlobe, and are arguably the most useful as they are unobtrusive and can be done at any time. 
• Visual anchors are things that you see either physically or in your imagination.  If you need to physically see your anchor then it must be something you can carry with you at all times.
• Auditory anchors are things that you hear.  Whistling is often used as it is a sound you can make yourself at any time.

 NLP teaches people how to associate these external stimuli with the resourceful state.  So next time our example client is faced with an audience, he simply “fires” his anchor (touches his earlobe, whistles his favourite tune) to change his feelings of anxiety to feelings of calm and control.