Anchoring NLP: Why it's convenient to use it

At Hypnosis Institute Netherlands, we do more than just get people into hypnosis, because once the hypnosis is there, it's time for treatment, and that treatment can be with cognitive behavioral therapy, NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and Ericksonian hypnosis techniques.

NLP is a therapy technique that uses the influence language has on your thoughts and feelings, hence the linguistic part in the name. This is because you generally think in images, sounds and/or language. Most people have some kind of thought voice in their heads, and that is one of the things NLP uses.

In this blog, I will go a little deeper into an NLP anchor and what you can do with it. Namely, an anchor is a technique for connecting your brain to a particular state, a particular feeling.

What is anchor NLP?

Anchoring has to do with being able to retrieve certain feelings. For example, you know what it is like to feel happy. You can anchor this happy feeling so you can retrieve it at another time.

The idea of an NLP anchor actually comes from Pavlov. This researcher did a test with dogs. He made a bell ring and then gave the dogs steak. At one point he could only ring the bell and that alone made the dogs produce more saliva. They had associated the bell with eating rather than seeing the steak.

The bell was actually the anchor.

Every time you have a particular state, a feeling, you can anchor this feeling by doing something consistently. For example, you can tap your wrist every time you feel super good. Or you can take a moment to scratch behind your ear every time you feel confident .

Then your subconscious may start thinking that tapping your wrist or scratching behind your ear will give you this good feeling or sense of self-confidence.

NLP anchor set

This is all well and good, but ultimately, as a therapist, you do more than just say,“When you feel good, touch your wrist for a moment.” because if you’re helping someone suffering from depressive symptoms, that doesn’t really help. That patient might be able to do that once a month. Then the treatment is going to take a very long time.

Initially, you may be asked, or ask your client, if you can remember a time when you felt good. You can then see if you can retrieve this feeling in your body again.

Once you’ve brought up this feeling, you can do something to associate with it. This could be tapping your wrist, for example. A small movement is usually more practical than a big one, because then you can do it even when there are people around you without looking strange .

In fact, it's best to make that move just before you get the feeling completely right. So that it appears to your subconscious or your body that it is not the mind retrieval of a memory that creates this good feeling, but that making the movement creates the good feeling.

For successful anchoring of feelings, it is important that you feel the state, the feeling, as much as possible. For example, you can distinguish between seeing yourself in your mind as you were then, or feeling yourself in your body as you were then. Feeling yourself in your body works better than seeing yourself in your mind to set an NLP anchor.

Timing the movement, the anchor, is also important. Because feelings can change quickly, and so when helping someone set an anchor, it is important to do so in time and not when the person you are helping has been holding the feeling for a while. When you see that the feeling is coming right, then you start setting the anchor. Then you have someone make a move, or then you make the move yourself if you want to anchor yourself.

The movement you make must also be something unique. Blinking your eyes, for example, is not a useful anchor. After all, you blink very often, both consciously and unconsciously. Then you are busy with that anchor all day, nice and tiring.

If you do frequent your pulse, touching your ellenboog can also be an anchor. As long as it's a movement you don't make often.

Also, it should be a movement that you can easily repeat. Not a complicated dance for anchoring, but a movement you can do over and over again in exactly the same way.

Using anchor to quickly change a negative feeling

You can also practice anchoring to move from negative feelings quickly to positive feelings. Then you alternate negative and positive feelings and use the anchor every time you go to the positive feeling.

This can help you in your daily life if an event has left you with a negative feeling, this feeling can be quickly changed. For example, this can help you in stressful situations so that you can continue to think properly.

For example, if you have work or are doing something that has failed very often, working on that project can make you feel negative in advance[1]. The anchor can then help you detach from this, increasing your chances of success.

SWISH technique

The SWISH technique is also very similar to this. This is a technique that helps you change bad habits. For example, you think of the behavior you want to stop with bad feelings and the behavior you want to perform correctly you think of with positive feelings. Then you go back and forth in your thoughts until only the positive feeling with the behavior you want to perform remains.

This is not quite the same thing, but it is very similar.

Benefits of NLP anchoring

Anchoring these kinds of positive feelings can have all kinds of benefits, both for adults and young people.

Research shows, for example, that when teachers are familiar with NLP techniques, such as anchoring, they can use them to help young people cope better with test anxiety[2]. Teachers don’t necessarily have to teach students to briefly touch a specific spot on their body to create an anchor. You can also use verbal anchors to see positive results in the classroom. In addition, as a teacher, you can create visual anchors by, for example, making certain movements yourself when a student gives the correct answer[3].

Healthcare practitioners can also use NLP anchor techniques. If your client or patient has reached a certain state you would like them to reach, you can use certain statements, facial expressions and a literal pat on the shoulder to anchor this positive feeling in your client[4].

Practicing yourself, for example, to quickly transform negative feelings into positive ones can also be very helpful against phobias, for this you can get help from an NLP specialist[5].

In addition, it is also used to treat symptoms of depression, irritable bowel syndrome, addictions, obesity, and chronic pain[6].

Exercise NLP Anchoring

A fun exercise you can do at home is to first think of what unique movement you can use to anchor something. Once you have figured this out you can do the following.

You recall a moment when you were super happy. You felt loved, powerful and confident. Got that memory? Then make the move you just thought of.

Next, try recording this feeling of how you were then in your body. Make the unique movement while you are doing this.

When you feel the sensation in your body enjoy it for a moment without repeating that movement.

After that, you can let it go.

You can then make the unique movement again as you evoke this feeling within you. Repeating this makes the anchor stronger.

Then, if you feel a little minus in your daily life, you can make the move and will find that you achieve the feeling you evoke more easily. Maybe it will even come naturally by then.

Learning to use an NLP anchor in a blog is not something that's necessarily going to work, and of course you can't get feedback now on whether you're doing it right or not, but NLP also plays a big part in the HIN's training.

In addition to inducing hypnosis and Ericksonian hypnosis techniques, we also teach students NLP techniques, such as anchoring, among others, to use them to help yourself and others.

Want to learn more about hypnosis? Then come to the free online master class on hypnosis .

Want to get started right away with hypnosis and NLP techniques? Then sign up for one of our training programs. You’ll start applying NLP knowledge as early as your first year.

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