Robert Dilts - Neuro–Linguistic Programming - Volume I. The Study of the Structure of Subjective Experience

A: [To audience] This, by the way, will help reinforce the anchors. (Squeezes S's right shoulder.)

S: (Lips tighten. Eyes shift down and left, etc.)

A: Okay. (Squeezes S's left shoulder.)

S: (Smiles. Eyes up, etc.)

A: (Squeezes S's right shoulder.)

S: (Lips tighten. Eyes down and left, etc.)

A: [To S] What is your experience of all this?

S: It's amazing … it's like … the feelings just happen automatically when you touch me.

A: Okay, good … Now, would everyone agree that I've got these two experiences anchored to the touch? (Agreement from audience.)

A: All I really did was to use culturally established verbal anchors —that is, the words that I whispered — to elicit a response— which I checked and stored through my sensory experience. Then I established another anchor in a different system: kinesthetic as opposed to auditory…. The anchors didn't take at first, so I repeated the process until they did … We are, of course, doing all this on an overt and conscious level, because this is a demonstration; but it works just as well, often even more effectively, when the person doesn't know what's going on. You just keep pairing the anchor with the response … you'll be surprised how fast peoples' unconscious minds catch on… . Now … I want to show you how anchors can be established through other representational systems as well. Notice what happens when I do this. (Shifts tonality slightly higher, steps up in front of S and starts to reach for her left shoulder.) S: (Smiles, eyes up, etc.)

A: You'll notice that I never made actual contact with Jan, and yet my guess is that I anchored that first experience … [To Jan] Is that right?

S: (Smiles) Yes.

A: And now let's try this one (Lowers voice and slows tempo. Reaches for right shoulder.)

S: (Eyes down and left. Lips tighten, etc.)

A: As you can see, that one's anchored visually too. I never made contact, but she can see which one I'm indicating … In fact I'll bet I can anchor them just by doing this. (Raises pitch of voice and points to left shoulder.)

S: (Smiles. Eyes up. etc.)

A: You see, just like magic … (Laughter) … and now … (Shifts voice pitch lower and points to right shoulder). S: (Eyes down and left, lips tighten, etc.)

A: How about this (Looks at left shoulder)

S: (Smiles, eyes up, etc.)

A: And … (looks at right shoulder)

S: (Eyes down left, lips tighten, etc.)

A: I've got the experiences anchored kinesthetically and visually … and I've got another anchor. Does any one know what it is? (Raises pitch of voice.)

S: (Smiles. Looks up. etc.)

A: [To S] That's right. Your unconscious mind knows, at least … What if I start talking like this? (Lowers voice and slows tempo.)

S: (Eyes down and left. Lips tighten, etc.) I experience the other one.

A: You can anchor with the tone, pitch and tempo of your voice as well as verbally … Non–verbal anchoring can be extremely profound. Think about it for a minute … We anchor things all of the time with our tonal shifts, facial expressions, and gestures. A change in facial expression or a sigh can change the whole course of a conversation or negotiation. In fact probably more often than not the verbal portions of our communication are the least important or significant aspect of the interaction. It's how we say what we are saying and what we are doing while we say it that gives most of the meaning to the communication… . Are there any questions about anchors before I go on to demonstrate how to use them?

Man: Yes … How long does an anchor last?

A: I guess the easiest way to answer that is to say that an anchor lasts as long as it lasts … Some may only last a couple of days, others will last years … even a lifetime. Think of language. Many words will serve as anchors all of our lives …

A person I hadn't seen for about four years called me up and wanted me to help him with this problem. Now I had an anchor for trance that I'd set up with him years before, so when he came over I had him sit down, and I fired off the anchor and – boom – he was gone just like that …

The two major things that determine how long an anchor will last are, one, how unique the stimulus you use for an anchor is and, two, how well you make the association between the anchor and the experience. For instance, people get touched on their shoulders all the time, so the anchors I've set up with Jan aren't that unique and may not last long. If I had grabbed her left earlobe, the association might be more unique and therefore more longlasting. A squeeze on the shoulder will anchor up other representations that have occurred previously when she's been touched there.

One of the reasons that language is such a powerful anchoring system is that sounds we make with our voices have subtle but distinct differences. We all know that homonyms, words that sound alike, are not direct anchors. Words like 'see', 'sea' and 'C\ or 'know' and 'no', are ambiguous – that is, they anchor up more than one representation. Kinesthetic and visual anchors do the same thing. Touching someone on the shoulder or the knee can anchor more than one representation because touches there occur so often.

Another thing to keep in mind concerning uniqueness is context. If I say "I sailed the sea," there is much less ambiguity about what kind of representation I'm referring to because I'm putting the anchor "sea" into a context. The same thing works with other anchors. For example, as long as she is sitting in front of this group of people and sitting in this room and I raise my voice like this (raises pitch of voice) and I use this facial expression (smiles) and reach over and touch Jan on the left shoulder so she can see me, I may always get the response that's been anchored today. If I meet Jan on the street three weeks from now and just start talking in a higher pitched voice, I may not get the full response, because there are a whole bunch of other anchors provided by the change in context. That may change, however, if I also squeeze her shoulder and use this facial expression .. . Then I've fired off anchors in all three of her major representational systems.

It's always best to make sure you've got your anchors established in all representational systems, by the way. It really cleans up your work … We call that "redundancy" in NLP. Because you've got your anchor or your communications coded in all representational systems, it increases your chance of success.

Making sure that the association between your anchor and your response is "clean" is also very important. This has to do with congruency. For instance, if I am trying to anchor a certain experience in someone and all the time we're going through the process, the person has this voice in the back of their mind that's saying, "What's this guy doing?" or "This isn't going to work," then I'm going to be anchoring that voice, too. And it will be no wonder if my anchoring doesn't work the way I want it to. That's why it's so important to use your sensory channels for feedback, so that you can make sure that the person is completely and congruently experiencing the 4–tuple that you want to anchor.

Timing is also really important. If you want to make a clean, solid association, you'll want to establish the anchor at a time when the person is really experiencing or reexperiencing the state you want to utilize. Essentially, you will want to anchor when the experience or memory is at its peak or highest intensity. This will make sure that you've got only the experience that you want … Any other questions? (No response.)

A: Okay … Now I'd like to demonstrate one way to use anchoring … Once I've got an experience anchored then I can always use that anchor to bring the experience into the ongoing situation as a resource. That is, I can bring that experience to bear on what's going on right now. I've got a way now to be able to access it as a resource for just about any situation I want … For example, Jan, what do you experience when I do this … (Squeezes left shoulder and right shoulder at the same time.)