How to ANCHOR Resourceful States

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In this article you will learn a basic form of NLP‘s most powerful and versatile techniques – Anchoring. The form of Anchoring technique that I’ll provide you with is one where you will be able get yourself into a feel good or high performance state anywhere, anytime.

NLP Anchoring techniques are probably the most powerful set of tools in the coaching and therapeutic repertoire. They are “handles” that allow one to capture, stabilize and reproduce a particular state. Anchors enable the coaches and therapist to work in the here and now, as opposed to talking about experiences or using regression, which may lead to insight, but not actual change. In general, Anchoring is used to help people restructure their internal experience.

Watch a video of Jevon teaching Anchoring at a live training

Here’s a basic self Anchoring technique:

  1. Think about which state you’d like to experience (in a specific context.
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  2. Shift your body posture and breathing rate to match that desired state.
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  3. Remember a time when you felt that desired state before.
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  4. Associate into that memory. See, hear, smell, taste and feel what it’s like to be there now.
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  5. At the peak of that state grab your thumb in a unique way, and hold it for two seconds – while experiencing the peak of that state.
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  6. Repeat steps 3-5 three times, using a different memory of the desired state each time.
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  7. Then, whenever you want to feel that desired state, grab your thumb – in precisely the same way as you did in step five, and you should feel that desired state arise.

Through using the above 7 steps, you can establish a confidence Anchor for when you need to perform a challenging task, or a good mood Anchor for when you feel down, or a relaxation Anchor to counter stress, etc.

It’s important to recharge your resource state Anchor if you use it often, otherwise it runs flat like a battery. Recharging Anchors works well when you find yourself spontaneously in an appropriate resource state. All you do is grab your thumb (or replicate whichever stimulus you’ve set up) in precisely the same way as you did before, and only while experiencing the peak of that spontaneously accessed resource state.

The more precise you are with Anchoring, the better it works.

And Anchoring works wonders, so have fun with it.

Written by Jevon Dangeli – NLP Trainer & Coach, MSc Transpersonal Psychology

Watch a video of Jevon teaching Anchoring at a live training