Neuro Linguistic Programming is becoming more and more popular every day. NLP techniques are used in various areas of life and help people achieve results, deal with negative emotions and get to know themselves better. One of the methods of NLP is the setting of psychological anchors. Few people know that this technique is used not only by psychologists. Anyone can learn how to use it in those moments when you want to get the necessary state: confidence, love, happiness, and more. Below we will analyze this technique in more detail.
What is NLP
In the 60s of the last century, a group of scientists from America became interested in the methods of work of psychotherapists with patients. It was not clear to them why some psychoanalysts are more successful in helping people than others. Having studied a large number of works of psychologists, scientistsgrouped methods and techniques according to their effectiveness. Thus, the first NLP models of interpersonal relationships and the influence of people on each other appeared.
The works of famous specialists were chosen as the basis of neurolinguistic programming: Virginia Satir - family psychology, Fritz Perls - gest alt therapy and Milton Erickson - hypnosis.
NLP tries to teach a person to interact effectively with himself and with other people, just as experienced psychiatrists do. Thanks to these techniques, you can:
- improve communication skills;
- learn to understand your emotions;
- perceive the world differently;
- make your behavior more flexible;
- get rid of phobias and psychological trauma.
What is anchoring in NLP
A psychological anchor in NLP is any action that a person associates with certain emotions. It can be a sound, an image, a touch, a taste, or something else that is identified with some state or event and causes a certain reaction.
An example of a psychological anchor would be the music that played on the first date, hearing it, you can mentally go back to that day and experience the same emotions. The melody in this case is an anchor that starts a chain of reactions.
You could say that an anchor is a signal that causes the brain to reproduce the emotions associated with it.
Unconscious Anchors
Every thought of a person is always accompanied byemotional background, which, in turn, causes physiological changes. This may increase or, conversely, slow down the metabolism, heartbeat, breathing. There may be a release of hormones into the body, involuntary muscle tension or relaxation, and other reactions. This suggests that any event causes not only a psychological response, but also a physical one.
Therefore, when a person thinks about something or experiences certain emotions, changes in the physical state occur in his body. If the thoughts are positive, you can observe a surge of energy, increased muscle tone and increased activity. With negative thoughts, there is a breakdown and apathy.
Everyone has had it so that at some point the mood suddenly worsened for no apparent reason. Most likely, at this moment the negative psychological anchor of the person worked. It was associated with some event in the past. Seeing, hearing or feeling something that was connected with that time, the brain reacted to the signal. Although at the time of the event, the person did not realize that he had anchored an unpleasant state. And now, at the moment of receiving the signal, unconsciously reacts to it.
In order to place a psychological anchor, it is not necessary to consciously want it. For example, the situation with the melody from the first date indicates an involuntary transfer of the feelings experienced at that moment to the music. Unconscious anchoring occurs in two ways:
- Frequent repetition. It's like what Pavlov called a reflex.
- Strong emotional experience. The stronger it is, the faster the reaction is fixed. For example, in school time, information that was interesting was remembered faster. It is the same with emotions: the stronger they are, the faster the anchor appears.
Conscious Anchors
Understanding how it works, you can consciously fix and induce the necessary emotional states in yourself. The question arises: why is this necessary? The fact is that psychological anchors serve as triggers for the internal resources of the human body. For example, in a difficult situation, when one feels a decline in strength and energy and bad thoughts overcome, launching a positive anchor can help change emotions and get out of this state. After all, many people know how difficult it is to get away from bad thoughts and switch to something good.
Anchor can give strength, improve mood, restore fading interest, increase self-confidence and cope with a phobia.
What are anchors
Psychologists distinguish several types of anchors:
- Visual. Here the signal is the image. For example, every time you put on a spectacular outfit, you need to hug and kiss a man. After a while, he will develop positive emotions associated with this clothing, and at the sight of it, a desire will appear to fulfill the woman's request. This example can be classified as psychological anchors for men, which are successfully used by females.
- Audial. Such an anchor is associated with sound, mainly with a melody. It can be used during a romantic date by placingoriginal musical accompaniment. In this case, the pleasant state of falling in love will anchor on the music and will be constantly remembered when listening to it.
- Kinestatic. Here, any touch serves as a stimulus. At the moment of a strong emotional experience, it is necessary to touch any part of the body, for example, pinch your earlobe or grab your wrist, the place itself does not matter. The next time, when repeating this action, the experienced emotion will arise again.
- Olfactory. These are very powerful emotional signals. Such a psychological anchor for a man can be made if, for example, the same fragrance is used in bed. This scent will set you in the right mood.
Psychological Anchor Method - First Stage
- It is necessary to determine the situation for which an additional resource is needed.
- Understand what kind of emotion you need. For example, when taking an exam, you want to feel more confident.
- In order to make sure that this particular resource is needed, you need to ask yourself the question: "If I had this emotion, would I definitely use it?". If the answer is positive, you can proceed to the next item.
- Try to remember the situation in which this feeling was vividly experienced.
Rehearsal
- Determine what kind of psychological anchors will be used to induce this state in the future. It can be one view or several at once: an image, a melody and a touch. Most oftena kinestatic anchor is used, because it can be easily repeated in any situation, and by doing it imperceptibly. But the strongest anchors tend to involve several types at once: sound supported by visual imagery and movement.
- The selected signal must be repeated several times in order to develop a skill. The thing is that the anchor will work if it is repeated exactly as it was the first time.
Installation
- After rehearsing the anchor, you need to enter the very state that you need to get. To do this, you need to go to another place and remember the situation in which the desired emotion manifested itself most clearly. For example, in the case of confidence, you need to remember an event in which you felt complete self-confidence, and feel it as strongly as possible. Remember all the details of the event, what were the sounds at that moment, who was nearby and how it manifested itself in the body. Emotions must completely fill the mind.
- At the moment when memories are at their peak, you need to put a rehearsed anchor. It is necessary to stay in this state for a certain amount of time, and then smoothly exit it.
- After that, you need to check if the emotion has anchored. To do this, the signal is played again, and if the desired state is not felt, you must return to the previous paragraph.
- After successful installation, you can conduct a final check. To do this, you need to imagine the moment when the situation is approaching in which you want to applyanchor. For example, before the exam, anxiety begins to increase, the heart beats more strongly, perspiration appears. It is necessary to feel this standing, immerse yourself in it, and then use the established anchor.
How to get rid of psychological anchors
Sometimes you need to get rid of the anchor. After all, it may not always be positive. Unconsciously, you can set inappropriate, harmful and unnecessary signals. For such situations, there is a method by which you can erase unnecessary anchors. You can use it in situations like the following:
- when I see my boss, I get irritated;
- this place makes me sad because of the negative memories associated with it;
- hearing this song brings tears to my eyes.
This method copes well with such reactions: longing, anger, irritation or apathy.
Anchor Collapse Technique
- It is necessary to determine the anchor that you want to get rid of. This may be some kind of situation during which the unwanted reaction is repeated.
- Remember backlash situation and anchor.
- The situation with the resource state is remembered and also anchors, but in a different place. Alternatively, you can clench your fist with one hand for the first state, and clench your fist with the other hand for the second.
- Two anchors are launched simultaneously and held for at least one minute. For example, both fists are clenched.
- Imagine after a while the situation, the reaction toyou don't like and test how it feels now.
- If emotions also arise, repeat steps two and three.
- Then you can check the anchor for environmental friendliness. To do this, you need to ask yourself the question: "Can these changes harm me?".
- If the answer is yes, you need to return to the third paragraph and add the desired emotions.
Relationship Help
Many women are interested in the question of how to anchor a man psychologically. The simplest way is a kinestatic signal, or touch at the right moment. The speed of setting such an anchor depends on how strong emotional experiences the partner will experience at that moment. Therefore, you need to be patient and not worry about the fact that the technique did not work the first time.
- The first step. It is necessary to choose the moment when a man is in a great mood or he is in the right emotion.
- Second step. You need to accidentally touch a pre-selected place, for example, cover his palm with your own or grab his wrist. To enhance the effect, you can whisper something pleasant in your partner's ear.
- Third step. Now you need to repeat this process several times, but always at the moment when the man is in the right emotional state.
- The fourth step. After some time, the state will anchor, and you can successfully return the partner to the desired state when required.
Knowing how to put psychological anchors,you can easily and simply improve the quality of your life. After all, now you can successfully deal with negative conditions. The main rule is to observe always and in all measure, and not to use these techniques to harm another person.
