Test! Test this with a friend. Ask hir to remember a time when shi was happy. Use everything you have to get hir back to that state. Note hir body, how it is positioned, any non-symmetries, how it moves, and its overall shape. Now, ask hir to go back to a time when she wasn't enjoy hirself. Just a little problem. Note hir body again. Note carefully the differences. Finally, ask hir to change hir body back to where it was when shi remembered hir happy memory, whilst thinking of the second memory. Do this by explicitly saying where to put hir limbs, how to hold hirself (e.g. is shi bent over, or standing straight?) and anything else you need to get hir back to that first position. Notice any changes. Ask hir how she felt whilst doing the exercise.

Test! Now, you can actually start to make certain states more memorable. Get happy. Do whatever it takes. Read some jokes. Kiss. Remember a particular happy time, and use your submodalities to crank up the experience. Go and have a good time with friends. When you think it's as good as it can get, squeeze your first finger into the fleshy base of your thumb. As soon as you're note enjoying yourself as much as before, relax the pressure. There should be a direct relationship between how happy you are and the pressure of your finger. Do this a number of times. Then, break state -- shake yourself down, clap, take a deep breath and think about something irrelevant. Perhaps what the weather's been like, or what you're going to wear tomorrow, or what you'll have, or have had, for lunch today.

Deliberately setting up an anchor is called 'anchoring', and generating the state from the anchor is called 'firing it off'.

So, fire off your anchor! Press your finger back into the same position, and see what happens. Be aware of any changes in your state. If the reaction is not as strong as you'd hope, go back and make sure the experiences that you 'anchor' are really good ones. I mean, really good ones. You can remember times past or times that haven't happen yet. Or you can go and enjoy them for the first time. Use everything you've learnt to feel good and store that feeling.

This is just one anchor that you're applying to yourself. Anchors can be seen or heard instead of felt. And they are very commonly applied to others rather than yourself. They are used throughout conversations as markers of experience.

Test! Watch a conversation and note connections between hand and head movements and body positions, and the states of the people involved in the conversation.

Test! When talking in a non-critical situation, having got the person you're talking to into a certain state, anchor it. You could touch them on the arm, or just raise a finger, or make some other action. Or you could use a certain tonality or a particular phrase. Allow the conversation to flow onwards, and when you're talking about something else and your friend is in a different state, fire off the anchor.

InnerBalloons

Last updated: 15 October 1997