What do a magician and a hypnotist have in common?
They both require a varied bag of tricks to be successful.
We
are not talking about a stage hypnotist who uses flamboyant devices to
entertain an audience. We are talking about the professional
hypnotherapist who must have multiple strategies in his or her
therapeutic bag to address the needs of different clients who present
with a variety of problems and issues.
For example, one strategy
would be to use maternalism (a rhythmic, lulling induction to coax
emotionally suggestible subjects into the hypnotic state) rather than
paternalism (an authoritarian technique for physically suggestible
subjects). Other strategies are the use of stories and metaphors rather
than direct suggestion, the use of parts therapy, regression and
visualization.
Neurolinguistic programming (NLP) offers an array
of useful techniques that a hypnotherapist may want to incorporate into
his or her practice. Of particular interest is the technique known as
anchoring. Anchoring is the process by which a memory or feeling is
linked to (anchored to) some activity. In therapeutic terms, an anchor
offers a simple way to create a stimulus-response pattern -- a trigger
-- that ignites a specific feeling in the subject and helps to support
a desired behavior. This trigger provides a bridge to take the client
from an undesirable state (e.g., anxiety) to a desirable state (e.g.,
feelings of confidence).
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Creating an anchor is a simple five-step process:
STEP 1
The
client first must identify what undesirable state is creating the
discomfort -- anxiety, fear, shyness, lack of confidence, et cetera.
STEP 2
The
client then determines what state s/he wants to experience instead. The
client MUST be specific about what outcome s/he wants to achieve. It is
not sufficient to say, "I don't want to be anxious anymore" or "I want
to be better". The desired positive outcome needs to be described in
specific terms. How does it FEEL? Rather than "I don't want to be
anxious anymore", the desired positive outcome becomes "I feel calm and
in control". Rather than "I want to be more confident", the client
chooses "to feel centered, balanced and powerful".
STEP 3
Once
the client identifies the desired outcome and states it in specific
terms, the next step is to remember a time when s/he actually felt or
experienced the desired state. The client should recall a time when
s/he FELT calm and peaceful, a time when s/he FELT centered and
balanced. The key is to relive an especially strong experience when
those feelings were full-blown and powerful.
The hypnotic state
is an ideal state in which to retrieve memories and re-experience
powerful feelings. While totally relaxed, the client can more easily
allow all the sights and smells and sounds to re-emerge. The more
senses that are involved -- visual, auditory, kinesthetic -- the more
vivid the experience will be and the more vivid the experience, the
more successful the anchoring process will be.
STEP 4
To
create an anchor that the client can use at will to ignite the desired
feeling, the hypnotherapist has the client re-live the powerful memory.
As the client re-experiences the situation, s/he will feel the desired
state build and build in intensity, then gradually subside. The key is
for the hypnotherapist to take advantage of the desired feeling at its
peak -- at the point just before the feeling begins to wane.
As
the desired feeling grows stronger, the hypnotherapist instructs the
client to make some unique hand gesture and has the client link that
gesture to a word or phrase and to a corresponding image. For example,
the hypnotherapist might instruct the client to press together the
thumb and middle finger of the left hand (touch) while mentally saying
the word "balance" (sound) and visualizing a person in a perfect yoga
pose (sight). The hypnotherapist allows the client to savor the desired
emotional state for a few moments. S/he then breaks the mood by
refocusing the client's attention on the hypnotist's voice.
STEP 5
As
the client continues to relax, the hypnotherapist again takes him or
her through the anchoring process -- the association of the desired
feeling with the hand gesture, the word or phrase and the visual image.
The client again recalls the strong memory that embodies the desired
feeling. As the feeling reaches its strongest point, the client makes
the hand gesture, says the keyword or phrase, and visualizes the
corresponding image -- all the while feeling the desired emotion.
Repeating
this process five or six times will cement the anchor and will allow
the client to trigger the desired emotion at will. Repetition "carves a
groove in the brain". The client now can easily retrieve the desired
emotional state simply by firing any of the triggers -- the hand
gesture, the word or phrase, the visual image.
Anchoring is a
simple, yet highly effective strategy that works almost like magic.
With this awesome tool, it may look to some people as though the
hypnotist is performing miracles. Indeed, the lines between magician
and hypnotist begin to blur.
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