How to Generate Any Feeling, Instantly
Glen / 
58 Comments / 
May 6th, 2009 / 
Subscribe via RSS
What would you say if I told you that there was a technique you could use to help you generate any feeling in a matter of seconds? What If I also said this only requires a simple exercise for a few days to be effective for weeks? Whether you think it’s possible or not, there is something you should try, and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it recently.
In my quest to help as many people as possible, I often try to learn new methods that I think may benefit individuals. For example, it wasn’t till I started writing this blog that I decided to try meditation, noticed its benefits and wrote a guide. The technique is actually something I have learned through studying NLP and is just one of the awesome ideas I’ve came across.
Neuro-Linguistic Programming
I won’t pretend to be an expert on a subject where I am not, but I have been studying NLP for over 6 months and find it completely fascinating. NLP stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming and my favourite definition for it is as follows:
NLP is a therapeutic technique to detect and reprogramme unconscious patterns of thought and behaviour in order to alter psychological responses. The basic principle of NLP is that it is in an individual’s power to change their own subconscious programming for the better.
NLP was introduced to the world by Richard Bandler and John Grinder who focused on behavioural modelling and continued to research and develop their process before they later parted ways. Richard Bandler is thought to be the main pioneer in NLP and coincidentally worked very closely with a man many of you may know, Paul McKenna – an ex client of mine – who now uses NLP on his clients and even on his TV shows.
NLP Anchoring
There is a technique in NLP known as anchoring which is basically a way of conditioning yourself to feel a certain way after performing a certain action. Imagine if you could develop an anchor that would give you massive amounts of confidence before an interview. Or, imagine if you could create an anchor that would flood you with a sense of peace for when you are dealing with difficult situations.
You no longer need to imagine, because it is entirely possible. Here’s how…
Creating an Anchor
An anchor is basically a ‘trigger’ (an action) that helps you feel a state that you have conditioned yourself to feel. There are only 4 steps involved in creating this anchor and they shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes:
1. Choose Your Desired Feeling – It is important that you choose an emotional state that you want to feel, not one that you want to avoid. For example you might pick confidence, positivity, relaxation or some other state.
2. Visualise that State in Detail – Now that you have chosen a feeling, you need to vividly remember a time when it was already present. For example if you chose confidence then picture a time when you were confident and vividly imagine that situation. What is around you? Are there any smells? What can you hear? Try to be as detailed as possible and feel your body through the visualisation.
3. Set an Anchor – When you are visualising and you get to that great state you wish to feel, you must perform an action that will help you trigger it in the future. You can pinch your ear, push certain fingers together with a slight bit of force or something else. Make sure that your action is not something you might do normally though, such as scratching your nose. As soon as you get near the ‘peak’ of the emotion you want to feel while visualising, perform whatever action you have picked for a few seconds.
For example: When I first tried this I pictured a time when I was in a nightclub and just felt amazingly confident. During my visualisation of this time, when I could feel the amazing state I grabbed my right ear for a few seconds.
4. Repeat the Process – I have found that this works better if I do it five times, for about 2-3 days. Some people state that you only need to do it on one day, but around ten times. It’s completely up to you, but I recommend repeating it for a couple of days so that the anchor can ’set’.
Each time you’ve visualised the situation and set your trigger, it’s important to try to get yourself in a completely different state before you set it again.
That’s it! You can literally do this in around 5 minutes so try it out and let me know in the comments below how you get on. Do this process for a day or two, and then at some random point in the next week perform your action (pull your ear, push certain fingers together) and notice how your body is flooded with the emotion that you had visualised.
If you would like to view a video version of this explanation, my friend Tim has a great video here.
If you enjoyed this post, I would appreciate if you share it on Twitter, Facebook or Delicious!
Interesting!
I don’t know much about NLP, but it seems like a practical form of conditioning. Is there any scientific research that investigates how well it works?
Strangely enough (I say strangely because their techniques work very well for me) scientific research doesn’t really back up many of their claims. At least, not according to Wikipedia.
I hope Tim who I linked to in the post can clarify.
Let me see
I’ve never even heard of NLP, but it sounds fascinating. It seems like good old fashioned conditioning blended with modern out of the box thought. Right on.
I’m surprised you’ve never heard of it Sean, I seem to see it everywhere these days. Thanks for the comment!
Great post! I’ve read some things about NLP but I think you’ve written a great, relatable summary here. It’s such an interesting topic and I think it’s great that you’ve introduced some people to it.
You’ve pretty much covered the bases, but there’s a couple of things to bear in mind Glen.
When setting the anchor, do so BEFORE it peaks. Otherwise there is a possibility of setting it on the way down. We can only hold that state for a short period of time and it’s better to set it rising than risk it falling and have a deflating feeling when you fire it.
Also you’re right that this will need to be done several times for most people. However, there must be a break state in between attempts. Think about something completely different for a few moments and start from scratch.
Setting anchors this way is artificially creating something that happens naturally in nature. Marketers and advertisers are constantly trying to set anchors for you that link certain sensations and desires to their products.
Everybody carries many anchors with them. Ever eaten a food stuff or maybe alcoholic beverage and got sick and then been unable to bear the thought of it? Would any particular smell take you back to a memory from childhood? What about hearing one noise that makes you think of something completely different? They are anchors.
@ Writer Day – LMAO, never heard of NLP. Check my tag cloud next time you’re over there
Hey Tim, thanks a lot for your comment.
Someone sent me a song yesterday by Corrine Bailey Ray and it instantly reminded me of work as they used to play her songs 24/7.
I had included one of the things you mention:
Thanks again. I’ve actually just received a book on NLP, although all the ones on Amazon tend to have bad reviews.
Hey Glen, good post! And good mini-post by Tim, too
I’ve been rather skeptical towards NLP – not for any specific reason, just for the sudden hype it is receiving, and the fact that neurological DIY has never worked for me. However, what Tim mentioned about getting sick from a certain food and not being able to bear the thought… oh yeah. Mozarella, mushrooms, sangria and walnuts, all in one night.
I will try this, though. And since I have a situation coming up in a few days where some confidence is required, I’ll let you know how it goes!
Awesome Mel, do let us know!
Hi Glen,
I had read up on NLP before and I really find it fascinating how we can actually use it to make positive changes into our life in a short period of time. I had even seen people applying NLP techniques to help them sell better. It seems that we can apply NLP to almost any area we want to improve in our life.
Cheers,
Vincent
My dad told me about it a couple of weeks ago, but I didn’t got interested in it. I thought it was all about thinking positive, which I already do and which works great for me.
But this is a completely different view on it! Creating anchors is a really nice thing to do, and it is something I will try.
If it works, I’ll let you know in a couple of days!
Stefan
I spent a lot of time (like a few years, that’s a lot of time in a teenager’s life) trying to master, and actually accomplishing it, my feelings and emotions. A couple of weeks ago a lot of stuff went on in my life that made seriously reconsider this attitude of mine.
I’ve always been a perfectionist and wanting to be perfect, specially emotionally and psychologically gave me more emotional and mental troubles than it solved. After getting them under control something was telling me that it was the wrong way of going. I was a slave of my obsession with control, being free to be pissed if I want is maybe what I prefer.
I’m really thinking a lot about that still and didn’t came to a solution, but maybe this comment will give you, Glen, and all the readers some food for thought. So, what’s better emotional balance or freedom to express YOUR truth?
Cheers.
I see anchoring as more useful for triggering states than emotions, but I guess it could work, I’m not sure whether I’d use it with someone who was depressed or in a constant state of emotional anxiousness. You’ve described this technique quite well here Glen. From experience I would most often use the above method in the following situations to trigger the following states:
Someone starts a golf game: “Can You Imagine … a time: You Got a Hole In One” then anchor that state. You can also use visual, sound, smell, and taste for anchors, not just tactile anchors BTW.
Someone goes out on a date and doesn’t feel confident at all: “Can You Imagine … a time: You Had a Date that went great and things turned out so well” and then anchor that etc.
BTW Glen I Know You’ve touched on The Sedona Method in the past. I just wanted to add that I think NLP + The Sedona Method together are the single most powerful set of tools a person could need for mastering their emotions.
Woah man:) You discovered NLP! I love it too, I spent a good couple months on it, and if you can do it expertly, there is no limit to how you can make people feel and how you can change situations.
It is insane how you can make people feel happy, change their beliefs or views about someone or something or even get them to like or dislike someone.
However, To some point I think it borders on being unethical, especially if you use it for self gain like Ross Jeffries Speed Seduction which is based on NLP.
Its a great self help, if you have a feeling or state you want to be able to create, make an nlp anchor with a certain song or squeeze your elbow, and everytime you do that action or hear the song you will relive that state!
I remember when I was learning this stuff, I made an anchor when I hooked up with the most gorgeous girl in my life by squeezing my left elbow, and now 2 years later when i do that its like i relive that night instantly…its pretty crazy:)
nice post dudio:)
Cheers!
@ Alex – I certainly agree you can use any represntational system to set an anchor and we carry lots of them around with us. I’m just struggling to think of a reason why it would be necessary unless you are trying to do it covertly ie a sales person clicking their pen to set an anchor. Are there specific situations where you use other senses with clients?
@ Diggy – Whoa there man. There certainly are limits to NLP. I use it every day and there are some situations that it’s useless for.
Ross Jeffries didn’t really use NLP either. He was more a hypno guy and mainly used hypnotic language patterns. Having said that, a lot of the other guys like Style, Mystery and David DeAngelo (Eban Pagan as he is now known) certainly did use NLP.
Hi Tim,
I can’t think of a specific one except that some clients don’t like being touched. Also, sometimes the anchor could become saturated — like anchoring a handshake seems kind of useless. But I don’t mean to state that I think the other senses serve as better anchors, I was just adding that it is possible to use them. For example if a person associates the color purple with power, then I think it’s a great idea to stack that as an anchor for their power state.
The original use of operant conditioning was based on a sound anchor, the main use of sound anchors I guess would work well for actual recorded CDs for night-time inductions. I think there are lot’s of applications. These kind of techniques are quite fun to experiment with.
Very cool!
I’ve been intrigued by NLP for a long time, this sounds like a great experiment to start with.
It really does make sense. Very often I notice a sudden, unrelated memory (and its associated emotion) pop into my head. Often I can identify that there was some trigger (i.e. an action I took, or a smell or sound) that brought it up out of nowhere.
NLP sounds like a way to cultivate that phenomenon.
Thanks Glen!
I’ve been learning more about NLP recently myself. I especially think it’s useful with positive self talk. Imagine being able to say all the right things to yourself – how great would that be?
That’s why I like the combination of NLP and meditation. If the NLP is working, your meditation will tell you since positive thoughts will be coming through. If not, you need a little more work.
Thanks for the post!
eeeew glen IS ross jeffries
solid stuff.
i’m more of a sedona cat than a nlp cat but the essence is the important thing. i think more than anything it’s a choice. decide to feel that and to not feel conflicting things.
glorious
alex
NLP is pseudoscience
The best thing to do with it is use it as an indicator of social ineptness, scientific illiteracy, and naive gullibility.
http://knol.google.com/k/joe-greenfield/neurolinguistic-programming/2j6nlcky7q5vo/2#
Simon
When I tell you to think of a pink elephant what comes to mind?
Have you actually tried this method here Simon? I’m guessing not. Either way, thanks for stopping by
You know I think this is the most biased article I have read in a while. Even though NLP might not be a science, anchoring (operant conditioning) is a scientific process. So it’s worth giving it a go even for someone who won’t attempt something unless it’s part of a science.
I just read the post he linked to Glen and it is absolutely hilarious. There are so many basic factual errors that it has zero credibility.
If that guy is reading this and he wants to set up an online head to head, let’s do it and you can act as mediator Glen.
He wont though because he hasn’t got a clue what he’s talking about.
Maybe we should do something without him and I’ll take questions?
You should do an eBook of the methods you use with clients Tim that people can possibly use on themselves.
I know I would buy a copy
The article I linked to above describes NLP as being promoted by people who display pseudoscientific thinking. You have just proven its point.
The research checks out just fine. Over 100 experts who teach psychology and neuroscience rated neurolinguistic programming as one of a top ten most discredited interventions.
Of course there are some things in neurolinguistic programming and scientology and energy therapies etc that have some validity. But any pseudoscientist can try to link their snakeoil with a valid method.
The difference between pseudoscience and valid undiscredited methods is that the pseudoscience is really obvious. If its called scientology or neurolinguistic programming, it sounds pseudoscientific. And the research shows that it is pseudoscientific.
NLP has failed the test, and got itself discredited. Continue to prove my point.
Simon
Any reason you skipped my question above?
@Simon
It comes down to what you’d settle for as “Expert”, you know when I originally got registered in NLP I was actually in a class with a Psychology Professor who, among other subjects, lectures in Neuroscience. I’ve also met quite a few people who do Psychology research and are quite involved with using NLP. I also know one Psychiatrist who uses NLP. Certainly there are experts who claim it’s a pseudoscience, but there are those who do use it within the mainstream behavioral sciences.
I guess the one piece of advice I’d give you (even though I realize you’re not asking for any) is to just give the technique a go like Glen said. You’re missing out on an awesome technique..
Ok I’ll bite on a few extracts although I doubt you have an open-mind enough to take any of it in.
The article kicks off saying ‘NLP was developed in Big Sur, California during the 1970s’
NLP was actually developed at Santa Cruz University (not far from Big Sur, but interesting that the author didn’t mention it was a University and Grinder was a Professor of Linguistics) although it wasn’t even called NLP then. NLP is purely an umbrella term. It was purely about linguistics and modeling the successful therapeutic work by Fritz Perls ( founder of Gestalt Therapy), Milton Erickson (Ericksonian hypnosis) and Virginia Satir (Family therapist).
BTW, those “wizards” are still seen as three of the greatest therapists of the 20th century by people that have nothing to do with NLP.
“As with Scientology, NLP uses the concept of going back in time to undo any claimed damage that has been done to the client”
As with psychiatry, counseling and psychotherapy too, do you mean?
“Mirroring, matching and pacing are also commonly taught as a way that is claimed to powerfully influence others in communication and to communicate with or program other people’s subconsious mind”
The first part has moved into proven science in the last 4 or 5 years. See work by Paul Eckman the worlds leading body language guy and who the series ‘Lie To Me’ was based on.
As for programming other peoples unconscious bit. Total bs, it has nothing to do with that.
“It is also claimed by NLP proponents that readings from eye movements can be used to influence, persuade, and change other people’s subconsious programs.”
Er, no it isn’t, or certainly not in anything I have ever read. Eye accessing cues have always known to be hit and miss. About 70% of the time they tend to be right, if and only if, proper calibration is done. See also Paul Eckman.
Can they guy not spell subconscious btw?
Take this statement “Try it for yourself”, is a common recruitment method used by many dubious and pseudoscientific groups.
That is a classic double bind. If they’d have said you can’t try it, it would have been A-ha! so you’re not prepared to let anybody try what you do upfront WTF??
By the way. Yes or no Simon, have you stopped abusing sheep yet?
“NLP is full of wild stories about practitioners curing phobias in under 10 minutes
Yep I’ve done that on at least 20 occasions and it’s a very common method used by hundreds of psychotherapists, althought it usually takes about 30 minutes to be fair. It’s called The Fast Phobia Cure if you’re interested in researching it.
“One example is taking a mental picture of the participant being insecure talking to a woman, then imagining a more confident situation, and substituting one image for the other whilst saying “sssswiiiiiiissshhhhh” in order to banish the negative feeling”
Lol, yes that is EXACTLY how you do the Swish pattern
“NLP modeling is a method that is promoted for duplicating behavior, expertise or excellence, or reproducing “magic” abilities of experts”
Bandler and Grinder actually did this with the 3 aforementioned therapists after hundreds of hours of studying how they operated and adopting their methods. Surely this makes sense even to the most jaundiced person? You copy what one person does as closely as possible and get the same or very similar results?
“Teaching housewives to beat martial artists just by slowing down their perception”
Never heard of anybody claiming to do that and it sure isn’t accepted mainstream NLP. Check some real NLP books if you like.
“Triggering photographic memory”
Not heard of that either
“Curing long sightedness and so on.”
What does and so on mean? Is that a scientific term I don’t understand?
As for the long-sightedness thing. I did see John Grinder demonstrate something similar although I have never heard of it being replicated. And again it isn’t really part of NLP. It was more to do with the persons belief system at the time and also trance states were involved in which case all bets are off.
The biggest group training in NLP at the moment other than sales is psychotherapists. I personally know 2 that have trained and a third that is looking to do so. NLP is used by Amex, Mercedes Benz and my old employer ADP the largest payroll company in the world.
A lot of the work like anchoring is used by advertising and marketers the world over and has been recently supported in books like “How We Decide” and “Predictably Unpredictable” that rely heavily on the latest MRI driven brain research.
The article is crap to use a technical term and I could have pulled out several more examples. You support it because your mind was made up before you read it and you missed all the horribly poor research, erroneous conclusion jumping and flat aout BS, because you wanted to miss it.
Again, if you are so convinced let’s chat online and put our asses on the line and you can tell the millions of people worldwide that have been helped by NLP that they’re mistaken and they haven’t really.
Nice work fella!
Great post and great video. NLP is one of those things I’ve been interested in, but haven’t taken a close look at yet. Anchoring looks like an incredibly useful technique, and I’ll definitely give it a try.
What I can never figure out is why some skeptics (about anything, not just NLP) seem so angry. If you’re skeptical, then be skeptical, or refuse to believe it. But why be so emotionally invested in disproving something you haven’t even tried? Why does it bother them so much?
This is incredible stuff Glen. I bought a book on NLP many, many years ago and ignored it. It is something I regret a great deal now. Thanks for sharing this incredible tip!
Note from Editor: The follow comment ignores all questions above and shows no evidence to back up claims. I’m all for open discussion, I’m just making this clear incase anyone happens to land on this comment and not read all the above.
If there is anything awsome about NLP, it is its potential as an example of an archetypical pseudoscience.
Neurolinguistic programming contains just about every every new age oversimplification of neuroscience known to L Ron Hubbard, it drives people up the wall looking for “phantom abilities” that have been found to be just soap flake window dressing, and it gets people to spread the most laughable platitudes about how we are supposed to function.
Seriously, NLP is excellent. If you show someone an acolyte NLPer, you will be giving them and example of the embodiment of ineptness and gullibility. You will be able to point out the most superficial and manipulative actions built and encouraged by other trailertrash scientologists (NLPers).
Neuro linguistic programming is as pseudoscientific as it sounds. It is appealing to people with tiny dicks, and they end up finding themselves with their pants down with Barbara Streisand in the background singing “On a clear day, I can see your penis”
NLP is for people with a relativistic mindset. They are in that adolescent stage of life where they feel that knowledge is all relative, and anyone’s view is just as valid as scientific evidence.
Grow up! The evidence shows that neurolinguistic programming was always laughably implausible, and the research conducted on it shows that it failed controled testing, and is now scientifically rated as one of a top ten discredited interventions.
There are plenty of excellent people around. They know the difference between reliable evidence and semi-literate second hand opinion. NLPers are either on the fringes of inept, heading towards the brink of stupidity, or they are moneygrabbing charlatans leading people to the brink of stupidity.
I am not interested in changing anyones beliefs here. If you believe in unlimited potential, alien abductions, crystal healing, homeopathy, or whatever, its your life.
But the message needs to be stated: The people selling neurolinguistic programming for money should be horsewhipped, tarred and feathered, and booted into the gutter with all the other charlatan carpetbaggers.
The rest of us can use them as examples of 70s throwback new age bullshitters to avoid.
Simon
I’ve been following this post and finding the emotional response quite interesting in comparison to the previous posts at PluginID, this topic seems to be somewhat controversial (not to say that this is a bad thing at all).
Interestingly, the argument that NLP has no scientific basis isn’t really as sound as it might seem on the surface, or as some people might propose. Even though this article refers to NLP anchoring, NLP anchoring is hardly much different to the use of anchoring in clinical hypnosis. In fact anchoring dates back to the foundations of psychology. So saying that anchoring has no scientific basis is a lot like saying that Modern Psychology is a fraudulent practice.
Clearly NLP has some areas that have almost no scientific backing, but anchoring is hardly one of them, as anyone who has seriously done their research would tell you.
Scientology (dianetics), neurolinguistic programming, primal scream therapy, voodoo, neoshamanism, urine therapy, out demons out, and a whole lot of other whackjobs with neuro on their obsessive minds do anchoring, goal setting and whatever else they can to promote their religion.
They are all pseudosciences teeming with moneygrabbing cranks and flakes who will fleece any credulous member of the public, or anyone desperate enough to spend their money on “feeling better for a while equals getting better”.
Its a crock. Neuro linguistic programming is as bullshit pseudoscientific as it sounds. Sane people can smell it coming, and science supports their doubts. It is an intervention to avoid. Its an indicator of gullibility and fraudulence.
Simon
I am sat waiting for my lunch in the Cheesecake Factory lmao! I’ve no idea when Simple Simon goes back to kindergarten but I hope his teachers have time for plenty of therapy. Glen please don’t delete his comments they are way too entertaining
Oh well, back to my Barbara Streisand poster
Tim, it sounds to me like Simon is using a strong aD representational system, what do you think? He seems to be avoiding establishing any rapport or engaging on an interpersonal level, which is the actual point of a “Comments” section. Ironically, NLP can help with that.
I’ve actually found NLP generates mixed feelings because a lot of it comes down to internal representations of what’s valid and what’s not. I think Glen alluded to a book called Psycho Cybernetics a few posts back, which actually underlines an important premise: from the viewpoint of the subconscious mind everything is equally valid. The conscious ego is of course a source of much dissonance between the two minds.
The difficult part of NLP (which isn’t really difficult at all once we get it) is the element of an unconscious mind and our culture’s unfamiliarity with it. That’s where I think a lot of the conflict lies..
I tried creating anchors several times a couple of years back when I first learned of them. They never really worked for some reason (maybe I chose a lame trigger).
I tried again about two months back, I anchored a feeling of energy and enthusiasm to clapping my hands together and saying “Yes!”. And hey, it works
Awesome Vlad, thanks for the successful example!
Note from Editor: The follow comment ONCE AGAIN ignores all questions above and shows no evidence to back up claims. I’m all for open discussion, I’m just making this clear incase anyone happens to land on this comment and not read all the above.
If you want to inspire, awaken, and motivate people, avoid the likes of neuro linguistic programming altogether
You can do those things without the bullshit
Firstly, the anchoring you are doing here is just a ritual. You can associate whatever you want whenever you want just by thinking about it.
Secondly, generating any feeling whenever you want is a pointless task. We feel things for a reason, get over it. If you want to feel pleasure, work at it, but don’t demand pleasure whenever you want it. Its a good way of becoming hopeless. NLP is one of those bullshit belief systems that promotes the idea that the bigger the belief – the bigger the success. Its crap. Beliefs and state have some influence, and the rest is your effort and use of strategy.
Representational systems? Vacuous nonsense! If you are using that term to sell bullshit, you will probably fool a few suckers. If you are just a follower, then try not to let it slip in public.
We have our senses, and they work a certain way. But assigning people particular senses is pretty much equal to assigning people points on an enneagram, or believing in astrology. Its both implausible, and it has FAILED proper testing. Lots of stuff passes, sense preferences and NLP have failed.
Go and read some proper books on applied psychology, try not to use the facts as a reason to follow the overinflated and disastrously misleading neurolinguistic programming, scientology, EFT, orgone therapies, or any other fancy nonsense sold in the tabloids.
@ Alex – I pulled out Predictably Irrational last night (apologies I called it Predictably Unpredictable above) to see where the research on anchoring had been done. Imagine my surprise when I saw it was the tin pot and discredited MIT. Now I realize what a fool I’ve been for believing it.
It’s really difficult to transfer scientific models in into therapeutic ones, and saying it’s really difficult is an understatement. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s actually impossible.
What is an anchor? Each one of us experiences a happy life or a miserable life based on what we anchor those terms to be unconsciously. You know if during childhood someone is telling you “You can’t do that, you’re bad at that, you should just quit” then that’s an anchor. Each time you go and do something in adult life you fall flat on your back, you can’t do it because you’re anchored to past negative experiences, they keep getting triggered by external situations.
Part of anchoring productive experiences like Glen has described really interplays with Reframing. Our entire world-view is really like a huge frame with loads of anchors to outer concepts.
I’m fine with debating the scientific validity of concepts like NLP, but if you tell someone who has actually had an NLP session that NLP is crap he will probably laugh in your face, because the most likely situation will be that NLP has changed that person’s life for the better. If you’ve done NLP with clients Tim then I’m sure you can really relate to this too.
The measure of a therapy is certainly not its scientific validity, and NLP/anchoring is actually all about “Plugging In To Your Identity”, which is why I’ll say that it’s a good thing that Glen doesn’t run a Scientific Review blog.. if he did then there might be something further to discuss in relation to the issues that Simon has brought up.
Simon, I recommend you read your email before continually trying to leave the same comment.
Hi,
I recently subscribed to this site, and I’ve found most of your articles here interesting. As I was reading the comments, I couldn’t help but notice the argument that’s broken out.
Although I don’t agree with the way Simon states his argument that NLP isn’t science, I agree with him. NLP isn’t actually considered scientific. The authors admit this, if I recall correctly.
Considering that you can try what Glen is talking about for yourself, at no cost, I see no reason to raise a fuss about it. I certainly do get mad when charlatans try to raise money with fraudulent means, but this doesn’t the case with our website’s author.
From Simon’s link, you can gather that the creators of NLP are spreading some falsehoods. That’s undeniable. Simon is right about the “Try it yourself” mantra as well — “Try it yourself” really means “(You have to buy my book to) Try it yourself”. Like most people, they want your money. I don’t necessarily have a problem with them wanting it, either — I just expect to get a worthwhile product in return.
I have heard some people having success with anchoring/NLP, but, as the saying goes: “The plural of anecdote isn’t data.” Determining whether it’s effective or not is something that should be done in a scientific test. Until then, it is wrong for anyone to sell NLP as though it’s a solution to anything.
But, at worst, Glen is wasting your time. I don’t believe it’s right to jump down his throat over it. I may even try anchoring myself. After all, it’s free. And if it doesn’t work, I can use that as further reason to dismiss NLP.
@ Stanley – A reasoned argument! Can I just say a couple of things that I think are relevant?
NLP is an umbrella term for a lot of techniques and processes. IMHO some are brilliant and some less so. It is effectively open source and as such is constantly being refined and improved upon.
As I said above, anchoring has recently been researched at MIT and found to be highly effective. Anchoring cannot not work, unless the subject fights it. Ask anybody that is really ill after drinking way too much tequila and can never face the drink again. That is an anchor.
A lot of what NLP has been saying about rapport building and body language has been confirmed by the work of Paul Eckman.
The problem arises a lot of the time when people focus on a more ‘out there’ technique and dismiss the linguistics and the power of belief systems, trance states etc which are at the core of NLP. I never ever use circle of excellence, logical levels, the TOTE model etc.
However, I use reframing on a daily basis and it is an incredibly powerful tool. Not only that, but it has been clinically proven again and again to be beneficial in a therapeutic environment. I also use submodalities which I have seen been highly effective with dozens and dozens of clients.
I get frustrated by some NLPers because quite frankly they have their head up their ass and they become evangelical. I once had a trainer that was always sick. I told her I didn’t think modeling could work 100%, that there would always be gaps in the knowledge (I still believe that btw) and she told me I was wrong. So I told her to Model a healthy person then. She was unimpressed.
There are NLPers that make outrageous claims, the same way as there are scientists that make outrageous claims. The difference is, with the latter nobody suggests all scientists are fraudulent because of it.
The article Simon linked to was outrageously inaccurate and there is a certain sense of irony with NLP being accused of being phoney by a journalist that is writing about a subject he doesn’t understand and using amateurish research designed to back up an already held opinion.
There is something in NLP called deletion, distortion and generalization. It’s something we all do on a daily basis. But this guy takes it to a whole new level. He deletes pertinent information about highly successful processes and doesn’t talk to any of the millions of people that have benefited from NLP. He distorts facts like NLP being developed in Big Sur. And he makes huge generalizations about tens of thousands of people that practice NLP in an ethical and professional manner.
Great read!
I think many people miss the point. Anything that helps us feel better is valid to me.. Even if it is just our mind.
I regularly use Holosync, which many claim to a scam. However I have PERSONALLY found it to benefit me greatly.
I think that is the most important thing Bud. Simon’s flawed argument forgets that I write about things that work for me. Lets say NLP does have no scientific or factual backing (which is incorrect) – this works for me so why would I stop using it due to lack of evidence?
Thanks for the great comment, I’ll have to look up Holosync
I liked your explanation for NLP.
Very informative and prescriptive. And brief.
I heard of it many times and tried to read about it, but in most of cases the explanations were very blur so I left it alone.
Reading this one helped me understand it very clear, what’s left now is practicing this the way you explain in steps 1,2,3,4
thank you.
So this anchoring thing can get rid of the lack of confidence anchor I have had hanging around my neck in many situations in my life.
Really cool,
Rick Kern
Wow, this is great information. I will definately have to try this!! Thanks for sharing!
I am pinching my ear. I really like the explanation on how NLP works. I have always had a simple trick to calm my allergies. I would go into the bathroom, and turn on the cold water, fill my hands with water and soak my face in the cold water. This always brings relief.
Maybe this was my own use of NLP without knowing it.
Thank you for the great train of thoughts you just threw at me.
Rick
I have read a little bit about NLP but I have never had it explained so simply. I can understand how it should work.
Nick
Great explanation of NLP. I will touch my ear lobe and remember snowboarding down the waterfall in Canada in bottomless powder. Wow the run down was awesome.
Samm
This is working dudie!
All this bloody NLP talk…
I’m still trying to get my head around it.
Pointless trying to change Simon’s view, or help him see it another way, whatever. Let him be I say.
Nice blog, will be back for more and congrats on a good year.
Rob
This is the best example of how to use NLP.
Thank you,
Rick