What are Mind Programming Techniques?
Programming Techniques are special visualization and suggestion strategies that have been proven to be especially effective for specific purposes.
Most human problems are shared by a large percentage of the population. Many people bite their nails, have bad posture, have relationship problems, hate their supervisors, eat when they are not hungry, etc. Mental Programming Techniques have been developed to deal with these common problems. Most uncommon problems, however, can be adapted to one or more of these techniques. Some of these techniques, like "Swish", are particularly useful and can be adapted to almost every situation.
Note: Mind Programming Techniques are meant to be used with Alpha Programming sessions, where you do not have a recording that loop. Using these techniques with Theta sessions will probably just work to bring you back up to Alpha or Beta.
Mind Programming Techniques are:
• The "Swish" Pattern
• Anchors / Triggers
• Using Color, Intensity & Position
• Using Objects & Symbolism
• Event Programming
• Modeling & Roles
• Your Mental Movie Projector
• Your Mental Workshop
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
MIND PROGRAMING
What are Mind Programming Techniques?
Programming Techniques are special visualization and suggestion strategies that have been proven to be especially effective for specific purposes.
Most human problems are shared by a large percentage of the population. Many people bite their nails, have bad posture, have relationship problems, hate their supervisors, eat when they are not hungry, etc. Mental Programming Techniques have been developed to deal with these common problems. Most uncommon problems, however, can be adapted to one or more of these techniques. Some of these techniques, like "Swish", are particularly useful and can be adapted to almost every situation.
Note: Mind Programming Techniques are meant to be used with Alpha Programming sessions, where you do not have a recording that loop. Using these techniques with Theta sessions will probably just work to bring you back up to Alpha or Beta.
Index:
• The "Swish" Pattern
• Anchors / Triggers
• Using Color, Intensity & Position
• Using Objects & Symbolism
• Event Programming
• Modeling & Roles
• Your Mental Movie Projector
• Your Mental Workshop
The "Swish" Pattern
Next This technique was developed by Richard Bandler, one of the creators of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). It is a proven and widely used method of changing a behavior; to take an undesired thought and make it trigger something pleasant.
The key to using the Swish technique is speed and intensity. Once you have the necessary images in your mind, you must "Swish" them very quickly, but the intensity of the conflicting images must be present. Also, you must repeat the actual Swish process (Step 4) until it is sufficiently coded into memory (usually 10 or more repetitions).
• Step 1
Pick something unpleasant. It could be a memory, a mental state, something you might expect to happen, anything. Pick something that you want your mind to react positively to. Visualize it in full detail. Don't leave anything out. Try to feel everything associated with your selection; all the emotions, environmental variables and body sensations. Do this once, before proceeding. Just keep the intensity of the visualization in the back of your head for use in later steps.
• Step 2
Pick something pleasant. It could be a memory of your significant other or simply an image that makes you very happy. A memory is typically more powerful, though. Just make sure it is something that is very familiar to you and something makes you intensely happy. Visualize this as you did in step 1.
• Step 3
Create 2 frames. Put the unpleasant memory in one frame and the pleasant memory in the other. Make the pleasant frame much smaller and put it in the corner of your mental "field of vision" for now. Make the unpleasant frame big and bright.
• Step 4
Now "Swish" the two frames. Very quickly, cause the smaller, pleasant frame to become larger than the unpleasant one. Make sure to feel the intensity of the new image over the old. At the same time, make the unpleasant frame become smaller and dimmer. In the instant this occurs, enthusiastically say "Swish!" to yourself, or, if you are good at audio visualization, actually hear a swish-like sound as the frames switch places.
• Step 5
Repeat Step 4 as much as time permits or until you know that it has worked.
• Step 6 - Test it
If you used the Swish technique correctly then thinking of the old, unpleasant image should instantly trigger the new, pleasant one. Thus the unpleasant situation triggers a positive, pleasant response!
Examples Of Classic Swish
Problem Swish Protocol
Bad Memory Visualize the bad memory in the big frame. "Swish" into a memory of something that makes you happy. Dim and shrink the bad memory frame while increasing and brightening the new, good frame.
Hearing people chew with their mouth open is infuriating Imagine hearing the sound (and seeing it as well, if that bothers you). Make sure you feel the aggravation you normally would upon witnessing it in reality. Now, as above, pick any happy memory. Make this one particularly relaxing, because that will be particularly contrary to the old memory, which is very arousing, but in a bad way. Swish the two frames and repeat until a test of the unpleasant memory elicits the new, happy reaction. After that, you will actually enjoy the sound of people chewing with their mouth open.
Intimidated by boss Visualize your boss in front of you or passing you in the hall. Feel the intimidation and the knot in your stomach. Now "Swish" that image with another one that is relaxed and happy, one that makes you feel confident and in control. Do this as many times as possible and make sure it is quite vivid.
Examples Of Adapted Swish
Here are some examples of Swish being adapted to other types of mental programming, such as habit control and healing.
Problem Swish Protocol
Smoking Habit Control using the Swish method can be done by identifying what is done just before the undesired behavior is acted upon. In the case of smoking, it would probably be you reaching for a cigarette. Make that the first, unpleasant image frame. Make sure you internally feel the craving as you would if you actually were reaching for a cigarette. Now the next (desired) image frame should be of you retracting your hand. Make something about the second frame pleasant. Feel satisfied.
Now Swish the two image frames and repeat until the two are one. In this way, the first act (reaching for a cigarette) elicits the second act, which is to pull your hand away and feel happy and satisfied about it. So in effect your desire to light up a cigarette will extinguish itself.
Injury See yourself about to go to bed, looking at your wound. That is the unpleasant, first frame. Now picture yourself waking up, looking at your wound and seeing that it is completely healed.
Swish the two images and repeat until even thinking about the wound gives you a happy picture of it fully healed. This will trigger accelerated healing while you are sleeping. All you have to do is remember to look at your wound in the same way you imagined it. By using sleep as an intermediate, it allows the technique to not be contradicted right after triggering the response. Remember that the second response is automatic, so don't bother looking over your wound in the morning for the purposes of consistency. Just remember to trigger the response every night before bed until the wound is healed.
Anchors / Triggers
What is an Anchor/Trigger?
Anchors and Triggers are essentially small, very specific mental programs meant to serve a very specific purpose; to evoke a mental response immediately after the introduction of a stimulus. The stimulus could be anything from a snap of your fingers to the opening of a car door. The purpose of an Anchor/Trigger could also be almost anything, as long as it is very specific. It could be to put you into an energetic mental state or to stop a food craving in its tracks. Whatever the purpose, Anchors and Triggers are very useful mental tools, used extensively by hypnotists and hypnotherapists, as well as NLP practitioners.
For the purposes of these documents, Anchors and Triggers mean slightly different things.
Anchors
An Anchor is a stimulus/response mechanism that is meant to put you into a certain mental state. For example, the mental state could induce more Theta waves, allowing you easier access to your memory or accelerated learning abilities. The mental state could also be calming, meant to sedate you in times of stress.
Creating Anchors involves first getting into the mental state that you wish to reproduce at a later time. When you have reached the peak of your mental state, create your Anchor by introducing the stimulus, which can be anything you want (a mental image, your index finger touching your knuckle, etc). Creating an Anchor is as simple as introducing the specific stimulus at the time of your desired mental state. Repeat the stimulus over and over, crossing multiple programming sessions if you have to, until the Anchor is properly coded. (Scroll to the bottom to get more information on creating Anchors/Triggers)
Research has proven that Anchors are more effective when used with more than one Sensory Modality. So your Anchor could involve touching your middle finger to your palm, seeing the certain mental picture, or an auto-suggestion of some kind.
If you decide to only use one modality for your anchor we strongly recommend that you use your Primary Sensory Modality. Other Mind Programming methods suggest using only Kinesthetic anchors, such as touching specific fingers together. Although this is effective, it is far more effective to find out what your primary sensory modality is and choose an Anchor that fits the modality. If your primary modality is visual, you should use mental imagery. If your primary modality is auditory, you should use phrases and rhymes to evoke responses. If it is kinesthetic, the most common Anchor stimuli involves the hands in some way. Touching two fingers and your thumb together, touching your index knuckle with your thumb, etc. The trick is to use an Anchor that is easy to execute, to remember and to use without drawing attention to yourself.
Your Anchor stimulus should not be a common gesture or a stimulus that could occur at random times throughout the day, like a handshake or a phrase you repeat to yourself often. Such Anchors will quickly wear off because of their frequent use in non-specific situations. Also, you should try to make a different Anchor stimulus for each Anchor. Some methods use one universal Anchor for everything, but that can become very confusing and ends up diluting the overall effect of the Anchor. Be creative and try to think of many different ways to evoke Anchors using a variety of stimuli.
Anchors are more effective if you know what situation you will be in when you plan to use the Anchor. If you plan to use a calming-state Anchor when in the presence of your supervisor, imagine your supervisor as you create the Anchor. For example, first you would picture yourself at work, then you would probably be in front of your supervisor. At that point, freeze your mental movie and make sure you are at the peak of the desired mental state before programming the Anchor.
Triggers
Triggers differ from Anchors in that the stimulus usually comes from an unconscious, unintentional or external source. Say, for example, you have a road rage problem. You could create a Trigger that is meant to execute upon the opening of your car door, or the vibrations from the engine starting, or seeing someone tailgating you in your rear view mirror.
However, Trigger stimuli do not always come from outside sources. Consider the frequent panic attack victim. That person could put a Trigger in place to evoke a desired reaction when feeling the panic attack is about to start. In this case, extreme calm and relaxation would probably be appropriate.
Additionally, triggers may serve as reminders. You could set up a Trigger that reminds you to stop on the way home to fetch some groceries for dinner.
Triggers may be created in the same manner as Anchors, or you can simply use suggestions such as "Upon seeing the grocery store I am reminded to stop and get groceries for dinner." Using an Anchor-like approach, you could imagine yourself near the grocery store and then abruptly hearing the words "You need to buy eggs and bread for dinner." (Scroll down for more information on creating Anchors/Triggers)
Anchor/Trigger Guidelines
1) Give it a minute
As mentioned at the bottom of the Programming Guide, it is very important not to ask yourself "Did it work?" immediately after using an Anchor or Trigger. Give it a minute, relax, let the program execute. After you develop a sense of confidence for this technology, Mental Programs will execute faster and be more powerful.
2) For tactile anchors/triggers, use your non-dominant arm
For reasons not quite understood, it is more effective to use your non-dominant arm (and hand) for Kinesthetic anchors and triggers. It is also usually more convenient, considering you could write or gesture with your dominant hand and induce a mental state at the same time with the other hand.
3) Pick a stimulus that is related to the Mental State
When choosing an appropriate Anchor stimulus, try to think of something that is appropriate for the situation. For example, if you create an Anchor for concentration and focus, you could pick the mental image of a Pencil or pile of books and for an audio stimulus you could choose to say "I am as sharp and focused as a needle."
How To Create Anchors / Triggers
The trick to successfully creating an Anchor/Trigger is vividness and repetition. The desired mental state or physical situation must be vivid at the time of Anchor/Trigger creation.
In order to create a Mental State or situation, you should first be near the brink of sleep or at least deeply relaxed. From that drowsy platform, you can create nearly any state or situation you want. Remember, dreams and visualizations can be very real. Your task, in creating an Anchor or Trigger, is to create a dream that is intensely real. When the dream has reached its peak, introduce a stimulus of your choice. Keep repeating the stimulus until you are sure that the Mental State or situation is clearly associated with it.
If you choose the act of crossing two of your fingers as an Anchor, you would need to keep crossing your fingers, dozens of times, while at the peak of your desired Mental State. When doing that, you could be imagining a mental picture and hearing a specific sentence. All of these things would form a perfect Anchor, but only if your Mental State is vivid and the stimuli is repeated as many times as necessary.
Examples Of Sensory-based Anchors
Note: These are just examples. Use your best judgment. All Mind Programming should personally fit you.
Desired Mental State Anchor Protocol
Relaxation Imagine yourself at your favorite relaxation spot. This is most likely your bed or couch. Imagine yourself there. Relaxation is an easy thing to Anchor, especially with the Neuro-Programmer, since nearly all the Sessions profoundly relax the user.
(Visual) You imagine your couch and/or bed.
(Auditory) You [mentally] hear words, softly spoken: "You are floating. You are relaxed." Alternatively, you could speak any Auditory Anchor to yourself.
(Kinesthetic) You tilt your head slightly to the right.
Pride / Self-Love Try to recreate your proudest moment. Make sure you have the situation fully mapped out in your brain. Make sure it is vivid and that you actually feel the pride and all-encompassing self-love that comes with the situation.
(Visual) Imagine a piece of furniture or some other prop in the above situation. Anything to remind you of that situation.
(Auditory) You hear words, softly spoken: "I am amazing."
(Kinesthetic) You touch your middle finger to your palm.
Aggressiveness Imagine or remember yourself being very aggressive, in a number of appropriate situations. Get yourself to a state where you feel you can do anything. Cause yourself to feel aggressive, whether you are timid by nature or not.
(Visual) Imagine a car engine revving.
(Auditory) You hear word "Yes!" aggressively spoken:
(Kinesthetic) You cross two of your toes.
Using Color, Intensity & Position
The way the brain processes information is strongly tied to color, intensity, position, and a host of other sub-modalities. For example, experiences that are intriguing to us tend to be remembered in finer detail. The colors are brighter, more vibrant. The mental "image" is larger and directly in front of our inner eye's field of vision, while a memory less intriguing may would be smaller, dimmer and perhaps off to the side. Think of someone you find intensely attractive and interesting. While thinking about him or her, note the details of your mental image. Now put that image aside and think of someone you rarely think about, someone you barely even notice. Notice that the mental image will be fuzzier, out of focus, off to the side, less vibrant and smaller.
If you want to take the "bite" out of a bad memory, a great strategy is to unfocus your mental image of it, dim its color or change it to black and white, and decrease its size. Conversely, a great way to motivate yourself to a task is to think of yourself doing the task, and the end result, while increasing the color, brightness and size of the mental image.
Special Uses of Color
Colors have numerous emotional reactions virtually hard wired into your brain. As you may guess, Red is most often associated with power, excitement, authority and that which is forbidden, but is also the universal color of sexual attraction. Blue is a soothing color, while green is natural. White is a clean, angelic color.
You can use colors to your advantage while mental programming. Try framing all of your mental images in different colors to suite your goals. For example, you could also use red to reinvigorate a youthful sexual attraction to your spouse. Picture your spouse framed in red, with red lips and red clothing. On the other hand, you could use the color black to reduce your attraction to someone. Think of someone you are very attracted to and paint their lips black. Note the reaction.
Of course, emotional reaction to color may be different between individuals. Experiment to find how your emotions are associated with various colors.
Special Uses of Position
The position of a mental object in your inner eye's field of vision can have a huge impact on your perception of it. For instance, your left field of vision is processed by the right (emotional) side of your brain, while the right field is processed by the left (logical) brain hemisphere. So, if you take a painful memory and move it to your right, your emotional reaction to it may be dramatically reduced. Conversely, if you want to empathize with someone, you try moving your memory of them to your left field of vision, where it will be processed by your right, emotional, brain.
Additionally, your visualization of a mental object (or memory) may be nearer or farther away from you based on the age of the memory (older memories may seem "farther away" or behind you, for example) or the mental priority the visualization holds (visualizing someone you are very attracted to may seem very close, while visualizing someone you are ambiguous about may seem farther away and off to the side). Changing the position of a mental object can have a huge impact on how you perceive it.
Using Objects & Symbolism
Introduction
The mind loves objects, symbols and metaphor. The human brain is built from the ground up to recognize patterns and associate ideas. This fact can be used to our advantage while mental programming. It can be much easier to work with a single mental object, associated with a mental function or goal, as opposed to working with a scene or abstract emotional state.
The mind can objectify and symbolize nearly anything, from sickness to emotions to the subconscious mind itself. You are also not limited as to what object you choose. It can even be a living thing. For example, you could symbolize your fear as a cockroach, and then proceed to squish it. Or you could associate something edible. For instance, you could mentally symbolize confidence with a magic red apple. You could then imagine yourself eating this apple, endowing your body with all confidence you will ever need.
Objectifying Emotions & Feelings
Next These are some examples of mental "objects' being used to help release negative emotions.
Analysis
Identify an emotion, or a feeling, you wish to desensitize yourself to. Ask yourself a number of questions.
1) If the emotion/feeling were an object, what would it feel like to touch it?
2) If the emotion/feeling were an object, what would it look like?
3) If the object had a taste, what would it taste like?
4) If you shook the object, what would it sound like?
5) How big is the object?
6) What could this object fit inside? A landfill? A small box?
With each question, take a moment to develop the associative object in your mind. After the last step, you may actually put your newly created "object" into the container chosen in step 6. A real-life example was given by a young man who was trying to rid himself of anxiety and nervousness, which came in the form of a constant knot in his stomach. Upon visualizing, the feeling looked to him like a fish, constantly wriggling inside his stomach. So he took the fish, analyzed it and put it in a box, which he locked a moment later. He said it completely rid him of the pain, and it did not return for days after only a single session.
Kites
Picture yourself holding on to a number of kites on a very windy day. Each kite represents a negative emotion/feeling, or part of a whole. One at a time, release the kites. With each release feel and know that the associated emotion/feeling is now gone.
Feather
Similarly, you could see your emotion as a feather. Simply throw it into the air on a windy day and watch it blow away, never to be seen again.
Smashing Orbs
Your mind, oddly enough, responds to violence, though only if you use it properly. Picture yourself facing a colorless, concrete wall. Beside you, on the ground, there are a number of orbs of different colors and patterns, much like a pile of marbles, only these orbs are the size of bowling balls. These orbs are alive; they glow, pulse, and breathe. They are filled with a material that represents what you are attempting to rid yourself of.
Find the orb that represents the emotion you wish to destroy. Make sure to get a good look at it, maybe breathe on it and write the emotion's name onto the condensation. Finally, throw the orb at the wall and watch it burst. Picture gas escaping into the air and picture a watery, colored splat on an otherwise featureless concrete wall.
Objectifying Body Functions
As mentioned, mental objects are not limited to being associated with emotions. The mind has the capacity to associate incredibly complex bodily tasks with a relatively simple set of visualizations.
Have you ever seen TV commercials that present an internal view of the human body in order to explain how a drug works. The areas of the body colored red typically represent problem areas. For example, in an antacid commercial the stomach may be red and enlarged. The drug is usually represented by a blue or green liquid which travels down the esophagus to the stomach, soothing it and changing its color from red to a blue or green.
In the same way, you can form your own mental image of your own body. Buddhists, Qigong experts and Yogis have long used visualization for this purpose. For example, one way to quickly heat up the body is to imagine your heart pumping magma, fire or boiling water. Visualize it and feel it moving through your veins. As you grow comfortable with a simple visualization of the inner body, try a 3d view, perhaps even from the perspective of a camera traveling in the blood stream.
Remember: a lack of human anatomy knowledge does not matter. If you have knowledge, use it, otherwise just remember that what you are doing is objectifying a function in order to give your mind the correct instructions. Your subconscious will handle the rest.
Examples:
Sharks & Fish
If you have a cold or other disease, try visualizing sharks swimming through your veins (representing the immune system, antibodies and white blood cells), eating red fish which represent bacteria or virii.
Blue Liquid to help with heartburn
If you have heartburn you could visualize a blue, soothing liquid traveling down your esophagus to your stomach. When it reaches your stomach, imagine steam rising up as if a fire had just been extinguished.
Microscopic Robots
A stroke victim, told that her brain had been permanently damaged, used visualization by imagining her brain being electrically repaired by millions of tiny robots. After a few months of regular visualization, she started showing major improvements, far beyond what her doctors thought was possible.
The Inhale Energy, Exhale Smoke Technique
This serves many purposes, but its main purpose is release and energy. If you ever feel stressed, angry, full of emotion or lacking of energy, this technique can be used. It is incredibly effective and has been used, in one form or another, for thousands of years. There is a long tradition of techniques similar to this one in Qigong and Yoga. The Qigong version is longer and goes through more mental imagery, but requires more practice and for the purposes of this application a short, easy to repeat technique is best.
This technique is mainly meant for Real-Time Programming or as a prelude to deeper relaxation, but like most mental activities it can be greatly enhanced using the Neuro-Programmer™.
Step 1
Close or unfocus your eyes. Relax but keep your back straight so as to allow maximum lung capacity.
Step 2
Take a slow, deep breath from your abdomen (as explained in the Relaxation Guide). As you breathe in, picture white light or energy particles in the air, being sucked into your system by your breath. Feel the energy in your body as you breathe. Feel the energy peak as you are about to exhale.
Step 3
Now picture all the bad, destructive, painful emotions as thick, black smoke rolling around in your system. Identify your emotions and insecurities, building them up in the smoke. Picture it as if it is forming in your chest, ready to be released. Take a moment to make sure you have a firm grasp on the black smoke before proceeding, remembering that it represents everything that you want to get rid of.
Step 4
Exhale slowly, making sure to visualize your breath as black smoke.
Step 5
Repeat steps 1 - 4 until the color of the air you exhale matches the air you inhale. In other words, keep doing it as long as you feel there is still smoke to release.
As mentioned above, this technique is particularly effective. We have even seen people that were so full of negative emotion that they literally coughed upon the first couple exhales.
Use Well Known Symbols & Text
Using Text & Symbols
In addition to associating objects, you can also use well known symbols (such as a stop sign) or even text. Words are, after all, simply symbols representing ideas.
Examples:
To build a dislike for something
First, visualize an image or a scene (preferably still-life or freeze-framed) that you now enjoy, such as a bakery with cakes and cookies. Now pick a symbol that means "forbidden" or "STOP" to you. It could be the word "no" written in red ink, or maybe a big red X. Take an imaginary brush to paint on your scene like a canvas, as if there is a life-size photo of the scene in front of you. Make sure to take time to visualize yourself painting, instead of just letting the symbol appear out of nowhere.
When done, your image should be the same, with big red text or a big red symbol painted onto it. Make sure you feel that it is now forbidden.
To build an affinity for something
As above, first visualize an image or scene, but this time make it a scene you wish to like more, such as the health-food isle at the store or a big bowl of salad. After making sure you have the visualization firmly in place, use your brush to paint a symbol in any color other than red. We recommend green or gold. The symbol should be something inviting, like "Yes" or "Welcome!". You could even imagine your scene as a picture in a (color) magazine, allowing you to circle it repeatedly.
Programming Techniques are special visualization and suggestion strategies that have been proven to be especially effective for specific purposes.
Most human problems are shared by a large percentage of the population. Many people bite their nails, have bad posture, have relationship problems, hate their supervisors, eat when they are not hungry, etc. Mental Programming Techniques have been developed to deal with these common problems. Most uncommon problems, however, can be adapted to one or more of these techniques. Some of these techniques, like "Swish", are particularly useful and can be adapted to almost every situation.
Note: Mind Programming Techniques are meant to be used with Alpha Programming sessions, where you do not have a recording that loop. Using these techniques with Theta sessions will probably just work to bring you back up to Alpha or Beta.
Index:
• The "Swish" Pattern
• Anchors / Triggers
• Using Color, Intensity & Position
• Using Objects & Symbolism
• Event Programming
• Modeling & Roles
• Your Mental Movie Projector
• Your Mental Workshop
The "Swish" Pattern
Next This technique was developed by Richard Bandler, one of the creators of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). It is a proven and widely used method of changing a behavior; to take an undesired thought and make it trigger something pleasant.
The key to using the Swish technique is speed and intensity. Once you have the necessary images in your mind, you must "Swish" them very quickly, but the intensity of the conflicting images must be present. Also, you must repeat the actual Swish process (Step 4) until it is sufficiently coded into memory (usually 10 or more repetitions).
• Step 1
Pick something unpleasant. It could be a memory, a mental state, something you might expect to happen, anything. Pick something that you want your mind to react positively to. Visualize it in full detail. Don't leave anything out. Try to feel everything associated with your selection; all the emotions, environmental variables and body sensations. Do this once, before proceeding. Just keep the intensity of the visualization in the back of your head for use in later steps.
• Step 2
Pick something pleasant. It could be a memory of your significant other or simply an image that makes you very happy. A memory is typically more powerful, though. Just make sure it is something that is very familiar to you and something makes you intensely happy. Visualize this as you did in step 1.
• Step 3
Create 2 frames. Put the unpleasant memory in one frame and the pleasant memory in the other. Make the pleasant frame much smaller and put it in the corner of your mental "field of vision" for now. Make the unpleasant frame big and bright.
• Step 4
Now "Swish" the two frames. Very quickly, cause the smaller, pleasant frame to become larger than the unpleasant one. Make sure to feel the intensity of the new image over the old. At the same time, make the unpleasant frame become smaller and dimmer. In the instant this occurs, enthusiastically say "Swish!" to yourself, or, if you are good at audio visualization, actually hear a swish-like sound as the frames switch places.
• Step 5
Repeat Step 4 as much as time permits or until you know that it has worked.
• Step 6 - Test it
If you used the Swish technique correctly then thinking of the old, unpleasant image should instantly trigger the new, pleasant one. Thus the unpleasant situation triggers a positive, pleasant response!
Examples Of Classic Swish
Problem Swish Protocol
Bad Memory Visualize the bad memory in the big frame. "Swish" into a memory of something that makes you happy. Dim and shrink the bad memory frame while increasing and brightening the new, good frame.
Hearing people chew with their mouth open is infuriating Imagine hearing the sound (and seeing it as well, if that bothers you). Make sure you feel the aggravation you normally would upon witnessing it in reality. Now, as above, pick any happy memory. Make this one particularly relaxing, because that will be particularly contrary to the old memory, which is very arousing, but in a bad way. Swish the two frames and repeat until a test of the unpleasant memory elicits the new, happy reaction. After that, you will actually enjoy the sound of people chewing with their mouth open.
Intimidated by boss Visualize your boss in front of you or passing you in the hall. Feel the intimidation and the knot in your stomach. Now "Swish" that image with another one that is relaxed and happy, one that makes you feel confident and in control. Do this as many times as possible and make sure it is quite vivid.
Examples Of Adapted Swish
Here are some examples of Swish being adapted to other types of mental programming, such as habit control and healing.
Problem Swish Protocol
Smoking Habit Control using the Swish method can be done by identifying what is done just before the undesired behavior is acted upon. In the case of smoking, it would probably be you reaching for a cigarette. Make that the first, unpleasant image frame. Make sure you internally feel the craving as you would if you actually were reaching for a cigarette. Now the next (desired) image frame should be of you retracting your hand. Make something about the second frame pleasant. Feel satisfied.
Now Swish the two image frames and repeat until the two are one. In this way, the first act (reaching for a cigarette) elicits the second act, which is to pull your hand away and feel happy and satisfied about it. So in effect your desire to light up a cigarette will extinguish itself.
Injury See yourself about to go to bed, looking at your wound. That is the unpleasant, first frame. Now picture yourself waking up, looking at your wound and seeing that it is completely healed.
Swish the two images and repeat until even thinking about the wound gives you a happy picture of it fully healed. This will trigger accelerated healing while you are sleeping. All you have to do is remember to look at your wound in the same way you imagined it. By using sleep as an intermediate, it allows the technique to not be contradicted right after triggering the response. Remember that the second response is automatic, so don't bother looking over your wound in the morning for the purposes of consistency. Just remember to trigger the response every night before bed until the wound is healed.
Anchors / Triggers
What is an Anchor/Trigger?
Anchors and Triggers are essentially small, very specific mental programs meant to serve a very specific purpose; to evoke a mental response immediately after the introduction of a stimulus. The stimulus could be anything from a snap of your fingers to the opening of a car door. The purpose of an Anchor/Trigger could also be almost anything, as long as it is very specific. It could be to put you into an energetic mental state or to stop a food craving in its tracks. Whatever the purpose, Anchors and Triggers are very useful mental tools, used extensively by hypnotists and hypnotherapists, as well as NLP practitioners.
For the purposes of these documents, Anchors and Triggers mean slightly different things.
Anchors
An Anchor is a stimulus/response mechanism that is meant to put you into a certain mental state. For example, the mental state could induce more Theta waves, allowing you easier access to your memory or accelerated learning abilities. The mental state could also be calming, meant to sedate you in times of stress.
Creating Anchors involves first getting into the mental state that you wish to reproduce at a later time. When you have reached the peak of your mental state, create your Anchor by introducing the stimulus, which can be anything you want (a mental image, your index finger touching your knuckle, etc). Creating an Anchor is as simple as introducing the specific stimulus at the time of your desired mental state. Repeat the stimulus over and over, crossing multiple programming sessions if you have to, until the Anchor is properly coded. (Scroll to the bottom to get more information on creating Anchors/Triggers)
Research has proven that Anchors are more effective when used with more than one Sensory Modality. So your Anchor could involve touching your middle finger to your palm, seeing the certain mental picture, or an auto-suggestion of some kind.
If you decide to only use one modality for your anchor we strongly recommend that you use your Primary Sensory Modality. Other Mind Programming methods suggest using only Kinesthetic anchors, such as touching specific fingers together. Although this is effective, it is far more effective to find out what your primary sensory modality is and choose an Anchor that fits the modality. If your primary modality is visual, you should use mental imagery. If your primary modality is auditory, you should use phrases and rhymes to evoke responses. If it is kinesthetic, the most common Anchor stimuli involves the hands in some way. Touching two fingers and your thumb together, touching your index knuckle with your thumb, etc. The trick is to use an Anchor that is easy to execute, to remember and to use without drawing attention to yourself.
Your Anchor stimulus should not be a common gesture or a stimulus that could occur at random times throughout the day, like a handshake or a phrase you repeat to yourself often. Such Anchors will quickly wear off because of their frequent use in non-specific situations. Also, you should try to make a different Anchor stimulus for each Anchor. Some methods use one universal Anchor for everything, but that can become very confusing and ends up diluting the overall effect of the Anchor. Be creative and try to think of many different ways to evoke Anchors using a variety of stimuli.
Anchors are more effective if you know what situation you will be in when you plan to use the Anchor. If you plan to use a calming-state Anchor when in the presence of your supervisor, imagine your supervisor as you create the Anchor. For example, first you would picture yourself at work, then you would probably be in front of your supervisor. At that point, freeze your mental movie and make sure you are at the peak of the desired mental state before programming the Anchor.
Triggers
Triggers differ from Anchors in that the stimulus usually comes from an unconscious, unintentional or external source. Say, for example, you have a road rage problem. You could create a Trigger that is meant to execute upon the opening of your car door, or the vibrations from the engine starting, or seeing someone tailgating you in your rear view mirror.
However, Trigger stimuli do not always come from outside sources. Consider the frequent panic attack victim. That person could put a Trigger in place to evoke a desired reaction when feeling the panic attack is about to start. In this case, extreme calm and relaxation would probably be appropriate.
Additionally, triggers may serve as reminders. You could set up a Trigger that reminds you to stop on the way home to fetch some groceries for dinner.
Triggers may be created in the same manner as Anchors, or you can simply use suggestions such as "Upon seeing the grocery store I am reminded to stop and get groceries for dinner." Using an Anchor-like approach, you could imagine yourself near the grocery store and then abruptly hearing the words "You need to buy eggs and bread for dinner." (Scroll down for more information on creating Anchors/Triggers)
Anchor/Trigger Guidelines
1) Give it a minute
As mentioned at the bottom of the Programming Guide, it is very important not to ask yourself "Did it work?" immediately after using an Anchor or Trigger. Give it a minute, relax, let the program execute. After you develop a sense of confidence for this technology, Mental Programs will execute faster and be more powerful.
2) For tactile anchors/triggers, use your non-dominant arm
For reasons not quite understood, it is more effective to use your non-dominant arm (and hand) for Kinesthetic anchors and triggers. It is also usually more convenient, considering you could write or gesture with your dominant hand and induce a mental state at the same time with the other hand.
3) Pick a stimulus that is related to the Mental State
When choosing an appropriate Anchor stimulus, try to think of something that is appropriate for the situation. For example, if you create an Anchor for concentration and focus, you could pick the mental image of a Pencil or pile of books and for an audio stimulus you could choose to say "I am as sharp and focused as a needle."
How To Create Anchors / Triggers
The trick to successfully creating an Anchor/Trigger is vividness and repetition. The desired mental state or physical situation must be vivid at the time of Anchor/Trigger creation.
In order to create a Mental State or situation, you should first be near the brink of sleep or at least deeply relaxed. From that drowsy platform, you can create nearly any state or situation you want. Remember, dreams and visualizations can be very real. Your task, in creating an Anchor or Trigger, is to create a dream that is intensely real. When the dream has reached its peak, introduce a stimulus of your choice. Keep repeating the stimulus until you are sure that the Mental State or situation is clearly associated with it.
If you choose the act of crossing two of your fingers as an Anchor, you would need to keep crossing your fingers, dozens of times, while at the peak of your desired Mental State. When doing that, you could be imagining a mental picture and hearing a specific sentence. All of these things would form a perfect Anchor, but only if your Mental State is vivid and the stimuli is repeated as many times as necessary.
Examples Of Sensory-based Anchors
Note: These are just examples. Use your best judgment. All Mind Programming should personally fit you.
Desired Mental State Anchor Protocol
Relaxation Imagine yourself at your favorite relaxation spot. This is most likely your bed or couch. Imagine yourself there. Relaxation is an easy thing to Anchor, especially with the Neuro-Programmer, since nearly all the Sessions profoundly relax the user.
(Visual) You imagine your couch and/or bed.
(Auditory) You [mentally] hear words, softly spoken: "You are floating. You are relaxed." Alternatively, you could speak any Auditory Anchor to yourself.
(Kinesthetic) You tilt your head slightly to the right.
Pride / Self-Love Try to recreate your proudest moment. Make sure you have the situation fully mapped out in your brain. Make sure it is vivid and that you actually feel the pride and all-encompassing self-love that comes with the situation.
(Visual) Imagine a piece of furniture or some other prop in the above situation. Anything to remind you of that situation.
(Auditory) You hear words, softly spoken: "I am amazing."
(Kinesthetic) You touch your middle finger to your palm.
Aggressiveness Imagine or remember yourself being very aggressive, in a number of appropriate situations. Get yourself to a state where you feel you can do anything. Cause yourself to feel aggressive, whether you are timid by nature or not.
(Visual) Imagine a car engine revving.
(Auditory) You hear word "Yes!" aggressively spoken:
(Kinesthetic) You cross two of your toes.
Using Color, Intensity & Position
The way the brain processes information is strongly tied to color, intensity, position, and a host of other sub-modalities. For example, experiences that are intriguing to us tend to be remembered in finer detail. The colors are brighter, more vibrant. The mental "image" is larger and directly in front of our inner eye's field of vision, while a memory less intriguing may would be smaller, dimmer and perhaps off to the side. Think of someone you find intensely attractive and interesting. While thinking about him or her, note the details of your mental image. Now put that image aside and think of someone you rarely think about, someone you barely even notice. Notice that the mental image will be fuzzier, out of focus, off to the side, less vibrant and smaller.
If you want to take the "bite" out of a bad memory, a great strategy is to unfocus your mental image of it, dim its color or change it to black and white, and decrease its size. Conversely, a great way to motivate yourself to a task is to think of yourself doing the task, and the end result, while increasing the color, brightness and size of the mental image.
Special Uses of Color
Colors have numerous emotional reactions virtually hard wired into your brain. As you may guess, Red is most often associated with power, excitement, authority and that which is forbidden, but is also the universal color of sexual attraction. Blue is a soothing color, while green is natural. White is a clean, angelic color.
You can use colors to your advantage while mental programming. Try framing all of your mental images in different colors to suite your goals. For example, you could also use red to reinvigorate a youthful sexual attraction to your spouse. Picture your spouse framed in red, with red lips and red clothing. On the other hand, you could use the color black to reduce your attraction to someone. Think of someone you are very attracted to and paint their lips black. Note the reaction.
Of course, emotional reaction to color may be different between individuals. Experiment to find how your emotions are associated with various colors.
Special Uses of Position
The position of a mental object in your inner eye's field of vision can have a huge impact on your perception of it. For instance, your left field of vision is processed by the right (emotional) side of your brain, while the right field is processed by the left (logical) brain hemisphere. So, if you take a painful memory and move it to your right, your emotional reaction to it may be dramatically reduced. Conversely, if you want to empathize with someone, you try moving your memory of them to your left field of vision, where it will be processed by your right, emotional, brain.
Additionally, your visualization of a mental object (or memory) may be nearer or farther away from you based on the age of the memory (older memories may seem "farther away" or behind you, for example) or the mental priority the visualization holds (visualizing someone you are very attracted to may seem very close, while visualizing someone you are ambiguous about may seem farther away and off to the side). Changing the position of a mental object can have a huge impact on how you perceive it.
Using Objects & Symbolism
Introduction
The mind loves objects, symbols and metaphor. The human brain is built from the ground up to recognize patterns and associate ideas. This fact can be used to our advantage while mental programming. It can be much easier to work with a single mental object, associated with a mental function or goal, as opposed to working with a scene or abstract emotional state.
The mind can objectify and symbolize nearly anything, from sickness to emotions to the subconscious mind itself. You are also not limited as to what object you choose. It can even be a living thing. For example, you could symbolize your fear as a cockroach, and then proceed to squish it. Or you could associate something edible. For instance, you could mentally symbolize confidence with a magic red apple. You could then imagine yourself eating this apple, endowing your body with all confidence you will ever need.
Objectifying Emotions & Feelings
Next These are some examples of mental "objects' being used to help release negative emotions.
Analysis
Identify an emotion, or a feeling, you wish to desensitize yourself to. Ask yourself a number of questions.
1) If the emotion/feeling were an object, what would it feel like to touch it?
2) If the emotion/feeling were an object, what would it look like?
3) If the object had a taste, what would it taste like?
4) If you shook the object, what would it sound like?
5) How big is the object?
6) What could this object fit inside? A landfill? A small box?
With each question, take a moment to develop the associative object in your mind. After the last step, you may actually put your newly created "object" into the container chosen in step 6. A real-life example was given by a young man who was trying to rid himself of anxiety and nervousness, which came in the form of a constant knot in his stomach. Upon visualizing, the feeling looked to him like a fish, constantly wriggling inside his stomach. So he took the fish, analyzed it and put it in a box, which he locked a moment later. He said it completely rid him of the pain, and it did not return for days after only a single session.
Kites
Picture yourself holding on to a number of kites on a very windy day. Each kite represents a negative emotion/feeling, or part of a whole. One at a time, release the kites. With each release feel and know that the associated emotion/feeling is now gone.
Feather
Similarly, you could see your emotion as a feather. Simply throw it into the air on a windy day and watch it blow away, never to be seen again.
Smashing Orbs
Your mind, oddly enough, responds to violence, though only if you use it properly. Picture yourself facing a colorless, concrete wall. Beside you, on the ground, there are a number of orbs of different colors and patterns, much like a pile of marbles, only these orbs are the size of bowling balls. These orbs are alive; they glow, pulse, and breathe. They are filled with a material that represents what you are attempting to rid yourself of.
Find the orb that represents the emotion you wish to destroy. Make sure to get a good look at it, maybe breathe on it and write the emotion's name onto the condensation. Finally, throw the orb at the wall and watch it burst. Picture gas escaping into the air and picture a watery, colored splat on an otherwise featureless concrete wall.
Objectifying Body Functions
As mentioned, mental objects are not limited to being associated with emotions. The mind has the capacity to associate incredibly complex bodily tasks with a relatively simple set of visualizations.
Have you ever seen TV commercials that present an internal view of the human body in order to explain how a drug works. The areas of the body colored red typically represent problem areas. For example, in an antacid commercial the stomach may be red and enlarged. The drug is usually represented by a blue or green liquid which travels down the esophagus to the stomach, soothing it and changing its color from red to a blue or green.
In the same way, you can form your own mental image of your own body. Buddhists, Qigong experts and Yogis have long used visualization for this purpose. For example, one way to quickly heat up the body is to imagine your heart pumping magma, fire or boiling water. Visualize it and feel it moving through your veins. As you grow comfortable with a simple visualization of the inner body, try a 3d view, perhaps even from the perspective of a camera traveling in the blood stream.
Remember: a lack of human anatomy knowledge does not matter. If you have knowledge, use it, otherwise just remember that what you are doing is objectifying a function in order to give your mind the correct instructions. Your subconscious will handle the rest.
Examples:
Sharks & Fish
If you have a cold or other disease, try visualizing sharks swimming through your veins (representing the immune system, antibodies and white blood cells), eating red fish which represent bacteria or virii.
Blue Liquid to help with heartburn
If you have heartburn you could visualize a blue, soothing liquid traveling down your esophagus to your stomach. When it reaches your stomach, imagine steam rising up as if a fire had just been extinguished.
Microscopic Robots
A stroke victim, told that her brain had been permanently damaged, used visualization by imagining her brain being electrically repaired by millions of tiny robots. After a few months of regular visualization, she started showing major improvements, far beyond what her doctors thought was possible.
The Inhale Energy, Exhale Smoke Technique
This serves many purposes, but its main purpose is release and energy. If you ever feel stressed, angry, full of emotion or lacking of energy, this technique can be used. It is incredibly effective and has been used, in one form or another, for thousands of years. There is a long tradition of techniques similar to this one in Qigong and Yoga. The Qigong version is longer and goes through more mental imagery, but requires more practice and for the purposes of this application a short, easy to repeat technique is best.
This technique is mainly meant for Real-Time Programming or as a prelude to deeper relaxation, but like most mental activities it can be greatly enhanced using the Neuro-Programmer™.
Step 1
Close or unfocus your eyes. Relax but keep your back straight so as to allow maximum lung capacity.
Step 2
Take a slow, deep breath from your abdomen (as explained in the Relaxation Guide). As you breathe in, picture white light or energy particles in the air, being sucked into your system by your breath. Feel the energy in your body as you breathe. Feel the energy peak as you are about to exhale.
Step 3
Now picture all the bad, destructive, painful emotions as thick, black smoke rolling around in your system. Identify your emotions and insecurities, building them up in the smoke. Picture it as if it is forming in your chest, ready to be released. Take a moment to make sure you have a firm grasp on the black smoke before proceeding, remembering that it represents everything that you want to get rid of.
Step 4
Exhale slowly, making sure to visualize your breath as black smoke.
Step 5
Repeat steps 1 - 4 until the color of the air you exhale matches the air you inhale. In other words, keep doing it as long as you feel there is still smoke to release.
As mentioned above, this technique is particularly effective. We have even seen people that were so full of negative emotion that they literally coughed upon the first couple exhales.
Use Well Known Symbols & Text
Using Text & Symbols
In addition to associating objects, you can also use well known symbols (such as a stop sign) or even text. Words are, after all, simply symbols representing ideas.
Examples:
To build a dislike for something
First, visualize an image or a scene (preferably still-life or freeze-framed) that you now enjoy, such as a bakery with cakes and cookies. Now pick a symbol that means "forbidden" or "STOP" to you. It could be the word "no" written in red ink, or maybe a big red X. Take an imaginary brush to paint on your scene like a canvas, as if there is a life-size photo of the scene in front of you. Make sure to take time to visualize yourself painting, instead of just letting the symbol appear out of nowhere.
When done, your image should be the same, with big red text or a big red symbol painted onto it. Make sure you feel that it is now forbidden.
To build an affinity for something
As above, first visualize an image or scene, but this time make it a scene you wish to like more, such as the health-food isle at the store or a big bowl of salad. After making sure you have the visualization firmly in place, use your brush to paint a symbol in any color other than red. We recommend green or gold. The symbol should be something inviting, like "Yes" or "Welcome!". You could even imagine your scene as a picture in a (color) magazine, allowing you to circle it repeatedly.
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