MP012 1001 Motivational Quotes For Success Great Quotes From Great Minds

Acuity (Online) ISSN 2045-5402
Enhancing and Advancing

Neuro Linguistic
Programming
A New Anthology of Shared Findings and Learnings

Published by the ANLP
November 2011
Vol. 2
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Neuro Linguistic Programming
A New Anthology of
Shared Findings and Learnings
published by the ANLP
October 2011
Volume 2
Edited by Joe Cheal
41a Bedford Road, Moggerhanger, Beds, MK44 3RQ, UK.
Tel (+44) 1767 640956
Email joe.cheal@gwiztraining.com
The Association of NLP

Apsley Mills Cottage, Stationers Place, Hemel Hempstead, HP3 9RH, UK.
(+44) 20 3051 6740
www.anlp.org
Review Panel
Steve Andreas
Richard Bolstad
Robert Dilts
L. Michael Hall
James Lawley
John Seymour
Robert Smith
Lisa Wake
Submissions are welcome. Please email the Editor for Contributor Guidelines.
The views expressed in Acuity are those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the
ANLP or the Editor.
Articles remain the copyright of the contributor. All other contents are (c) ANLP 2011. No part of this
publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording and/or otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers. This PDF may not
be lent, shared, resold, hired out or otherwise made available in any form without the prior consent of the
publishers.
ACUITY Vol.2
Journal Contents
Article Author Page
Affirmations or Questions Richard Bolstad 5
Pseudo-orientations Richard Gray 12
Joining Up The Work of David James Lawley 27

Grove
Space, Time & Certainty Lucas Derks 42
Benchmarking as NLP L . Michael Hall 54

Excellence
Landscape of Experience Joe Cheal 60
Questions about Meta-Programs Susie Linder-Pelz 78
Creative Practice Pedagogy Blane Savage 92
Anchoring and Classical Richard Gray 109

Conditioning
Blind Spots L . Michael Hall 124
Dimensions of Sanity Lucas Derks 137
Natural Navigation Joe Abrams 144
What is the Opposite of Meta? Joe Cheal 153

Welcome back to Acuity.
Herein, a range of voices can be heard, singing to each other from around the world. And
as the sound-sense makes waves across the oceans, each of the voices are joining in with
their own distinctive accents, pitches, tempos and timbres. Acuity might be considered a
compilation album by various artists… a kind of ‘Best of… NLP’. Each track on the album
will give you a different experience and connect with you in its own unique way.
I am once again delighted and honoured by the generous contributions of the writers in
this ‘album’. They share their learnings with the rest of the NLP community to, I believe,
enhance and advance the field of NLP. I also wish to thank the review panel: Steve
Andreas, Richard Bolstad, Robert Dilts, L. Michael Hall, James Lawley, John Seymour,
Robert Smith and Lisa Wake for their time and their support. Their feedback is more
essential than even they know!
Enjoy the ‘songs’.
Joe Cheal
Editor of Acuity.
Another quality issue of Acuity has arrived, thanks to the incredible efforts of our Editor,
Joe, the contributors and the Review Panel.
My own feelings are that Acuity powerfully demonstrates exactly what can be achieved by
a group of like minded people who are passionate, enthusiastic and generous with both
their time and their willingness to share their thoughts, ideas and experiences.
We all have a role to play in continuing to create this anthology of shared findings and
learnings, now collectively presented in Acuity.
This really is a ‘Best of’ compilation to be proud of, and I want to say a huge thank you to
all of you who continue to contribute to its creation, by writing, reviewing, editing and
reading Acuity.
Karen Moxom
Managing Director
ANLP
Acuity Vol.2 5
How Can We Do Better With Affirmations?

Dr Richard Bolstad
In 2009, those of us involved in personal development got a wake-up call from researchers
who demonstrated that “affirmation”, one of the most popular self-development tools of
all time, generally lowered people’s self esteem and made them less likely to act. As with
the repeated research showing that an over-simplistic application of “The Secret” is one of
the two most significant impediments to achievement (Bolstad 2010), this research on
affirmations was almost ignored by NLP trainers as well as other “personal development
experts”. Mostly, we just didn’t think the research could have been done correctly.
In this article I will review these studies and some recent corroborating studies. I believe
it’s time we took a new look at a technique that was never officially developed as part of
NLP, was critiqued clearly by the developers of NLP, and now has been shown only to
work in certain situations. There are good reasons why affirmations block success, when
they do, and they are easy to understand so that we can move beyond affirmation.
The Initial Research Studies
Psychologists Joanne V. Wood and John W. Lee from the University of Waterloo, and
W.Q. Elaine Perunovic from the University of New Brunswick (Wood, Perunovic and Lee,
2009), first asked 249 research subjects to fill in a short questionnaire (the Rosenberg self-
esteem scale) designed to analyse their self-esteem and to say how often they said positive
things about themselves, on a scale from 1(never) to 8 (almost daily). 52% gave a rating of
6 or higher. These 52% of subjects, who already had high self-esteem, reported that they
already often said affirming things to themselves. They reported using positive self-
statements before exams (85%), before giving a presentation (78%), to cope with negative
events (74%), and even sometimes as part of their everyday routine (23%). On average,
they felt that such statements were helpful. Those with low self-esteem also claimed that
such statements sometimes helped them, but they reported that affirmations more often
made them feel worse. To find out why, the researchers did two follow-up studies.
First, they asked their subjects to write down anything they felt or thought in a four-
minute period. The recruits included equal numbers of students with high or low self-
6 How Can We Do Better With Affirmations?
esteem and half of each group were told to say to themselves, "I am a lovable person",
every 15 seconds, on the cue of a bell rung by the researcher. Afterwards, they completed
several questionnaires. Two of these were designed to assess their mood, including
questions such as "What is the probability that a 30-year-old will be involved in a happy,
loving romance?" and "Would you like to go to a party?" Another set of questions rated
their current self-esteem by asking them to say which of two adjectives they felt closest to
– e.g. valuable or useless, nice or awful, good or bad. As you might expect, the students
with higher self-esteem had higher, happier scores on all three questionnaires than those
with low self-esteem. After saying the affirmations, there was no statistically significant
change in their scores. But for those subjects who already had low self-esteem, the effect of
the affirmations was dramatic and negative. They felt worse after saying these words, had
more negative beliefs, and had lower expectations of success. Their self-esteem scores
were almost halved as a result of trying to use affirmations.
The researchers explain the result by saying that everyone has a range of ideas they are
prepared to accept. Messages that lie within this boundary are more persuasive than those
that fall outside it - those meet resistance and can even lead to people holding onto their
original position more strongly. If a person with low self-esteem says something that's
positive about themselves but is well outside the range of what they'll actually believe,
their immediate reaction is to dismiss the claim and feel even worse. Statements that
contradict a person's current self-image and basic model of the world, no matter how
positive in intention, are likely to trigger mismatching thoughts. Of course, as an NLP
Practitioner, you have several interventions that can change self-image and model of the
world so that these affirmations would work… and of course then the affirmations may
not seem so important anyway. Wood concluded that affirmations only work in situations
where people make very specific statements that are impossible to argue with, or where
none of their major beliefs are challenged. For example, people may be better off saying "I
choose good gifts for people" rather than "I'm a generous person". Put in the terms of my
communication skills text Transforming Communication (Bolstad, 2002), positive
statements are better worded as sensory specific “I messages” rather than as judgments.
Wood and colleagues cautioned that "outlandish, unreasonably positive self-statements,
such as “I accept myself completely,” are often encouraged by self-help books. Our results
suggest that such self-statements may harm the very people they are designed for: people
low in self-esteem." (Wood, Perunovic and Lee, 2009, p 865)
In the third study, subjects were asked to consider the statement "I am a lovable person"
and either to focus only on ways in which it's true, or to consider ways in which it is and
isn't true. After the task, people with high self-esteem benefited from focusing only on the
positive side of the statement, but those with low self-esteem felt worse about themselves
Acuity Vol.2 7
if they dwelled only on positives, and better if they were asked to take a more balanced
approach. Wood suggests that if people with low self-esteem are asked to think only
positive thoughts, and find it difficult to block out negative ones, that merely certifies their
belief that they aren't measuring up to standards. As far back as 1991, Norbert Schwarz at
the University of Michigan (Schwarz et alia, 1991) found that people who were asked to
remember 12 examples of being assertive rated themselves as being less assertive than
those who just had to remember 6 examples. He pointed out that it was not remembering
the 12 events that made the people feel bad, it was their own internal response to having
difficulty remembering 12. When people had trouble in bringing 12 examples to mind,
they decided that they must not be very assertive after all.
Incidentally, Schwarz previously found that people had difficulty remembering more than
8 or 9 events in any category (either assertive or unassertive), an indication of the ability of
the brain to hold only 5-9 (7 ± 2) bits of information at one time. He used this knowledge
that finding 12 pieces of information would be difficult, to test the effect of perceived
difficulty on people’s beliefs about the type of memory asked for. When people have a
memory task that they perceive as difficult, they tend to assume that their difficulty may
be due to the type of memory asked for rather than the numerical difficulty of the task
(Schwarz et alia, 1991, p 196).
NLP Approaches to Affirmation
Richard Bandler and John Grinder did not include “affirmations” in their list of NLP
techniques. Robert Dilts and Judith DeLozier in their Encyclopaedia of NLP (Dilts and
DeLozier, 2000, p 24) do champion affirmations, saying “Affirmation is a method for
creating, strengthening and encouraging positive ‘self-fulfilling’ processes. “Affirmation”
essentially involves the verbal assertion and reinforcement of empowering beliefs. The
process of affirmation involves the repetition of a series of belief statements. In many
ways, affirmations represent a fundamental example of “neuro-linguistic programming”.
They employ the use of language to establish and encourage positive mental
“programming”.” However, Dilts and DeLozier’s examples of affirmations are all current
reality based. Put another way, Dilts and DeLozier’s examples are all process oriented eg
“It is possible for me to be healthy and well,” “I have the capabilities to be healthy and
well,” rather than outcome based “I am healthy and well.” The above research suggests
that since their affirmations don’t challenge the client’s “reality” they are more likely to be
received positively.
Bandler and Grinder did develop methods for transforming internal beliefs, and they seem
to have been very aware of the risk of contradicting a person’s experience of reality.
Bandler, for example, describes creating a new belief as creating a new focus of attention,
rather than contradicting the evidence that a person has collected about “reality”.
Describing the construction of new beliefs, Richard Bandler says (1985, p 105-109) “Do you
know what belief you’d like to have in place of the belief you have now?... Start thinking
about it now, and be sure you think about it in positive terms, not in terms of negations.
Think of what you do want to believe, not what you don’t want to believe. I also want you
to frame that belief not in terms of an end or goal, but in terms of a process or ability that
would result in you getting that goal. For instance if you’d like to believe that you know
NLP, change it so that you believe you can pay attention, and learn and respond to
feedback in order to learn NLP…. We want to mobilize new abilities, not install new
delusions!” To the extent that “Every day in every way I am getting better and better,” (to
quote one traditional affirmation) is inconsistent with reality, it is of course a delusion. No
wonder many people in the research resist it.
I Wonder If Positive Questioning Works Better Than Affirming?
Recent research offers hints of a technique that solves the affirmation-kickback problem
and confirms an even earlier NLP approach.
Ibrahim Senay, Dolores Albarracín and Kenji Noguchi at the University of Illinois (Senay,
Albarracin and Noguchi, 2010, p 499-504) gave research subjects challenging tasks, and
had them say one of two very different type of comment to themselves before starting.
One type of comment was “I will do this” (an affirmation). The other was “Will I do this?”
(a question). In several different experiments, the results were the same. Those who asked
the question were more motivated, more focused and more successful. Furthermore, they
reported different subsequent thinking about their goals. In one study, for example,
subjects had a goal of going to the gym regularly. Those instructed to say “I will” reported
later that they felt motivated (for example) “Because I would feel guilty or ashamed of
myself if I did not,” whereas those instructed to say “Will I?” reported that they felt
motivated (for example) “Because I want to take more responsibility for my own health.”
In NLP terms, the affirmations had a kickback effect of producing away from motivation,
whereas the questions produced towards motivation. The researchers noted that questions
open the person to possibilities while affirmations close the mind to other choices.
Questioning invites you to explore; affirmation tells you what is and ignores the ability to
find unexpected or more useful results.
Acuity Vol.2 9
This questioning style of internal dialogue has been under-reported in NLP, but we can
see it in Milton Erickson’s work. Milton Erickson continuously quotes his own internal
dialogue before any new success as “I was wondering…” He does not use self-
affirmations, he uses self-questioning. For example in his collected works, in a discussion
with Ernest Rossi, he mentions how he developed the ability to write whole articles during
his sleep, unconsciously. He says “I wondered if I could write editorials. If I did not
recognize my words on the printed page, that would tell me there was a lot more in my
head than I realized. Then I had my proof that I was brighter than I knew.” (Erickson,
1980, p 114) Later, he describes how he gave himself a transcendent personal experience:
“I was in the backyard a year ago in the summertime. I was, wondering what far-out
experiences I’d like to have. As I puzzled over that, I noticed that I was sitting out in the
middle of nowhere. I was an object in space….It was the most far-out thing I could do!”
(Erickson, 1980, p 129).
One NLP process that installs a useful questioning style as a meta-strategy in a challenging
situation is the Core Questions Process described by Steve Andreas in his new book “Help
With Negative Self Talk” (Andreas, 2010, p 82). The basic idea of this process is that we are
continuously sorting our experience / deciding how to respond by asking ourselves
unconscious questions. Sometimes these questions are structured so that they deliver only
unhelpful answers (like, for example “Why does this always happen to me?”). You can
identify such unhelpful questions and install more useful questions that are better
designed to meet your intention. My own version of this installation process follows as an
appendix.
Conclusions
Self-affirmation is a language pattern developed long before NLP, and research as well as
NLP indicates some cautions about its use. Affirmations work best when they refer to
specific positive elements of a person’s current experience which are acceptable in their
current model of the world. Even there, affirmations state a fixed idea, and self-questions
may provide a more useful and forward moving replacement for unhelpful internal
dialogue. Self questioning is explored in more detail in Steve Andreas’ recent book “Help
With Negative Self Talk” (2010).
Biography
Dr Richard Bolstad is an NLP Trainer and author who teaches on several continents each
year. His book “Transforming Communication” is a text used in many degree courses and
his book “RESOLVE” gives a broader description of a research-based approach to NLP.
Bibliography
Andreas, S. (2010) Help With Negative Self Talk Real People Press, Moab, Utah (Available at
http://www.realpeoplepress.com/pages.php?page=selftalkebook)
Bandler, R. (1985) Using Your Brain For A Change, Real People Press, Moab, Utah
Bolstad, R. (2002) Transforming Communication Pearsons, Auckland
Bolstad, R. (2010) “The How Behind The Secret” Acuity, Vol. 1, No. 1
Dilts, R. and DeLozier, J. (2000) Encyclopedia of Systemic Neuro-Linguistic Programming and NLP New
Coding, NLP University Press, Scotts Valley, California (Available at
http://www.nlpuniversitypress.com/)
Erickson, M.H. (1980) The Collected Papers of Milton H. Erickson Vol I (ed Rossi, E.L.) Irvington, New
York
Schwarz, N., Bless, H., Strack, F., Klumpp, G., Rittenauer-Schatka, H., & Simons, A. (1991). “Ease of
retrieval as information: Another look at the availability heuristic.” Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, Vol 61, No. 2, page 195-202
Senay, I., Albarracín, D. and Noguchi, K. (2010) “Motivating goal-directed behavior through
introspective self-talk: the role of the interrogative form of simple future tense”
Psychological Science Vol 21, No. 4: p 499-504, April 2010
Wood, J., Elaine Perunovic, W., & Lee, J. (2009). “Positive Self-Statements: Power for Some, Peril
for Others.” Psychological Science Psychological Science July 1, 2009 vol. 20 No. 7, pages 860-
866
Appendix. Key Questions: Deciding what you’ll ask of life!
From Richard Bolstad (adapted from the Core Question process, NLP Comprehensive Master
Practitioner Manual 1996)
1. Resourceful state; Rapport
2. Ask client what situation, or what context they want to find a new core question for (eg. “at
work” “my relationship with my kids” “dealing with a client/student”). Usually this would be a
situation where they would like to improve their responses.
Acuity Vol.2 11
3. “As you think of that situation, imagine stepping back into your body there. Notice what you
see through your eyes there, what you hear, and what you feel in your body. Be aware of how you
are deciding what actions to take. Our actions happen as a result of internal strategies where we
check whether a particular response meets certain criteria. Put in terms of words, we have some
unconscious way, in each situation, of asking “What will I do next?” ”
4. “If there were a question that quietly guided all your behaviour in this context, what would it
be?”
5. “Now think of that question. Check that when you say that question to yourself, it reminds you
of the situation.” (You’re checking it has the same “submodalities” in NLP terms; i.e. it feels like
thinking of that situation itself). If it doesn’t feel the same, the person is most likely telling you a
more polite question than the one they actually ask in that situation. Ask them to more fully
associate into the situation and repeat step 4.
6. “If you knew, what is your unconscious mind’s positive intention in asking this question in this
situation? What is it hoping to get for you by asking this question?” If the person tells you a
negative intention (like “to get me worried”) ask “And if it gets you that fully and completely,
what even more important thing will you get through that?”
7. “Is there a question that would be even more effective in getting you those positive benefits you
want in that situation?” Note that more effective questions tend to be open questions and to start
with words like “How?” and “What?” rather than “Why?” Check what is presupposed in the
question (for example, “How can I avoid humiliation?” presupposes the possibility of
humiliation). Often the simplest question is a variation of “How can I more fully reach that
positive intention?”
8. Once the client has chosen the preferred question, say “I’d like you to step back into your body
in that situation, and say the new question to yourself -actually say it aloud now, as you imagine
being in that situation. Notice that when you’re in that situation now, the new question is quietly
at the back of your mind, guiding your behaviour, and check that that feels much more enjoyable!
Because this question even more effectively moves you towards what you actually want in this
situation, it will be even more powerfully unconsciously installed than the old question. Imagine a
future time, when you’ll be in that situation again, and check how asking that new question
changes the way it feels.”
12 Pseudo-orientations in Time
Pseudo-orientations in Time
Richard M. Gray, Ph.D.
Summary
In the following review, the author presents the root concepts regarding Milton Erickson’s
pseudo-orientations in time. The article examines its use in several applications including
the Miracle Question, End State Energy and Well-Formedness Conditions for Outcomes.
The article analyses the essential elements of the technique and discusses its advantages as
an NLP technique.
Pseudo-orientation in time is a hypnotic technique pioneered by Milton Erickson and

popularized significantly by Scott D. Miller and Insoo Kim Berg in their book, The Miracle
Method (Erickson, 1954; Miller & Berg, 1995). In the literature of Neuro-Linguistic
Programming (NLP), the technique appears in various forms including the Smart
Outcome Generator and timeline interventions (Andreas & Andreas, 1987, 1989;
Bodenhamer & Hall, 1998; Gray, 2008a, b; James & Woodsmall, 1988; Linden & Perutz,
1998; Robbins, 1986). It represents a significant addition to any clinician's toolbox and is
not limited to hypnotic contexts.
Pseudo-orientations: the Basics
A pseudo-orientation in time is an exercise in which the individual projects herself into a

desired future for therapeutic purposes. It can be used to clarify goals and outcomes, to
create motivation for change, to eliminate resistance to change and to elucidate the path to
desired goals.
Erickson (1954) suggests that the power of the technique lies in its reliance on the
unconscious mind's ability to create a future that incorporates the client’s hopes and
dreams into the structure of that future and the client's subsequent experience of change as
a pre-existent fact. Erickson understood, long before there was neurophysiological
evidence to prove it, that imagined events create many of the same physiological changes
in the brain and body as the physical events themselves (la Fougère, et al. ,2009; Kuhtz-
Acuity Vol.2 13
Buschbeck, et al., 2003; Lotze, et al.,1999; Michelon, Vettel, & Zacks, 2006; Nair, Purcott,
Fuchs, Steinberg, & Kelso, 2003; Oullier, Jantzen, Steinberg, & Keiso, 2005).
As the client generates these futures, using pseudo-orientation, she inevitably incorporates
into them hopes and dreams and meaningful capacities that already exist within her range
of experience. The pseudo-orientation in time is used “... to create a therapy situation in
which the patient could respond effectively psychologically to desired therapeutic goals as
actualities already achieved” (p. 396). This is to say that when an outcome is experienced
in the imagination; a real foundation is laid for the expectation that the same outcome can
be accomplished in reality.
This was done ... using, ... a technique of orientation into the future. Thus the patient
was able to achieve a detached, dissociated, objective and yet subjective view of what
he believed at the moment he had already accomplished, without awareness that
those accomplishments were the expression in fantasy of his hopes and desires (p.
396).
The essence of the technique is the assumption that we can actively participate in the
process of creating futures by accessing the creative possibilities that already dwell within
us. Whether the future is envisioned as associated or dissociated, the technique provides a
real time experience of something that is subjectively encountered as already complete in
itself. Moreover, the client’s experience of the reality of the imagined future is dissociated
from the common idea of hopes or dreams—subjective ephemera; it is experienced as a
reality. This process, of awakening unconscious resources to build creative futures, was
named pseudo-orientation in time (Rossi, 1986).
Erickson (1954) emphasized that the technique takes advantage, not of conscious fantasies
which emerge fully formed and that can be dismissed as mere imaginings, but of
unconscious desires that represent deeply held, preexisting goals and directions.
Unconscious fantasies ... are not accomplishments complete in themselves, nor are they
apart from reality. Rather, they are psychological constructs in various degrees of
formulation, for which the unconscious stands ready, or is actually awaiting an
opportunity, to make a part of reality. They are not significant merely of wishful desire
but rather of actual intention at the opportune time (p. 421).
The unconscious fantasies that lay at the root of the technique are not the complete,
conscious dreamings that characterize everyday imaginings. They are, rather, impulses,
capacities and outcomes that have not yet fully matured. They are motivational and
perceptual fragments awaiting the opportunity for expression. In terms of general systems
theory, they are subsystems that lie dormant until they are incorporated into a larger
emerging system. While each represents a true potential, they also need an appropriate
context for realization.
Most simply, a pseudo-orientation in time consists of sending an individual into another

time or frame in which the problem at hand has been solved or the desired goal has
already been obtained. The positive emotional state that characterizes the outcome may
be thought of as the condition that constrains and motivates the initiation of the process. It
can also be understood as an expression of the deep tendencies to move towards growth
and healing that dwell within each of us.
Erickson had a marked preference for allowing the unconscious to establish the priorities
for change, the target for change and the specific outcome that the technique envisioned.
Typically, he would allow the client to experience future resolutions in deep trance and
leave them amnesic for the experience until a time when the unconscious determined that
its revelation would be appropriate. In his discussion of his own experiences with self-
hypnosis, Erickson indicates that he provides the unconscious with general outcomes, not
presuming to direct it as to process (Erickson, 1977).
Other Approaches
Pseudo-orientations can be applied in several different ways. Miller and Berg offer a basic
and accessible formulation in their Book: The Miracle Method (1995). Here, the technique
is applied by asking the client to imagine a time when their current problem had already
been resolved. In Erickson’s words they establish
… a detached, dissociated, objective and yet subjective view of what ..[the client] …
believed at the moment he had already accomplished, without awareness that those
accomplishments were the expression in fantasy of his hopes and desires (p. 396).
Unlike Erickson’s original formulations, the Miracle Method is carried out in full waking
consciousness and requires the client’s active participation.
Suppose tonight, after you go to bed and fall asleep, while you are sleeping a miracle
happens. The miracle is that the problem or problems that you are struggling with
are solved! Just like that! Since you are sleeping, however, you don't know that the
miracle has happened. You sleep right through the whole event. When you wake up
tomorrow morning, what would be some of the first things that you would notice
Acuity Vol.2 15
that would be different and that would tell you that the miracle had happened and
that your problem is solved (p. 38)?
Another technique that makes use of the same general concept is John Overdurf’s End-
State Energy technique. Here, the client is invited to consider a problem state, one that
seems currently insurmountable. The state is typically framed by the statement: ‘If only I
had [This] my life would be, or I would feel [That]’. The client is then asked to imagine
how they will feel when that problem has finally been resolved. Rather than accepting a
nominalized, meaningless answer, the technique requires the participant to step fully into
the experience of having resolved the problem. Once they are fully associated into the
positive end-state (evaluated by the therapist or coach in terms of visible physiological
changes), the client is invited to bring the energy of that state back into the present and
from within that state to generate a “smallest next step” that would help to bring about the
desired end. That is, the client maintains the positive state while returning consciously
into the present (Overdurf, 2008).
In the spirit of Erickson’s original formulation, this version of the technique operates on a
relatively unconscious level. It depends upon the affective experience of being there, of
having it done, to drive the behaviors that will lead to full fruition. Overdurf suggests that
by coming into the experience of the end-state, the client is empowered to work through
the process of achieving the outcome.
More classically, the NLP technique sometimes referred to as the smart outcome generator
uses the same underlying technique, allying the conscious with the unconscious to
motivate the full realization of a well formed and imaginally experienced outcome. In
doing so, it makes use of the well-formedness conditions for outcomes.
The idea of well-formedness conditions for goals or outcomes is a central pillar of Neuro-
Linguistic Programming interventions. It developed more or less directly from the work of
Noam Chomsky. Just as Chomsky held that native speakers of any language can
intuitively identify whether a communication is syntactically well-formed or meaningful,
so, human behaviors require certain kinds of ordered structures to make them meaningful,
motivating or efficacious. Typically these conditions specify the formal elements of the
behavior in a defined sequence. While Chomsky’s concept was specifically about
language, NLP extended the idea of well-formedness conditions to behavior (Bandler &
Grinder, 1975; Dilts, 1981; Dilts, & Delozier, 1990; O’Connor & Seymour, 1990; Linden &
Perutz, 1998; Dilts, Delozier, & Delozier, 2000; Gray, 2008a, 2008b).
At their most basic level, the NLP well-formedness conditions for any given outcome
specify that:
1. The outcome must be stated as a positive thing or experience; something wanted,

not something unwanted or to be ended.
2. The outcome must be something that is under the goal seeker’s personal control.
This also implies that the task should not be stated too broadly.
3. The outcome must be specified in terms of sensory experience; it must be described
in terms of what can be seen, heard, felt, tasted or smelled—how you will know
you have it when you get it.
4. The outcome should be evaluated for ecology; what it will change in the person’s
life and the lives around them.
5. The outcome should be imagined and experienced in fantasy as fully as possible.
A final step, emphasized by Bandler and others, includes taking a perspective starting
from the imagined future and noting the steps, in reverse order, that allowed the client to
get there. These steps are then reviewed from future to the present and again, from the
present into the future and finally committed to writing (Andreas & Andreas, 1989;
Bandler, 1999; Bodenhamer & Hall, 1988; Cade & O'Hanlon, 1993; Dilts, 1981; Dilts,
Delozier & Delozier, 2000; Gray, 2008a, 2008b; Linden & Perutz, 1998; Miller & Berg, 1996).
It should be noted that, for the most part, these characteristics are typical of deep, intrinsic
motives. Intrinsic motivators are desired positively (Deci & Ryan, 2008; Gray, 2005, 2008a).
They are characterized by choice and personal autonomy; they often include strong self
efficacy beliefs (Baumeister & Heatherton, 1996; Deci & Ryan 2008; Hulleman et al., 2008;
Koestner, 2008; Notz, 1975). Because they are often rooted in previous or vicarious
experiences, they can be specified in sensory terms (often with special emphasis on
kinesthetic elements—this is how I will feel) (Baumeister & Heatherton, 1996). Well-
formedness conditions can often be used to differentiate between extrinsic outcomes with
relatively superficial motivations and intrinsic motivations which provide stronger
sensory and motivational cues.
During 1992, the author was teaching psychology at a local Community College. As part
of a lesson on motivation, he asked students to apply the NLP well-formedness criteria to
outcomes that they had already set for themselves. An important facet of the exercise was
the imaginal experience of the anticipated outcome. That is, after specifying a positive
outcome, after determining that the outcome was under their personal control and
specifying several means by which the student would know that they had attained the
desired state or position, they were asked to imagine stepping into the end state and
trying it on.
Acuity Vol.2 17
On this occasion there was a young woman in the class who had been working towards a
degree in nursing. She had just begun the program and had no idea of what it was that a
nurse actually did. When she tried on the imagined experience of the day-to-day realities
of nursing, she came rather quickly to the realization that it was not something that she
wanted to do. She changed her major soon thereafter.
Presuppositions
The use of pseudo-orientations presupposes several things 1) The client already possesses
the skills or abilities (resources) necessary to reach those goals--These are Erickson’s
unconscious fantasies. 2) Motivation is often established most powerfully from positive
goals—things that are wanted and can be actively imagined. 3) Imagined results can have
the impact of actual experience. 4) Problems are generally not maintained in the same
manner in which they were established. 5) Given the opportunity, clients will create
meaningful futures rooted in their own capacities.
Resources
A pseudo-orientation in time assumes that each individual has within herself resources
that are sufficient to solve the problem at hand or to attain the goal sought. That these
resources are not always apparent to the conscious mind is more often the problem than
any presenting pathology.
Resources may be thought of as any experience or any memory of an experience that the
individual has had. They are as likely to be imagined experiences or role plays as actual
experiences. The idea that people possess these kinds of resources was central to
Erickson's approach and forms one of the basic presuppositions of NLP (Andreas, 1989;
Bodenhamer & Hall, 1998; Bandler & Grinder, 1975; Dilts, Delozier Bandler & Grinder.
1980; Haley, 1973; James & Woodsmall, 1988; Linden, 1997; Robbins, 1983).
Erickson (n.d.) reflects the basic understanding of resources in the following: passage:
Hypnosis is not some mystical procedure, but rather a systematic utilization of experiential
learnings -that is, the extensive learnings acquired through the process of living itself.... For
example, mention may be made of hypnotic anesthesia or hypnotic amnesia, but
these are no more than learnings of everyday living organized in an orderly,
controlled and directed fashion. For example, nearly everyone has had the
experience of losing a painful headache during a suspense movie without medication
of any sort. Similarly, everyone has developed an anesthesia for the sensation of
shoes on the feet, glasses on the face, and a collar around the neck.... (p. 1325).
Every individual has a tremendous number of these generally unrecognized psychological

and somatic learnings and conditionings, and it is the intelligent use of these that
constitutes an effectual use of hypnosis. (Erickson & Rossi, p. 224).
It is important to consider that Erickson’s techniques included a heavy positive reliance on

the capacities of the unconscious. In his own experiments with autohypnosis, his
preferred method was to set forth an intention and allow the unconscious, with little in the
way of verbal or conscious guidance, to bring it into realization. Similarly, in pseudo-
orientations in time, by relaxing away from conscious control, the unconscious is freed to
discover not only the resources that are available but also the most efficient way to use
them.
Often the resource remains unrecognized on a conscious level until the pseudo-orientation
creates a specific resonance with it. Thus, in The Miracle Method, having led the client to
imagine that the miracle has occurred, Miller and Berg ask the client to think of
experiences of behaviors that occurred before they were patients that made them feel
similarly. “Can you think of a time when you felt this way or acted this way before?” The
examples of healthy behavior from before the problem are then analyzed in terms of
when, where and with whom the events occurred. Exceptions to the problem behavior are
used as examples of resourceful behaviors that assist the client as he creates the miracle in
present time.
Central to the solution-focused approach is the certitude that, in a person’s life, there
are invariably exceptions to the behaviors, ideas, and interactions that are, or can be,
associated with the problem. There are times when a difficult adolescent is not
defiant, when a depressed person feels less sad, when a shy person is able to socialize,
when an obsessive person is able to relax, when a troubled couple resolves rather than
escalates conflict, when a bulimic resists the urge to binge, when a child does not have
a tantrum when asked to go to bed, when an overresponsible person says no, when a
problem drinker does contain their drinking to within a sensible limit, etc. ( Cade &
O'Hanlon, 1993, p. 96).
A set of resources may also be identified from the perspective of the future resource state.
Once the client is experiencing the future-solution state, they can think back to experiences
in their life that made this possible. That is, from that place in the future, they can think
back to times that are now particularly relevant to the solution. They might ask themselves
Acuity Vol.2 19
to think of five pretreatment experiences that were crucial to making this future resolution
possible.
The author often uses pseudo-orientations to design strategies and to adjust his own
behavior from the point of view of a more expert and accomplished future. One of his
favorite practices in this alternate future is to remember a list of past memories that were
crucial in forming the attitudes and abilities that made this future possible. In a practical
setting one might ask the client:
Now that you have attained this outcome, and find yourself enjoying these feelings, think back
over your life, back to a time, a time, perhaps, before we met, when you experienced feelings
that have now become important in allowing this new reality to come into being. Think back,
in a comfortable and relaxed way, in the same way that you would remember a pleasant trip,
or a good book, and remember, really remember, a few experiences that set the stage for these
present, pleasant feelings of resolution and completion.
From this vantage point, the technique uses the phenomenon of state dependant memory
to revivify resource states that are foundational to the experience of the solution.
State dependant memory generally refers to the tendency to more accurately remember
events that occurred in physiological conditions that are more or less similar to the current
state of the organism. Thus, drunks, while they are drinking, are more likely to remember
things learned while drunk, happy people are more likely to remember happy times,
depressed persons are more likely to remember being depressed. By the same token,
depressed persons find it difficult to remember being happy, addicts find it difficult to
remember managing without drugs and happy people tend to forget that they were sad or
depressed. Erickson and Rossi suggest that post-hypnotic and traumatic amnesias are just
such state dependant effects. Individual states of mind/body dependant upon the level of
cortisol and other stress related substances have a similar effect. When we are stressed we
tend to remember stressful events (Rossi, 1986; Rossi & Cheek, 1988).
State dependant memory is described by Rossi as a form of memory that is more diffuse
then either classical or operant conditioning. It is a function of the state of the body with
regard to hormonal flux and neuro-modulators. It provides the physiological context that
frames other kinds of learning (Rossi, 1986).
Pseudo-orientations in time take advantage of this phenomenon. By fully associating into

a future characterized by experiences of fulfillment, empowerment or change, the client
becomes more ready to access resources that will support those future behaviors that are
consistent with the imagined outcome. In general, active participation in a fantasy of the
empowered future creates a physiological state that increases the probability that the
participant will remember resources, exceptions to the problem and breakthroughs that
are consistent with the desired future.
Motivation
Pseudo-orientations in time have the advantage of enhancing motivation to change on

several levels. Motivation is often inhibited when we face unknown or unfamiliar tasks. By
previewing the future in a full sensory representation, we remove some of the threatening
aspects of the unknown. Further, by having the experience of final success in the imagined
enterprise, the fear of failure can be partially disarmed. In many ways, the simple,
imaginative role-play involved in the pseudo-orientation constitutes a desensitization of
fear of failure in that specific context (Scheele, 1998; Wolpe, 1958; 1982; Schaeffer & Martin,
1969).
This is part of the utility of Erickson's design. As originally discussed with Rossi, it was
very important that the orientation be accomplished in dissociated mode. It was observed
through the mechanism of a crystal ball as if it were an objective event viewed from a
distance. He explained that this allowed the client to have an experience of what that
outcome would be like without the difficulties engendered by the actual experience of the
target state. In his view it became a specific experience of practicing the task from a
distance. Thus it is a... "detached, dissociated, objective and yet subjective view of what he
believed at the moment he had already accomplished, without awareness that those
accomplishments were the expression in fantasy of his hopes and desires" (1954, p. 396).
Motivation is further enhanced by ensuring that the future goal is linked to the needs and
desires of the client. Too many false starts are the result of wrong motivation. In harmony
with the wisdom of the literature of motivation, the goal must be something that the client
wants. It cannot be done to satisfy others or to meet external demands. It must come from
within; intrinsic motivation is crucial (Baumeister & Heatherton, 1996; Cade & O'Hanlon,
1993; Deci & Ryan 2008; Hulleman et al., 2008; Koestner, 2008; Miller & Berg, 1995; Notz,
1975; Rossi, 1986).
Once again, Erickson's original formulation requires that the imagined future be a
reflection of an unconscious direction, a nascent personal direction that already awaits
fulfillment; not some unrealistic fantasy. To this end, he went to great pains to ensure that
the future was rooted in unconscious directions and that its fulfillment was not subject to
conscious direction (1980). In one of its forms, as the whole life reframe, pseudo-
Acuity Vol.2 21
orientation in time may align with Maslowian ideas of self-actualization and Jungian
notions of calling (Gray, 2008a, 2008b; Hillman, 1996).
One use of the technique, in order to ensure intrinsic motivation, begins with leading the
client to focus on their own inner directions. Here, the technique is rooted in the present-
time experience of a centered, content-free, positive experience, usually of self-esteem or
self efficacy. Having established the state, the client is then asked to imagine a future
associated with that state and the well-formedness conditions are applied to the fantasy.
This provides a certain guarantee that the outcome specified will be neither superficial nor
aimed at an outer audience. Insofar as the root resource represents a genuine revivification
of deep personal resources, clients will tend to produce personally meaningful outcomes.
In an alternate application, as used with the Community College student above, the
process requires the client to assess an outcome using the well-formedness conditions and
to determine whether or not the outcome is appropriate for them. It becomes in fact, an
evaluative engine which often has the effect of inspiring the client to seek out an alternate
goal or outcome.
Imagination
As long ago as 1933, Clark Hull held forth the idea that every imagined or observed action
was accompanied by minute motoric responses that imitated the imagined motion in a
precise manner. Bandura's (1997) work with modeling and social learning strongly
suggests the same mechanism. That same mechanism has been confirmed on the level of
neural structure with fMRI studies. Recent fMRI studies of the human brain reflect the fact
that imagined activities activate many of the same loci as the actual performance of the
physical activity (la Fougère, et al., 2009; Kuhtz-Buschbeck, et al., 2003; Lotze, et al.,1999;
Michelon, Vettel, & Zacks, 2006; Nair, Purcott, Fuchs, Steinberg, & Kelso, 2003; Oullier,
Jantzen, Steinberg, & Keiso, 2005).
As Erickson knew, imagined practice bears results in practical experience.
Creating meaningful futures
One of the central presuppositions of the technique is that every person has a unique set of
gifts and abilities which define their place and function in the world. Using a biological
metaphor one might say that there is a human ecology and each of us is prepared for a
specific niche in the world.
From a Depth Psychological dimension we may imagine along with Jung that every
person is drawn by the archetype of the Self to the manifestation of an inborn but for the
most part unconscious potential. Within each of us this potential for self realization acts as
a direction and a call to something more (Hillman, 1996; Jung, 1966)
These formulations imply that, all else being equal, the unconscious tends to move
towards a maximization of potential: the best life possible under the circumstances. By
assembling the available resources in line with this developmental path, the change agent
can take advantage of the internal impulse towards growth and self realization.
In some cases, despite the presumption of this positive intent, people do get stuck in
patterns that are no longer truly useful. This is the genesis of many of the continuing
problems encountered in therapeutic settings. Nevertheless, Erickson, the NLP
community, and the Humanistic and Solution-Focused communities have a specific faith
in the unconscious' innate tendency to move towards a goal of complete manifestation of
individual potential.
Problem maintenance
It is a by now a truism in the worlds of NLP and solution focused treatment that problems
are not maintained by the same behavioral structures that gave them birth. Problems are
more often than not continuing answers to very different problems than those that they
originally served. By turning to future solutions and currently available resources,
significant progress can be made in a short time (Grinder & Bandler, 1976, 1975a, 1979,
1982; Andreas & Andreas, 1987, 1989; DeShazer, 1994; Miller & Berg, 1995; Cade &
O'Hanlon, 1993).
Haley (1973) notes: " ... Erickson puts a primary emphasis upon shifting them towards
success in work and love. He does not usually review their past with them, nor does he
help them to understand why they have problems” (p. 86).
Discussion
In a casual conversation with the operator of a local business, the author was advised that
her business had become stalled at what she had always considered an intermediate stage.
For some reason she was unable to commit to the changes necessary to transform her
scents and soaps shop into the spa that she had envisioned. The author suggested that she
take some time to herself and begin to imagine what it would feel like to have completed
Acuity Vol.2 23
the work necessary and to have the fully functioning spa open and turning a profit. Once
she was able to envision that and to access the feelings that would accompany it, she was
to find the steps backward and to discover the chores necessary for getting from there to
here. A week later, she reported that she had experienced a new excitement about the
project and had begun to clear the space necessary for the realization of the Spa. Three
years further on she has purchased the building next door and continues to make
significant progress towards realizing her dream.
For many, the smart outcome generator has provided a logical connection between present
activities and future possibilities. This of course is a crucial marker in change work of any
kind. Prochaska makes the crucial point that most of the successful change observed when
applying the Stages of Change model is predicted by the development of a future goal that
is more valuable to the client than the loss of the problem behavior (Prochaska, 1994;
Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994).
Another advantage of pseudo-orientations is their capacity to bypass conscious objections

to the possibility of the anticipated future (They are, after all, only imagined). Further,
because when done correctly, pseudo-orientations tend to align purpose with the deeper
intentions of the archetypal Self; they tend to produce powerful self-motivating states.
Pseudo-orientation in time provides a powerful tool for awakening change through the
experience of believable, relevant futures. It can serve to provide meaning, motivation and
purpose by organizing resources for the realization of nascent possibilities that represent
the deepest desire of the human heart.
Biography
Richard M Gray, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Fairleigh Dickinson

University, Teaneck, NJ. Before his move to academia, Dr. Gray served for more than 20
years in the US Probation Department, Brooklyn, NY. He is the creator of the Brooklyn
Program, an NLP-based substance abuse program which operated for seven years in the
Federal Probation System. In recognition of that work, he was co-recipient of the 2004
Neuro-linguistic Programming World Community Award, presented at the CANLP
conference in Montreal. Dr. Gray is the author of Archetypal Explorations (Routledge,
1996), Transforming Futures: The Brooklyn Program Facilitators Manual (Lulu, 2003) and
About Addictions: Notes from Psychology, Neuroscience and NLP (Lulu, 2008). He is a
regular presenter at national and international addictions conferences and a recognized
expert in Neuro-Linguistic Programming. He received his BA in Psychology from Central
College, Pella, IA; MA in Sociology from Fordham University, Bronx, NY; and Ph.D. in
Psychology from the Union Institute, Cincinnati, OH. He also earned a certificate in
Forensic Psychology at New York University in 2002. Dr. Gray is a Certified Master
Practitioner of Neuro-linguistic Programming and a Certified Ericksonian Hypnotist.
Richard is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Federal Probation
Officers Association, the Canadian Association of NLP, the Institute for the Advanced
Study of Health and the NLP Research and Recognition Project.
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Acuity Vol.2 27
Joining Up the Work of David Grove

James Lawley
This paper highlights three major phases of David Grove’s work from the early 1980s until
his death in 2008. Each phase deals with a separate domain of experience and for each one
Grove created a different language model – Clean Language, Clean Space and Emergent
Knowledge. This paper presents a new model that ‘joins up’ the three phases in a way that
maintains their individuality.
Introduction
Penny Tompkins and I started introducing David Grove’s work to the NLP community in
1996, and we have continued to do so ever since. If you are new to Grove’s work and our
modelling and systemisation of it, then some of the terms in this article may be unfamiliar.
They are, however, explained in the footnotes and in our previous articles, all of which are
available on our web site.
While the content of this article is about joining up the work of David Grove, the article can
also be read as a process for designing the join up of many other techniques and
approaches.
Three Phases
When we reviewed the sweep of David Grove’s work from the early 1980s until his death
in 2008 we identified three major phases. Each phase deals with a separate domain of
experience and for each one Grove created a different language model – Clean Language,
Clean Space and Emergent Knowledge:1
Phase I focussed on working with the organisation of a client’s subjective experience —

and in particular their internal metaphor landscape. Clean Language was created to
direct a client’s attention to their interior perceptual world so that it became
psychoactive.2 Clean Language questions are ‘clean’ because they restrict the
facilitator to universal metaphors of form, space, time, relationship and intention.
28 Joining Up the Work of David Grove
Phase II concentrated on using physical space to create a network of perspectives. The

questions and instructions of Clean Space aim to establish psychoactive relationships
between physical spaces. Clean Space is ‘clean’ because its questions and instructions
are limited to using metaphors of discovery, knowing and space, and precious little
else.
Phase III primarily involved the iteration of simple algorithms to produce new insights or
‘recognitions’. The family of Emergent Knowledge processes are ‘clean’ in a different
way — the client’s content hardly influences the process and the facilitator’s
interventions are strictly controlled by a formula.
Naturally there are similarities and overlaps between the phases. For example Grove made
use of emergence in all three phases — but in different ways.3 The earlier phases contain
clear precedents of Grove’s later thinking, and when taken as a whole it is possible to see
an overall directionality to his work. The historical development of Grove’s work can be
summarised as:
Phase Dates (approx.) Domain Language Model Abbreviation

I Early 1980s to 2001 Metaphor Clean Language CL
II 2002 to 2004 Networks Clean Space CS
III 2005 to 2007 Recognition Emergent Knowledge EK
My aim in this paper is to present a model that ‘joins up’ the

three phases yet still maintains their individuality. Rather than
trying to integrate them into a single process I’ve borrowed the
metaphor of ‘join up’ from The Horse Whisper, Monty Roberts.
Grove met Roberts and found his ultra-respectful work with
horses had echoes of Grove’s way of working with clients and their unconscious. Roberts
said “Join-Up occurs when the animal willingly chooses to be with the human”.4 Join up
happens when the horse and human start working as a team — with neither sacrificing
their individuality.
Domains and Language Models
I believe it is important to understand and be adept in the workings of each domain of

experience and each language model separately, before seeking to combine them. Why?
Because each domain has its own nature and each language model has its own function.
Acuity Vol.2 29
The fundamental motif of each domain can be summarised as:
Metaphor is the faculty of experiencing an abstract or complex aspect of life in terms

of a more embodied, simpler and analogous experience.5
Networks involve a number of interconnected, yet separate spaces/nodes which

through their interactions establish a meaningful configuration.6
Recognition arises from attending iteratively to a knowing.7
Metaphor, networks and recognition are different kinds of experience. The language model
Grove designed for each domain puts the facilitator in a different relationship with the
client and their inner world. This affects the basic choices available to the facilitator:
The choice of which Clean Language question to ask is largely informed by the logic
of the client’s metaphorical content. A facilitator-modeller is with the client every
step of their metaphorical journey.8
Clean Space is a more pre-defined process. The content of the client’s perspective has
much less influence on the facilitator’s choices. The facilitator is somewhat removed
from the inner workings of the client’s mind-body.9
With Emergent Knowledge algorithms, adherence to the process is paramount —

almost regardless of what the client responds. The facilitator stays outside the
process, so their choice is mostly about timing and delivery.10
One of the ways to distinguish between the three language models is to notice how much
of the client’s content is involved. In Tables 1, 2 and 3 you can see how often the client’s
exact words/nonverbals (represented by “…”) appear in the question/instruction sets of
each of the three processes. “…” appears in most Clean Language questions, in a few
Clean Space questions/instructions, and not at all in the Emergent Knowledge, Powers of
Six (Po6) process.
To preserve the special characteristics of each domain and language model, the facilitator
not only needs to restrict their language as specified, they need to use their nonverbals
only in ways that are congruent with the client’s perspective.11
Mediums, Means and Methods
Before I explain how the three ways of working identified above can be joined up, I need
to make a further distinction. All processes require a ‘medium’, a ‘means’ and a ‘method’:
The medium is the context and ‘environment’ within which the process takes place.
The means is the actual behaviours and procedures used to facilitate the process.
The method is the overall approach, guiding principles and philosophy that the
facilitator uses to decide when, where and how to intervene to shape the direction of
the process.
I expect you can see how the medium, means and method is similar but not quite the same
as Robert Dilts and Todd Epstein’s Logical Levels.12 For example, I use ‘environment’ in its
metaphorical as well as physical sense.
Let’s take a look at the medium, means and method in relation to Grove’s work.
The Medium
Perceptually, the medium within which the client works is the same as the domain of
experience, i.e. Metaphor, Network or Recognition.
Physically, the medium is what the client uses to express (make external) their internal
world. There are six ways clients commonly express their perceptual world which can
vary depending on the domain:
Spoken word
Drawing/writing
Nonverbal sounds/music
Movement of the body
Use of objects
Use of space
Grove took care to ensure that his processes applied to all the ways clients expressed their
inner world. He liked to say he was an “equal information employer”.
The Means
Grove devised a different means of facilitating change in each domain. His genius was to
devise ways of working that had a congruent medium, means and method. These have
been described in a number of articles and books (see references and endnotes):
Acuity Vol.2 31
Clean Language questions for working with Metaphor

Clean Space questions/instructions for working with Networks
Emergent Knowledge questions/instructions for working with Recognition
Of course the notion of working ‘cleanly’ unites all Grovian processes:
A clean approach minimises the contamination of the client’s interior and exterior
worlds by the facilitator’s language and behaviour; and by working with the client’s
verbal and nonverbal cues, maximises the flow of the client's own reality and creative
emergence.13
People new to Grove’s work often mistake the most accessible part of the process, the
language models, for the whole process. Just learning the Clean Language questions, for
example, won’t make you a Clean Language facilitator. Penny Tompkins and I called our
model of Grove’s Phase I, Symbolic Modelling, in an attempt to highlight that both the
medium (symbol/metaphor) and the method (modelling) are as important as the means
(Clean Language).
Having looked at the medium and at the means, I will now consider the methods Grove
used. I will do that by comparing three of his processes to a generalised method for
working emergently.
The Method
In Metaphors in Mind: Transformation through Symbolic Modelling, Penny Tompkins and I

proposed a ‘universal’ 5-stage change process, or method.14 The ‘bottom-up’ version can
be summarised as :
1. Set up
2. Individuation of parts
3. Interaction of parts
4. Emergent property of whole
5. Set down.15
This is not to be thought of as a linear process. The core stages 2, 3 and 4 form iterative
feedback loops which give an overall directionality within the non-linearity of the
process.16
Going through the 5-stage process using a particular language model (the means) in a
particular domain (the medium) produces three different methodologies,
For the most part, Grove kept the three phases of his work separate. By consistently using
one language model in Stage 1 (Set up) and Stage 2 (Individuation) he facilitated clients to
establish a particular domain of experience: Clean Language leads to a Metaphor
landscape; Clean Space leads to a Network; and Emergent Knowledge leads to the domain
of Recognition. Once this happened Grove would use the same language model during
Stage 3 (Interaction) and Stage 4 (Emergence) to explore what already existed in that
domain:
use CL, CS or EK to establish M, N or R domain Stages 1-2

then, use same question set to explore the same domain Stages 3-4
As you will see later, the distinction between ‘establishing’ and ‘exploring’ is important
when it comes to joining up bits of Grove’s three processes to create novel procedures
tailored to particular clients at particular moments in their development.
Tables 1, 2 and 3 detail the common questions asked and instructions given in each of the
five stages for processes based on Clean Language (Symbolic Modelling), Clean Space,
and Emergent Knowledge (Powers of Six) respectively.
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5

Set up Individuate Interact Emerge Set down
Symbolic Entry Developing a Multiple Six approaches Maturing

Modelling perception perceptions
using
Clean Where would you Is there anything Then what Concentrate Develop
like to be? else about …? happens?
Language Attend to wholes Spread
Where would you What kind of …? What happens just
like me to be? before …? Broaden space Evolve
Where/
What would you Whereabouts …? Where could … Lengthen time Consolidate
like to have come from?
happen? That’s … like Necessary
what? Conditions
---------------- ---------------- ---------------- Introducing

PRO MODEL WITHIN A ACROSS
PERCEPTION PERCEPTIONS
When …, what When …, what

happens to …? happens to …?
Is there a Is there a
relationship relationship
between … and between … and
…? …?
Table 1: Questions for the five stages of Symbolic Modelling using Clean Language.17
Acuity Vol.2 33

Clean Space Starting Establish nodes Establish links Working with the Finishing
network
Client What do you And what do Use metaphors Return to

writes/draws know from here? you know from given to groups of [Position 1].
statement. here about … spaces.
What does this [another space]? After all that,
Place that where it space know? Find a space what do you know
needs to be. Return to … outside of all this from here now?
And is there [previous space]. [whole network].
Place yourself anything else What difference
where you need to you/this space And what do And what do you does knowing all
be in relation to it. knows? you know from know from here this make?
[= Position 1] here now? about all that
And what could [whole network]?
this space be And is there
called? anything else you
know about …
Client writes [another space]
name of space and now?
places paper to
mark space.
Find a space that

knows something
else about ….
Table 2: Questions and Instructions for the five stages of Clean Space.

Emergent Clean Start Overdrive A Iterate x 5 Download A Download A

Knowledge
using Choose a size of What do you And what else And now what Knowing what
Powers of 6 paper and write know? do you know? do you know? you know now,
or draw what you what do you
want to work on. Upload A: Put that on there notice about
[C]. the difference
Place that where Put that on there between your
it needs to be [C]. initial statement
[=B]. and your last
statement?
Place yourself
where you ---------------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------------
need to be in
relation to that OPTIONAL OPTIONAL OPTIONAL OPTIONAL
[=A]. on later iterations: on later iterations: on later iterations:
Are you [A] in/at Overdrive and Iterate B/C x 5 Download B/C Action Plan
the right space / Upload B/C
angle / height /
direction? What does that And what else And now what Taking into
[B/C] know? does that [B/C] does [B/C] know? account your last
Is that [B] in/at know? statement, write
the right space / Put that on there. ---------------- down six things
angle / height / Put that on there. you will do when
direction? Meta‐Drive A x 5 you leave here;
where and when
Is that the Find another you are going to
right distance space. do them; and who
between [=C] you if anyone you
[A] and are going to do
that [B]? them with.
Table 3: Questions and instructions for the five stages of an Emergent Knowledge process, Powers
of Six
Join Up
Having established what constitutes Grove’s three processes and how they can be
distinguished, we’ll turn to how they can be combined. While there are numerous possible
combinations of questions/instructions, my aim is to join up the three question sets in ways that
preserve the nature of each domain of experience. It’s like mixing paint. If you keep mixing
colours, eventually the character of each individual colour is lost and you end up with a
mess. Whereas if you mix carefully in appropriate proportions, you end up with new
colours and subtle hues. The key is to mix in such a way as to make use of the unique
features of each colour.
Below I examine how join up can happen at three levels:

Acuity Vol.2 35
Stage level
Vector level
Question/instruction level.
Think about these levels as containing larger and larger chunks of the process. Diagram 1
shows how each stage of the 5-stage process consists of a number of vectors, each of which
in turn comprise a number of questions/instructions. Typically one question and response
takes from a few seconds to a few minutes. A ‘vector’ is a number of
questions/instructions which together head in a particular process-outcome direction.18 A
client and facilitator will commonly be on a vector for 2-15 minutes. Stages comprise a
number of vectors and take anywhere between five minutes to an hour or more.
Diagram 1: Three levels where join up can take place
Stage-Level Join Up
The simplest way to join up the three processes is to complete one, and to use what
emerges as the seed for starting a different process (represented by the solid line in
Diagram 2). A more sophisticated join up switches within a process (as shown by the
dotted lines in the diagram). It is important at this level that each switch occurs only after
going through at least Stage 1 (Set up) and Stage 2 (Individuation) of a process. That is, to
establish a domain each time before switching.
Diagram 2: Stage-level join up

1st Example:
use CL to establish a Metaphor Landscape
Client discovers a (binding) pattern which is used as the starting point to:
use CS to establish a Network
then, use CS to explore the Network
2nd Example:
use Po6 to establish a Recognition
Client discovers a metaphorical knowing which starts the next process:
use CL to establish a Metaphor Landscape
then, use CL to explore the Landscape
3rd Example:
The output of a Clean Space activity can be used as a starting point for a Powers of
Six process (e.g. “Put this [the network] on a piece of paper and place it where it
needs to be”); or as a seed from which to build a metaphor landscape (e.g. “And now
you know all that, that’s like what?”).
While Diagram 2 and the examples show a single switch, it is possible to follow the first
switch with a second to either a different process, or to return to the starting process.
Vector-Level Join Up
A vector sits between the level of individual questions/instructions and the level of the
stages. Each vector involves stringing together a number of questions/instructions to
provide a short-term direction to the process (not the client’s content). A number of vectors
are usually required to ‘go through’ any stage. The transition between each stage will
always necessitate a new vector.
Joining up the processes at the vector level is more tricky than at the stage level. It takes a
good deal of skill and awareness by the facilitator to retain the properties of one domain of
experience while using a language model originally developed for a different domain. The
primary difference between join up at the vector level compared to join up at the stage
level is that at the switch the facilitator does not Set Up the new process but makes use of
one or more vectors from a different process within the framework of the original process.
Done well the switching will be seamless to the client.
Acuity Vol.2 37
Diagram 3 shows vectors for one process inserted into the general flow of a different
process. It’s like genetic modification where a bit of genetic material is imported, cut-and
pasted, into a host gene.
Diagram 3: Vector-level join up
Examples of how I have joined up Grove’s work at the vector-level follow:
• Once a metaphor landscape has been established by a Clean Language process, run a
Powers of Six iteration on an aspect of the landscape and incorporate the result into
the landscape. This might be appropriate if the client introduced a significant
knowing, e.g. in answer to a Clean Language question they might say, “Well the
first thing I know is …” You might respond with: “And what’s the second thing
you know?” … “And what’s the third?” … “And the forth?” … “And the fifth?” …
“Sixth?” … “And now what do you know?” You then revert to Clean Language to
facilitate the client to find out how the result relates to, or affects the rest of the
landscape.
• Once a metaphor landscape has been established, use Clean Space

questions/instructions so the client moves around physically in relation to their
metaphor landscape. This could be within the landscape using the location of
symbols as existing spaces, or to one or more spaces outside – making the whole
landscape the focus of the activity.
• Once a network has been established by a Clean Space process, use Clean Language
to develop a metaphor while retaining the structure of a network. This would be
appropriate if the client started describing the relationship between the spaces/nodes
in metaphor, e.g. “The line between those spaces looks like a river”. The skill is to
develop the metaphor while maintaining the psychoactivity of the rest of the
network.
• Run a Powers of Six (Po6) iteration on [A] the space the client is in; or [B] on what
the client originally drew/wrote; or [C] the space between. Then continue with the
Clean Space process.
• Use a recognition from a Powers of Six process, to run a Clean Space process with a
Po6 iteration in each space.
• Use a recognition to identify a knowing into an embodied symbol using the

‘Feeling/Knowing to a Metaphor’ vector (“And when you know that, where is that
knowing?” etc.). Then invite the client draw their metaphor and use that to
continue with a Po6 process.
When joining up at the vector level it is important to establish a domain (Stages 1 and 2)
before bringing in a vector from a different process. If you don’t, you risk ending up with
a heap rather than a whole. For example, asking about a metaphor in the middle of Po6
series of questions will likely ruin the Po6 process. Similarly, having a client move to a
Clean Space process before a metaphor landscape is established may well result in the
client losing touch with the psychoactivity of their metaphor.
Question/Instruction-Level Join Up
At the lowest level it is possible to occasionally introduce a single question/instruction

normally used in a different domain. The skill is to choose the appropriate moment. If you
do it too often, not only are you asking the client to do a lot of mental gymnastics, you will
likely pull them out of their current domain. And if they do not stay in one domain for
long enough they will unlikely get beyond the obvious.
Diagram 4 depicts an ongoing process with a number of questions/instructions inserted

from one of the other processes.
Diagram 4: Question/instruction-level join up
Examples of ‘foreign’ questions/instructions that have proved useful are:
When a client physicalised their interior landscape by getting up and enacting a

metaphorical event, the following Clean Space instruction offered them a meta-
perspective:
- Find a space outside of all of this [the landscape].

Acuity Vol.2 39
When a client came to a pause in their metaphor landscape this Emergent

Knowledge question gave them an opportunity to reflect:
- And now what do you know?
When something unexpected happened in the middle of a Clean Space process it was
utilised with the following Clean Language question:
- And when [event], what happens to [name of space]?
It may also be useful on occasion to construct hybrid questions or instructions which

combine bits of two language models. For instance:
Ask a CS question of a symbol in a client’s metaphor landscape:

- And what does [name of symbol] know from there?
- And what does [name of symbol] know about [another aspect of the
landscape]?
Use a combined CS/CL instruction to a client who has developed a network of

spaces:
- Find a space that knows what you would like to have happen.
- Find a space that knows what needs to happen for [client’s desired outcome].
Given the nature of the Powers of Six process it is not appropriate to interrupt the six
iterations with any other form of question/instruction. Therefore input from any other
process needs to come between the sets of six iterations.
In Conclusion
In this paper I have shown how Grove’s three brilliant and innovative leaps produced
three stand-alone processes; and how each process can be mapped onto five stages of a
universal bottom-up methodology. I have also shown how these processes can be joined
up at three levels: stage, vector and question/instruction level. Once you become adept at
working with each process in the relevant domain using the appropriate language model,
you can then experiment with join up. Doing it this way means you will understand the
nature of each domain and the function of each question/instruction in preparation for
joining them up in new and creative ways.
On a meta-level, the way I have mapped out the join up of Grove’s three processes could
be used as a generalised model for combining many other techniques and approaches.
Finally a reminder. This paper has been written from the facilitator’s perspective. The only
purpose for joining up any of David Grove’s work is to serve the individual client who has
entrusted themselves to your expertise.
Biography
James Lawley is primarily a modeller. He has been a UKCP registered neurolinguistic

psychotherapist since 1993. He is also a supervisor, coach in business, and certified NLP
trainer. He co-authored Metaphors in Mind: Transformation through Symbolic Modelling and
the training DVD, A Strange and Strong Sensation. He can be contacted via
www.cleanlanguage.co.uk which contains his blog and over 50 of his articles.
References
Capra, Fritjof (1996) The Web of Life, London: Harper Collins.

Dilts, Robert B. & Epstein, Todd A (1995) Dynamic Learning, California: Meta Publications.
Grove, David J & Panzer, Basil (1989) Resolving Traumatic Memories: Metaphors and Symbols in
Psychotherapy, Irvington, New York.
Harland, Philip (2009) The Power Six: A Six Part Guide to Self Knowledge, Ridgway, CO: Wayfinder
Press.
Johnson, Steven (2001) Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software. London:
Allen Lane The Penguin Press.
Lakoff, George & Johnson, Mark (1980) Metaphors We Live By, Chicago, IL: The University of
Chicago Press.
Lawley, James & Tompkins, Penny (2000) Metaphors in Mind: Transformation through Symbolic
Modelling, London: Developing Company Press.
Rossi, Ernest (1996) Symptom Path to Enlightenment, Palisades, CA: Gateway Publishing.
Wilber, Ken (1995) Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution, Boston, MA: Shambala.
Notes and references to articles available on the web.

1
We first presented the three phases of Grove’s work in a keynote address to the Clean Conference, 22 June
2008. An audio recording of that presentation is available at: www.cleanchange.co.uk/store/downloads-c-
1.html
2
David Grove defined 'psychoactive' as “taking on a life of its own”. Almost anything, a perception, space,
drawing, object or movement of the body can, at a particular moment, become psychoactive for a person.
See ‘When Where Matters: How psychoactive space is created and utilised’, James Lawley. The Model,
January 2006. www.cleanlanguage.co.uk/articles/articles/29/1/
3
“In [complex adaptive systems] agents residing on one scale start producing behavior that lies one scale
above them: ants create colonies; urbanites create neighbourhoods; simple pattern-recognition software
learns how to recommend new books. The movement from low-level rules to higher-level sophistication is
what we call emergence.” Steven Johnson, Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and
Software (p. 18). See also ‘What is Emergence?’ Penny Tompkins and James Lawley, February, 2002.
www.cleanlanguage.co.uk/articles/articles/194/1/
Acuity Vol.2 41
4
Quote from www.montyroberts.com/ju_about.html (16 Sept. 2008)
5
“The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another.”
George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By (p. 5).
6
“[The] common pattern of organization that can be identified in all living systems … its most important
property is that it is a network pattern. Whenever we look at life, we look at networks.” Fritjof Capra, The
Web of Life (pp. 81-82).
7
‘Recognition’ as a term for a domain of experience comes from Philip Harland, The Power Six: A Six Part
Guide to Self Knowledge. ‘Iteration’ is a process that repeatedly applies a rule, computation or procedure to
the result of the previous application of the rule, computation or procedure. See ‘Iteration, Iteration,
Iteration’, Penny Tompkins and James Lawley, February, 2007.
8
‘Less is More … The Art of Clean Language’, Penny Tompkins & James Lawley Rapport 35, February
1997. www.cleanlanguage.co.uk/articles/articles/109/1/
9
Clean Space: Modelling Human Perception through Emergence’, Penny Tompkins & James Lawley,
Anchor Point, Vol. 17, No. 8, September 2003. www.cleanlanguage.co.uk/articles/articles/24/1/
10
‘Six Steps to Emergent Knowledge’, Matthew Hudson & Philip Harland, ReSource, February 2008,
www.powersofsix.com
11
‘Clean Language Without Words’, Penny Tompkins and James Lawley, Rapport 43, Spring 1999.
12
Robert Dilts and Todd Epstein, Dynamic Learning (pp. 3-9)
13
This definition of ‘clean’ was inspired by Steve Saunders’ version posted on www.cleanforum.com on 10
December 2010
14
“Different therapies have their own names for these five stages. In Symbolic Modelling we call them:
Entry, Developing Symbolic Perceptions, Modelling Symbolic Patterns, Encouraging Conditions for
Transformation, and Maturing.” James Lawley & Penny Tompkins, Metaphors in Mind: Transformation
through Symbolic Modelling (p. 40).
15
‘Set up’ and ‘set down’ are terms borrowed from ‘The Three Sets Model: Re-Modelling NLP Part Six:
Understanding Change’, John McWhirter, Rapport 48, Summer 2000.
www.sensorysystems.co.uk/articles.htm
16
Stages 2, 3 and 4 can be mapped on to Ken Wilber’s 1-2-1 model of development described in Sex,
Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution. In other words: one, to many one’s, to one at a higher
emergent level of organisation. Or put another way, the emergent whole transcends and includes its
interacting parts. Also, Stages 2-5 can be mapped on to the four stages of the creative process: Data
Collection (initiation); Incubation (induction); Illumination (insight); Verification (reintegration). Ernest
Rossi maintains that it typically takes a person 90-120 minutes to go through these four stages. See Chapter 6
in Symptom Path to Enlightenment.
17
The ‘PRO Model’ is described in ‘Coaching for P.R.O.s’, Penny Tompkins and James Lawley, Coach the
Coach, Feb. 2006. www.cleanlanguage.co.uk/articles/articles/31/1/
18
‘Vectoring and Systemic Outcome Orientation’, Penny Tompkins and James Lawley, October 2008.
42 Space Time and Certainty
Space, Time & Certainty

Lucas Derks
Space, time and certainty
Among all the techniques found in NLP, there are formats for improving clients‘
unconscious representation of time, for changing their limiting beliefs, for improving their
maps of the social world, for reorganizing their self experience, for solving their inner
conflicts, for dealing with their phobia’s and emotional stuck states, for reorganizing their
value systems, for dealing with their traumatic experiences and for reconnecting them to
their spiritual resources. All these are laid out in step by step protocols (Bandler &
Grinder, 1979, 1982; Dilts et al, 1990; Andreas et al, 1989, 1994; Andreas, 2001; Derks, 2005).
By applying these formats with many subjects, a lot of general data about the psyche came
to the surface. For most people, this magnificent source of insight is just a byproduct of
change work. To me it was my main goal. Helping people to change their minds proves to
be an exquisite form of psychological experimentation that leads the explorer beyond the
overgrazed paradigms. What unconscious dimensions support mental health?
Space
People, like all things, exist in space. It is probable that the mental representation of that
space starts with the onset of prenatal learning. Cognitive linguists (Fauconnier et al., 1998,
2002) gave the name mental space to the representation of physical space in the mind. Mental
space is like a three dimensional black board on which the cognitive map of reality is
drawn.
When speculating about prenatal life, visions of how an embryo will be confronted with
its body limits come into sight. It must experience that some sensations stem from within
(stomach, guts, heart) and others from its external senses (mouth, eyes, skin, fingers and
feet). The recurring similarities in these sensations will automatically be laid down into
memory traces. These enable the embryo to differentiate between what is within and what
is around.
Acuity Vol.2 43
When we reconstruct the onset of cognition in its broadest sense, it must start with the
formation of two (preverbal, multisensory) spatial concepts: here and there (Derks, 2005).
And although it is difficult to prove, the core of the here will start in the abdomen, where a
great number of neurons are active in prenatal digestion. Later this area of awareness
probably transforms into what we will call the feelings of self. These feelings become the
spot from where people position themselves in the world – their location of existence. The
there on the other hand, represents the rest of the universe, which at first starts just beyond
the skin. These two notions of here and there must be at the heart of every neural model of
the world. And by the wired-in neurological forces of distinction and generalization, they
will expand into the knowledge that one needs to become an independent organism.
Severe alcoholics, patients with removed right hemispheres, victims of concussions and
frequent travelers may wake up wondering: Where the heck?! When there is no answer to
that, panic is inevitable. Keeping track of where we are, is quite essential. What horrors can
happen when our inner navigator lays flat is vividly dramatized in some abduction
thrillers, in which victims are cut off from all orientation. Knowing where, of course,
depends on an adequate mental topography and the correct interpretation of landmarks.
Most of the time, spatial orientation goes without any awareness, and therefore
exemplifies clearly what unconscious background cognition is about.
Not knowing where they are is rarely an issue for my clients, however, most basic cognitive
functions are in one way or the other derived from the primary skill to orient oneself in
space.
What linguists came to call mental space is a generalized representation in the nervous
system of the physical space that surrounds us. This real space contains tangible material
objects. In mental space these objects are represented in an abstracted, categorical manner.
And the properties we perceive in real space (like distance, direction and size) are
translated into their mental equivalents: psychological distance, direction and size.
Humans have little restrictions in how to create their mental space. For instance, some
individuals surround themselves with billions of light-years of parallel universes, while
others fill only tiny spots. Some keep it simple where others strive to copy the cosmos in
all its details. Clinical work shows, that these general characteristics of one’s model of the
world have an enormous impact on an individual’s life and personality.
The International Laboratory for Mental Space Research (ILMSR), for which I work, officially
aims at the exploration of this three dimensional mental imaging and its pragmatic
consequences. This research has shown how mental space is primarily filled with concrete
memories and future projections that do depict unique events: mental photographs. These
types of images largely originate from concrete sensory experiences. However, the mind
tends to automatically generalize this tangible level into broader and more general
concepts. We may call these, general background abstractions. Without the ability to distillate
experience into general concepts, our mental model of the world would be fragmented
and fairly useless. So, broad generalizations are supporting normal people’s models of
reality.
But there are also abstract concepts, like science, society, justice, history or the market, that
have no material existence in the real world – that are abstractions from the start. These
are also conceived of in mental space; as three dimensional schemes (Lakoff et al., 1999).
And when a person is thinking of one of these concepts, these pictographic images are
experienced as slightly accentuated areas somewhere in the space around the person.
However, such pictures may be of very brief duration, vague and tend to stay below the
threshold of regular consciousness. Studying these phenomena is based on a solid trust in
what the subjects report about their subliminal awareness during trance states. The ability
to work with this level of knowledge is widespread among practicing NLP- , imagination-
and hypno-therapists.
Abstract concepts consist of vague multisensory representations that resemble

‘holographic 3D-drawings’. When people speak, they tend to make gestures that match
the shapes of these images.
Abstract concepts are communicated in language. Words help to activate these spatial
constructions in both speakers and listeners.
The current line of research in the International Laboratory for Mental Space Research (ILMSR)
concerns the pragmatics of general background abstractions, like space, time, truth, identity,
power and society. These form in a way the background of the background, and they seem
to be the all decisive cognitive undercurrent in normal life. Our research into this area
brought us to postulate a number of so called hypotheses of normality; ideas about the ways
in which well functioning individuals tend to represent these general background
abstractions in their mental spaces.
The term hypothesis of normality raised frowns among some colleagues. And they expressed
concerns that individuals could become appointed misfits by such standards. Such ethical
concerns have much to do with how one envisions these hypotheses of normality will be
used. To us (Derks & Walker), they are just orientation marks that give guidance in
otherwise too complex change work. If a client functions in an incomprehensible way, a
hypothesis of normality gives a direction for improvement. If for instance a depressed client
Acuity Vol.2 45
sees no future, the hypothesis simply tells us that he would be better off if he did see one.
Then next, we can work in that direction. Remember that current clinical psychology has
only had eye for the dimensions of abnormality but no idea about the dimensions of
sanity. In the accepted (DSM4) view, mental health is implied by the lacking of diagnostic
criteria on all axis. By looking at what is normal, psychological diagnosing is changed
from an avoidance process into an approach mode – from away into towards.
The normal dimensions of time
Since Einstein’s conception of time-space, psychologist too noticed the entanglement of

these ideas. To conceive of an invisible thing like time asks for more sophistication than for
the more tangible space. Most theorists assume that a fetus starts with an innate ninety
minute activity cycle based on its biological clock. On top of that, an unborn will start to
distinguish between sleep and wakefulness and other cyclic patterns. Times of feeding and
being cared for will be laid down by the neonate in duration patterns. Then, days passed
will be distinguished from the present and the days to come. These early distinctions will
be refined when toddlers are confronted with the complexity of time in language: later we
buy you an ice cream, tomorrow is your birthday, Santa will be here in four months and 13
days, or in 135 nights of sleep….
Clinical NLP shows (just as cognitive lab-research) that the fundamental abstractions past,
present and future take their meaning from projections in mental space (Andreas et al, 1992,
James and Woodsmall 1988). So, when we ask a person about the future (or the past or the
present), they may naturally respond by gazing and gesturing towards the locations
where they unconsciously project these ideas. The implications of how one constructs time
around oneself are enormous. For instance, how long, far, broad and bright an individual
visualizes the future determines their expectation of life. And my colleague Wolfgang
Walker found that depressed clients tend to have limited visions of the future (none, short,
distorted, broken off, scattered and dark).
According to Lakoff and Johnson (1999), the spatial representation of present, past and
future develops out of primary bodily sensations. When a child crawls, it automatically
conceptualizes movement from the one place to the other. The abstraction of moving forward
through space may be used a little later as a conceptual metaphor for the passing of time.
Thus, moving from the chair to the table may be used as a model for going from today to
tomorrow.
How time eventually becomes represented varies a lot. Some individual’s sophisticated
mental calendars enable them to review precisely in what year, month, day and hour a
particular event took place and also the exact chronological order in which things
happened. Others are virtuosos in planning ahead: like one real-estate broker I once met,
who saw with one second of eyes closed that he had one free Wednesday afternoon in
three months time. Others are less fortunate. Their time representations produce stress,
because they struggle with losing, wasting, forgetting and miscalculating time. These
differences in the representation of time are quite often mistaken for innate personality
traits.
I have a colleague trainer who failed to show up fifteen times when he had a class to teach. People
called him sluggish, egoistic, stupid, reluctant etc. When we checked his representation of time, we
found that he experienced both past and present as irrelevant areas pointing down and backwards
from under his armpits. However, the man is a very present and charismatic public speaker. He
senses the present as a huge area in front and around him. His strength lays in the now and he fears
losing that power badly, even more than being fired and disgraced ‘some time’ for missing too many
appointments!
Over the last twenty years and under the title, the personal time line, NLP-ers, linguists,
anthropologists and philosophers studied the subjective representation of time. The
general conclusion is that the way in which an individual has constructed his or her
personal time line, decides largely their planning skills, the way they motivate themselves
and their ability to reflect on their lives. And cultural differences seem to parallel the
individual variations. For instance the Aymara Indians in the Andes seem to generally
hold the future behind them and the past in front. They are supposed to be very connected
to their roots and to learn much from their mistakes; however, investing money and effort
in a future is probably not so easy for them. Any human with a similar time line will be a
bit like that.
When exploring personal time lines with psychiatric clients, Wolfgang Walker (ILMSR)
found many of them to divert from ‘normality’. In general, people have the present in (or
close in front of) their bodies and project the near future, close by and the far future, at a
great distance. Memories are located in a way that largely ranks them in chronological
order, with the recent ones near and the long ago ones far away. Some of Walkers subjects
didn’t use such a linear structure; past and future events seemed to be scattered around at
random. The regular logic of representing long ago as far away, and recent as near, was
found absent. This explained why planning, goal setting, doing homework assignments
and reflection on their life was so hard with these clients.
Acuity Vol.2 47
However, Walker also found that these clients were not at all doing this at random but used
their own alternative coding rules. Some clients, often severely traumatized ones, had the
tendency to organize their memories not on the base of when things had taken place, but
primarily on the emotional impact thereof. The strongest emotional experiences were held
closest.
From therapeutic practice we know that emotions may function as a fast link to certain
memories in all people. Walker’s clients however do not use the long ago is far away coding
in their mental space, but use distance only to mark out emotional intensity. To them their
horrific memories were the easiest to recall because they were so near. However, in other
clients, Walker found an opposite strategy where they had placed their traumatic
memories so far away that these seemed almost forgotten.
Most of Walkers clients could tell, with a reasonable accuracy, when in their lives
something had taken place. But they had to reconstruct this on the base of historic facts.
For instance: That was just prior to my mother’s death, so it must have been somewhere in March
1987. The more intuitive manner of sensing a life’s episode that is based on a location on a
linear timeline (as most people do) works faster and takes less effort.
The general concept of living a life, that has started somewhere and moves in a certain
direction, belongs to the basics of normal unconscious thinking. People without such an
idea lack the grip and the overview on their lives in the broadest sense. The scale people
use to code one year backwards and one year ahead, the size and location of the present
they use, the amount of overview it provides them with, the discrimination and clarity
that they sense in their representations, all together can be used as references to improve
personal time lines with clients.
Certainty
After experimenting twenty years with belief change techniques (Derks, 2005), I found
confirmation for the (in a way) obvious notion that people tend to trust the beliefs they
learned early in life more than the ones that came later. In brief: old convictions overrule
newer ones when they deal with the same issue. Thus, when a person is confronted with a
new idea, this is immediately refuted when he already holds an older one that contradicts
it. However, without any prior ideas, reasonable new ones can instantaneously be
accepted. It is this very principle that makes breaking loose from early religious and
political indoctrination so hard. It also slows progress in politics, education and the
sciences. But it is also the way in which the mind protects itself from swallowing
nonsense.
I also found, that individuals who divert from this principle, who for instance give priority
to novel ideas over earlier views, often maintain a more generalized belief that tells them
to respond that way, in order, for instance, to be progressive. Their progressiveness acts as a
higher order identity belief that dictates how to go about new opinions. Then there are
others who pick their opinions on the base of what is expressed by significant others. A
great authority and high status of the source person can add a lot of credibility to a belief.
However, for individuals without such social criteria, the rule that older beliefs are truer
than newer ones works reliably. Note, that if this system was fully rigid, one could never
ever change one’s mind about something. It would seem that people are seldom coerced
by reason; preconceptions prevail when it comes to deciding what to belief (and clerics,
politicians and sales people know what effort it takes to ‘brainwash’ someone).
Time code of mind
A logical conclusion from the above is that the mind must have a way of knowing the age
of its beliefs because otherwise it could not date and evaluate them on the base of
chronology. When we ask a client within the framework of therapy: When at first did this
idea occur to you? They tend to answer this question within seconds. So how do they
achieve that?
My best evidence for a time code of mind comes from a technique called convincing your
younger self, that I applied on several hundreds of subjects with great results.
In this approach the client imagines talking to his younger self with the aim of teaching his
younger self an alternative conviction, to replace the one that is currently blocking him.
Whilst talking to their younger self in their fantasy, clients can be very certain about
whether or not their younger self is accepting the offered alternative view. They just tend
to see this in their imagination – the younger self may shake his head, mutter or protest
loudly.
When the alternative belief is rejected by the younger self, there is one very reliable
standard solution to that. In that case we ask the client to imagine their younger self to
become even younger and then tell that younger self the same thing again. It is striking
that this now more naïve younger self tends to accept the alternative belief often without
hesitation.
Acuity Vol.2 49
For instance, a client was stuck with the belief: I am not good enough. When asked for it, she
said she had acquired this idea at age 6. Then the therapist helped her to create a better
belief. This happened to be, I am good the way I am. The therapist guided her to imagine
herself as 5 years of age. Then this client presented I am good the way I am to her 5 years old
self. But her younger self was looking away; it seemed not to accept this alternative belief.
The therapist assumed that the client had already learned I am not good enough before age
5. In response, the therapist helped the client to act as if the alternative belief was told still
earlier, at age 3. Now the younger self of the client smiled. The therapist took this as
acceptance. Next the client was asked to step into her 3 year old self, listen to the
alternative belief once more and grow up anew, with the alternative in mind. In this case
the fresh idea immediately overruled the original limiting belief.
In many cases one can test the effect right away: success means that the client is not
stopped by the original belief anymore. This may work even when the client is fully aware
of the fact that he or she has just played as if in fantasy. The changes also tend to last very
well because clients tend to repeat the new belief numerous times after the session.
The above technique helps the client to start to behave as if a belief which was introduced
within the actual therapy context (in other words in the here and now) was learned way
back in the past.
The striking reliability of the above principle made me think of a time code of mind. In
technology (computers and digital video), a time code means that every new file of data is
labeled with the moment of input. So this sparks off the question: How does the mind
register when its beliefs were formed? This method must be such that it shows in a reliable
way, which input came before or after another input. The mind needs this coding for
deciding what to believe. What form of coding is likely?
In contrast to the time code in computers, the time code of mind must be analog. I
hypothesize that it must generally operate in the same way as any searching and finding
processes in the mind. So first we need to look at how a ‘mental Google’ works.
To retrieve a certain piece of memory from our mental data base, we first need to have a
concept to start searching from. This concept must create the link to the one that is
searched for. If this link is sufficiently strong and clear then something will come up. In
everyday language and in the history of psychology, this process is called association.
How does association work?
The link from the searching concept to the one that must be found is based on
resemblance. Here this means that it has similarities in (sensory) qualities, like color,
emotional feeling, shape, size, spelling, rhyme, structure, sound etc. The configuration of
these sensory qualities helps to pick out a piece of memory content which is partly
matching these qualities. So it can match on a combination of similarity in colors,
emotions, structure, size, sound etc. Just like in a Google search string, the more relevant
characteristics we enter, the more accurate the targeting. When we deal with memories
that have a traumatic quality to them, the emotional link seems to have the priority.
When we want to retrieve a memory from a particular period from our life (e.g. the name of
our primary school headmaster), we may use several characteristics of the relevant context in
question. So we may think of the shape of his face, typical colors, his car brand, smells,
feelings, names, the blackboard, etc. These characteristics may help us to get to his name.
However, we also may look at WHERE our primary school episode is located in mental
space. In the latter way we use our personal time line directly for targeted recall. During
such a search, and before a person gets access to this bit of memory, the memorizing
person may gaze and gesture at the spatial location where this episode is sensed.
The normal heuristics for recalling a designated memory will be by using all the leads a
person can find. This means to search with the help of all relevant sensory qualities that
come up combined with the location of the episode in mental space. The time line however
will foremost help to date it in relation to other memories.
Fooling the time code
We return to the technique convincing your younger self, since this is my major piece of
evidence. As explained before, this approach brought many hundreds of clients to imagine
that they learned an alternative belief prior to the belief that was hampering them. And
when all went well this alternative belief was accepted without resistance and overruled
the problematic one. However, when the client’s younger self seemingly objected to the
alternative belief, this was interpreted as a signal that the new belief was being offered too
late in life. The younger self then was assumed to already hold another contradicting idea.
As explained above, the therapist solves this by asking the client to move further
backwards in time and then again teach the same alternative belief to an even younger,
younger self. And it appears in a very reliable way (in at least 95% of the cases) that when
the age used is sufficiently young, the alternative is now accepted.
In a variety of therapies, ranging from Janet’s (1889) supplementary method, Erickson’s

(1967) February man case up to previous life therapies and other kinds of hypnotherapeutic
Acuity Vol.2 51
regressions, we see how the mind can take up new information easily when it is presented
as if it is stemming from the past. It looks as if the neural connections are running from the
past to the present – like the hairs of a pet go from the head to its tail. Change personal
history is the NLP name for a process that demonstrates this very clearly (Bandler &
Grinder, 1979). Convincing your younger self is a variation on this process, aimed at
changing limiting beliefs.
The difference between the great effort it takes to make changes from the present to the
past (like in insight directed psychodynamic therapies) and the ease by which this goes
from an imaginary past towards the present (like in all manners of regression therapy) is
quite dramatic. The mind is built in such a way that lively fantasies, when played out as if
one re-experiences an improved past (enriched with resources), have a great potential for
positive psychological change. It is my view that an objective look at reincarnation therapy
will show that this has a great impact – but only when additional positive resources are
applied. It may, of course, work counterproductively if the client only gets the previous
life-trauma as an insight as to where the current trouble comes from. Since then, the
insight will start to overrule everything after with a disastrous resistance to further
change; as its consequence - defeatism.
As soon as researchers stop disapproving of such unconventional and (to them) irrational
methods and look at the mental processes involved, great psychological insights are to be
gained (Cladder, 2000).
Thus, even exotic therapeutic practices may tell important stories about the workings of
the psyche. The technique convincing your younger self reveals that the time code of a belief
is part of what makes it the truth. This is a very useful hypothesis since the experiential
facts on which a belief came into being are often hard to check for a person; but by
weighting it on its moment of origin, the person has something else to make up his mind.
People hold many beliefs that are difficult to verify on the base of facts, and these must be
the ones for which the subjective validity test relies largely on their time coding.
How sane people know what is real to them can be learned from the above types of
clinical work. It shows something we all know: facts are seldom convincing. Other
principles underpin what a person believes to be true. Rationality seems to work only in
service of irrational principles – logic is used to create the arguments to support what one
prefers to believe. Knowing these mechanisms can help us to change ‘crazy’ ideas.
Conclusion
Imagine what would happen if we trusted all novel ideas that reach us. It is clear that the
time code of mind helps to protect people from accepting nonsense (and to maintain their
belief in nonsense). However, this nonsense filter can be fooled by just acting as if a belief
is older than it really is. When we make the mind believe that something has a different time
code than it actually has, the mind is defenseless. By fooling the system in this manner, a
brand new idea can overrule every existing belief. This delicate tool of change – that has
some more details to it than we have discussed here (Derks, 2005) – asks for careful
application. It suggests that maintaining a set of sensible beliefs is partly dependant on
one’s subjective coding of time.
Biography
Lucas Derks combines 20 years' experience as an NLP trainer with a background as social
psychology researcher. For over a decade he has been studying the spatial aspects of social
cognition and exploring the patterns in Social Panoramas within the context of psycho-
therapy and coaching.
Lucas' initial aim was to improve his clients' social life and functioning. His systematic
enquiry has resulted in a great number of patterns; universal, cultural and personal ways
in which people give shape to their own Social Panoramas.
References
Andreas, S., (2001) Building Self-Concept. Anchor Point Magazine, July, 2001, Vol. 15 No. 7.
Andreas, T. & Andreas, C., (1994) Core Transformation; Reaching the Wellspring Within. Real People
Press, Moab, Utah.
Andreas, S. Andreas, C., (1989) Heart of the Mind. Real People Press, Moab, Utah.
Bandler, R., & Grinder, J.,(1982) Reframing; Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the Transformation of
Meaning. Real People Press, Moab, Utah.
Bandler, R., & Grinder, J.,(1979) Frogs into Princes. Real People Press, Moab, Utah.
Cladder, H.,(2000) Oplossingsgerichte korte psychotherapie. Swets & Zeitlinger, Lisse
Derks, L. (2005) Social Panoramas, Crown House Publishing Ltd. U.K.
Derks, l., Video, Time code of mind: www.socialpanorama.com
Dilts, R., Hallbom, T. & Smith, S.,(1990) Beliefs, Pathways to Health and Well-Being. Metamorphous
Press, Protland, Oregon.
Erickson, M. H.,(1967) Advanced Techniques of Hypnosis and Therapy. Selected papers. Edited by
Haley, J. Grune & Stratton, Inc. Orlando, Florida.
Fauconnier, G, & Turner, M.,(2002) The Way We Think; Conceptual Blending and the Mind’s
Hidden Complexities. Basic Books, New York.
Fauconnier, G.,(1997) Mappings in Thought and Language, Cambridge University Press. New York.
Acuity Vol.2 53
James, W.,(1890) The Principles of Psychology. Dover Publications, New York.

James, T., & Woodsmall, W.,(1988) Time Line Therapy and the Basis of Personality. Meta
Publications, Cupertino, California.
Janet, P.,(1889) L'Automatisme Psychologique. Felix Alcan, Parijs. Heruitgave: 1971, Societe Pierre
Janet, Parijs.
Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M.,(1999) Philosophy in the Flesh. Basic Books, Perseus Book Group, New
York.
Walker, W.,(1996) Abenteuer Kommunikation. Bateson, Perls, Satir, Erickson und die Anfaenge des
Neurolinguistischen Programmierens (NLP). Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart.
Appendix
Convincing your Younger Self
Pre-conception, as presented below, is a version of Convincing your Younger Self, that enables
universal application and thus the use in groups. This version is well suited for experimental use.
1. Determine Goal X, which is what the client wants to do but cannot manage.
2. Ask the client to assume that Goal X is being blocked by Decision B, which he made sometime
in the past. It is not necessary to know what this decision is. It is enough to assume that a
decision is the root cause of the blockage. (Decision B is an unknown, limiting belief)
3. Have the client ask his unconscious mind for the Positive Intention Y behind Decision B.
4. Make sure that both Goal X and Positive Intention Y are named in short, clear key words.
5. Ask the client to visualize the sperm and the egg that he once was. (It doesn’t matter whether
or not this is biologically correct.)
6. Help the client to consider the following question:
7. What lesson must the sperm and the egg learn, before conception, to make it possible for you
to achieve both Goal X and Positive Intention Y in your life?
8. If necessary, you can suggest a couple of examples, such as ‘You’re OK as you are’, ‘Trust your
instinct’, ‘Be yourself’, etc.
9. Repeat the question in step 7 several times until the client has the answer. Ask the client to
express the lesson briefly and clearly.
10. Ask the client to teach the lesson to the sperm and the egg in such a way that it becomes more
important than anything.
11. Check whether the sperm and the egg can accept and believe this lesson.
12. If not, go back and do the same procedure with the sperm and egg that became his father
and/or mother (whichever one did not believe or accept the lesson)
13. Once this has been successful, go back to the visualization of the sperm and the egg before the
client’s conception. Only continue when both accept and believe the lesson. If necessary, go
back to grandparents or further.
14. Help the client to visualize his own conception and to visualize the very first cell. Ask him to
associate in this first cell and listen to his adult self repeating the lesson again.
15. Once the client, in his first cell, fully believes the truth of the lesson, then he can grow up into
the here and now.
16. Test the effect by asking the client “What is stopping you achieving goal X?” (or, in the above
example, check whether the self-image will now stay in the centre)
54 Replicating Excellence by Benchmarking
Replicating Excellence by Benchmarking

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.
If the core of NLP is modeling, how can we translate that to working in business as an
NLP coach, consultant, or trainer? How can we use this central focus of NLP when we
consult, train, and coach? The answer is that via NLP modeling we can facilitate business
leaders as they benchmark best practices in their industry. That’s because of what
benchmarking is and why it’s important.
What Benchmarking is in Business
Short and sweet, benchmarking is the ability to set marks by which you can then measure
an experience, skill, or value. It is the process by which you create a scale, establish a
value or standard for that scale, and then use it to provide a measurement as you get
feedback or give it.
Benchmarking is essentially an investigative process—a process of inquiry into the

complexity of the creative processes; it is a process that seeks to identify the structure of an
experience. Spendolini (1992) says that with benchmarking, the focus in any given
company or corporation extends beyond the scope of the finished product or service to
concentrate extensively on process issues. In benchmarking you ask, “How does this
work?” Benchmarking moves the focus of the leaders and managers from the surface
perspective of what a company produces to how it is designed, manufactured, marketed,
and serviced. It moves your attention to the processes that result in the final product.
Like modeling in NLP and in the cognitive sciences, benchmarking focuses on the
dynamic structure of the processes that enlivens the skill. Both benchmarking and
modeling, as investigative processes, inquire into the inner structured processes that
explain a given expertise. Because benchmarking seeks to identify best practices in
business and then discover the processes for replicating that excellence, benchmarking can
take a business to a whole new level of success and effectiveness, and that brings us to the
why.
Acuity Vol.2 55
Why Benchmarking is Important in Business
The very beauty of benchmarking is that it provides a way to accelerate learning and
development. You find a best practice, identify the steps, factors, and variables within that
practice, and detail a procedure for enabling others to step up to a much higher level of
performance.
By marking and measuring an experience, by scaling where it is in its evolutionary

development, you can diagnose where a person (or group) currently is and enable the
person to set realistic goals that can be measured. Do that and you create for everybody
(the learners and those investing in their development) a solid sense of the experience’s
validity and credibility. You evidence the reality and the value of detailing the inner and
outer processes of the best practice.
Conversely, if you cannot mark and measure an experience, how do you know that it is a
real experience? How do you know that you have not been secretly hypnotized? Maybe
you are just hallucinating an experience! If there is a real experience and you want to fully
own that experience, you will need to discover its variables and model it for replication.
That is benchmarking.
And in my opinion, if anyone ought to be leading the corporate world in the art of
benchmarking, it ought to be those who are NLP-trained. After all, isn’t our business the
business of modeling the structure of experience?
A Benchmarking History
At the very time when NLP was being birthed (1970s), the corporate world was learning
about benchmarking. They learned that once they found a best practice, they could
benchmark it and thereby accelerate the learning curve in that organization. And that
gave them a competitive advantage. They learned that they could go out, find top
producers and experts and through benchmarking, detail out the variables and the
structure of that experience of excellence.
Modern benchmarking, as we know it today, began in the Xerox Corporation in 1979

which enabled Xerox to improve its quality and become a cutting-edge company.
Motorola was next in 1985. It introduced benchmarking into its processes using
benchmarking as a way for bringing measurement into the learning, training, and
development process.1
The business world now has several decades of experience in seeking out the highest and
best and discovering the inner secrets of a best practice. By benchmarking, people in
business look around at their people and those in competitors in a new way— here is
human capital! Here is the intellectual and the creative capital that can give us a
competitive advantage! And with that realization came the question, “Can we identify the
best practices of this new capital, the critical elements that comprise it, and then replicate it
in the rest of our people?”
Today businesses benchmark cutting-edge models, practices, and skills to accelerate the
learning curve in a learning organization and to increase the competitive advantage.
Today also almost any product that hits the market only has a few days or a week or two
of dominance. Within days, others will reverse engineer the product and have a
competing product on the market! There’s a reason for this. It’s not the content of what is
done any longer, it is the culture of a company that can use that content. Once upon a
time benchmarking might have been legitimately accused of being a form of corporate
espionage. But no longer. It is the way corporations do business.
Actually benchmarking offers a perfectly ethical way to identify and replicate the key
factors that come together to create that qualitative difference. Hronec (1993) describes
benchmarking as a structured method of measuring processes and products against
others—as the metrics of best practices (p. 14). As such, benchmarking is the continuous
process of measuring products, services, and practices against the best competitors or
industry leaders to close the performance gap and leapfrog over the competition.
Benchmarking can be used to close the gap between what you are currently doing and
those who are the best-in-the-world. Bhote (2002) describes benchmarking as a process
which provides an external stimulus so that as you learn about the best methods of other
companies, you can measure that gap, close it, and then become “the benchmark
company” (p. 195).
The Magic of Benchmarking
Does all of this remind you of modeling as we know it in NLP and Neuro-Semantics?
Excellent. It should! And that’s why I think NLP-trained people should be leading
corporations in modeling the structure of excellence in those at the top of their game.
Yet there is one significant difference. Benchmarking since the 1970s have focused almost
exclusively on tangible, external practices. It has seldom focused on the best practices of
intangible things like leadership, coaching, listening, giving quality feedback, etc. Now
Acuity Vol.2 57
this is great! It means there is a tremendous opportunity for us to enter this area and offer
the next step..
I began to work on this next step in 2002 when I launched the Meta-Coaching system.
After selecting the seven core skills that comprise the heart of coaching, the very next
question was, “How do we benchmark these intangible processes?” And that led to an
extensive study of the benchmarking process itself.2
Here is a more extensive description of benchmarking. To benchmark you have to do

several things:
• Identify an experience that is highly meaningful and important and model the component
variables within it as the critical factors that comprise that experience.
• Create a scale for that experience whereby you can empirically measure it from when
it does not exist, to its early stages of development, and on to its highest stages of
expression.
• Distinguish the degrees of the development of that experience, skill, concept, or value.
Present those degrees as an analog scale and encode empirically in see-hear-feel
terms in order to provide behavioral indicators that thereby give tangible and
measurable measures of an intangible quality.
• Use that scale for giving and receiving sensory-based feedback in order to shape
yours or another person’s responses for the purpose of facilitating, developing, and
unleashing higher levels of performance in that experience, skill, or value.
• Model the experience, skill, or value dialectically in terms of both quantity and quality
thereby making it easy for others to develop the described competence.
• Communicate the experience, skill, or value with linguistic precision so that the
description operationalizes the procedures with sufficient detail so that it can be
replicated in the lives of others.
• Describe the experience, skill, or value with sufficient systemic specificity so that it
can be understood and even visualized as a system of precise responses.
Now a question arises. “Isn’t this just modeling? What is the difference? Is
benchmarking as aspect of modeling or is modeling an aspect of benchmarking?” And the
answer is that modeling is the larger and broader skill with benchmarking one aspect of it.
In fact, after we have modeled the structure of an experience, we can then benchmark that
experience. We can identify specific behaviors that are equivalent to the experience.
Say we model visionary leadership within an organization. We can then identify all of the
required skills and then take each one and create a list of the prerequisite sub-skills. If one
sub-skill is “framing,” then we would explore how does a leader set frames? If one way is
through asking questions, then we could detail that into open-ended questions (“What
would you like to see this company contribute to our community?”), confirmation or
testing questions to get buy-in (“Are you ready to fully commit yourself to this goal for
this year?”), well-formed outcome questions (any of the ten distinctions in the NLP
pattern), etc.
Then for each of these sub-skills, we could model when the competency is at the excellence
or expert level and note the qualities that facilitate that: the leader’s face, countenance,
voice, tone, demeanor, state, etc. and benchmark from low to medium to high levels of
asking the particular kind of question.
The NLP Advantage
If there’s any one skill at the heart of benchmarking, it is the NLP skill of de-nominalizing.
This means that the experience you seek to benchmark will be coded as a nominalization
and so will need to be de-nominalized. So you begin with this nominalization which
describes a process for connecting the over-generalized words and terms with specific
sensory experiences of behaviors. This makes the verbal expressions of various processes
actionable and precise. Now nominalized terms can be operationalized:
Equality described as experience means being listened to and her words used.
Respect may be described as being looked at while he is speaking.
Care may be described as the experience of being silent when expressing a strong
emotion and not corrected or given advice.
Next, check for the semantic environment in which the nominalization is used. What
Cause-Effect or Complex Equivalence structure does it occur within? De-nominalizing can
occur by simply asking the Meta-Model questions for these distinctions:
What does someone listening and repeating your words cause you to feel?
What happens when someone listens but doesn’t repeat your words, when someone
paraphrases? What does that mean to you? How do you interpret that? Does that
happen every time? With everyone?
Do you always look at people when they talk? When you look away and do
something else, can you still be respectful?
What else can a person do to show respect to you?
Acuity Vol.2 59
The Challenge
If modeling the excellence that people demonstrate in best practices is important for
business leaders and companies who want to be competitive in the marketplace, then
benchmarking is important and a great way to introduce modeling. And that offers a
tremendous opportunity to people trained in NLP and Neuro-Semantics. It offers a
significant opportunity for entering and making a positive difference in the quality of an
organization.
End Notes:
1. See the books by Robert Camp and Stephen Hronec. See below in the book references.
2. See the chapter on benchmarking in Coaching Change, Meta-Coaching Volume I (2005).
Biography
L. Michael Hall, Ph.D. has been modeling “experiences of excellence” since 1992 when he
modeled resilience and discovered the Meta-States Model in 1994. The book,
Benchmarking: Making Tangible What’s Intangible is scheduled for publication in early 2011,
the eighth book in the Meta-Coaching series with Prefaces by James Lawley and Dr.
Angus McLeod.
References
Bhote, Keki R. (2002). The ultimate six sigma: Beyond quality excellence to total business excellence.
New York: AMACOM: American Management Association.
Camp, Robert. (1989). Benchmarking: The search for industry best practices that lead to superior
performance.
Czarnecki, Mark T. (1999). Managing by measuring: How to improve your organization’s performance
through effective benchmarking. New York: AMACOM: American Management Association.
Hall, L. Michael; Duval, Michelle. (2004). Coaching Change; Meta-Coaching: Volume I. Clifton, CO:
Neuro-Semantic Publications.
Hodgetts, Richard M. (1998). Measures of quality and high performance: Simple tools and lessons learned
from America’s most successful corporations. New York: AMACOM: American Management
Association.
Hronec, Stephen M. (1993). Vital signs: Using quality, time, and cost performance measurements to chart
your company’s future. New York: AMACOM: American Management Association.
Spendolini, Michael J. (1992). The benchmarking book. New York: AMACOM: American
Management Association.
The Benchmarking Network, Inc. 4606 FM 1960 West, Suite 300, Houston TX 77069. Mark
Czarnecki, President.
60 Landscape of Experience
The Landscape of Experience

Joe Cheal MSc
The purpose of this article is to explore the nature of our internal experience, particularly the realms
of physiology, emotion and cognition. By having a greater understanding of our inner landscape,
we should be able to make positive changes more easily and effectively.
The article is divided into three parts. Part one will give a brief overview of theory and research into
the connections between body, mind and emotion. Part two will introduce the Landscape of
Experience model and part three will then expand on the model providing examples and
applications for resourceful state management.
Introduction: The ‘Moving Train’ Metaphor
Sitting on a train... gazing through the window. What do you see? As the world goes by,
you might notice the foreground whizzing past whilst the background drifts so slowly it
appears to be stationary.
Now imagine a different landscape which is not the view outside, but instead your
internal world. By turning inward for a moment you are able to gaze through an inner
window and across your ‘landscape of experience’. There you will find your physiological
experience… the body, touch, pressure and other physical sensations. There is also your
emotional experience… the feelings that move you. And then there is your cognitive
experience… the thoughts, language and evaluations. Just like the landscape seen through
a train window, this inner landscape also has its own foreground and background.
At each moment in time, we experience all three domains, consciously and/or

unconsciously: the physical sensations, the emotions that affect us and the thoughts that
go through our minds. Although we may think of the physical, mental and emotional as
three distinct domains, we may also notice that they are systemic, crossing over and
impacting on each other.
Acuity Vol.2 61
Part One: A Brief Overview of Theory and Research
What are Emotions?
When it comes to the physiological and the cognitive aspects of ourselves, there seems to
be a reasonably clear distinction. The physiological can be measured physically through
the body and its functions. The cognitive can be measured in terms of our thoughts and
the language we use. But how do we measure and define our emotions?
There continues to be a range of definitions of this commonly used word “emotion”. Much
has been researched and written in the last thirty years or so on the nature of emotions and
emotional intelligence. Some argue that emotions are like prime colours and then there are
blends of these ‘prime emotions’ which give us a rich variety of emotional experiences at
different intensities (e.g. Plutchik 1980, Mayer & Gaschke 1988, Huy 2002). Other theorists
propose that emotions are difficult to categorise and that there may be no ‘basic emotions’
in the same way that there are prime colours and blends (e.g. in Eckman & Davidson
1994).
One of the challenges of studying emotions is in trying to measure them objectively.

Eckman (2004) has carried out extensive research into facial expressions around the world
and there do appear to some commonalities for example in the expressions of disgust and
shock. However, this is the behaviour of an emotion rather than the emotion itself. It could
be argued that the range of emotions we experience is simply down to the language that
we use, giving labels to things that may not necessarily be that easy to label. Ultimately,
the experience of emotions is subjective. According to Fine (2007, p36), some theorists go
so far as to suggest that all emotions have the same physiology but that “it is the thoughts
that go alongside your emotional arousal that enable you to distinguish between one
emotion and another.” She goes on to suggest that: “Emotion = Arousal + Emotional
Thoughts” and arousal is the same whatever the emotion – it varies only in intensity.
Goleman (1996) defines emotion in broad terms as referring “to feeling and its distinctive
thoughts, psychological and biological states, and a range of propensities to act.” Averill
(1994, 379) argues that “’feeling’ is one of the vaguest terms in the English language…
feelings are neither necessary nor sufficient conditions for being in an emotional state.”
Indeed, it seems to make sense that someone may have an emotion without feeling it, but
it seems unlikely that they could truly feel an emotion without having it. Cameron Bandler
& Leabeau (1986, p28) also argue that “emotions are not the same as the judgements we
make about them, and neither are they the same as the behaviours they help to generate.”
The ‘judgements we make about’ emotions would fall into the category of meta-states
(Hall 2008).
Is emotion a thing (e.g. Ekman 2004) or a process (e.g. Scherer 1994)? Or is it perhaps (in a
quantum-like manner) both thing and process? When emotion is a thing, it is like a
nominalization, which may create a ‘stuckness’ in the experience. However, if the emotion
is ‘denominalized’ to a process of emoting, this may help generate some freeing up and
moving through (particularly on a linguistic level).
For the sake of reference in this article, we might say that an emotion is “a short term
internal process experienced at a particular intensity that tends to move us in some
direction.”
Emotional vs Rational
When someone is in an emotional state, what happens to rationality? For most people, it
‘goes out the window’. In this sense, when the balance tips over into emotion or we ‘lose
it’ to emotion, we become more irrational. It could be said that emotions act like lenses,
distorting what we experience and the way we think. And what happens if you try to deal
with an emotional person in a rational way? Usually it acts like pouring petrol onto flames
in an attempt to put out the fire. Indeed, Fine (2007, p44) suggests that “our decisions,
opinions, perception and memory can all be set adrift by our emotional undercurrents –
often without our even noticing that our anchor has slipped.”
Would it help us if we were purely rational? Perhaps not, as this may equate to a state of
depersonalisation, a loss of sense of self. Following this train of thought leads to the
inevitable analogy of being like logical robots, with no genuine motivation, no creative
spark, no evolution, no ‘joie de vivre’. Perhaps this is a debate for the philosophers, but it
suggests that we require both rational and emotional domains, working in balance and
harmony with one another, both informing the other.
Caruso and Salovey (2004, p70) argue that “the idea that there is passion on one hand and
reason on the other represents a false dichotomy that may encourage us in the mistaken
belief that somehow feelings are neither rational nor informative.” Janov (2007, p124) also
argues that there is no clear distinction between the emotional and rational, adding
“paradoxically, it is the feeling centres of the brain that remain rational while the so-called
rational thinking brain is often irrational.” Ryback (1998, p58) agrees that the duality of
emotions and intellect no longer holds, suggesting that “emotion and intellect are better
seen as paired in a combination that enhances intellect to a more successful level of
application than if it were isolated from emotion.”
Acuity Vol.2 63
To blur the distinction further, some emotions appear to require some cognitive ability in
order for us to experience them. Niedenthal et al (2006) refers to ‘self conscious emotions’
that rely on having some cognitive sense of self, for example envy, jealousy, guilt, shame,
embarrassment and pride. For an NLP perspective on the nature of reflective emotions,
see Hall (2007).
However, despite the blurry distinction, the emotional and the rational do seem to be of a
different ‘order’. As Goleman (1996, p8) suggests: “knowing something is right ‘in your
heart’ is a different order of conviction… than thinking so with your rational mind. There
is a steady gradient in the ratio of rational-to-emotional control over the mind; the more
intense the feeling, the more dominant the emotional mind becomes – and the more
ineffectual the rational.”
Mood, being of the same ‘order’ as emotions, also appear to act like lenses to the rational.
Ekman (2004, p52) states that “moods narrow our alternatives, distort our thinking, and
make it more difficult to control what we do.” Goleman (1996, p73) adds that “Thoughts
are associated in the mind not just by content, but by mood. People have what amounts to
a set of bad-mood thoughts that come to mind more readily when they are feeling down.
People who get depressed easily tend to create very strong networks of association
between these thoughts, so that it is harder to suppress them once some kind of a bad
mood is evoked.”
LeDoux (1999, p69) proposes that “emotion and cognition are best thought of as separate
but interacting mental functions mediated by separate but interacting brain systems.” The
introduction of the brain (and hence the body/physiology) into the equation invites some
discussion on the relationship between emotions and the body.
Emotions and the Body
It seems fair to say that emotions have a physiological as well as a rational connection
(whether this refers to the neurology and chemistry of emotions or to the actual experience
of having an emotion). Although Fine (2007) reports that all emotions may have the same
physiology (from the perspective of emotional arousal), Eckman’s (2004) research on facial
expressions would suggest a significant difference in the experience of emotions. Goleman
(1996, p6) agrees that there is a physiological difference: “With new methods to peer into
the body and brain researchers are discovering more physiological details of how each
emotion prepares the body for a very different kind of response.”
Goleman (1996) and Janov (2007) reference LeDoux’s work in establishing the role of the
brain in emotion and cognition. Janov (2007, p59) uses this work to propose ‘three levels of
consciousness’. Although this is a gross simplification, Table 1 summarises the different
parts of the brain that appear to have a role in the experience of and reaction to emotions.
Table 1: Types of experience and their place in the brain.

Type of Experience Area of the Brain Responsible
Cognitive Neocortex, prefrontal cortex
Emotional Limbic system, amygdala
Physiological Brainstem
The amygdala appears to play an essential role in the experience of emotion, acting as an
emotional memory bank and as a scanner for new information coming in via the senses. If
it perceives a threat (which could be an old ‘anchor’) it sends an alarm to all parts of the
brain. Depending on the type of situation, chemicals are secreted and the brainstem is
requested to create a facial expression and to set off a series of other physiological
reactions. Goleman (1996, p15) suggests that it is the amygdala that gives meaning and
significance to events and that: “life without the amygdala is a life stripped of meaning.”
The amygdala does not have free range however. The prefrontal cortex can control and
modulate the signals sent out by the amygdala (and other limbic centres), acting as an
editor. The left prefrontal lobe has the ability to tone down negative surges of emotion.
According to Goleman (1996, p26) it is as if: “the amygdala proposes and the prefrontal
lobe disposes.” The prefrontal lobes appear to serve a polar purpose, with strong right
frontal lobe activity being associated with negativity and ‘bad moods’ and strong left
frontal lobe activity being associated with positivity and good moods (e.g. cheerfulness
and enjoyment). Indeed the left frontal lobe is also connected to feelings of self-confidence
and engagement in life.
If the prefrontal cortex has a role of ‘rationalising’ the amygdala, what other connections
are there between our cognitive and physiological domains?
The Body in Cognition
It would appear that language and thought is informed by our physiology and in turn our
physiology is affected by our language and thoughts.
Acuity Vol.2 65
a) Language affecting physiology
According to research by Iacoboni (2008), when observing someone else carry out an
action, there are certain sets of neurons that will fire as if we were carrying out that action
ourselves. These ‘empathic’ neurons have become known as mirror neurons and even if we
think about, hear or hear about an activity, mirror neurons fire as if we were carrying out that
activity. The only condition is that we need to have practised that action ourselves first in
order for the mirror neurons to fire. There is also some evidence to suggest that reading a
word linked to a body part lights up the ‘motor’ neurons linked to that body part. Hence a
metaphor like ‘pain in the neck’ lights up the respective neurons. Iacoboni (p. 94) suggests
that: “It is as if mirror neurons help us understand what we read by internally simulating
the action we just read in the sentence.”
From an NLP perspective, we might relate this to anchoring. When we hear, think or
speak a particular word, a specific set of associated neurons in the brain will ‘light up’. If
the brain experiences the word “neck” and “pain” enough times (or strongly enough) in
connection to a person/thing/event, the pain, neck and person/thing/event may become
anchored together. Hence we experience a physiological connection to a thought.
Our language is full of ‘somatic metaphors’, ‘organ language’ and ‘bodily phonological
ambiguities’, for example: keeping one’s hand in, face the music, keep your hair on, a head
for heights, the game’s afoot, keeping abreast of the situation and ahead of the game.
However, do these metaphors used in everyday language really have an impact on our
physiology (and emotion)? According to studies cited by Giles (2009) it would appear so,
for example:
Language/Metaphor Physiological effect

Warm feelings People holding a hot drink rated others more favourably than when
towards others holding a cold drink.
Cold shouldered, Thinking about being socially excluded can make the room feel
Frozen out, around 3 degrees C cooler.
Out in the cold
Clean thoughts People reading about unethical acts rated cleaning products higher
Dirty mind than those reading about ethical acts.
According to Carpenter (2011, p40), such studies referred to above and their results “imply
that our brains do not really differentiate between our physical interface with the
environment and high-level, abstract thought.”
Further evidence for the cognitive-body connection is cited by Wiseman (2007) when
writing about a phenomenon called ‘priming’. According to Wiseman, research carried out
by Bargh and colleagues had two groups of people putting scrambled sentences into
correct order. One group worked with phrases which were ‘old age’ related containing
such words as ‘wrinkled’ and ‘grey’. The other group had more youthful oriented words
in their phrases, for example ‘smooth’. The people who read and worked with a list of ‘old
age’ related words for a period of time then took longer to walk to the exit than did the
people who had read fresh invigorating words. In another study cited, blonde women
who read ‘blonde jokes’ then performed worse in IQ tests than blondes who did not read
the jokes first.
If language affects our cognition and perhaps overall wellbeing, we might benefit from
using and reading resourceful language more often. Appendix 2 is designed to give you a
starting point.
b) Physiology affecting language and cognition
Perhaps the most obvious physiological link to language is when we describe literally
what we are experiencing in our body. For example, a pain in the head is described as a
‘headache’. It is interesting to note that we may at other times distort the word ‘headache’
as a metaphor to describe other situations, e.g. ‘my job is a headache’. However, in order
to make ‘sense’ of the metaphor ‘my job is a headache’, we need to have experienced a
head, an ache and/or a headache at some point in our life.
Of course, the body is our most immediate reference point with the world. We cannot
really create meaning from something outside the body without our physical senses. Even
if we put ourselves in second perceptual position (i.e. the perspective of someone else) or
third perceptual position (i.e. the ‘meta’ perspective or the ‘fly on the wall’), we are still
perceiving through the same sensory systems, i.e. our internal representations (VAKOG).
Carpenter (2011, p41) suggests: “That the mind relies heavily on the body for information
should not be surprising. After all the body is our only real tether to the world – all the
knowledge you acquire, you get through your senses.” Lakoff & Johnson (1999, p77) argue
that: “Mental structures are intrinsically meaningful by virtue of their connection to our
bodies and our embodied experience. They cannot be characterised adequately by
meaningless symbols.” Bickle (2010, p50) agrees: “A lone brain is not enough to create
consciousness – it needs the body.”
In terms of research showing the impact of physiology on our cognition, Strack, Martin
and Stepper (1988) had people evaluating the humour level of a cartoon whilst holding a
pen between their teeth (which forced a grin), between their lips (forcing more of a frown)
Acuity Vol.2 67
or in their non-dominant hand (as a control group). Those that held the pen between their
teeth (forced grin) tended to judge the cartoon as more humorous. Whilst this has an
emotional element to it, the research appeared to demonstrate the effect of facial
expression on the evaluation of something (in this case the humour level of a cartoon).
A further piece of research by Sanna et al (2011) set out to establish if being physically
elevated had any bearing on virtue and generosity. They found that people who had just
ridden up an escalator were more likely to donate to charity than those who went down or
were walking on flat ground. They also found that people carrying out activities on a
raised stage were likely to be more generous and helpful to others than those not elevated.
Again there is likely to be an emotional connection, however, it may be that being
physically raised in some way leads to different decision making than if we are lowered or
staying level.
We might also chunk down to the chemical level of our physiology and note how that
affects cognition. For example, Masicampo & Baumeister (2008) found in their study that
people with lower blood glucose levels were more likely to be distracted and influenced
by inferior options when decision making. Those that drank lemonade with sugar were
more focussed on the key options.
Although outside the scope of this article, the notion that the body is instrumental in our
language, thinking and emotion is part of the philosophies of ‘embodied cognition’ (e.g.
Wilson 2002, Shapiro 2011) and ‘cognitive linguistics’ (e.g. Evans & Green 2007).
The Mind-Body-Emotion System
Can we really separate out the cognitive, emotional and physiological aspects of
ourselves? Hall (2004, p145) would suggest not, stating that: “We can’t have [emotions]
apart from the rest of the mind-body-emotion system.”
Theorists suggest that both our cognitive abilities (Carpenter 2011) and our emotions
(Giles 2009) piggyback on existing neural systems that handle basic sensory perceptions.
This would suggest why emotions and our language are often linked and compared to
physical sensations.
And so we return to the systemic nature of our experience; where the mind, body and
emotions crossover and impact on each other. However, for the sake of working with our
‘Landscape of Experience’ for better state management, we will distinguish between these
three domains whilst knowing that in reality they are intrinsically linked.
Part Two: Your ‘Landscape of Experience’
Foreground, background
In a previous article (Cheal 2010), I suggested that emotions sit in the foreground of our
experience whilst moods sit in the background. I would now propose that further in the
background is our temperament. Here we are referring to the level of personality and
identity and here we find such traits as optimism and pessimism. Kagan (1994, p40)
defines temperament as the “stable behavioral and emotional reactions that appear early
and are influenced in part by genetic constitution” and proposes four temperament types:
timid, bold, upbeat and melancholy. It seems that relative to a lifetime emotions whizz by,
moods come and go, but temperament is much longer term.
This is not the complete picture though, because we will also be experiencing foreground,
medium-term background and longer-term background with all three domains
(physiological, emotional and cognitive). In the physiological foreground-background for
example, when you drink a glass of water, you may have a quick physical sensation as
you touch the cool surface of the glass, followed by another sensation of your arm moving
and the weight and solidity of the glass, followed by the water pouring down your throat.
More in the background is the sensation of sitting in the chair, that you might only feel
when your awareness is drawn to it. As you shift your attention further into the
background, you may become aware that the sensations move into conditions, how the
water quenches your thirst and how your body feels ‘generally’ (e.g. vibrant, tired, alert,
achy, strong). And as you go further still, you might use such terms as physical wellbeing
or health. This would include your
overall constitution, physical resilience
and long term fitness.
The cognitive foreground is in your

thoughts which are comparatively
fleeting and fast (e.g. your conscious
and unconscious internal dialogue).
Then further back might be your
interest, i.e. where your focus lies. Your
interest will affect what you think
about most and could be resourceful
(e.g. learning to play an instrument) or
non-resourceful (e.g. a conflict with
another person). Further still would be
Acuity Vol.2 69
your life philosophy which is how you filter/categorise the world and how you conceive of
such things as reality, identity, ‘life, the universe and everything’. Your philosophy would
include your systems of thinking and your long term beliefs and values. Also here we
would place Bandura’s ‘self-efficacy’ which according to Goleman (1996, p89) is “the belief
that one has mastery over the events of one’s life and can meet challenges as they come up.
Developing a competency of any kind strengthens the sense of self-efficacy.”
By combining the three domains of physiological/emotional/cognitive with the

foreground/background, we get the ‘Landscape of Experience Model’ (see Fig. 1)
This foreground-background analogy leads us to a kind of ‘parallax of experience’, where

the foreground moves quickly and the background appears more stationary. Unlike the
view from a moving train however, in our own personal ‘landscape of experience’, the
background and foreground will actually influence each other. And in this particular
landscape, the background is likely to have more influence on the foreground than vice
versa. For example, a mood is likely to have a significant impact on the emotions that are
felt. An overall background mood of sadness is likely to inspire more short term sad
feelings and it would have to take an extreme happy moment to change the overall mood.
In this sense, the background appears to be a ‘higher order’ than the foreground.
It is worth considering that the domains and foreground/background do indeed impact on

each other. In this sense, the landscape of experience is systemic. A significant change in
one area will likely impact the rest of the system. Our thinking affects our physiological
and emotional domains and our physiology does the same to thinking and emotions. Each
is intrinsically linked to the other.
Often, the problem associated with ‘negative’ moods and unresourceful states is that an
individual may get themselves into a negative feedback loop (or vicious cycle), where
mood affects thinking which affects physiology which affects performance which affects
mood etc. In the same way, temperament may affect philosophy which may affect health
etc.
Given that these cycles can happen, how can we turn the whole thing around to create
some positive feedback loops (virtuous cycles)? For example, a healthy diet can help
temperament which in turn can have a positive impact on a person’s overall outlook on
life which makes it easier to exercise and eat healthily. Of course, the landscape of
experience is systemic and hence more complex. Some people may find a healthy diet less
than easy due to other conflicting factors in their landscape. So how can we use this as a
model to make a real difference?
A Summary of the Landscape of Experience
The Landscape of Experience is a model designed to give someone a fuller picture of their
overall wellbeing. The model helps an individual explore their life position allowing them
to understand issues, blocks, resources and outcomes and then generate interventions. It
also helps individuals to gain a context to their moment to moment feelings and states.
The model works on the principle of three domains: Physiological, Emotional and
Cognitive each of which has a foreground (shorter term) and background (longer term).
There are four key concepts that drive the model:
1) The model is systemic, meaning that every aspect in the model has a relationship
with the other aspects. In this sense, there are connections between domains as well
as within. This allows the ‘explorer’ to step into other areas outside the presenting
problem (e.g. for resources).
2) The background is at a different level to the foreground, and a change in the longer
term background is likely to have a stronger impact on the foreground than vice
versa.
3) It needs to be remembered that the Landscape of Experience has a temporal factor.
The model appears like a snapshot in time, but it needs to be considered dynamic.
Our experience changes moment by moment and hence we can consciously make a
positive difference to our own emotional states.
4) Working with the model allows the individual to ‘go meta’ to their situation,
gaining new insights into the overall Landscape and/or into specific areas. It also
allows the individual to utilise their physiological, emotional and cognitive
resources.
Part Three: Working with the Landscape of

Experience model
When working with others (or ourselves)

perhaps it is useful to bear in mind that
changing a state at any given moment in time
is easier when the background condition-
mood-interest has also changed. If we want to
feel good more often, we need to work with
our medium and long term background
experiences.
The advantage of working with the

Landscape of Experience model is that is
Acuity Vol.2 71
gives us many ways of improving our overall wellbeing. For example, if we want to
change our mood, we have a range of approaches (see Fig. 2). A dramatic positive emotion
may help to ‘collapse the anchor’ of the old negative mood. Reframing may help to change
the thinking and focus that perpetuates the mood. New sensations or things to think about
may help to distract a mood. Please note that mood is simply an example here as the
model can be used to enhance any and all nine areas.
Landscape of Experience: Activity 1
1a) Exploration
Considering an issue or goal, lay the Landscape of Experience on the floor and walk from
one space to another. As you step from space to space, get a sense of how this area helps
and/or hinders you in your issue or goal. Are there any tensions/conflicts between or
within areas? (E.g. I try to eat healthily but then I eat junk food when I get in a bad mood.)
As you feel moved to, step outside the Landscape at different places, going meta to your
Landscape and getting different perspectives and angles. Again consider what helps and
hinders in the Landscape.
• What do you notice?

• What resources can you bring from out here?
• What messages would you like to give yourself in the Landscape?
Allow yourself to move around, stepping in and out of the Landscape, gathering
information as required.
When you are ready, step into the Landscape and wrap it around you re-associating back
into your own personal reality experience. (Or, if it is more appropriate, step out of the
Landscape and pick it up ready for later.)
1b) Changes
Having explored the Landscape, decide on a change that you would like to make.
• What is the current state that you would like to change?

• How would you like to feel different now? (Desired/Outcome State)
• What & where are the resources that will help you? (Remember that resources may
come from within or outside the Landscape.)
Using the Landscape model, step into a location of resources, associate to resources and
whilst experiencing them, step into the area where you want to make changes.
Alternatively, find areas of the Landscape where you would like to make changes and
utilise any appropriate NLP technique. For example:
• For Health/Temperament/Philosophy:
o Change personal history
o Reimprinting
o Core transformation (Andreas & Andreas 1994)
o Change beliefs
o Reframing beliefs
o Values elicitation and shifting
o Metaprograms elicitation
o Trance-work
o Fast phobia cure
o Engage with NLP Presuppositions
• For Condition/Mood/Interest:
o Reframing – Sleight of Mouth,
o Submodality map across
o Sedona Method (not strictly NLP but connected – see Dwoskin 2003)
o Metamodel and well formed outcomes
o Scrambling strategies
o Cartesian co-ordinates
o Chaining states
• For Sensation/Emotion/Thought:
o Reframing
o Anchoring
o Pattern interrupts
o Submodality change
Please note that the NLP techniques above are not limited to the category they have been
placed in - these are suggestions only. Also, remember that this model can be combined
with timeline techniques to gather resources from future and past.
Acuity Vol.2 73
Landscape of Experience: Activity 2
The model can also be used as a coaching tool to get an individual thinking about
resources they have in their life and/or things they could do in each of the nine domains to
generate strategies for improving wellbeing. Here are some examples:
HEALTH TEMPERAMENT PHILOSOPHY

Healthy diet Be aware of optimistic Seek +ve reasons for
Good sleep patterns & pessimistic events
BACKGROUND
Yoga tendencies Engage with

Mindfulness empowering beliefs
LONG-TERM
Become more outcome Plug into

focussed trans/personal
Keep diary of ‘best mission/purpose
things that happened Have a spirit of
today’ learning/ continuous
Positive life goals e.g. improvement
write a book, see
aurora borealis
CONDITION MOOD INTEREST

Meditation Listen to uplifting music Read positive/
Relaxing bath Watch/listen to motivational literature
MEDIUM-TERM
Relaxation activity comedy/comedian Engage in productive

Exercise Watch 'feel good' movie interests/hobbies
Go to +ve Help others
place/people/ Get organised and
context/environment prioritise
Tidy the house Complete a task or
Clear out the attic/cellar choose to let it go
SENSATION EMOTION THOUGHT

Smile Think about things Scan ‘+ve Adjective
FOREGROUND
Change physiology you love/enjoy List’ (see Appendix 2)

SHORT-TERM
Breath A.L.E. your emotions Use +ve affirmations

(see Appendix 1)
PHYSIOLOGICAL EMOTIONAL COGNITIVE
DOMAIN
Conclusion
The Landscape of Experience model is designed to be tool for exploration. Being able to
understand the bigger picture of our own landscape, particularly its systemic nature, must
certainly be a competency of emotional intelligence. The model is actually a meta-tool,
allowing an individual to see where interventions may be useful. Other techniques and
processes will then fit into the model. The power of the tool is in shifting an individual’s
awareness outside of themselves and the problem for a moment, in order to make positive
changes and re-associate back into an improved landscape.
The Landscape of Experience is internal to the individual and hence is within the control
and influence of the individual too. In this sense the model is liberating as it allows people
to see that there are usually a range of options available to them when they are able to see
their current state in a bigger context.
Biography
Joe Cheal has been working with NLP since 1993. As well as being a master trainer of
NLP, he holds an MSc in Organisational Development and NLT, a degree in Philosophy
and Psychology, and diplomas in Coaching and in Ericksonian Hypnotherapy,
Psychotherapy and NLP. He is also a licensed EI practitioner.
Joe is a co-founder of the Positive School of Intrinsic Neuro-Linguistic Psychology

(www.psinlp.com) and a partner in the GWiz Learning Partnership
(www.gwiztraining.com), working as a Management & Organisational Development
Specialist.
References
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Press
Averill, J. (1994) “I feel. Therefore I am – I think” in Ekman & Davidson The Nature of Emotion:
Fundamental Questions Oxford University Press, pp 379-385.
Bickle, J. “Mindful of the body” New Scientist 27 Nov 2010 p50
Cameron-Bandler, L. & Lebeau, M. (1986) The Emotional Hostage Real People Press
Carpenter, S. (2011) “Body of thought” Scientific American Mind Jan/Feb pp38-45
Caruso, D.R. & Salovey, P. (2004) The Emotionally Intelligent Manager Jossey Bass
Cheal, J. (2010) “The Role of Moods in NLP” Acuity Vol.1 No.1, pp28-36.
Dwoskin, H. (2003) The Sedona Method Sedona Press
Acuity Vol.2 75
Ekman, P. & Davidson, R.J. (1994) The Nature of Emotion: Fundamental Questions Oxford University
Press
Ekman, P. (2004) Emotions Revealed Phoenix
Evans, V. & Green, M. (2007) Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction Edinburgh University Press
Fine, C. (2007) A Mind of Its Own Icon Books
Giles, J. 2009 “Hitch-hiking emotions” New Scientist 12th September, pp46-47
Goleman, D. (1996) Emotional Intelligence Bloomsbury
Hall, L.M. (2004) Sourcebook of Magic Crown House
Hall, L.M. (2008) Meta-States (Third Edition) Neuro-Semantics
Huy, Q.N. (2002) “Emotional balancing of organizational continuity and radical change: The
contribution of middle managers” Administrative Science Quarterly, 47, 31-69
Iacoboni, M. (2008) Mirroring People Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Janov, A. (2007) Primal Healing New Page Books
Kagan, J (1994) Galen's Prophecy: Temperament in Human Nature Basic Books
Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1999) Philosophy in the Flesh Basic Books
LeDoux, J. (1999) The Emotional Brain Phoenix
Masicampo E.J. & Baumeister R.F. (2008) “Toward a physiology of dual-process reasoning and
judgment: lemonade, willpower, and expensive rule-based analysis.” Psychological Science
Mar;19(3):255-60.
Mayer, J.D. & Gaschke, Y.N. (1988) “The experience and meta-experience of mood” Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, Vol.55, No.1, pp102-111.
Niedenthal, P.M., Krauth-Gruber, S. & Ric, F. (2006) Psychology of Emotion Psychology Press
Plutchik, R. (1980). A general psychoevolutionary theory of emotion. In R. Plutchik & H.
Kellerman (Eds.), Emotion: Theory, research, and experience: Vol. 1. Theories of emotion (pp. 3-
33). New York: Academic.
Ryback, D. (1998) Putting Emotional Intelligence to Work Butterworth-Heinemann
Sanna, L. J., Chang, E. C., Miceli, P. M., & Lundberg, K. B. (2011) “Rising up to higher virtues:
Experiencing elevated physical height uplifts prosocial actions.” Journal of Experimental
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Scherer, K.R. (1994) “Towards a concept of ‘modal emotions’” in Ekman & Davidson The Nature of
Emotion: Fundamental Questions Oxford University Press, pp 25-31.
Shapiro, L. (2011) Embodied Cognition (New Problems of Philosophy) Routledge
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Psychology, 54, 768-777.
Wilson, M. (2002) “Six views of embodied cognition” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9 (4), 625-636
Wiseman, R. (2007) Quirkology Macmillan
APPENDIX 1 - The ALE Model and Healthy Expression of Emotion
The ALE model is a method I have developed and used in teaching people how to handle their emotions. In
this model, emotions are treated as information that is better released than bottled up. It may seem
simplistic, but I have encountered hundreds of people who struggle to feel, understand and express their
emotions appropriately.
A lack of ‘feeling awareness’ is not really a case of emotional stupidity! It appears that some emotions
‘redirect’ so that it is not clear in the body what emotion has led to the effect. For example, when a child is
angry there is a parental distortion which associates the anger with tiredness or hunger. If a child is
consistently told they must be feeling tired when they are angry, this may install a life-long program that
makes them feel sleepy when they get cross. Being told they ‘must be hungry’ may lead a person to eat
instead of expressing anger.
ALE stands for: Acknowledge – Label – Express:
Acknowledge: Own/realise that there is an emotion. “I am feeling something.”

Label: What is the emotion? “It is X”
Express: Say and/or write down how you are feeling and about what. “I feel X about Y”
Acknowledge
Not everyone is aware of their emotions or that they are feeling an emotion at a given point in time.
Although ‘acknowledge’ may seem an obvious step, a person cannot express an emotion if they do not know
they are having it. Sometimes it is possible to identify that we are experiencing an emotion by the impact it is
having. It may be that our behaviour changes (e.g. becoming more short tempered) or we experience
tiredness, stress and/or tension in the body. I have found personally that there are times I have to ‘back-
track’ from the effect of emotion and start with: “I am feeling something.”
Label
There are various models for the exploring the range of emotional labels, of which I would recommend
Plutchik’s Circumplex. There are plenty of examples of this model on the internet.
Express
It seems that the natural, healthy outcome of an emotion is to be expressed rather than suppressed or bottled
up. However, expression doesn’t have to be a catharsis or an ‘acting out’. Simply saying or writing down: “I
feel X about Y” is a form of expression Or you can be descriptive (without judgement) about what happened
then add: “and I felt X because Z”. Research has shown (e.g. in Gaschler 2007) that simply writing down a
‘negative’ experience including how we felt about it tends to disassociate us from the negative feeling. They
also found the same was true for positive memories too, that writing the experience down with how we felt
tends to create a sense of disassociation. This raises an interesting question of whether it is unhealthy to
bottle up ‘positive feelings’. Finally, it seems that it is not necessary to express emotion directly to the person
that ‘caused’ it. Talking it through with someone else or writing a ‘letter-you-never-send’ is perfectly
adequate. And of course, sometimes it is equally useful to let someone know how you feel about their
behaviour!
(Gaschler, K. (2007) “The Power of the Pen” Scientific American Aug/Sept Vol18 no4 p14-15 )
Acuity Vol.2 77
APPENDIX 2- The Positive Adjectives List
If the words we see and read directly affect our neurology and hence state, here are a list of
positive words to uplift and enhance your state.
Happy ecstatic comfortable tender stylish astute self-reliant

grateful lovely relaxed fantastic hopeful rejoicing nourishing
determined entertaining soft-spoken jolly affable philosophical thankful
professional inspired casual whimsical excellent beneficent positive
helpful decent loyal defined chic privileged systematic
sincere helpful alive immaculate intuitive established handy
authentic pragmatic charming diplomatic courteous grand considerate
content witty receptive bright caring important valiant
focused convincing good looking vigorous fine resolute romantic
extraordinary beautiful mannered wonderful logical radiant likeable
delightful resplendent shrewd alluring tranquil deliberate appropriate
imaginative sexy liberal companionable virtuous flexible adorable
reverent assured grounded reflective attentive reliable refined
successful progressive truthful credible thoughtful terrific poetic
heroic comedic gorgeous elated cerebral sharp attractive
cheerful felicitous practical impressive jubilant democratic sentimental
inventive accessible industrious playful affectionate impressive ambitious
unique commendable brave intelligent forgiving sweet visionary
upright sensual perfect superb mindful charitable lively
tidy sublime hardy original understanding productive prudent
open-minded empathetic innocent devoted fruitful willing vivacious
blissful compatible upright pleasant sociable awesome ethical
tough influential enchanted warm elegant sincere tender
glad efficient athletic powerful masterly clearheaded dignified
desirable humorous noble fabulous fertile dependable agreeable
valiant engaging diligent gracious great prompt heavenly
fair-minded civil gregarious altruistic tolerant splendid dutiful
ingenious believable responsive affirmative free sophisticated encouraging
courageous gentle precious direct daring prolific rosy
profound lucky satisfied goodhearted deserving worldly gallant
adaptable knowledgeable deep wise polished energetic versatile
worthy serene cosy philanthropic real amicable amiable
colourful earnest agile robust admirable discerning moral
joyful adroit restrained convivial blessed generous speedy
laudable faithful healthy consistent independent sunny balanced
cute exultant just dedicated compassionate fashionable concise
delectable gleeful creative persuasive artistic light well-rounded
dependable sparkling meritorious amazing genuine reasonable purposeful
remarkable cordial learned calm amorous priceless enthusiastic
confident appreciative right nimble blissful suave passionate
funny spontaneous approachable desirable smooth forthright benign
ready fascinating harmonious studious spry hilarious accountable
magnetic brilliant kissable confident complex respectful moderate
enlightened natural benevolent decisive scholarly spiritual captivating
authoritative keen lucid peaceful easy-going appreciative strong
enterprising merry fun brainy autonomous precious active
righteous eloquent bold discriminating accomplished steady distinctive
luminous spirited rich responsible special
(Source: adapted from: http://thehappinessshow.com/PositiveAdjectives.htm)

78 Questions about Meta-Programs
Questions about Meta-Programs

Susie Linder-Pelz
This paper starts with some questions being asked in personality psychology that we NLP
practitioners may be able to help answer. It then reviews how NLP approaches ‘flexibility’
and ‘personality’ and highlights some fuzziness in the way we currently use the term
‘meta-programs’. That leads to some probing questions about existing meta-program
questionnaires and then to some questions that seem worthy of systematic inquiry. Finally
there is an outline of an approach for such an inquiry and a question for the reader.
Introduction
Over recent years the need for evidence-based coaching and counselling has become a hot
topic—not only among academics in business and psychology but also among growing
numbers of human resource, training and development professionals.
Evidence-based practice means (1) demonstrating that what we do has links to established
principles, models and theories, and (2) having rigorous studies of process and outcomes to
inform our practice.
In my experience and that of some colleagues, most NLP coaches and counsellors just
want to know how to improve their skills and their practice; they are interested in
evidence only if someone else provides it and if it helps sell NLP. It is rare to find a
practitioner who is willing to invest time and effort in helping to provide evidence.
So why does evidence matter? Because if we only invest in improving our skills and our
marketing, we will never be able to make the case that the distinctive methods of NLP
make a difference to peoples’ lives and outcomes. Evidence is a matter of credibility and it
is evidence that will ultimately sell NLP (or not).
A topic I have been thinking about lately is the ‘meta-programs’ idea that is used widely in
NLP—probably because meta-programs seem central to how individuals make (or don’t
make) the changes they want. In this paper I offer an evidence-based approach to meta-
programs. I start with some questions being asked in personality psychology that I believe
we NLP practitioners may be able to help answer. Then I review how NLP approaches
Acuity Vol.2 79
‘flexibility’ and ‘personality’ and highlight some fuzziness in the way we currently use the
term ‘meta-programs’. That leads me to ask some probing questions about existing meta-
program questionnaires and to pose some other questions that are worthy of systematic
inquiry. I outline an approach for such an inquiry and, finally, have a question for you, the
reader.
Questions from personality psychology

There is, in personality psychology as in NLP, an assumption and some evidence that
flexibility is better than extreme or inflexible behaviour (e.g. Kashdan and Rottenberg
2010, Pennato 2010).
Personality psychologists distinguish unstable or situational responses, including

cognition, from stable or dispositional traits such as Big Five Personality Traits (Robinson
2007). This corresponds to a distinction between research that focuses on personality
structure vs research on personality process or how personality works (Fleeson 2007).
Some psychologists interested in trait-relevant behaviour are now asking how trait content
is manifested in everyday behaviour. How is that behaviour patterned and where do
individual differences occur in those patterns? (Fleeson 2001: 1011). Personality
psychologists are increasingly looking at individuals’ ‘characteristic adaptations’ in terms,
for example, of ‘values and beliefs’, ‘cognitive schemas and styles’, and ‘coping
strategies’—all of which vary within individuals according to context (McAdams and Pals
2007).
Underpinning this interest in ‘within-persons variation’ are theories such as Kelly’s (1963)
personal construct theory of personality where ‘habitual categories’ play a profound role
in structuring everyday experience; it suggests that the processes of meaning-making does
not follow from personality, it is personality: “Cognitive processing tendencies may
predict daily emotion and behaviour even in the absence of correlation or interaction with
traits.” (Robinson 2007: 353)
A few weeks ago I heard a talk by a personality psychologist on the topic of personality
malleability, flexibility and development: “Even traits (stable behaviour, thoughts and
affects as distinct from fluctuating behaviour, thoughts and states) are to some degree
malleable but we don’t know much about how they can be developed; it may be more
fruitful to look at motivation, self-efficacy etc” (Beckmann 2010). Along with her
colleagues, Beckmann is interested in cognitive and non-cognitive flexibility more than
stable concepts of personality. She is asking: how can personality flexibility be developed?
And if personality is malleable, what exactly changes, and how?
In NLP, ‘personality’ has often been equated with the term ‘meta-programs.’ And so I
started wondering, is this not an opportunity for us to extend the rigour and reach of our
thinking and researching about meta-programs? Can NLP help shed light on the
distinction between dynamic and static personality characteristics and how they can be
developed?
How NLP approaches personality and flexibility

“Learning to recognize the filters that you and others use is a first step towards developing
flexibility.” (Knight 2002/2010)
In NLP we hold that in order to adapt, any part of the system needs to be as diverse or
flexible as the environment in which it is trying to adapt. This principle of ‘requisite
variety’ (Ashby 1965) is reflected in skills such as Meta-model questioning, dissociating
from unwanted states, associating into desired states, hypnotic language and use of
metaphors, changing perceptual positions and developing flexibility in meta-programs
using strategy installation and reframing. The principle of requisite variety also suggests
that the more flexible a coach can be in their communication the more likely they are to
influence the client’s system. (Linder-Pelz 2010: 77)
A key contribution NLP makes to understanding ‘personality’ is the precision questions of

the Meta-Model that enable us to denominalise personality. With Meta-Model questions we
focus specifically how people think, act, feel, choose and speak.
From its first years, NLP focused on the level of primary states and responses. In addition,
DeLozier and Grinder (1987) conceived of a ‘controller’ state at a higher logical level, a
second-order level or executive state. The idea of ‘meta-programs’ started with the NLP
Meta-Model and its insights about deletion, distortion and generalization (Charvet 1997,
Hall et al 2001). “They are programs which guide and direct other thought processes.”
(Dilts and DeLozier 2000). An early and influential book on meta-programs, drawing on
Jung’s work (Myers and Kirby 1994), talked of them as ‘personality’ (James and
Woodsmall 1988).
“Some strategies for sorting sensory experience inevitably run almost continuously
and unconsciously at a meta-level. The developers of NLP used the term Meta-
Programs (the second domain of NLP) to refer to the more basic sorting processes we
Acuity Vol.2 81
use to decide what we pay attention to, and how we process it.” (Bolstad and
Hamblett 2001: 59)
Although Grinder’s view is that meta-programs are content and therefore not part of NLP
(which is concerned only with process), for others the meta-program model is now an
established part of NLP (Dilts & DeLozier 2000).
By the mid 1990s Michael Hall had co-founded with Bob Bodenhamer an offshoot of NLP
called Neuro-Semantics (www.neurosemantics.com). Michael started looking more closely
at the process whereby we become aware of our states, their precise sensory qualities and
the meanings we give them. He developed the Meta-States Model that proposes a process
by which people follow the feedback loop of information into their neuro-linguistic states
as they represent information from the outer world (Hall 1995/2002). People frame or meta-
state that information as they feed back to themselves more information about that
information; that is, they feed back to themselves layer upon layer of ideas, beliefs and
understandings. Each new progressive layer sets the frame for the previous layers. Then
people feed forward that information back down the ‘levels’ of their mind, brain and
neurology. This literally in-forms: it forms the individual on the inside and manifests as
emotions or somatic movements in the body and in behaviour. Here is an example of how
this Neuro-Semantic model works:
With a client who was feeling very stressed the coach used probing and provoking
questions which enabled the client to see and articulate the feedback process that had
(unconsciously) created her unwanted feeling of stress. The coach guided the client
in ‘unpacking’ her negative thoughts and beliefs until the client got to a core and
deeply unconscious belief. When the client saw the layer upon layer of thoughts and
feelings she was astonished at how effectively she had set herself up to feel stressed.
The coach then used questions to co-create a solution, inviting the client to imagine
herself thinking, looking, sounding and feeling differently. The coach also invited the
client to come up with beliefs and frames of mind about herself and her situation that
would enable her to genuinely feel excited about the future. The last step was to
assist the client strengthen the new neuro-semantic connections she was making. The
client stated her intention and then re-stated all her new, true and empowering
beliefs. She articulated the decision she was now making and noticed the positive
emotional state that came with that decision. Then she turned that emotion into action
steps. This feed forward process enabled the client to turn her intention into a
neurological (mind-body-emotion) pattern with which she would close the gap
between what she wanted and what actually happens.
The Meta-States model is similar to Richard Bolstad’s Strategies Model of Personality:

“Using Meta-States, the higher representational pattern of language tends to govern

the lower since it creates classes and classifications for the lower. In this way
language can actually blind us from seeing what actually exists before our eyes. We
come to see the world in terms of our labels, classifications and terms.” (Bolstad and
Hamblett 2001: 56)
According to Michael Hall, meta-programs are solidified (automated) meta-states which

occur when we set meta-level frames (Hall et al 2001: 144). He sees meta-programs as a
facet of the Meta-States model and thinks of personality as a gestalt of higher states (Hall et
al 2001: Ch 2). Meta-programs are styles or patterns of thinking, believing, using language
(including metaphors), emoting, valuing, behaving and relating. They start from primary
states of thoughts-and-emotions as we experience the world through our senses. Through
repetition, habituation and self-reflective consciousness people create frames of mind or
schemas (rule-guided maps of responses to situations). These meta-level phenomena give
people their sense of self, stability and more.
Bolstad and Hamblett similarly consider that meta-programs are learnt patterns with a
structure in the sense of being automated or habituated strategies.
“The Meta-States Model offers an enriched strategy model that begins with and goes
beyond the TOTE (test-operate-test-exit) model…It can exceed the linear strategies
models to address ‘higher levels of mind and meaning’.” (Pearson 2003).
More recently Hall has defined personality as “a dynamic structure which is made up of
representations, states, language, meta-states, meta-programs and our matrix of frames”
(Hall and Bodenhamer 2006: 269). And, in differentiating meta-programs from ‘traits’, Hall
and Bodenhamer believe that meta-programs are dynamic or malleable rather than static
or stable.
In my view, Hall and Bodenhamer’s work (1997, 2006) is the most complete account of
meta-programs to date as they discuss historical and theoretical origins for many (not all)
meta-programs and cite some empirical evidence. They denominalise ‘personality’ and
give specific behavioural focus to our questioning about how people think, emote, choose
and speak. They also propose a classification of meta-programs as cognitive (or thinking),
emotional, choosing and semantic. There is also a coherent and theoretically supported
mechanism for meta-program formation (Linder-Pelz 2010: Ch 10). However, no systematic
studies have yet demonstrated which, or how, meta-programs are malleable.
As an aside to this discussion of meta-programs: Symbolic Modelling, like Neuro-

Semantics, has its origins in NLP and is about modelling, exploring and unpacking meta-
Acuity Vol.2 83
level phenomena. It, too, focuses on clients’ unique process and map of the world, on self-
reflectivity and going to ‘higher’ levels of mind. Like Neuro-Semantics it addresses
metacognitive processes by using specific and subtle questionning to identify and change
higher and hidden frames. It facilitates people to model and modify their unique symbolic
landscapes and language —which are, in effect, ‘meta’ and ‘programs’. I hasten to add,
however, that the developers James Lawley and Penny Tompkins (2000) do not use the
somewhat mechanistic term ‘programs’; they talk instead of clients’ ‘metaphor
landscapes’. (www.cleanlanguage.co.uk/articles/categories/Symbolic-Modelling).
Fuzzy definitions
Citing the history of the meta-programs model does not, by itself, clarify the meaning of
the term. In fact, I found the more I read, the more confused I got. Consider the following
examples (with my emphases):
o Roger Bailey, the first developer of a meta-programs tool, described two types:
motivation traits and working traits and yet they are context or situation specific.
(Charvet 1997)
o Behavioural traits, determinants of personality (Brown 2003)
o Meta-programs are thinking styles as distinct from cognitive strategies; programs which
guide and direct other thought processes (Dilts 1998, Dilts & DeLozier 2000)
o They are learnt patterns or strategies (Bolstad and Hamblett 2001)
o They are the means by which we process and organize information, contributing to
our internal representation of the world; thinking and behaviour preferences (Brewerton
2004)
o Personality preferences that influence language and behaviour (Brown 2004)
o Filters that affect how we behave and communicate (Brown 2006)
o Motivational strategies that can be modeled (Hall and Bodenhamer 2006).

Julia Miller (2010) sums up the state of our knowledge of meta-programs: “We don’t know
if they are stable, flexible, independent, hierarchical, can be modified, and whether they
are a style or a strategy.“
Clearly we need to discuss and define what sort of phenomenon ‘meta-programs’ is;
Julia’s current work is a good step in that direction. I feel it is useful to conceptualise meta-
programs as ‘strategies’ rather than ‘styles’ because ‘strategies’ reinforces the key NLP
idea that any experience is the ordering and sequencing of sensory and linguistic
representations and their qualities (sub-modalities). Further, it may be useful to consider
meta-programs as cognitive and non-cognitive strategies, just as in the psychology of
individual differences ‘cognitive differences and thinking styles’ are generally
distinguished from ‘personality’ (eg McTurk and Shakespeare-Finch 2006). Similarly,
research on individual differences usually distinguishes ‘cognitive’ from ‘non-cognitive’
(which includes personality)’ differences (eg Munro et al 2010).
Questions about questionnaires

There are two main ways the idea of meta-programs is used by NLP-trained people: in-
the-moment modelling of individuals in the context of coaching or counselling, and self-
report questionnaires in the context of educational research, personal coaching, selection,
career development and organization development work.
Anecdotally we know questionnaires are very useful for highlighting peoples’ different
selling techniques, motivation, team behaviour, teaching styles and educational
experience. Used this way, such questionnaires fit the NLP ethos that we are interested in
whatever works rather than what is ‘true’. However, once we start developing
questionnaire items and scales, using sophisticated statistical tests to analyse the responses
and to find correlations and predictions, this raises questions about validity. If we choose
to use psychometric methods we have to play by the rules.
Issues regarding the reliability and validity of meta-program questionnaires include, for
example, how the number of questions and the way they were combined into scale
measures affects the correlation coefficients used in reliability estimates and other
statistics. For any questionnaire to be believable and trustworthy, the developers need to
be transparent and explicit about how they developed the questions. That includes being
explicit about the theory or assumptions behind the meta-programs they ask about in their
questionnaire. Indeed, scale construction and construct validation go hand in hand (John
and Soto 2007: 489).
Acuity Vol.2 85
Construct validity means the degree to which a meta-program measure does indeed
measure the latent behavioural or cognitive phenomenon it purports to measure; in other
words, that scores on a meta-program scale can be interpreted as reflecting variation in a
specific underlying pattern of thinking, feeling and/or behaving. While a handful of
writers (including James and Woodsmall 1988, Hall & Bodenhamer 1997, 2006, Hall &
Duval 2004, Brewerton 2004, Miller 2010) have discussed and referenced (from various
areas of psychology including thinking styles, personality research, learning theory and
cognition) the source of specific meta-programs, many questionnaire developers have not.
Demonstrating that a meta-program measure predicts an outcome such as selection or
performance (criterion validity) does not justify lack of attention to its construct validity.
There is no single test of validity and even the term ‘construct validity’ encompasses
several meanings and tests. Validity is always a matter of degree rather than an all-or-
nothing property (Lemke and Wiersma 1976, John and Soto 2007).
And, as with any psychological measures, meta-program questionnaire developers need

to separate inevitable errors in measurement from real variations in responses to
questions; they also need to demonstrate consistency of measurement and replicability of
studies’ findings. And you guessed it: there is no one single test of replicability or
reliability!
Does all this sound complex? Yes it is and that is why we need transparent, peer-reviewed
research. Peer reviewed publications are the currency of credibility in the wider world in
which NLP coaches, counselors and trainers offer their services.
What to ask yourself when you read about a meta-program questionnaire
• Were their findings peer-reviewed? Have they been published in an independent professional or
academic journal?
• How clearly do they conceptualise and define the meta-program variables they studied? What
are their assumptions about meta-programs as fixed traits vs contextual variables?
• Do they give a rationale for the selection of particular meta-programs they measure?
• How thoroughly and clearly do they discuss validity issues?
• Do they describe exactly how they generated and selected the questionnaire items?
• Even if they claim to have followed industry best practice guidelines for item selection and
validation, how transparent is that process?
• Why did they select the particular scaling method they used (e.g. Likert analysis or factor
analysis)? Have they explained their choice of question format and scoring intervals?
•How many items did they use to measure each meta-program variable? (Usually, the more items
of the same type the more reliable the scale measure.)
• Do they explain their choice of reliability test (internal consistency reliability within scales and/or
test-retest reliability)?
• Do they give details of which and how many respondents they used in the development stage of
the questionnaire?
From the information I have found, the CDAQ© questionnaire for use in occupational
contexts is the most credible (Brewerton 2004, www.cdaq.co.uk). It meets the minimum
requirements for registration as a psychometric ‘test’ by the Psychological Testing Centre
(PTC) of the British Psychological Society. That means it is based on transparent
psychometric criteria and has been peer reviewed.
Brewerton has described how a project team constructed the questionnaire and piloted the
items. He addressed criterion validity by comparing questionnaire responses to self-ratings
and acknowledged that the validation process needs to be ongoing and take many forms.
He found validation of the meta-programs construct in the “notable parallels between the
notion of ‘schemata’ and the idea behind ‘metaprogrammes’… Both refer to underlying,
context-dependent patterns of thinking consistent with our experiences and our developed
attitudes and values…they help us make sense of the world and, crucially, to respond to
the world in a way which we believe will result in desirable outcome….” (Brewerton
2004:15).
Brewerton states, “The 11 metaprogrammes (dimensions) measured by cdaq are those that
are most relevant to the world of work” (2009, www.cdaq.co.uk). However, I wonder if he
had evidence that those 11 meta-programs are more relevant than others in the world of
work? The owners of the CDAQ© say it has four dimensions: interacting with other,
processing information, making decisions, taking action (www.cdaq.co.uk); however, I
couldn’t find empirical evidence for this, such as factor analytic studies.
Responses on CDAQ© were compared with those on an occupational personality

questionnaire (www.cdaq.co.uk, validation study, 2006) and on the Myers Briggs
personality types (2005), implying that meta-programs are personality variables although
elsewhere he talks of ‘cognitive frameworks’ and ‘preferred thinking and behavioural
style’ (Brewerton 2004).
Acuity Vol.2 87
Overall, the PTC rated CDAQ© “good” on quality of documentation and reliability and
“adequate or reasonable” on construct validity. As I mentioned above, the validity of
questionnaires is a matter of degree and, despite its solid foundations, there is as yet only
a tiny number of validation studies of CDAQ© compared with other, established
personality and thinking styles questionnaires.
For some in the NLP community for whom the essence of any change work means
modelling the complex and unique ways clients think, feel, speak and behave, the use of
checklists of distinctions or typologies represents a departure from NLP. From this
perspective, meta-program questionnaires provide less direct, immediate and complete
information about meta-programs; they nominalise or reify patterns and implicitly treat
meta-programs as static rather than dynamic.
Whether or not you hold the view that the use of questionnaires contradicts the principles
and intentions of NLP practice, it seems the meta-programs idea is now widely associated
with NLP—even if it may not serve the important distinctions between NLP practice and
psychological testing for the meta-program questionnaires to be marketed as an NLP tool.
Some research questions

Whereas questionnaires are useful for studying meta-program differences between people,
NLP modelling is a way to study within-person differences in how meta-programs change
or not.
There is, of course, lots of good anecdotal evidence that the complex skill of NLP modeling
allows us to notice, flesh out, distinguish and alter patterns or strategies that are out of
unconscious awareness. For example: Bolstad (2001, 2002) gives examples of ‘opening up
the person’s model of the world’ and Wake (2008) describes how ‘generative’ modelling
assists clients explore their inner world. Hall (2001) reports on using NLP patterns
successfully to change ‘personality strategies’; so does Knight (2002/2010). Detailed case
examples of flexibility in meta-programs are also found in Hall and Bodenhamer 2006 and
Hall and Duval (2003/2004, 2004).
However, we don’t yet have independent studies of how the NLP and/or Neuro-Semantic
approach to modelling and altering meta-programs works as a change intervention. So we
need to start systematically analysing and documenting the changes clients experience
during and after the process of meta-program elicitation and alteration.
As with any systematic inquiry, we need to start with specific research question/s.
Drawing on Michael Hall’s work, I offer here some research questions for you to think
about— recognising that no one study can answer them all.
1. How does precise questioning uncover a person’s linguistic mapping and create a fuller
linguistic and sensory representation which shifts and enriches the person’s experience?
2. Is there a distinct ‘driver’ meta-program or metaphor operating whenever a person’s

need or desire for change occurs?
3. How does a trained practitioner-modeller detect clients’ meta-program defaults (e.g.

their goal style, values, motivation direction, self-confidence, ego strength, adaptation
style, operational style, attention to detail)?
4. How does a practitioner-modeller find out which meta-programs their clients need to
use to reach their current goal and then alter or expand the client’s frames (the belief,
decision, value, understanding, identity and/or meaning that hold their meta-program in
place) so that there is a cascading and desired effect on the client’s responses?
5. How does the practitioner-modeller assess how much flexibility clients have regarding
their default meta-program/s?
6. Is flexibility regarding meta-programs a variable within persons? (Michael Hall asks

himself: “How much flexibility does my client have regarding this meta-program?”)
7. Are some meta-programs more malleable than others?
8. Is there support for the NLP hypothesis that language indicates specific, discrete meta-
programs?
9. Is language flexibility the key to personality malleability? Do distinctive questioning

models (Meta-model, Meta-questioning, Well Formed Outcome questions) enhance
client’s language and cognitive flexibility i.e. meta-program flexibility?
10. Do NLP and Neuro-Semantic modelling methodologies add to our understanding of

personality structure and processes?
These research questions suggest the need for a qualitative case study approach that is
both explicit and rigorous (Bazeley 2007, Brannen 2007). This could involve a series of
coaching or counselling conversations between a practitioner and their client which would
be observed and/or recorded and transcribed. The recording and transcripts could be
analysed by a 3rd party NLP/Neuro-Semantic investigator-modeller. Additional
Acuity Vol.2 89
information could be obtained with questions put to the practitioner and the client by the
investigator after the series of conversations. And such a case study approach does not
preclude having the client complete an established personality and/or thinking styles
questionnaire both before and after the coaching or counselling series in order to see, from
the perspective of conventional psychology, whether and how the NLP/Neuro-Semantic
intervention had an effect.
So, finally, questions for you, the reader
How interested are you in participating in a study that contributes to the credibility of our
work and to the wider field of study on personality and individual differences? Perhaps
you are looking for a project that complies with your degree requirements? Please email
me if you have feedback or are interested in collaborating (susie@gooddecisions.com.au).
Biography
Susie has worked in business, academia and personal development. With a PhD from
Columbia University she was a behavioural science researcher before developing a
successful NLP-based career coaching practice. Susie has authored 22 articles in peer-
reviewed journals and five books including NLP Coaching: An Evidence-Based Approach. She
thanks Irena O’Brien and Paul Tosey for their valuable feedback on a draft of this article.
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92 Creative Practice Pedagogy
Creative Practice Pedagogy

and its similarities to Neuro Linguistic
Programming (NLP) Psychotherapeutic
Techniques.
Blane Savage
This paper sets out to demonstrate similarities between techniques used within creative
practice pedagogy in Higher Education and NLP based psychotherapeutic techniques.
The research area I have chosen to investigate focuses on the processes used by higher
education creative practitioners whilst they are teaching creative practice to
undergraduate cohorts. It identifies a number of similarities in techniques utilised in both
creative practice and NLP psychotherapy and offers a range of case studies to support this.
It seeks to build a clearer understanding of the relationships between creative practice
pedagogy and NLP based psychotherapeutic techniques.
Introduction
Creative practice including literature, theatre, music and art has been able to influence
how we feel and think across the ages. Since early prehistory it has been core to the human
experience and has helped defined a groups’ culture and relationship to the world.
Prehistoric works such as the cave painting in Lascaux, France still can amaze and affect
us to this day. Religions based on texts, artefacts, architecture and iconography have been
core pillars of societal control and influence. Through Kenneth Clark's Civilisation (1969),
we can see the effects the arts have had in the evolution of Western culture.
“Early theatre came out of the church and that ancient rituals involved mask, costume,
impersonation and transformation” (Merlin 2008, p47)
It is clear that there is an ongoing dialogue between creative practice and the human
psyche. (Claxton 2005, p 137) which is worthy of further exploration. The mapping of
Acuity Vol.2 93
creative practice pedagogy onto NLP psychotherapeutic techniques could illuminate new
understandings within this area.
This research sets out to explore similarities between the techniques used in creative
practice within higher education and those used within NLP based psychotherapy
through interviews with expert creative practitioners and a review of associated literature.
The specific focus of this research area is the processes utilised by higher education
creative practitioners whilst they are teaching creative practice to undergraduate cohorts.
It explores similarities in techniques utilised in both the teaching of acting and in NLP
psychotherapy and offers a range of case studies to support this. It seeks to build a clearer
understanding of the relationships between acting theory and NLP practice.
An identification and understanding of these similarities within creative practice

education and NLP psychotherapy has the potential to enhance pedagogical
methodologies in both of these areas.
Purpose Of This Paper
This is a practice based exploratory paper which will discuss a research project where ten
‘expert’ Higher Education creative practitioners from the areas of music, drama, art, film
and literature were interviewed with the aim of identifying similarities within their
teaching methodologies to NLP psychotherapeutic techniques.
The aims of this research project were to:
Develop an understanding of practitioners’ creative teaching methodologies
Identify any similarities within their teaching methodologies and within NLP
psychotherapeutic techniques
Consider whether there are sufficient similarities to suggest that an understanding of,
or explicit use of, some NLP techniques might enhance pedagogical methodologies in
these areas of creative practice. There may also be techniques being used in actor
training that have potential for therapeutic development.
My Methodological Approach
A qualitative methodology was utilised, building up case studies in the research area I
have chosen to investigate. This is based around developing an understanding of the
processes utilised by practitioners whilst they are teaching creative practice and mapping
them over onto the field of NLP psychotherapy.
Case study:
Informal interviewing utilising audio recordings of individual ‘expert’ interviewees in the

fields of art, music, literature, acting and film, utilising semi structured questioning
around personal creative processes and teaching methodologies was carried out. This
approach to the capture of tacit knowledge held within this practitioner group allowed a
dialogue to take place between the interviewer and specialist practitioners in other areas of
creative practice. Each had little understanding of each other’s area of expertise. The initial
interviews lasted approximately one hour with each specialist practitioner.
Focus of the interviews;
Identification of the processes and the personal training techniques utilised by these
creative practitioners within their teaching pedagogy.
Looking for indicators of overlaps of these techniques with NLP psychotherapeutic

strategies. As a practicing therapist I was looking to identify techniques which
resembled those I was familiar with in my therapeutic work.
Identification of common practice, which would have the potential to offer

developmental opportunities within both creative practice and actor training.
In Yin’s ‘Case Study Research’ (1994) this form of research allows for ‘explanation’
building. By making an initial theoretical statement and comparing the findings of an
initial case study against that statement, the process allows for a revision of that statement
utilising the new information – ‘theory testing and theory building’. The process can then
be repeated in an evolutionary way allowing the initial research question to be refined in
an iterative fashion.
Sample
My intention was to interview ten creative practitioners within University of the West of
Scotland. Four musicians, three performers, one writer, one fine artist and one film
director have been interviewed to date. Five of these practitioners have creative work that
is located in an international context.
The on site sample was chosen from practitioners who had joined or shown an interest in
the Creativity and Transformation research group within the School of Creative and
Acuity Vol.2 95
Cultural Industries at UWS. This amounted to eight practitioners. A further two members
invited were practitioner colleagues in the school.
These practitioners were selected for interview because they represented a cross section of
creative practice specialists within the school and allowed the researcher to quickly
ascertain to what extent similarities existed between techniques utilised within creative
practice pedagogy and those within NLP psychotherapy.
Procedure
Due to the easy access of interviewees, the author had the opportunity to make the initial
interviews, carry out a literature review which explored source materials introduced by
the acting practitioner interviewees and then carry out a round of secondary interviews
specifically with the three acting practitioners, who it appeared were utilising a number of
similar strategies to NLP within their teaching practice.
The structure of the interviews was based on:
the author’s past experience which includes 10 years teaching of visual artists and
designers at UWS
his clinical work utilising NLP and hypnotherapy ( he is an NLP training specialist with
11 years NLP expertise)
his own personal experiences of working as an artist and designer in the creative arts for
thirty years and as a former graduate of Glasgow School of Art.
Interview structure
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the creative practitioners and included
references to the following contextual areas.
A listing of NLP strategies found in practitioner courses (Figure 1) was explained to

interviewees with a request to identify similarities in creative techniques being utilised to
educate creative practitioners within their own areas of practice.
Analysis of creative teaching pedagogy and strategies utilised within the teaching of
creative practice was carried out looking to identify similarities to NLP psychotherapeutic
techniques.
Request when similarities in technique were identified by the interviewer, for practitioner
to reference its academic source if possible.
Techniques utilised in Neuro Linguistic Programming Practitioner Courses
Anchoring Perceptual Positions
Belief Change Presuppositions
Calibration Reframing
Deep Trance Modelling Rapport skills
Ericksonian Hypnosis Representational Systems
Eliciting States Sensory Acuity
Mental rehearsal Sub-modalities, predicates eye accessing

cues & representational systems
Meta-Model (specific language)
Six Step Reframing
Meta-programs
Spinning emotions
Milton Model (abstract language)
Swish pattern.
Modelling
Timelines
New Behaviour Generator
Visual Squash
Outcomes, setting well formed goals
V/K Dissociation - overcoming phobias
Parts integration
Figure 1
The literature review was initially guided by the actor practitioners who directed me to the
key acting theorists utilised in their practice. This allowed me to develop an
understanding of the history and context of the use of the techniques within their own
specialism. The second stage of the review was carried out to locate the sources of the
techniques to check for accuracy and to acknowledge their sources.
The identified techniques were then analysed and deconstructed to identify any
similarities to NLP psychotherapeutic strategies.
The early stages of this research project, have shown some success in identifying
psychotherapeutic strategies utilised in specific creative disciplines explored so far. In
particular, the area of actor training has great potential as there has been over a century of
applied research within this subject area.
Acuity Vol.2 97
There was little evidence that NLP psychotherapeutic techniques were being utilised by
the four musicians, the film director and the artist who were interviewed. This could be
because music composition, for example, is very focussed on auditory structures. It
regularly becomes a subset of other creative areas such as performance and film and has
possibly less scope than broader disciplines such as film production to utilise therapeutic
strategies.
The field of actor training has proved most interesting as it has a very broad ranging focus
on the mental and physical development of the actor. The actor’s work is likely to be
located within an acting troupe, managed by a director utilising a script developed by a
writer. The skills required by an actor will include an in depth range of interpersonal and
personal development training, which has a clear alignment with a number of NLP
psychotherapeutic frames.
Of the initial formal interviews, those with the three actor practitioners have been most
successful to date and have lead to interesting discussions around issues concerning the
training of actors and in particular the development of HE acting trainees at
undergraduate level. The training techniques presented by the three acting practitioners
interviewed have been influenced by the methodologies of several key 20th century acting
theorists; Constantin Stanislavski, Michael Chekhov, Lee Strasberg, Jerzy Grotowski and
Augusto Boal. (Chamberlain F, 2004, Grotowski J, 2002, Merlin B, 2008, Moore S, 1984,
Boal A, 2006)
The acting practitioners were all familiar with the work of the seminal acting theorist
Constantin Stanislavsky (1863 – 1938) whose life’s work was focussed on the development
of strategies and techniques that would help actors achieve optimum performances on
stage. (Benedetti J, 2005, p109, Merlin B, 2008, p3) Chekhov, Strasberg and Grotowski
utilised the work of Stanislavski and built on his foundations; further refining his concepts
and integrated them within their own theories (Grotowski J, 2002, p15).
Stanislavski was “arguably the first person to systemise natural (and often unconscious)
human responses and organise them into something which could be consciously applied
to the artifice of acting” (Merlin B, 2008, p4).
Actor Training Technique Case studies
The actor interviews have identified a number of actor training techniques that have some
similarities to their NLP psychotherapeutic counterparts and are listed below. Comments
about the relationships between the techniques have also been made.
The list is grouped into four sections;
Anchoring techniques
Getting into the Character’s Shoes

Getting into Character
Method of Physical Actions
Mask
Relaxation techniques
Camera in your Head

Room in a House
Emotional Disassociation Techniques
Imaginary Centres
Timeline Exploration
Via Negativa
Anchoring Techniques
Getting into the Character’s Shoes - utilised by actors A & B
When preparing for a role, Artist A literally desires to get into the character’s shoes used
in the performance. Once he has access to the shoes he is able to take on and develop the
persona of the character. Each time he puts on the shoes he is able to re-access the persona
character he has developed.
In Chekhov’s ‘Imaginary Body’ exercise, the actor develops the ability to develop and step
progressively into an imaginary body that he has created. To help the actor achieve this
unconscious integration, stepping into single body parts are used initially such as hands or
feet or the nose for example. This allows the actor to become progressively more
comfortable with the process. (Chamberlain 2004, p77)
The shoe strategy is also mentioned in Thomas Richards, At Work With Grotowski on
Physical Action (Richards 2001, p78)
Acuity Vol.2 99
Actor B uses the action of being dressed in the dramatic costume as the vehicle for
accessing her performance character. She removes the costume at the end of the
performance allowing her to shed the role & to physically step out of the character.
This is similar to the NLP Anchoring technique (Bandler, 1993, p.133 - 134) where the
actors use kinaesthetic anchors to connect their character’s attributes to the shoes and to
the costume. This strategy allows the actors to effectively associate into the character prior
to the performance and then disassociate from their character at its conclusion.
This use of dramatic costume has the potential to be useful as a therapeutic tool. A
psychotherapeutic intervention could be developed which could utilise physical artefacts,
such as clothing and others’ personal possessions to assist in therapeutic transformation.
The use of a physical costume or mask to help in a transformational way could be a
temporary aid in support of the psyche.
Liz Horton, a therapist in Scotland, suggested that one of her clients wrap an imaginary
cloak around herself to protect her energy from being drained away whilst she was
dealing with her own elderly parents. The cloak was long and hooded, being similar to the
woman in the Scottish Widows advertisement and was to be wrapped fully around the
clients’ body when she needed protection. This technique was utilised successfully whilst
working with each individual parent. However when both parents were present the cloak
was unable to protect her fully from their demanding negativity and she just had to leave
that space to keep her energy intact.
Getting into Character - utilised by Actor B
In this technique, also called the mantle of the character and attributed to Michael
Chekhov, the actor imagines the physical attributes of the character in front of him. He
progressively creates intense sensory detail within the imagined character. The final stage
is for the actor to step into the physical space of imaginary character once a powerful
image has been developed, to take on that character’s persona. (Chamberlain 2004, p77,
p140)
In this technique the actor generates a positive hallucination of the character through the
development of a trance state. All senses are used (VAKOG) to create the illusion of the
character they wish to create. They kinaesthetically step into the hallucinated physiology
of the character and imagine it enveloping them.
This is very similar to anchoring states such as NLP’s ‘Circle of Excellence’ which utilises
location anchoring (Andreas & Faulkner, 1999, p45). A New Code NLP technique called
‘Walk with X & Y’ (also called Walk with Pride & Courage) also utilises a variation of this
technique where the client takes on a persona and walks to anchor that state
kinaesthetically.
Method of Physical Actions - Stanislavski – utilised by Actors B & C
“The thesis of Stanislavski, that human psychological life – moods, desires, feelings,
intentions, ambitions – is expressed through simple physical actions, has been confirmed
by such scientist as Ivan Pavlov and I.M.Sechenov.” (Moore S, 1984, p17)
The following technique used by actors B and C is based on a technique developed by

Stanislavski and allows an actor to access an emotion and connect it to physical action. The
actor chooses an emotion he wishes to display and uses his imagination to develop the
environment where the action takes place using all of his senses. Then a physical
behaviour that expresses the emotion required is found by the actor. Use of that action will
then trigger the emotion in a psycho-physical way within the actor. (Moore, 1984, p22)
“Instead of forcing an emotion before going on stage, the actor fulfils a simple concrete,
purposeful physical action which stirs the psychological side of the psychophysical act,
thus achieving psycho-physical involvement.“ (Moore, 1984, p17)
Stanislavski’s method further developed the work of Francois Delsart who used a
‘prescribed’ gesture, which had been connected beforehand to an emotional state (Moore,
1984,p19).
A similar technique, ‘Psychological Gestures’ developed by Michael Chekhov

(Chamberlain 2004, p74) requires the actor to act out a kinaesthetic, physical gesture
associated to an emotional state. Through training and repetition the emotional state can
be accessed and played by the actor imagining or visualising that gesture.
The actor is asked to take the dominant desire and turn it into a gesture. They then select
the objective, starting with hands first and then feel their way into gesture. Finally they are
to speak the words that accompanying the gesture. (Chamberlain 2004, p141)
The technique’s relationship to NLP is based around the actor anchoring an emotional
state to a spatial, kinaesthetic movement through a gesture. Auditory monologue
enhances the anchor to the state required.
Acuity Vol.2 101
Fritz Perls focussed in on and utilised subtle gestures made by his clients to gain insight
into previous problematic emotional states that may have been out of their consciousness.
This technique can be seen utilised by Perls in the “Gloria Films” (Shostrom E L, 1965).
Mask - developed by Actor B (attributed to Michael Chekhov)
The actors physically create a facial mask of their character out of paper mache. The mask
assists them in safely taking on the new character role. When the mask is taken off after
the character role has been created and the role has been performed, the performer
continues to adopt positive attributes of that character.
Author D mentioned an experience of working with Noh actors in Japan where the use of
the mask is a key component of their dramatic performance. She described how the mask
is treated as having the ability to transform the artist wearing it and also for the actor to
affect the energy contained within the mask.
The technique’s similarity to NLP is through the process of anchoring of the mask utilising
kinaesthetic, visual and auditory components to the new persona. This process could be
understood as having a similar set of properties to ‘the six step reframe’ where there is the
use of and integration of parts, which in this case are being developed through the actor
building the character within a trance state.
This is an interesting phenomenon, where an actor wearing a mask has the capacity to be
influenced by the characteristics of the mask. The use of the mask allows new personas to
be physically created and tried out safely by the actor. It appears that the newly developed
persona can be absorbed by the unconscious through performance and then has the
potential to become integrated and acted out once the mask has been removed. The
creation of a physical personalised mask enhances the possibility of change.
Relaxation Techniques
Camera in your Head - utilised by Actor B
In this technique the facilitator talks through a process where an actor visualises those
parts of their own body, which are holding onto stress. Scanning from top of their head,
and down through their body, they utilise metaphoric strategies to release any stress
which is found within each visualisation of body parts; such as imagining untying and
removing imaginary knots from muscles.
This has similarities to the Betty Erickson Induction where the client focuses on alternate
senses, cycling through an auditory, visual and kinaesthetic loop pattern to access trance
states. This technique also utilises the use of symbolic modelling metaphors (Lawley &
Tompkins, 2005) and is similar to the psycho-plumbing metaphoric work used by Sharon
McKay, Mind Coach therapist, Bothwell.
Room in a House - utilised by Actor B
In this technique the actor is asked to choose a room in a house where they have resided,
which has happy, relaxing memories attached to it. They are asked to visualise, in detail,
the room and its contents. The next step is for the actor to imagine drifting out of the
room’s window and floating upwards. Visualising the roof of the house and the
neighbourhood below, they are invited to fly upwards, noticing the outline of towns and
cities of the country as they rise higher and higher. Eventually they are so high in the
atmosphere that they can see the planet below them. They are then invited to drift away
into outer space. They are finally asked to return to earth with a sense of calmness,
becoming centred and cosmically connected and finally to fly back down into their house
and come to rest in their room. By mentally revisiting the happy room in the house, actors
are able to re-access a relaxing state to reduce their stress levels before performing.
The above visualisation utilises a number of NLP techniques. It acts as an anchor for a
relaxed state; a happy place to access when feeling stressed. It also utilises a change in
meta programme from detailed thinking to abstract thinking (small chunk v big chunk).
The process also gives ‘perspective’ to a situation – changing sub-modalities. Emotional
disconnecting also happens as the actor floats away within the visualisation.
Fritz Perls’ Shuttle technique is a simpler variation on the above, where you drift off into
your imagination finding and experiencing a relaxing memory. When you come back you
will notice that mental or physiological changes may have taken place. Repetition of the
exercise strengthens those effects.
“Withdraw to a situation from which you get support and then come back with that
regained strength to reality” (Perls F, 1969, p63)
In ‘Imagery & Symbolism in Counselling’ there is a similar use of ‘rooms in a house’ but
with greater metaphoric sophistication. (Stewart W, 1996, p30-35). The house is a
metaphor for the person. Rooms take on the differing parts. Characters representing
differing personas of the client inhabit the house. Actor B plans to explore this expansive
technique with a view to introducing it as a training tool for drama students
Acuity Vol.2 103
Emotional Disassociation Technique
Imaginary Centres – utilised by Actor B (attributed to Michael Chekhov)
‘Imaginary centres’ is a technique utilised to develop characterisation in actors. Chekhov

utilises a kinaesthetic location of conscious focus within characters, which could be above
the head, in the head, chest, abdomen, pelvis, thighs or feet. There are character types
associated with different centres of conscious focus within the body such as grounded, low
down in body creating greater centre of balance, centred or an airhead where the person’s
centre is above their head causing them to be constantly off balance. Chekov asked for
these centres to be explored in more detail and to be modified to alter the state of the
character. The centre could be specifically focussed on one eye for example or the centre’s
position could be compressed in size to be sharp and thin. (Chamberlain F, 2004, p79)
This technique has similarities to a NLP spinning emotion technique where emotions are
identified utilising kinaesthetic sub-modalities, they are disassociated from the body and
then moved or rotated to change their strength and state. (Bandler 2010, p206)
In martial arts, the ‘centred like a bull’ technique where moving mental focus out of the
head and down to the abdomen is taught to make a physiological shift in state to one
where the person feels more balanced and grounded. Opportunities exist to develop the
use of centres as a therapeutic intervention.
Timeline
Via Negativa - Timeline - utilised by Actor C who attributed this technique to Jerzy
Grotowski.
It has not been possible to locate this specific timeline technique although Grotowski’s Via
Negativa’s function is to strip away emotional blockages in actors (Merlin 2007, p13) . The
timeline technique requires actors to walk a timeline through life to identify emotional
blocks, which are affecting their ability to perform a role.
The above technique appears to be a simplified version of NLP timeline work but seems to
lack the sophistication of that technique. There is no usage of actors bringing resources
from other times with them to deal with blockages or stepping off the timeline to allow
disassociation where necessary. There is also appears to be no usage of anchoring to a safe
place prior to development of timeline work.
A similar technique appears in a book written about Moreno the developer of

psychodrama where a technique, a train journey through life acts as the metaphor of the
client’s ‘timeline’. The client is asked to imagine their life as a train journey. Their life
history is performed through imagining prominent people getting on and off their train.
Life events are explored through dramatic techniques. Losses and gains are considered.
The journey continues until the end of the character’s life. Additional actors are used to
assist in the process. This technique is attributed to Merlyn Pitzele. (Holms P, Karp M,
Watson M, 2004, p49)
Key stages on the timeline are explored through re-enactment of events. Perceptual
positions are used to analyse life events. There is no mention of the client stepping off the
train to view emotionally hurtful events. Neither is there mention of utilisation of useful
resources from the past being used to support change in the present. The train journey
travels forward from birth. It lacks the flexibility of NLP’s timeline technique but has
clearly powerful strategies embedded within it working with client’s parts.
Conclusions
The findings in this paper have been drawn mainly from interviews with the acting
practitioners and through a literature review initially directed by them in the early stages
of this research project.
The teaching methodologies of the acting practitioners have become seminal to this paper.
The clearly defined historical context and extensive theoretical material that has been
exposed by referencing of their practice techniques has resulted in my identifying
interesting overlaps between the two areas explored. Their current acting practice can be
located within over a hundred years of thorough research into their field of study,
allowing several generations of development and refinement.
A literature review of the work and theories of key acting theorists has identified a parallel
set of methodologies and philosophies, which pre-empt and mirror very closely those of
NLP psychotherapy. Both spheres use methods including building rapport and listening
skills, managing emotional states and even acting techniques paralleling the miracle
question of brief therapy.
“Since acting and psychoanalysis both investigate a human being’s inner workings,
science and art inevitably intertwined” (Merlin B, 2010, p7)
Acuity Vol.2 105
NLP as a discipline in its early years was developed through Richard Bandler and John
Grinder’s modelling of eminent psychotherapists Fritz Perls, Virginia Satir and Milton
Erickson. A similar set of psychotherapeutic structures are there to be modelled in the
work of preeminent dramatic theorists and performers; Stanislavski, Chekhov, Strasberg
and Grotowski among others. These acting theorists were well aware that acting and
therapy are closely linked. (Boal 2006 p24, Chamberlain F 2004 p116) They believed that
actors could generate powerful performances which would engage and influence their
audiences, through life long training and personal developmental processes. Do the most
accomplished therapists not seek to achieve the same outcomes?
“Chekhov’s exercises do have great potential for use in therapeutic contexts, but the focus
here is on theatre not therapy.” (Chamberlain F, 2004, p116)
The psychodrama work of Moreno, and latterly Fritz Perls and Virginia Satir, position
these therapists as the connecting influences between the two areas of acting theory and
NLP practice. This is highlighted through their development and utilisation of dramatic
techniques within their own practice. These practitioners helped clients act out problems
dramatically. For example, clients played roles of key characters who have impacted on
their lives, as part of a therapeutic process. They also play characters developed from parts
of their own selves in Satir’s ‘Parts Party’(Satir V & Baldwin M, 1983, p258). Perls even
utilises his client’s dreams within psychodrama. The dreams are deconstructed and key
dream signifiers, which are defined as core parts of the client, are also acted out to
illuminate and resolve core traumas. (Perls F, 1969, p81-279)
As I have uncovered the historical basis of acting developmental theories and their
relationship to NLP psychotherapeutic techniques it has becoming clearer that NLP could
be seen as a continuation and refinement of the work of Stanislavski and the early acting
theoretical pioneers. Moreno, Perls and Satir act as the key connections between the two
apparently dissimilar fields. In addition, Moreno had a particular interest in both
creativity and psychodrama. Perls, the developer of Gestalt therapy, moved to the east
coast of America and his involvement with the personal development movement was
central to his work’s transition into the philosophies of NLP. Bandler and Grinder have
built upon the groundwork laid by Fritz Perls and refined and developed it further. They
have opened it up to new audiences within the fields of therapy and personal
development by offering new insights and protocols.
Any NLP practitioner would be familiar with the following list of performance related
activities; externally focussed listening to your client, clearing of blockages to achieving
potential, managing personal states, utilising personal resources, development of sensorial
acuity, goal setting, searching for optimum performance ‘states’, working with ‘selves’,
accessing and working with unconscious mechanisms and developing a capacity to

interrogate and manage your own thought processes in real time. These are all areas
common to both fields of NLP and actor training.
The interviews with acting practitioners have identified a number of techniques, which are
similar to core NLP therapeutic techniques. Some performance techniques can be
developed in their efficacy through comparison with similar NLP techniques, such as in
Via Negativa attributed to Jerzy Grotowski by actor C, utilising timeline work where a
more protective environment around the activities can be built for acting students. There
are also techniques, which appear to offer new approaches to NLP and psychotherapy –
use of transformational artefacts, imaginary centres and psychological gestures are
promising areas for further investigation.
Questions raised by this investigation so far illuminate the fluid boundaries between
creative practice pedagogy and NLP psychotherapeutic techniques. Mental strategies
being utilised by dramatic actors highlight the overlap and the common threads
connecting their craft and that of NLP psychotherapies. It is hoped that the list of
strategies outlined in this paper point to the potential opportunities of each discipline
enhancing and benefitting the other’s practice.
Biography
Blane Savage has been a lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland since 2000, after
twenty years of design consultancy experience. He has particular experience of the oil and
aerospace industries. Clients have included Guinness, General Electric and British
Aerospace, and he was employed as a web consultant to Scottish Enterprise.
Building on his expertise as managing director of Awakening Technologies, a new media

company, he has developed a digital art programme at UWS attracting one hundred
students per annum, helping them enhance their skills in the fields of animation, digital
media and video production. He has developed a range of modules around digital
technologies including multi-narrative structures and cyber-culture. He has presented
several research papers in that area.
Blane is passionate about personal development and is a qualified NLP training specialist
and Ericksonian Hypnotherapist with his own clinical practice. He is currently researching
into the crossover strategies developed within personal therapeutic transformational
techniques and those utilised in other areas of creativity - music, dance, cinema,
performance, creative writing and art. Each medium has a capacity to change and
Acuity Vol.2 107
transform lives but each is subtly different in its influencing strategies. The research will
explore these differences and extract potential opportunities to optimise the
transformational effectiveness within each of these creative mediums.
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Acuity Vol.2 109
Anchoring and Classical Conditioning

Richard M. Gray, Ph.D.
Summary
The following article examines the basic concept of anchoring, rooting the practice in
insights from mainline psychology. Anchoring, as most frequently encountered, is the
NLP term for creating a Pavlovian or conditioned response. The stimulus can be
established by a touch, a word, a gesture, a motion, even a picture; anything that is
consistently repeatable. There are content-free anchors and anchors that carry contextual
information. It is important to differentiate between them. Content-free anchors are
created by focusing on the abstract elements of the experience until the memory, content
and context fade away. Anchors that carry contextual information have more limited
application. Anchors can be practiced in multiple situations or future paced to insure that
they transfer to new contexts. Anchors may be observed in the chaining of ideas and
responses as one idea repeatedly evokes another.
One of the most important facets of human behavior is the phenomenon of conditioning.
Despite the varieties of psychological theories that explain who we are and how we
become that way, one of the more basic ways that we interact with the world is through
conditioning.
Psychologists will tell you that there are three kinds of conditioning: classical or Pavlovian
conditioning, operant or instrumental conditioning and observational conditioning or
modeling. Classical conditioning typically affects non-voluntary systems like the
endocrine system and smooth muscle responses. Operant conditioning affects voluntary,
typically goal oriented behaviors. Observational conditioning works primarily on socially
determined behavior through the mechanisms of imitation. All of them can operate either
within or outside of conscious awareness. In NLP, Pavlovian conditioning tends to be the
most commonly used form of anchoring.
Pavlovian or classical conditioning was discovered by the Russian physiologist, Ivan

Pavlov in the early years of the 20th Century. Pavlov was studying the digestive system of
dogs with special emphasis on the salivary response. In his laboratory, Pavlov had dogs in
110 Anchoring and Classical Conditioning
harnesses. Each dog had had two cannulae, or tubes, surgically implanted in its mouth.
On one side of the dog’s cheek, a compressed air mechanism squirted meat powder into
the dog’s mouth. From the other, a tube drained saliva into a container so that Pavlov and
his assistants could measure its volume. Whenever the compressed air mechanism shot a
bolus of meat powder into the dog’s mouth, the mechanism would emit a click and the
click would be followed in less than a second by the meat powder.
One day, the mechanism ran out of meat powder. To Pavlov’s surprise, the dogs
continued to salivate at the click almost as much as if the meat powder was present. He
came to think that the sound of the mechanism, the click, had somehow become associated
with the action of the meat powder. To test this, he arranged an electric buzzer or bell to
sound just before the meat powder. As he expected, after several pairings, the bell came to
elicit the same kind of response that the click had; the dogs salivated.
Pavlov noted that there was a general principle that a neutral stimulus (one without a
specific meaning in that context—the bell) can be paired with an unconditioned stimulus
(a stimulus which by its nature produces a response without learning—the meat powder),
so that after several repetitions a connection is made and the previously neutral stimulus
now evokes the same response (shares the same meaning) as the unconditioned stimulus.
Beyond this, however, Pavlovian conditioning is now understood in terms of how much
information the conditioned stimulus provides about the presence, absence or quality of
the unconditioned stimulus. Despite the pairing, if the conditioned stimulus provides no
predictive advantage, the association will not be learned (Bouton, 1994; Bouton & Moody,
2004; Pavlov, 1927; Rescorla, 1988).
Pavlov and later behavioral scientists discovered that a wide range of responses were
subject to this kind of conditioning; glandular responses (tears, salivation, stomach acid),
emotions (joy, fear, sadness, surprise), involuntary muscular responses (heartbeat, pulse).
We encounter the same kinds of responses in our everyday life. A couple turns on the
radio and they recognize the tune as ‘their song.’ They are immediately swept away in
reminiscence of the time when that song made its impact. You are driving down the road
and you approach the point where you were recently pulled over for speeding. As you
approach the point, your anxiety increases and you begin to slow down. You enter a room
and smell a familiar fragrance. Suddenly, you find yourself thinking about an old
girlfriend or a boyfriend who wore that scent (Bouton, 1994; Bouton & Moody, 2004;
Pavlov, 1927; Rescorla, 1988).
TV commercials, jingles and stock images all seek to make use of the possibility that
stimulus events, what we see hear, feel, smell and taste, will evoke just the right emotional
state for them to sell their wares. Politicians evoke images of attacks, war and carnage to
Acuity Vol.2 111
instill fear. They also adduce images of bravery, patriotism and honor to awaken those
feelings in their audiences and so the audience will associate that feeling with them.
Smells are often the most powerful anchors. Unlike the other senses, smell is transmitted
with little or no processing to associative areas and directly evokes memory and emotion
(Lundstrom & Olsson, 2010).
In NLP, these neural connections are referred to as anchors. An anchor is the stimulus that
evokes the memory of a past experience and makes it available to conscious experience.
Anchors can range from immediate, one-shot learnings evoked by a single word or touch
(like phobias), to classically conditioned, stimulus response connections that are built up
over several trials. The word itself may also refer to the response as, an ‘anchored
response’. In NLP when we use an anchor, we say that we fire it off (Bandler & Grinder,
1979; Linden & Perutz, 2004).
When one-trial conditioning or anchoring occurs, it usually occurs in regard of a

powerfully emotional stimulus, an extraordinarily novel experience or something that is
life threatening. Examples here are phobias, PTSD and flashbulb memories—the vivid
recollections of a traumatic or extremely novel experience. In other cases, it may occur
when a new experience matches a preexisting set of beliefs or behaviors so that it becomes
a natural part of a pre-existing schema or pattern (Bouton, 1994; Bouton & Moody, 2004;
Diamond et al., 2007; Morris, 2004). Moreover, one-shot learnings may depend upon the
distinctive nature of the conditioned stimulus (Bouton & Moody, 2004; Domjian, 2010;
Rescorla, 1988).
It is important to note that although NLP has often promoted anchoring as a one-shot
learning of two associated stimuli, like a touch or a word combined with an emotion or
mood; for therapeutic purposes, this is not always a reliable means of establishing the
anchor. In most cases, the anchor stimulus must be paired multiple times (five to seven)
with the desired response until that response arises reliably and automatically. Done this
way, anchoring is a dependable and automatic expression of Pavlovian delayed
conditioning (Dilts & Delozier 2000; Gray, 2008, 2008a; Grinder and Bandler, 1979; Klein,
2008; Linden & Perutz, 1998; O’Connor & Seymour, 1999; Pavlov, 1927; Rescorla, 1988).
Delayed conditioning specifies a paradigm where the conditioned stimulus (originally

neutral) is presented after the onset of the unconditioned stimulus and terminates while
the unconditioned response is still present. For example, your client begins to talk about a
pleasant experience and you observe a change in their physiology that reflects their
enjoyment (the unconditioned response). While that state is still increasing, you repeatedly
anchor the experience by tapping your finger on the table (the conditioned stimulus). This
is delayed conditioning (Klein, 2008).
Conditioning, while long thought to be a simple result of the association of two stimuli
within a specific time frame, is now known to be dependent on the amount of information
that the conditioned stimulus provides, and on the state of the organism during the
anchoring process. Hungry organisms learn conditioned responses to food in fewer trials
than satiated organisms. Anxious organisms are more easily trained to create a fear-based
association than a pleasure-based association. Persons in a bad mood are less likely to
create a joyful or resourceful anchor than someone in a positive or neutral state. What
might evoke a positively sexual response in one context might evoke sleaze in another. At
least one perspective holds that the most efficient conditioning exercises are those in
which the conditioned stimulus is not neutral but already bears some relationship to the
desired response. Anchors must be created in appropriate contexts. That is, no matter
where the anchor is to be used, its creation is most effectively done in a physiological or
affective context that matches its intended purpose (Domjian, 2005; Rescorla, 1988)
Conversational Anchoring
As you may have guessed from the examples already given, anchors can be very
powerful. In general, they represent one of the major ways in which we, as humans,
connect meaning to otherwise meaningless stimuli. Otherwise neutral events gain
meaning by repeated association with our internal feelings and other stimuli that are
present in the world around us.
In NLP, anchors can be used to change a person’s state or frame of mind. In a therapeutic
context, a client might come into a session feeling stressed. The counselor, noting the
stress, turns the conversation to the recollection of a positive experience. As he does this,
the counselor might notice that the client is showing signs of a more relaxed and positive
physiology. Their motions may become more fluid, their face may relax, the locus and rate
of their breathing might change and the veins in their neck might no longer bulge and
pulse. At this point, the counselor might touch that person, in a way that he can repeat, or
say a word with a specific tonality, or even move something on the table to a different
position (it would have to move back when the conversation changed). All of these can be
used as conditioned stimuli.
After a short time, the conversation might return to a more neutral or negative focus. Once
more, the counselor can guide the conversation to a more positive topic and watch for the
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same indicators to appear. When they did, she could again touch the person in the same
place, with the same pressure; say that word, with the same tonality and volume; make
that special gesture; or move the object on the table to the same place she moved it before.
After several repetitions of this cycle, the counselor might notice that now, touching the
touch, saying the word, making the gesture or moving the object intensifies the positive
response. There is more relaxation, deeper color change and more evidence of a state
change immediately following the firing of the anchor. This means that the essential
conditioning has been completed. To test the anchor, the counselor would wait for a lull in
the conversation, fire off the anchor and see what happens. Once again, you should see the
client’s physiology shift in a positive direction. Make sure that you can see and hear the
evidence. Once the anchor has been established and tested, it can be used to steer the
conversation and its emotional tone.
There are subtleties to the technique. An important part of it is watching the subject to
make sure that you can see the changes in posture, breathing, muscular tension, facial
expression, and other physiological signs that their state has shifted. Further, you need to
make sure that as you move into the topic area that makes them feel good, you ask enough
detailed questions so that they access the desired state.
Gray (personal communication, 2011) reports the following example:
When I was first learning NLP, I was working as a Federal Probation Officer. I had
just moved from regular probation work to a computer assignment. I was assigned
a partner to help me, but my partner was so overwhelmed with his regular tasks—
writing pre-sentence investigations—that he had no time to help me. Bob—that’s
what I’ll call him—was stressed to the max. He was behind in his work but was
forced to take a vacation so as not to lose the days he’d earned. He took a long
weekend and went out to Maine where he camped and fished and had a completely
relaxing time.
When he returned to work a group of officers gathered in his office to hear him tell
the story of his vacation. As he told it, I noticed that his shoulders relaxed, his voice
tone lowered, his breath slowed, his facial symmetry became more even and he
sighed audibly. After a few moments of that, he would begin to talk about his cases
and his back would stiffen, his lips would thin out, he would lose facial color, his
shoulders would pull inward, his breathing would speed up and he would look
worse. I decided to use my new anchoring skill.
Noting that he had grown tense again, I stopped his discussion of how far behind
he was and asked him about whether he had seen any sunsets in the country. He
said yes and I began to ask him about the colors and sounds and smells. As he
described these, I could see his physiology changing back to the resourceful state.
As I noticed that, I made a sweeping arm gesture over my head and said, “Wow!”
That was pretty outrageous, but no one seemed to notice. The conversation drifted
back towards the burden of work and everything that he had to do, so I broke in
again. “You know,” I said, “that trip must have been wonderful. Can you tell me
more about being out in the lake in the canoe; what it felt like and how it smelled?
Did you see any interesting animals?”
Once again his physiology began to change as his mind returned to the trip. When
the changes were clear in his face, posture, breathing and voice tonality, I again
made the seeping gesture and said, “Wow!” After several repetitions I noticed that
whenever I made the gesture, his response seemed to get stronger. That is, all of the
physiological signs increased and he seemed to become more intensely involved
with his tale. This told me that the anchor, the conditioned association, had been
established.
To further test the anchor, I went into his office the next day and started a
conversation about work. In the middle of a sentence in which he was stressing
about his caseload, I waived my hand in an arc over my head and said “Wow.” He
stopped dead in the middle of the sentence and began to visibly relax. After the
process went on for a few more seconds, he shook it off.
Obviously, anchors, especially covert anchors, should not be outrageous or obvious, but
this example illustrates the power of the technique. It also marks out a significant
parameter for anchoring and conditioning: the more distinctive and pronounced the
conditioned stimulus, the fewer conditioning trials the process will require (Domjian,
2010).
Here are the basic steps for creating an anchor.

1. Choose a response that you want to anchor.
2. Choose a neutral stimulus that you will associate to that response (for most
circumstances choose one that has no existing meanings that you are aware of).
This might be a gesture, a word, a touch or moving something. It could be a
specific scribble on a piece of paper. Make sure that it is repeatable.
3. Guide the conversation so that the positive response that you have chosen
arises.
4. Calibrate, watch for changes in the person’s face, posture, color, speech tonality,
pace and breathing that tell you that their state has changed.
5. As you observe those changes intensifying, make the gesture, movement, sound
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or touch in a way that is repeatable.

6. Allow the conversation to drift to another topic and the speaker’s physiology to
change from the target state.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 until you discover that making the gesture, movement, sound
or touch enhances the state as evidenced by your observations of the speaker’s
physiology.
8. Test the anchor by using it during a lull in the conversation or when it has
turned to a neutral topic. You will know if you have succeeded if any or all of
the following happen:
a. The conversation reverts back to the positive topic.
b. The client’s physiology changes to reflect the positive state.
Some time ago, the author taught this basic technique to a psychology class in a local
Community College. One of the students was the mother of young child. She needed to
discipline the child but did not want to spank him. So, she created several anchors. For one
anchor, she waited until the child would spontaneously jump up from what he was doing
and give her a hug. She learned to notice the child’s behavior and facial expressions when
this was starting to happen. For another, she anchored the child’s response to a favorite
treat. For this one, she waited until she could see the enjoyment in his face. By repetition,
she created a neurological link between each state and a different word and voice tone.
Once the anchors were established, when she found the child getting into trouble, she
would use the first anchor to interrupt his behavior. He would stop, look puzzled for a
moment, then run to his mother, and give her a hug. When the child was making good
choices, she would use the second anchor to support that choice.
There is one more subtlety that should be considered. Conditioned responses, anchors,
are complex and dynamic behavioral relations between the anchor and the response.
Because they are dynamic, the level to which the anchor provides the desired level of
response can vary with the intensity of the last or the last several responses. If the anchor
has been practiced many times and most of the responses have been consistently intense
or growing in intensity, the final response will likewise be strong and positive. If there
were few practice sessions and the responses were not of a high quality, the final result
will suffer. In general, the more the anchor is practiced and the more it is refined, the
better the long term results will be (Bouton, 1994; Bouton & Moody, 2004; Rescorla, 1988).
Anchoring a Resource
In a direct example—conversational anchoring can be done without the other person’s

conscious cooperation—the interviewer, counselor or therapist might establish rapport
and make the observation that the client is looking stressed. Begin by suggesting that you
and the client can do something to provide relief. Ask the client to think of a time when
she felt comfortable, relaxed or in control—maybe all three. However, insofar as the client
is now in an unresourceful state, they might find it difficult to think of a resource state in
isolation. Instead, ask them about a time when they felt better. Engage them in
conversation for a few minutes about that other time. The more you can get them to
describe the resourceful memory in detail, the more fully they will be able to access it.
Remember that the ability of an experience to focus attention depends upon the level to
which it is represented in all of the major sensory systems –VAKOG (Kringlebach, 2005).
Having identified that resource and having already used it to break the original mood,
you can now ask the client to associate fully into the experience. ‘Step all the way into it as
if you were really there, seeing it with your own eyes, hearing it with you own ears,
feeling it in your body and even smelling and tasting it, if that’s appropriate.” The
instructions might continue by suggesting that the subject make the images bigger and
brighter and increase the volume of the sound in the memory so that it really compliments
the experience. Remind them to adjust their posture and breathing so that they match the
remembered experience. As you proceed, you will notice that there are some very specific
changes happening to the client. The breath slows and deepens, patterns of muscle tension
begin to melt, there are changes in skin color, and the lips swell slightly. As you notice
these changes, reach over and (with the client’s permission) touch the client, in way that
can be replicated with the same speed, pressure and location. Release the touch and, as the
state increases, press it again. Repeat this cycle until you can see an immediate change in
the client’s physiology following the touch. This means that the client’s state has changed.
In this example, you could easily replace the touch stimulus with a word like,
“Relaaaxxx,” so long as you can repeat it with the same volume and tonality. After
practicing it or using it a few times, that word or touch could become a relatively
permanent tool as you and the client continue to work together.
One of the important considerations when using anchors is the depth and purity of the felt
state. Anchors can be created so that they incorporate much of the content and context
surrounding the original circumstance. In these cases, the anchor is best used in a similar
or comparable circumstance. That is, if you are using an experience from a sports
context—the perfect game, the perfect shot, the feel of the throw—it is best used in a
similar and emotionally congruent context: another sport, playing a musical instrument,
Acuity Vol.2 117
etc. If it is used in a non-matching context, facing a job interview, it may be perceived as

artificial or inappropriate. For this reason, content-related anchors need to be used with an
eye towards their goodness of fit with the target behavior. The example of conversational
anchoring given above is this type of anchor.
The second kind of anchor is the content-free anchor. At the root of each anchor is a
genuine physical or emotional response. That response is yours (in self-anchoring) or your
subject’s (when you are anchoring someone else’s response); even though you may have
created a trigger to elicit it, it is still a genuine emotional response. Because the root of
every anchor is a relatively undifferentiated emotional state that stands apart from the
memory used to evoke it, it is possible to modify the present time experience of the
resource so that it is no longer about the memory, but about the feeling that that is being
experienced in the present. Eliminating content and context will not affect the memory, the
memory remains intact and functional, but using this process allows the anchor to
connection to a relatively pure, content-free experience of the emotion that lies beneath the
memory. This is a feeling that can be applied to any circumstance.
Stripping content from a resource state is often done by taking advantage of the limited
capacity of short term memory. As originally observed by George Miller (1957), the
capacity of short term memory has a capacity of five to nine elements. They may be
units—independent numbers, letters or nonsense syllables; chunks—words, phrases or
sequences; or other associated elements. Content can be stripped from an emotionally
laden memory or experience by spending more and more conscious attention on real and
unreal aspects of the feeling. As the number of details linked to the feeling increase, the
capacity to retain contextual information decreases until the whole of conscious attention
becomes focused on the feeling itself. Some of the more unreal details may include the
feeling‘s shape, color, resonance, flavor, whether it makes a sound and the way it moves.
After spending time focusing on these aspects of the feeling, the context and content
associated with the memory fade and a relatively pure felt state is created (Gray, 2005,
2008a, b).
Anchors can be used to make therapeutic changes transportable. One of the problems with
classical psychotherapy is that changes made in the therapeutic context become anchored
to the therapist, the office or other context. When the client learns to create an anchor for
the response, they are able to transfer their learnings to other contexts (Bandler & Grinder,
1975, 1979).
Generalization and Future-pacing
An important issue about anchors is that they tend to be sensitive to contexts. Pavlov
found that after training, if his dogs were moved to a different room, or the room was
painted a different color, they often had to be retrained. The training took less time—fewer
repetitions—but the response still had to be reestablished. This indicates that that the
changed context impacted their ability to express the response—the cue was no longer
strong enough, in comparison to the changed circumstance, to elicit the previously learned
response. Because this problem seems to carry over into humans, it is very important that
anchors be practiced in several contexts. Once an anchor has been established in one place,
it needs to be re-established in other contexts. This will ensure that the behavior will
remain strong and that it will generalize to still other contexts. Most people find that once
they have established an anchor so that it works in two or more contexts, it will then,
generally work in almost any other (Bouton, 1994; Bouton & Moody, 2004; Pavlov, 1927;
Rescorla, 1988).
Another means of making sure that an anchor will work in another circumstance is by
using what NLP calls future pacing. Future pacing is imagined (or imaginal) practice that
links a current behavior to another place or time. If we begin with the understanding that
a remembered event is a re-creation of that experience in the body/mind of the person
remembering it, we can then understand imagined practice as the memory of an
anticipated event in another place or time. Future pacing does not guarantee that the
behavior will become automatically accessible in the new circumstances but it does
guarantee that the participant will be more likely to remember the technique and that it
will take fewer practice repetitions to fully awaken it in that context (Bandler & Grinder,
1975, 1979, 1985; Damasio, 1994; Driskell, Copper & Moran, 1994; Linden & Perutz, 2003;
Martin & Hall, 1995; Wohldmann, Healy & Bourne, 2007).
By firing off the anchor while imagining another place or time, or while imagining firing
off the anchor in that new place or time, we create an experiential link between the present
experience and the imagined context. The net effect of this linkage or chaining is to 1)
increase the probability that the behavior will occur in that place or time or 2) attach the
current feeling state to that other circumstance, thereby changing feelings that we
anticipate having in that context. This is often used to eliminate stage fright and test
anxiety (Bandler & Grinder, 1975, 1979; Gray, 2008b).
Anchors can also be used as subtle—or not so subtle rewards—and as such they can be
used to shape behavior. Moreover, anchors can be chained so that one anchor evokes
another.
Acuity Vol.2 119
Michael Breen (2008) suggests that we listen to the patterns in someone’s conversation and
there, we will hear a chain of associations. One event and its associated emotion will often
evoke another with a similar emotional charge. In such cases, people tend to loop through
the emotional cycle. As the experience deepens, a series of internal associations that are
connected to the felt state are repeatedly triggered and magnify the intensity of the state.
This is common when people begin a cycle of depression or mania. In such cases a series
of felt internal anchors evokes a felt state. This state feeds forward into the same chain of
memories and internal markers, and amplifies the depth of the feeling.
Taking advantage of the same mechanisms, a positive state can become the focus of a
growing positive loop of well being and self-empowerment. A strong positive state can be
created and enhanced by noting the felt progress of excitement, curiosity or joy, as they
grow through the body. The depth and intensity of the experience can be enhanced by
allowing the subject to fully enjoy that experience and, while continuing to focus on the
positive state, loop through the same sequence of subjective markers.
More explicitly, we are using what Damasio (1994) called somatic markers. If you begin
remembering a positive experience, you may notice that there is a specific way that the
emotion grows and spreads through your body. (Please note that the specific sequence
that I’m providing is my own. Your experience may be different, so please take the time to
notice how your experience moves through your body.) It might begin with a feeling of
lightness in the forehead. You may then notice tightness at the back of the neck, a smile
might follow that. Following the smile, there might come a feeling of warmth spreading
down the front of the body centered on the midline. As you observe its development, the
warm feeling may then spread down to your gut. After noting this process, become aware
of just how good it feels and where the best part of that feeling is centered. As you do,
imagine that you can now take that feeling of joy and circulate it, through your forehead,
to the back of your neck, allowing it to magnify your smile, spreading down the midline,
and so forth. Cycle through the sequence and note how it magnifies the feeling.
Sometimes, one set of emotions will awaken a pattern of movement to another emotion or
experience. This can be related to triggering or kindling phenomena in which one
experience leads to another, seemingly unrelated behavior. Watch someone as they begin
to tell a funny story or try to tell a lie. Notice that there are sequences and set ups that they
go through. Watch how some people have very specific triggers for different states,
different actions and different behaviors. Each of these is an anchor that you can
sometimes fire off, just by opening a certain topic of conversation or going to a certain
place.
For some people the chains are so predictable that you know exactly ‘where they are
going.’ This is a manifestation of anchoring or associative conditioning. Associations are
often linked more by feelings than they are by literal content (Breen, 2008).
In some sense, Freud’s technique of free association, and Jung’s active imagination were
based on just such associative chains. The emotional charge associated with any given idea
often has links to other ideas which are more likely to follow. Sometimes, when you have
watched and listened to someone over a period of time, you can recognize these chains
and create a signal (anchor) that will allow you to evoke the entire chain.
As mentioned above, because anchors awaken real felt experiences that are essentially
identical to the originals, they can provide powerful reinforcement—they can be used to
increase the probability of the response that immediately precedes them, and they can
provide a significant means of discouraging behavior as well. Rapport can be used in just
such a way.
Rapport is one of those behaviors that is so deeply embedded in what it means to be

human that it may not only represent an example of a conditioned response, but it also
serves as a potent reward. Notice how good it feels to establish rapport with someone to
whom you are attracted, or with whom you have business. Notice how creepy rapport can
feel when the other person is obnoxious, or you just don’t want anything to do with them.
Mismatching works as a stimulus that sends the message, “This conversation is over.” Or,
more potently, “Drop dead, creep.” On a more subtle level, some communicators practice
matching and mismatching to various degrees depending upon how the conversation
meets their needs. As the conversation flows in a positive direction, all of the elements of
rapport are brought to play. As the conversation drifts from the target, elements of rapport
are selectively withheld.
Review
• Anchoring is the NLP term for creating a Pavlovian or conditioned response.

• The stimulus can be established by a touch, a word, a gesture or a motion; anything
that is consistently repeatable.
• There are content-free anchors and anchors that carry contextual information. It is
important to know which is which.
• Anchors can be practiced in multiple situations or future paced to insure that they
transfer to new contexts.
• A content-free anchor is created by focusing on the abstract elements of the
experience until the memory, content and context fade away.
Acuity Vol.2 121
• Anchors may be observed in the chaining of ideas and responses as one idea
repeatedly evokes another.
Biography
Richard M Gray, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Fairleigh Dickinson

University, Teaneck, NJ. Before his move to academia, Dr. Gray served for more than 20
years in the US Probation Department, Brooklyn, NY. He is the creator of the Brooklyn
Program, an NLP-based substance abuse program which operated for seven years in the
Federal Probation System. In recognition of that work, he was co-recipient of the 2004
Neuro-linguistic Programming World Community Award, presented at the CANLP
conference in Montreal. Dr. Gray is the author of Archetypal Explorations (Routledge,
1996), Transforming Futures: The Brooklyn Program Facilitators Manual (Lulu, 2003) and
About Addictions: Notes from Psychology, Neuroscience and NLP (Lulu, 2008). He is a
regular presenter at national and international addictions conferences and a recognized
expert in Neuro-Linguistic Programming. He received his BA in Psychology from Central
College, Pella, IA; MA in Sociology from Fordham University, Bronx, NY; and Ph.D. in
Psychology from the Union Institute, Cincinnati, OH. He also earned a certificate in
Forensic Psychology at New York University in 2002. Dr. Gray is a Certified Master
Practitioner of Neuro-linguistic Programming and a Certified Ericksonian Hypnotist.
Richard is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Federal Probation
Officers Association, the Canadian Association of NLP, the Institute for the Advanced
Study of Health and the NLP Research and Recognition Project.
References
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Behavior Books.
Bandler, R. & Grinder, J. (1979). Frogs into princes. Moab, Ut: Real People Press.
Bandler, R. & Grinder, J. (1982). Reframing: Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the
transformation of meaning. Moab, UT: Real People Press.
Bouton, M. E. (1994). "Conditioning, remembering, and forgetting." Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 20(3): 219-231.
Bouton, M. E., & Moody, E. W. (2004). Memory processes in classical conditioning.
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 28(7), 663-674.
Breen, M. (2008). “What they don’t tell you about anchoring in seminars.” Retrieved from,
http://www.nlp-anchoring.com/
What_They_Dont_Tell_You_About_Anchoring_In_Seminars.pdf
Damasio, A. R. (1994). Descartes’ error. NY: G. P. Putnam.

Diamond, D., Campbell, A., Park, C., Halonen, J., & Zoladz, P. (2007). The temporal
dynamics model of emotional memory processing: A synthesis on the
neurobiological basis of stress-induced amnesia, flashbulb and traumatic memories,
and the Yerkes-Dodson Law. Neural Plasticity, 2007,1-33. doi:10.1155/2007/60803.
Dilts, R. and Delozier, J. (2000). The encyclopedia of systemic neuro-linguistic programming and
nlp new coding. Scotts Valley, CA: NLP University Press. Retrieved from
www.nlpu.com
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Psychology, 56(1), 179-206. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141409
Driskell, J., Copper, C., & Moran, A. (1994). Does mental practice enhance performance?
Journal of Applied Psychology, 79(4), 481-492
Gray, Richard M. (2005). Thinking about drugs and addiction. Boulder, CO: AnchorPoint. On-
line article available at:
http://www.nlpcomprehensive.com/articles/AddictionsGray.html
Gray, R. (2008a). About addictions: Notes from psychology, neuroscience and NLP. Lulu.com.
Gray, R. (2008b). Transforming futures: The Brooklyn Program facilitators manual. Lulu.com.
Klein, S. B. (2008). Learning: Principles and applications (5th Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Kringelbach, M. L. (2005). The human orbitofrontal cortex: Linking reward to hedonic
experience. Nature Reviews: Neuroscience, 6, September 2005, P. 691.
Linden, A. & Perutz, K. (1998). Mindworks: NLP tools for building a better life. NY: Berkley
Publishing Group.
Lundström, J. N., & Olsson, M. J. (2010). Functional neuronal processing of human body
odors. In L. Gerald (Ed.), Vitamins & hormones, Vol. 83, pp. 1-23). Salt Lake City, UT:
Academic Press.
Martin, K., & Hall, C. (1995). Using mental imagery to enhance intrinsic motivation.
Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 17(1), 54-69.
Miller, G. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two. The Psychological Review,
63, 81-97.
Morris, R. G. M. (2006). Elements of a neurobiological theory of hippocampal function: The
role of synaptic plasticity, synaptic tagging and schemas. European Journal of
Neuroscience, 23(11), 2829-2846.
O’Connor, J. & Seymour, J. (1990). Introducing NLP. London: Element.
Pavlov, I. P. (1927). Conditioned reflexes: An investigation of the physiological activity of
the cerebral cortex (G. V. Anrep, Trans.). Retrieved from http://psychclassics.yorku.
ca/Pavlov/
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Rescorla, R. (1988). Pavlovian conditioning: It's not what you think it is. American
Psychologist, 43(3), pp. 151-160.
Wake, L. (2010). NLP principles in practice. St.Albans, Hertfordshire, UK: Ecademy Press.
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124 Blind Spots
Blind Spots:
The Art of Detecting and Coaching
a Client’s Blind Spots
L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.
Blind spots ... we all have them. Everyone of us is blind to certain facets of ourselves. No
one so self-aware that we have no facets of self which is unknown to ourselves. But how
do any of us learn to see that to which we are blind? That is the dilemma.
Problems Indicating Blind Spots
If you are a life-long learner, a person committed to your own growth and development,
then you undoubtedly know that there’s a gap between what you know and what you do.
You know far more than you do. What you know to do about something, you are not
doing. You have a knowing–doing gap. You know more than you do!
Are you over-informed and under-reflective about how to translate what you know into
doing? If your knowing-doing gap continues, then as you become better educated, your
competence for implementing weakens. Oouuu, that’ doesn’t sound good! And it gets
worse. If you don’t do what you know, your results will be increasingly disappointing in
spite of your good intentions. This happens for two reasons.
1) Perhaps you do not know how to close the knowing-doing gap. In that case, use
the Mind-to-Muscle pattern to create a quality of integrity and congruency. This
basic Meta-State pattern enables you to translate what you know intellectually into
muscle memory so that you know it in your body.1
2) You may have a hidden self-conflicting system. There may be a self-organizing

system inside structured to stop you—to prevent you from activating the changes
you consciously want. Could there be within you a self-organizing system that
effectively and systematically prevents you from achieving your goals?
If you want to change, plan to change, work at your motivation for change, your plan and
strategy for change, and even begin to change . . . but then it doesn’t pan out, or it only
Acuity Vol.2 125
lasts for a short time and then things go back to the way they were, then somewhere inside,
probably at a level higher to your conscious attempts at change, you have a self-
organizing structure that is effectively preventing change.
• Are you now willing to discover these highest frames of meaning and assumption
that have this kind of stopping power?
• Are you willing to learn what truths you’ve been actualizing even if you
consciously didn’t intend to actualize them?
• Are you willing to find your blind spots, to flush them out, and to face them so that
you, at least, have some new choices?
Modeling Blind Spots
I became interested in human blind spots during the time when I was researching and
experiencing with processes for unleashing potentials. Eventually that led to the
development of the Meaning–Performance Axes and the Self-Actualization Quadrants.2 What
I learned was that one of the greatest places where blind spots hide is in our strengths.
And because of the relationship of twelve meta-programs to the quadrants, it became
obvious that a great hiding place for blind spots are in your driver meta-programs.3 These
strengths not only create your core competencies and advantages, they also create your
weaknesses. That’s because a meta-program not only tells you want to notice, to see, to
focus on, to detect, but also what to delete, what to not-to-see— what to be blind to.
This is important. That’s because where there is non-achievement over time, wherever
you find yourself stuck, where someone has a pattern of not being able to complete a goal,
where for all of efforts to implement or to get some great principle transferred into muscle
memory as a practical skill—you are probably struggling against something a systemic blind
spot.
What are we humans typically blind to? At the lowest levels of blind spots is when you are
blind to how you come across—how others experience you. I know Executive Coaches
who get paid big bucks just to observe and give feedback at this level. Here the magic of
feedback saves the day as it provides a mirror so a person can see himself. The Johari
Window (developed by Joe Luft and Harry Ingham) identifies two kinds of blind spots.4
126 Blind Spots
Figure 1:
SELF
Known to Self Unknown to Self
____________________________________________________
Known ∣ ∣ ∣
to Others ∣ Public ∣ Blind ∣
∣ Public Self ∣ Self-Blindness ∣
OTHERS ∣_________________________∣∣__________________________∣∣
∣ ∣ ∣
Unknown ∣ ∣ ∣
to Others ∣ Private ∣ Unknown ∣
∣ Personal Secrets ∣ Deep Blindness ∣
∣_________________________∣∣____________________ _____ ∣
Now the deep blind spots are those at a higher level to your belief frames. We are often
blind to the frames that govern our most outside-of-conscious assumptions. Because we
live inside of the frames, we can’t see them. That’s why we need others to help us see
ourselves.
Exposing Questioning to Elicit Blind Spots
Wouldn’t it be great if we could find our blind spots by simply asking, “What are you
blind to?” But this is the paradox: You can’t see your blindness. To do this requires some
special skills— skills whereby you are taken to your assumed frames, held in that place
and then, while there, entertain exposing questions designed to surprise, shock, and
disturb our equilibrium.
The exposing questions will be highly personal questions— questions about beliefs and
meanings. “And what do you believe about that? And if that’s true, what would that
mean to you?” If you learn how to ask and respond to this by yourself, you have
developed some very powerful self-coaching skills. This takes years of disciplined study.
Before we can do that, we first need to experience the process by being asked questions
that puts us in the hot-seat. Asked in the right way, at the right time, when you are in an
open and curious state can suddenly strip away your usual masks and posturings and you
can find yourself naked in your frames.
How then do we get to those blind spot frames outside-of-conscious awareness and at a higher
level of assumptive premises? How do we deal with those conflicting frames that only
nudge at the edge of consciousness even in our more most salient moments?
Acuity Vol.2 127
Answer: This requires higher level rapport so a coach or colleague can mirror back and ask
meta-questions. This requires creating a crucible environment so you can take the person
into the deepest/ highest truths of their lives.5
Blind Spot Detection Pattern
The following pattern enables you to explore the potential blind spots with someone that
are sabotaging the person’s highest and best. Begin with the following elicitation
questions:
• How do you stop yourself from acting on what you know?

• How do you prevent yourself from succeeding in reaching your goals?
• How do you interfere with the change that you are consciously committed to?
• How is it that you can develop new capacities and extraordinary skills, yet not act
on them?
• Do you seem immune to the changes/ developments you want to achieve?
Answers will emerge through a reflective meta-stating process. Are you puzzled as to why
you have not yet changed what you know and want to change? Are you willing to disturb
the dynamic balance of this inner conflict within yourself? While people in this kind of
situation carry on bravely, doing the best they can within the frames of their assumptive
beliefs, the problem is that they are living within a system of frames that keep them from
achieving their stated goals.
Inside are prohibition frames, contradictory belief frames, and even commitments to do
the opposite frames. These make up a dynamic self-organizing Matrix of Frames that
keeps you, unconsciously, repeating your pattern.
For the answers to emerge, one requirement in this process is for you to fully embrace
your complexity. You have multiple motivations and layers of frames. Embrace and
appreciate the complexity. This will be confrontative, so are you ready to confront
yourself? You will probably feel uncomfortable as we go on. Are you willing to be
disturbed and be uncomfortable in this process?
128 Blind Spots
Warning — In the Hot Seat, things will get Worse before they get Better!
The paradoxical approach used here, of first embracing the problem, means the problem
will first grow and expand. It will seem to get worse before it gets better. You will go
where you have not gone before as you enter into the problem. Yet in doing that, you will
identify the frames that create the problem.
We will start with your dissatisfactions, complaints, grumbles, and unhappiness. If this
seems like a strange place to begin, it’s because your potential for self-actualizing is
hidden within your complaints. Complaints provide an unique doorway for uncovering
your hidden commitments and the frames you are blind to. Are there really potentials in
complaints? Do they really offer a gateway to an inner energy source? Yes! That’s
because “Behind every behavior is a positive intention.” So within, and behind, your
complaints are positive intentions. Your complaints indicate that you care about
something. But what? What are you committed to and trying to achieve? What’s at stake
for you in the commitment? Let’s find out!
• What are you dissatisfied about? What dissatisfactions undermine your joy?
• How could you be better supported in your life? At your work?
• What’s playing on your inner private NBC challenge (nagging, bitching,
complaining)?
Acuity Vol.2 129
The Pattern
1) Primary state - conscious awareness level of Complaints (Grumbles).

What do you want? What do you believe “should” be or that you should do or
achieve?
What is your complain? How are you dissatisfied about your life?
What goals do you want to achieve, but don’t seem to be able to achieve?
Where do you want change but for all your best efforts, it does not happen?
Fearful
Peeved
Unhappy — A Complaint!
Dissatisfied “I can’t stand” — I dis-value
Frustration “I don’t like...” “I don’t want...” “I hate...”
“I have had enough of...”
State
Design of Step 1: To acknowledge the complaint. As the person feels paced,

acknowledged, enter into the complaint to probe its secrets and hidden
commitments.
2) Meta-Complaint Level (Meta-Grumbles)

As you consider this unpleasant state and your complaints, what do you think-and-
feel about it?
If that’s what you can’t stand, what do you want to stand for?
If you haven’t solved this, what do you feel? How do you interpret things?
Who or what is stopping you from achieving your goal, your dream?
3) Hidden value or Commitment Level:

If your complaint is an expression of a commitment, what are you committed to?
If your complaint has a positive intention– what is your positive intention?
If you were to give voice to what you really want— what do you really want?
4) Responsibility Level:
How are you involved in this? What are you doing or not-doing that is keeping your
commitment from being fully realized? From preventing a solution?
What actions or inactions are preventing your value from being fully realized?
130 Blind Spots
5) The Semantic-Drive Level: [Flushing out the hidden values, commitments, energy]
Are you willing to now face yourself and answer at a deeper or higher level?
Just for the sake of this exploration, When you consider doing what you need to do,
what worries or apprehensions arise? What do you worry about or fear could
happen?
How do you actively respond to not activate your fear or worry?
Reflection: “So you are committed to not X...” (what?)
Example: “I have ... fear of not being in control; I have fear of being
rejected; I have a fear of making others uncomfortable.
And if you did that, it would mean what?
If your fear is an active commitment to prevent what you’re afraid of, what are you
afraid of? Conversely, what self-protection are you committed to?
6) Prohibitions Level: [It’s going to become even more uncomfortable.]

What experiences do you forbid? Let’s say that is true, so ...? If that is the case,
then what?
What are you actively committed to not happening?
What are you protecting yourself from?
[Active prohibitions and taboos are dynamic, energetic, full of strong
emotional energy, they are self-organizing attractors.]
Examples: avoid conflict at all costs.
I am committed to not threaten others.
I forbid embarrassment.
7) Assumptions Level:
What are you assuming to be true?
If I assume X, then what would happen or result? What dire consequences would
result?
What premises are you taking as unquestionable?
What metaphors do you use to represent and code this?
If the person isn’t ready to change, use Awareness Assignments:

1) Notice, keep track of what’s happening when you act from this assumption. Just
observe with intense curiosity: Where does it show up? Where else?
2) Be on the lookout for exemptions. Notice experiences that cast doubt on your
assumptions. How do you dis-attend to exceptions? How do you not notice
disconfirming information?
Acuity Vol.2 131
Summary Diagram
7) Assumptions Level:
4) Do you recognize any cognitive distortions within your assumptions?
3) What metaphors do you use to represent, code this?
2) Is that your truth? — What are you taking as unquestionable?
1) What are you assuming to be true? If you assume X, then what ...?
6) Prohibitions (“I can’t...”) Level:

4) What particular hell or unhappiness are you trying to avoid?
3) What are you actively committed to not happening?
2) What are you protecting yourself from? What do you believe? What would that mean?
1) Let’s say that is true, so ...? If that is the case, then what?
5) Meanings Level:
3) Is that your commitment? Is that truly important to you? What self-protection are you
committed to?
2) Reflection: “So you are committed to not X...” (what?)
1) Just for the sake of this exploration, When you consider doing what you need to do, what worries
or apprehensions arise? What do you worry about or fear could happen? It would mean—
4) Responsibility Level:
4) Given your story, what behavior that you do or don’t do contributes to the gap between desire and
realization?
3) What is your story about all of this?
2) How are you involved in this? What are you doing or not-doing that is preventing a solution?
1) What actions or in-actions are preventing your value from being fully realized?
3) Commitment Level
If that’s your fear or worry– what is your hidden committed to not happening?
2) Meta-Complaint Level:
3) What or who is stopping you from achieving your goal, your dream?
2) If you can’t solve it, if you have tried without success, how do you feel? How interpret this?
1) As you think about this unpleasant state, what do you think or feel? What state do you have about
this one?
Unconscious
--------------------------------------------------------------
Conscious
1) Primary state - conscious awareness level:

What do you want? What do you believe “should” be?
If that’s what you can’t stand, what do you want to stand for?
Fearful
Peeved
Unhappy — A Complaint!
Dissatisfied “I can’t stand” — I dis-value
Frustration “I don’t like...” “I don’t want...” “I hate...”
“I have had enough of...”
State
132 Blind Spots
Coaching Demonstration
This comes from a coaching session that I did at a conference that I conducted under the
sponsorship of the ICF–Taiwan. My intent was to demonstrate the Axes of Change, but as
is so often the case, the session went somewhere else, and so I followed the client and her
energy. As a result, it was much more of a confrontation of her outside-of-conscious
frames. Afterwards, I debriefed with the group and at the end the lady said that she had
worked on this with many coaches and never had the insights that she obtained in 25
minutes. The session does not demonstrate a change, only the bringing into awareness
what the person was previously blind to and invited her to simply begin to become more
aware of her choices and decisions.
LMH: What change would you like to make?
Client: “It’s a small thing, about my weight and about eating. I want to manage my
weight better and not over-eat like I am doing now.”
LMH: So what specific change do you want to make? When you achieve your goal, what
will it look like and how will that be different from the way things are now?
“I will not over-eat late at night.”
So how is it that you are over-eating late at night now? Where does this occur at?
“Well, my mother cooks for me and because of my work, I get in late, 8 pm,
sometimes later, and then because she has cooked the meal, I over-eat.”
Is this a new goal or have you worked on this before?
“Ohhhh yes! Many times. And, well, look at me. Things are now getting to the
place where it is not working well at all. My stomach hurts, and I don’t sleep well,
and yet I keep over-eating.”
So is it true that you know perfectly well what to do— that is, how to eat, how to avoid
certain foods, how to eat the right foods, and all of that?
“Yes, definitely.”
So the issue is not the how-to about eating, what to eat, when to eat, how much, calories,
etc. [Nodding yes.] So what is the issue about? What change do you want to make?
Acuity Vol.2 133
“I need to not eat so late and not eat so much. (Pause) ... I need to get my mom to
stop cooking so much... But ... (pause) ... I also want to be a good daughter.”
Okay, you’ve lost me now. How does being a good daughter or not a good daughter fit
into this scenario of eating too late, too much? I’m not following.
“Well, she cooks all day for me; I’m an only daughter, and she would feel
unappreciated, unwanted, and unneeded if I didn’t eat it all.”
Okay, I think I see. Is this what she says? Does she say, I will feel unappreciated,
unwanted, and unneeded if you don’t eat it all? [Shaking head side to side.] No? So if
she doesn’t say that, what does she say that seduces you? How does she seduce you to eat
too much?
“I don’t understand. What are you asking?”
Your mother sounds like a very skilled hypnotist and even though you know better, and
you want to have a better pattern of eating, she has this incredible ability to seduce you
into going against your better judgment and over-eat. How does she get you to do that?
How does she get you to go against your boundaries and values and goals for yourself?
“Well, I want to be a good daughter.”
So is that what she says? “A good daughter eats anything and everything put before her!
So eat!”?
“(Laughing) No, no. She says, ‘I’ve cooked all day for you!’”
And that does it!? All she has to say is, “I’ve cooked all day for you!” And that hooks you
and all of a sudden all of your goals, your decision, your determination, your know-how
goes out the window!
“Yeah. (Long Pause) ... I guess I don’t have enough motivation.”
So when you give in to the seduction, you then interpret it as caused by you not having
enough motivation? Is that what you are saying?
“Yes, I know that there is a certain number that if I got to that number, things
would change, but as it is right now, I just don’t have enough motivation. I want to
be a good daughter and I don’t want to hurt mom’s feelings ... she would be so hurt
if I don’t eat.”
134 Blind Spots
So being a good daughter, that’s really important! [Yes.] So is that the hidden commitment
that you have made that prevents you from saying “no” to the food? That if you said “no”
to the food, you are somehow saying “no” to her? [Yes.] So just so that I’m clear about
this, what are you actively committed to not happening by not saying “no” to your
mother? What do you absolutely not want to happen?
“Hmmmm. I do not want to be a bad daughter.”
Is that your higher level commitment? You say you have a commitment to eating right, to
your health, to your stomach not hurting, to sleeping well, and to having a good body
weight, but all of that is a much lower level commitments compared to your commitment
to absolutely avoid being a bad daughter. Is that right?
“(pause) ... well, I never thought of it like that, but yes.”
Okay, let’s say that’s true, what does that mean to you, being a good daughter and
absolutely avoiding being a bad daughter?
“It means being a good daughter.”
Yes, I hear that. That is important to you. What I’m now wondering about is why. Why is
that important to you? What do you get from that?
“Well I don’t want my mom to feel bad.”
Yes, you really do not want her to feel bad and not feel bad if you don’t eat what she
spends all day cooking ... because [“because I’d be guilty!”] ... you’d be guilty ... of what?
What is the rule or the law that you’d be violating?
“Being a good daughter.”
Okay, so that is the law? You have to be a good daughter? And that means eating
everything put before you? The rule is “Good daughters eat all food put on their plate or
they make their mom’s care and work invalid.”
“Yeah, well, kind of.”
Okay, let me shift gears a bit and ask you something else because you earlier mentioned a
number. Is there anything that would push you over the threshold and even though it
might hurt her feelings, is there anything that would get you to say “no” and push the
food back and set your own boundaries so that what you eat fits for you, doesn’t lead to
your stomach hurt or disturbing your sleep?
Acuity Vol.2 135
“Yes, the number.”
And if you hit that number, what would happen?
“I’d scream and yell ... I’d take a stand.”
You would scream and yell! I suppose at your mother? [Nodding yes.] So your choice is a
two-valued choice: either eat everything and let your stomach hurt or yell and scream at
mom and hurt her feelings? Nothing in-between these two choices? So it seems that we
are at the top of your frames and meanings about all of this and that you are not yet ready
to make a change, so my recommendation at this point is an experiment in awareness.
Would you be interested in that? [Nod yes.]
Then in the two weeks, don’t change anything .... just observe. Just notice the language
that your mom uses at dinner time to get you to eat. And just notice the words and
internal thoughts that you have when you are sitting down to eat ...
Meta-Reflections
If she had said she was ready, I would then have asked her about the ecology of her “good
daughter” frame in terms of her other values— health, fitness, body weight, etc. I would
have inquired about what she would need to believe, the meaning she would need to
create, so that she could both be a good daughter and do what she knows about healthy
eating. A month later she said that she had learned more in those twenty-five minutes
about herself and her patterns than she had in a six-month coaching program. Such is the
value of going after the hidden frames that create our blind spots.
Biography
L. Michael Hall, Ph.D. is the visionary leader for Neuro-Semantic NLP and focuses
primarily on modeling self-actualizing excellence in leadership and coaching. He can be
reached at meta@acsol.net and his training schedules are at www.neurosemantics.com and
www.meta-coaching.org.
136 Blind Spots
References:
1. You can find the Mind-to-Muscle pattern in Secrets of Personal Mastery, also the book,
Achieving Peak Performance (2008) is a whole book is on closing the Knowing-Doing gap.
2. For a description of the Meaning–Performance Axes and the Self-Actualization

Quadrants, see Unleashed (2008) and Self-Actualization Psychology (2009).
3. A driver meta-program is a thinking pattern in which you operate at one of the polar
extremes, perhaps at the matching end or mismatching; perhaps global or specific;
perhaps judger or perceiver. See Figuring Out People (2005) for an encyclopedia of Meta-
Programs.
4. See Management of Organizational Behavior (1988) by Paul Hersey and Kenneth H.

Blanchard for a description of the Johari Window.
5. The Crucible pattern is a Neuro-Semantic pattern for change, see The Crucible and the
Fires of Change (2010) or the Training Manual for Unleashing Potentials. For more about
Blinds Spots, see Claudia Shelton’s book, Blind Spots: Achieve Success by Seeing What you
Can’t See (2007) or Madeleine Hecke’s book, Blind Spots: Why Smart People Do Dumb Things
(2007).
“The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we
fail to notice that we fail to notice there is little we can do to change until we notice how
failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds." R.D. Laing
Acuity Vol.2 137
Dimensions of Sanity
Lucas Derks
When people are able to use suitable social roles, keep up a good enough model of their
social world and maintain their mental unity, chances are slim they end up in psychiatry.
Twenty five years of clinical experimentation with NLP provides insight into what it takes
to stay ‘normal’.
Self and others in mental space
Wherever I go and whatever I do, one thing always comes along with me, and that is myself. But
just passively being me is not enough. To successfully navigate in various social environments, I
need to be able to present myself as myself. That means that I know my position and role and can
clarify these to others. For that purpose, I may vocalize who I am, but normally these things are
communicated through non-verbal channels. Moves, gestures, clothes, automobiles, tone of voice,
etc. signal an individual’s status and role (Lehner and Oetsch, 2006). For this to work, one
primarily needs to know what one can expect from oneself, to next create matching expectations in
the others. These complex processes should run completely unconsciously, or else one is likely to be
socially handicapped. If so (and in the case that one cannot avoid others) signs of social anxiety may
be blushing, muttering, shying away and strange behaviors.
Thus a well functioning ‘self-knowledge generator’ helps a person to be themselves at any time
without demanding attention. Since taking on the appropriate role in unexpected encounters can be
essential, a system that organizes all of that must be accurate and swift.
Many selves to choose from: pick the right one
How does the self operate? My clinical research shows that most people possess a
repertoire of self-images that match the various social circumstances they are used to
getting involved in (Gergen, 1998). Such a self-image consists of a vague unconscious
picture that captures all that is relevant about what a person believes he or she is in one
single image. Systematic experimentation (Derks, 2005) helped to uncover some robust
rules that these self-images appear to obey:
138 Dimensions of Sanity
1) Self-images function primarily outside awareness; they tend to be totally habituated.

However, people will spontaneously describe the self-reflective feelings that these images
raise. They may talk about them in a concrete way (I feel super about myself), or sometimes
in metaphors (I am the lion king). And when asked for in a special manner (Derks, 2005),
they are able to point out the direction of-, the distance to-, the size of-, and the orientation
of-, these images.
2) Self-images are connected (anchored, classically conditioned) to specific contexts. When

all goes well, this means the appropriate self-image will automatically come to the fore in
the right situation. The work context triggers the working self-image, and this may be
totally different from that at home. Normally people don’t notice the shifts from the one
self-image to another. They may just sense more or less self-confidence with a change in
circumstances (e.g. “at the tennis club I feel shy”).
3) Self-images are those which govern who the person is. They do this only as long as they
stay connected to the feeling of self. This feeling of self is the other critical part of the self-
experience and it is generally located somewhere within the body – mostly in the chest.
The feeling of self provides the kinesthetic sense of being. This feeling is from where
people position themselves in relationships to others.
4) The critical components of the self are verbally expressed in the sentence: I am X. Here
the I represents the bodily sensation of the feeling of self. The am is the mental act of
linking the feeling of self with the self-image. The X can be any description of whatever
content is depicted in the self-image.
5) Normally, when a person enters a certain context, the appropriate self-image will be
activated, and will immediately ‘snap’ onto the kinesthetic self by its mental link.
However, without this connection being active, the person cannot get really into his ‘role’
(or ‘self’).
6) The sensory qualities of self-images (their size, distance, brightness and the direction in
which they are seen) govern for the better part the strength of one’s self-awareness (and as
such, the intensity and extent of the feeling of self and the raised self-reflexive feelings, i.e.
how the person values themselves). A strong self-awareness comes with big, close, bright
and straight in front located self-images that are solidly linked to the feeling of self.
In spontaneous language, we may hear expressions that signal the ways in which people
do adjust their self-experience. Someone may for instance tell you: I was in a difficult
situation and I thought; ‘Hey, but I wasn’t born yesterday!’ And then I became very aware of who I
am. So I put myself in the foreground and solved it.
Acuity Vol.2 139
The very unconscious nature of this whole self-system makes it difficult to detect. And it is
thanks to NLP’s modeling techniques (and a lot of patience) that we have managed to
clarify its nature. However elusive, the self-construct has a gigantic influence on a person’s
functioning. And the good news is, when people are assisted in bringing their self-imagery
into awareness, this process can be brought under their intentional control. In this manner,
self-confidence becomes less a matter of chance because people are then able to instantly
reshape their self-images at will. Then they become self enhancing, like most well
functioning people are.
People who have a difficulty in finding appropriate positions and roles often suffer from
social anxiety. In extreme cases this can give rise to presenting ‘strange’ identities. Some
clients say they cannot present themselves as they really are, because for others this will be
too complex to respond to. To overcome this, they may present simplified, sweet, rude or
artificial versions of themselves. Other clients consider their self-images unacceptable
because of the negative content. Self-disgust and self-hatred make their self-images hard to
use in intimate relations and in public.
What people believe about themselves is largely dependent on what they learned about
themselves at an early age. An adult commenting: “Your legs look ugly” or “you are stupid”,
may give rise to negative self-images that have malicious effects stretching far beyond
what seems reasonable to believe (See also my previous article, Space, Time & Certainty).
Normal functioning people house loads of full size positive self-images. They pick the
appropriate ones automatically in the right situations and hold these images straight in
front of them approximately a half to two meters distance. This hypothesis of normality
gives much potential direction in therapeutic work with identity issues.
Gardening the social landscape
Safe navigation among people takes good social maps. Such maps do exist in people
minds, and they tend to be three dimensional and holographic. They are composed of
unconscious landscapes filled with social images. I named these social panoramas in 1993.
During decades of clinical research, it became apparent that most humans create images of
people with great virtuosity and ease in an entirely unconscious manner. Because they
cannot reflect on doing this, most individuals confuse their mental representations with
the real human beings. To them the image equals the person. But this is a universal fallacy.
The social images were named ‘personifications’; the cognitive constructions that they
depict were named ‘persons’ or ‘real flesh and blood humans’.
Personifications are structured around the properties we generally ascribe to human

beings, like having capabilities, motivations, emotions, beliefs, self-awareness, names,
roots, parents etc. Personifications are largely created by copying what one finds within
oneself, onto the images of others. The psychoanalytical term projection is exactly what we
are talking about, the only difference is that this is not seen as pathological but as the
normal foundation of social cognition (Baron-Cohen,1991).
When all goes well in someone’s social development, he or she creates a social panorama,
in which their intimate circle is filled with the personifications of those they love the most.
Friends will be circumventing that, relatives and colleagues come next and acquaintances
are placed in the outer spheres. Even further are people to whom they maintain neutral
relationships and beyond that, most sense mankind at large.
In the vertical dimension people encode power differences (Derks, 2005). When you
function well in society, in modern times, you will be at relatively equal level with those
that are relevant to you.
Work with clients showed, that when you have the wrong people in the wrong places in
your social panorama, your social life will be tough. When this is combined with a
crippled self-concept, things will probably be even worse.
A close look at counter identification
Counter-identification is the wish to be different from the person you counter-identify

with. For instance, if you came to hate your talkative aunt, you may try to be as unlike her
as possible. You may dress differently, eat differently and, of course, speak much less than
she. If you can, you will not believe in her religious or political ideologies. But problems
may arise, for example, if you need to do an improvised speech somewhere... you might
stay silent since you cannot chat the way she does.
Therapeutic practice has shown that the representations we put straight in front of us (in
mental space), hold the centre of attention. The most absorbing ideas tend to be located up
front. This is analogous to how we focus on physical objects that capture our attention.
When people say things like: I will focus on that, I will keep that in mind, I am looking forward
to that, we will make this the central issue, these expressions must be taken as literal
descriptions of the locations where they project these things in mental space.
Acuity Vol.2 141
Now guess where people who counter-identify locate the personification they dislike? I
found most have these straight in front and at about 3 to 10 meters distance, and also a
little higher up than their own eye level.
At the same time, the straight in front position is the most common place for keeping self-
images. By locating self-images there, knowing who you are is just a matter of one
(unconscious) look ahead. In many instances of counter identification, the subjects have
their self-image a bit lower and closer than the image of the person they counter identified
with. On an unconscious level, this indicates to them who they are and what they don’t
want to be, in one and the same look. This seems to weaken their self-assuredness
considerably.
Probably, people with a strong identification with some idol, do the same thing. They see
their self-image aligned with the image of their hero and may believe an idea, because it
fits with what they think their idol believes. A general conclusion from the above may be
that well functioning people tend to have useful images straight in front of them. And
obvious as it may sound, that which one keeps in the center of attention will shape one’s
behavior.
Trust in people
To trust people is just as important as to mistrust them. But how does it work? Working
with ‘paranoid’ clients has shed light on that too. Simply formulated, it shows that trust is
created by putting the images of trusted people in trustworthy locations. To most
normally trusting individuals these places are at arm length for family members and loved
ones. For unrelated but however trusted people they hold places within a broad segment
straight in front. ‘Opinion leaders’ that are trusted tend to be seen above one’s eye level.
Clients with general issues concerning trust will primarily deviate from the hypothesis of
normality (that people who are more trustworthy to them are located closer than the ones
who are seen as less reliable). Even when a client conforms to this rule, it does not
guarantee a balanced social landscape. For instance, one client trusted only her father and
her husband. They were experienced as leaning against her side. The rest of mankind she
mistrusted, and they were to be seen to be over 30 meters away and there was nothing in
between.
Trusted people can also be stored behind the client. They may form a group of supporters
there. Individuals with a strong sense of trust in others tend to feel supported by strong
personifications that stand beside and behind them. However, some people put the
personifications of despised others behind them or their own shadow parts (to be
discussed in a future article on the split of parts).
Normal families
With countless clients, my colleagues and myself explored what we call the family
panorama. The important role (in mental health) of family ties and intimate networks is
beyond discussion. But what are the patterns found in the spatial arrangement of a family
that makes a person function well?
The expected significant influence of early family ties on social development did bring us
to explore the spatial configuration of families in regression. With the aid of simple
techniques, we help clients to imagine being a child again. Then they are asked to explore,
where mama, daddy, their siblings and the other family members are located in mental
space. This gives rise to a number of spectacular hypothesis of normality. However, the
complexity thereof takes it beyond the scope of this article.
People tend to live in a way as imprisoned in their family background; they may carry it
along as a burden. Because it roots back so far and is so interwoven with who they
became, most people tend to be rather fatalistic in regards to how this background limits
them on the personality level. By changing these early spatial family configurations,
clients create alternative family histories. The effect of this approach shows how probably
all people live within an unconscious continuation of their childhood. The roles and
positions they take are derivates from what they had as a kid. On top of this they construct
their current social lives, but these are still founded on their ancient spatial blueprint.
Conclusion
Humans are social beings. And many psychologists and psychiatrist have suggested that
most mental problems are in one way or another connected to relationships. That is why
much of psychotherapy is aimed at the improvement of the social side of life. The
unconscious background cognition that organizes social life and that is also responsible for
problems has proven to be elusive. NLP’s technology of guided introspection did largely
help to get to grips with these structures. The researcher must be tolerant towards the
‘soft’ character of such data. A scientist must adjust his method to his subject matter.
Although Paleontologists prefer samples of hundreds of Australopithecus skeletons to
draw conclusions from - four teeth, a jaw and half a skull may be all they can get.
Acuity Vol.2 143
How people represent themselves and others in mental space, is decisive for how well
they function in society. The analysis of patterns in social panoramas helps to see what it
takes to feel at home in the social world. We may expect from this knowledge a great
contribution to education, prevention and psycho-hygiene; in other words, in the process
of helping people to function normally.
Biography
Lucas Derks combines 20 years' experience as an NLP trainer with a background as social
psychology researcher. For over a decade he has been studying the spatial aspects of social
cognition and exploring the patterns in Social Panoramas within the context of psycho-
therapy and coaching.
Lucas' initial aim was to improve his clients' social life and functioning. His systematic
enquiry has resulted in a great number of patterns; universal, cultural and personal ways
in which people give shape to their own Social Panoramas.
References
Baron-Cohen, S. (1991) “The Theory of Mind Deficit in Autism: How specific is it?” British
Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9, 301-314.
Derks, L., (2005) Social Panoramas, Crown House Publishing Ltd. U.K.
Gergen, K.J.,(1998) The Saturated Self, dilemmas of identity in contemporary life. Basic Books,
Harper Collins Publishers, USA, 1991.
Lehner, J. M. and Oetsch, O. W., (2006) Jenseits der Hierarchie, Wiley, Weinheim, Germany.
144 Natural Navigation
Natural Navigation
Joe Abrams
Summary
Natural navigation is achieved via our five senses used in combination with intelligence and
experience. We can draw on these resources (developed for use in the outer world) and use them in
choosing better paths for our inner worlds. In this article, two models are explored. Model 1: the
navigational skills of the ‘nomad’, fully in touch with their senses, are examined and The Nomad
Strategy for moving from lost/problem state to resourceful state. Model 2: Uses a Meta-Program as
a springboard for a discussion with a client on the different results borne from using an Active or
a Passive Navigation Strategy.
Introduction
Drawing on the techniques of natural navigation used by our ancestors to move around
the physical world, two models are developed in this article for use by NLP Practitioners.
These models are designed to assist people in navigating their inner worlds. The Nomad
Strategy is a modelling exercise which uses a nomad as its model. This individual is
intensely aware of their surroundings and supremely confident of their ability to interpret
the world. This model is used to enable clients to consider how they might use their
sensory skills, in order to make quality choices about their next choice of direction. It
utilises sensory sub-modalities (Bandler & Macdonald 1988) to enable clients to recognise
and design their own direction of travel. The second model, explores the benefits of Active
and Passive approaches to self-navigation as a meta-program Discussion of this Meta-
Program with clients may help them to understand how selecting an Active or Passive
Navigation Strategy will affect the quality and character of the paths they take. Both
approaches share a connection with spatial awareness, movement and selection of paths.
NLP Ideas on Inner Landscapes
The concept of exploring inner landscapes is perhaps as central to the NLP definition as
‘the study and structure of subjective experience’ (Dilts 1980). The way we experience our
Acuity Vol.2 145
lives and make our choices is influenced by our understanding of where, spatially, certain
feelings, objects, people and memories are located. This is a key concept within NLP,
specifically within the way in which sensory sub-modalities are used (Bandler &
Macdonald 1988, 46-50; Bandler 2008, 79-91). That the power of feelings or memories can
be reduced if they are pushed off into the distance and/or reduced in size, is integral to
several therapeutic models (Bandler 2008, 90-91).
Inspired by the use of sub-modalities comes the concept that we keep certain people
located around us, as part of our Social Panoramas (Derks 2005, 7). Derks describes how
people “create an intimate circle around themselves that is exclusively reserved for lovers,
children, parents and the personifications of exceptionally important entities like spirits, gods or
angels. The larger space around this intimate circle is filled with less significant people, like friends,
neighbours and colleagues…..on the outer spheres of the social panorama one finds the group
personifications like ‘the party’, ‘the factory’ and ‘the government’.” The Social Panoramas
approach is applied to a range of therapeutic uses, all of which revolve around the belief
that clients hold personifications of people around them. These personifications have a
location and a distance in relation to the self. If the locations of these personifications is
shifted e.g. from ‘centre front, close to me’ to ‘far away, behind and low down’, then our reality
is also shifted, new opportunities arise as we move our social panoramas around.
Another approach which utilises spatial awareness is the widespread use of metaphor to
describe the conscious/unconscious parts of our mind. References to an internal navigator
is a powerful, and repeated, metaphor within NLP/Trance. Although not technically an
NLP author, Lilly (1975) describes a person as a programmed bio-computer, made out of
metaprograms and “so out of the metaprograms as substrate comes something else, the controller
– the steersman” (Lilly 1975, 14). He describes this as the programmer in the bio-computer
shaping its choices, steering its path. Ericksonian hypnotherapy practitioners have several
metaphorical tools to facilitate conscious/unconscious dissociation as a method of
inducing trance and facilitating changework (Silverthorn & Overdurf 1995, 62). This can be
achieved using metaphors for movement and/or navigation. For example, the captain of
the ship (conscious mind) which navigates the vessel, while the crew (unconscious mind)
work ceaselessly to move the vessel along.
The Nomad and Navigation strategies provide ways for Practitioners and Coaches to
utilise their abundant navigational skills as additional ways to influence their clients.
The Nomad Strategy
A nomadic, hunter-gatherer way of life has dominated the human story. Indeed, 99% of
our story so far has been spent as hunter-gatherers in various parts of the world (Lee &
Devore 1968, 3). This is significant as many modern people are not consciously aware of
this highly significant stage of our development. The significance of this is that we are, to
some extent, fish out of water – or at least hunter-gatherers in modern clothes. Our
bodies, our appetites, our brains evolved in a very different world to that in which we
now find ourselves. Each of us has the potential to draw upon some very ancient skills,
hidden deep within all of us. One such skill is natural navigation.
Our ‘Senses’ Of Direction
Making effective choices in which direction to move was a matter of life and death for all
our ancestors. Starting out as nomadic hunter-gatherers, we needed the ability to locate
food, water, shelter and warmth, the pillars of human survival. Pre-modern people
understood maps in a non-paper, non-Satnav world. Their ‘map of the world’ was based on
visual triggers (V) which stimulated feelings of fear/safety, sounds of familiar
animals/strange new places (A), kinaesthetic ‘swell’ maps used to navigate across open
seas (as the waves told them in which direction land lay (K), smells which indicated home
fires burning/wild animals approaching (O) and the welcome sweetness of certain
fruits/the bitter taste of poisonous plants (G). So it was that VAKOG was our ancestors’
toolkit, their means of survival and their means of enjoyment. Through these senses they
would spread to every corner of the world and adapt to every climatic zone.
We can model this behaviour, and by so doing can intensely awaken the senses of our
clients in order that they can navigate effectively, using their own Nomad Strategy. Note -
The Nomad Strategy draws inspiration from Exercises 4-7 ‘Sub-Modalities’ (La Valle and
Bandler, 2004)
Problem State – Client feels ‘lost’
Upon feeling lost, a traveller may experience panic. The realisation that they are in
unfamiliar territory and lack the skills to act upon it, can quickly reduce the level of
confidence and resourcefulness an individual feels. In such moments, their usual ability to
handle 7 (+ or – 2 pieces of information may be reduced, giving them an intense focus on
Acuity Vol.2 147
perhaps 1 or 2 items. If that focus is not directed on noticing where they are and
interpreting how to move on from it, they may remain lost and enter a ‘circle of panic’. In
this problem state, a person wastes energy, often repeating behaviours as they search for a
‘way out’ and instead find themselves back in the same place, only each time they end up
there, a sense of personal failure is emphasised. Their sense of panic and/or failure grows.
When faced with problems, we may choose between acceptance or transformation or

walking away (Owen 2009). When our problem is feeling lost, we could choose elements
of all three in order to find our way out of the woods; and it is this process of Acceptance-
Transformation-Movement that our Nomad Strategy will follow. The Nomad, when faced
with being lost, first recognises this, accepts it, then transforms it and moves – how?
Step 1 – Lost
Elicit problem state
Practitioner gets client to describe their current state. In this model, the Practitioner
prompts the client to describe the problem state ‘as if’ it were a place in which they were
lost. Each sensory modality is run through, with the Practitioner asking the client to
describe the sub-modalities relating to their current (problem) state, a full list of prompts
for this can be found in Bandler & Macdonald (1988, Table 2, 46-50). For example:
Visual - If it were a place, what sort of place is it? Indoors or outdoors? Is it daytime or nightime?
Is it in colour or black and white? How big is the place, is it small or large?
Notes are taken of the answers in order to pick up the differences between the way a
person describes their surroundings (Step 4) for use later in the process (Step 5).
Break state
Step 2 – Calm
Acceptance of our current state and location
The Practitioner now assists their client to move into a relaxed state, reminding them of
NLP pre-supposition ‘You already have all the resources you need’. The Practitioner describes
how a Nomad finds themselves in a very similar place to that which the client described.
This Nomad stops, notices where they are, and notices that they are not familiar with their
surroundings. Upon realising this, they sit down and relax, breathing deeply; they begin
to do what they always do in this situation and they begin to remember that wherever
they are, they always have themselves. Wherever they are, is the centre of the world, the
centre of their universe. They had all the resources they needed to get to this place and
they have their senses with which to interpret the world around them and their
intelligence to make choices using that information. They sit and consider those resources,
and they sit and consider how wherever they are, they are at the centre. This provides
them with a deep sense of calm and a deep sense of confidence.
The Practitioner encourages the client to model this approach (it is the antidote for the
circle of panic and changing states to this more confident one is the first step to a new
reality).
Step 3 – Intensely Awaken Senses
Model Nomad as they get internal resources and intensely awaken their senses
The Nomad decides to awaken their five senses by running through them in turn. They
notice how effective their senses are at recognizing their surroundings and they reflect on
how they can use those senses to do whatever they need to do. The Practitioner
encourages the client to consider each of the VAKOG modalities and to experience each in
a brighter, louder, more intense way. The client is asked to model the Nomad in
experiencing intensely awakened senses so that they are sensitive to everything around
them. At this stage the Practitioner is ‘directing’ their client to ‘play with’ and ‘experience’
their senses. This acts to revivify them and to increase the intensity of experience in Step 4.
It also acts to empower them and move them further from lost/circle of panic.
Step 4 – Transformation
Elicit resourceful state by modelling Nomad as they imagine where they need to be
The Nomad then decides there is a need to move from this place to where they need to be.
In order to reach that place the Nomad does what they always do – they imagine the place
they need to be, they run through each modality and each of its sub-modalities, describing
the place they need to be in every detail. The Practitioner gets the client to imagine where
they want to be and to run through each sub-modality (just as in Step 1). The Practitioner
notes the client’s answers and notes the key differences between their answers now and
their answers in Step 1.
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The Practitioner now describes how the Nomad stands up, checks the place they are in
and begins to move. For example “They notice they are on a slope and knowing that people live
at the base of slopes they move downslope, they hear a stream bubbling away nearby and knowing
that people live near water, they decide to follow that stream. They smell wood smoke and know they
are near settlement.” The possibilities are endless. Here, essentially, the Nomad uses
information freely available in the external world, to make choices about where to move
next. They use their senses to notice the external world and they use their abundant skills
and experience to make choices about where to move next. The Practitioner then asks the
client to model the Nomad. Asking the client to:
• Look around them for signs of the sun behind or in front of them, are trees
casting shadows and giving away the direction of the sun?
• Listens for sounds of water, animals, people.
• Feels the air, the direction of the prevailing wind, is it raining, are they moving
upslope or down.
• Smells to see where they are, any smoke, blossom, wet peaty smell? Dry, dusty
air? Sea breeze?
• Taste the food and water around them, what season is it, do they recognise the
taste and location?
The Practitioner uses the ‘differences’ identified by comparing their clients answers in Step
1 and Step 4 in order to identify the ‘lanterns’ needed to lead their client away from the
lost state/place to the resourceful state/place.
Step 5 Move
(Find resourceful state/place)
The Practitioner encourages the client to move. Not to be too concerned about exactly
where that is – just to move having noticed certain things around them. The drivers are
utilised to assist in the move. For example, if the driver is sound, increasing in volume –
then the Practitioner may suggest “perhaps you might hear the sound of the stream as it
increases directly in front of you, and as you move towards it, you may begin to notice that sound
increasing to exactly the volume you need”. If a key submodality difference is light, getting
brighter, the Practitioner may suggest “and as you look towards the right, perhaps you’ll notice
the sun is getting brighter, leading you in that direction. I don’t know what would happen if you
head towards that light......now.”
The Practitioner can conclude by describing how The Nomad reaches their destination,
calmly and confidently using their senses to guide them, always aware that they are at the
centre of their own world and can move in any direction they need. The client has
modelled The Nomad several times now and is associated with them, providing an
unconscious reinforcement of the success they may both have in moving to a more
resourceful state.
Summary
• Step 1 – Lost
Elicit problem state and note sub-modality answers.
• Step 2 – Calm
Change clients state to a calm, confident state and begin modelling The Nomad.
• Step 3 – Awaken senses
Continue modelling The Nomad by awakening and enhancing senses.
• Step 4 – Transformation
Elicit Resourceful state/place and note sub-modality answers – compare them to problem
state answers and identify differences between ‘problem’ and ‘resourceful’ states.
• Step 5 – Move
Use the differences identified in Step 4 to encourage the client to imagine moving from
‘lost’ state/place to ‘resourceful’ state/place.
The Navigation Strategy: Active or Passive
Figure 1: I am at the centre (Active) versus home is my centre (Passive) Meta-program
Home is my Centre I am at the centre
(Passive) (Active)
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Tribal peoples tend(ed) to navigate in terms of distance from home. Their house may
move, or be a temporary structure, yet their family/clan group remained stable and
constituted their ‘home’. The experienced trackers, who so impressed 19th century
explorers in America, Australia, and a plethora of other countries had learnt their skills by
moving in ever-increasing circular journeys around their home. They knew all there was
to know about ‘their’ area yet that magic would soon drain away if the tracker was moved
to a new climatic zone, their expertise being limited to the contexts they most often dealt
with. This approach is the passive “Home is my centre” strategy.
At the other end of the spectrum is the technological navigator, they have a home and may
return to it at some point. Yet, when navigating, they check their own location, and from
there they plot a course to their destination. That destination may be chosen for many
reasons. This navigator works to remove limits and strives to enter new types of
environment. They lack detailed knowledge of any area, preferring to keep an active “I am
the centre” strategy to navigation.
The Meta-Program in Figure 1 shows both approaches. As Practitioners of NLP we may

suggest to clients that they consider the benefits of both approaches when doing so is
advantageous. We may also encourage them to recognise these tendencies in others and
encourage them to consider the positive intentions behind both approaches. Sometimes,
people can use both strategies in different parts of their lives. For example, someone who
is socially gregarious and spontaneous (active) may be relatively conservative in their
employment choices, seeking out similar jobs in a familiar area (passive). How might
things be different if those strategies were reversed – would that be a positive, ecological
change, for that person, at that time? The key point is for the client to consider is which
approach they are using in certain specific contexts and whether that is getting them
where they need to be, or not.
Conclusion
The “definition of a straight line is the shortest distance between two points” ...however... “seldom
does the desired path run in a direct line between starting place and objective” (Gatty 1999, 69).
Any Practitioners finding the approaches in this article useful and needing inspiration on
nature’s bountiful supply of navigational cues would do well to read a copy of Finding
Your Way Without Map or Compass, by Harold Gatty. There are ingenious examples for each
of the VAKOG modalities.
Our lives, and those of our clients, contain smooth plains and calm waters through which
we move with ease. Our lives are also punctuated with craggy coastlines, boggy areas,
steep climbs and thick forests. The strategies in this paper are intended to assist with the
latter, by bringing out our abundant internal resources, shaped over many generations,
they allow us to navigate anywhere we need to.
About the Author
Joe Abrams trained and qualified as a Master Practitioner in both NLP and Hypnotherapy.
Since qualifying Joe has continued reading, writing and learning about both subjects. Joe
works as a professional archaeologist, based in Hertfordshire, UK. This work provides
opportunities for observation of how human actions shape, and are shaped by, our
physical landscapes. Some of those observations fed into this article. He is contactable via
jpb.abrams@gmail.com
Bibliography
Bandler, R. 2008. Guide to Trance-Formation. Health Communications Inc.

Bandler, R & Macdonald, W. 1988. An Insider’s Guide to Sub-Modalities. Meta-Publications
Inc.
Dilts, R. 1980. Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Volume I (The Study of the Structure of Subjective
Experience. Meta Publications
Derks, L. 2000. Social Panoramas. Changing the Unconscious Land scape with NLP and
Psychotherapy. Crown House Publishing Ltd
Gatty, H. 1999. Finding Your Way Without Map or Compass. Dover Publications Inc.
La Valle, J and Bandler, R. 2004. Licensed Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming

Training Manual. The Society of Neuro-Linguistic Programming.
Lee RB and Devore I (eds) 1968. Man the Hunter. Aldine De Gruyter.
Lilly, J. 1975. The Steersman: Meta-beliefs and Self-Navigation. Ronin Publishing Inc
Miller, G.A. 1956. The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our
Capacity for Processing Information. http://www.musanim.com/miller1956/ - Accessed
15 July 2011
Overdurf, J & Silverthorn, J. 1995. Training Trances: Multi-Level Communication in Therapy
and Training. Metamorphous Press.
Owen, N. 1999. The Salmon of Knowledge. Crown House Publishing Ltd.
Acuity Vol.2 153
What is the Opposite of Meta?

Joe Cheal MSc
Introduction
This article is designed to address the question: “What is the opposite of meta?” with a
view to creating a label to the ‘other end of meta’ which may in turn help to define,
understand and utilise it.
There will be a very brief overview of the nature of meta and then an exploration into its
opposite. The relationship between the two is discussed in terms of their purposes and
roles and also the potential confusions between the two. The article completes with
suggestions for application.
Meta?
‘Meta’ is a Greek word meaning ‘above, about and/or, beyond’. The main usage of the
term ‘meta’ outside the field of NLP is ‘about’, for example, meta-communication is
communication about communication. In this sense it is an adjective, telling us what kind
of communication we are talking about. Of course, by communicating about meta-
communication, we are meta-meta-communicating. This could go on ad infinitum, adding
levels and levels of ‘meta’.
Much has been written about the concept of ‘meta’ in NLP literature, in particular through
the extensive works of Robert Dilts (e.g. 1983) & L. Michael Hall (eg. Hall 2001). In NLP
we also talk about meta as meaning ‘beyond’ or ‘outside’ and we use the term ‘going
meta’ as if it is some kind of destination or direction. In this context, meta means stepping
outside or further away from the situation, seeing something as if we are a ‘fly on the wall’
or beyond the process/event/thing. Meta is also a move or ‘chunk up’ to a higher logical
level. Hall has used the thinking of meta to create a whole area of NLP known as meta-
states and the meta-state model (e.g. Hall 1996).
This article however is an enquiry into the other ‘direction’. If meta implies chunking up
from something, what is the equivalent of chunking down? If the answer is simply
‘chunking down’, then why does chunking up have its own special label in ‘meta’? Is
154 What is the Opposite of Meta?
chunking up more important than chunking down? It would seem not. Of course, meta is
more than just chunking up, as this article discusses later. But there may be a valuable and
important concept sitting opposite meta. It is time to bring this concept out of the shadows
and introduce it more formally.
What is the opposite of meta?
If meta is sometimes a direction what is the opposite direction? Surprisingly, it appears

that there is no defined opposite to ‘meta’ in any philosophical system, NLP or otherwise.
So let us propose one now. Given the Greek derivation of the word meta, what Greek
word means ‘into, in, inside or within’? Neatly, the word is ‘mesa’. So to ‘go mesa’ would
mean to go inside something to get more specific detail.
META
about/above/beyond content
CONTENT
MESA
into/inside/within content
In their seminal work, The Structure of Magic, Bandler and Grinder (1975 & 1976)
analysed the methodology of Fritz Perls and Virginia Satir. From the modelling of their
methodologies came the ‘meta-model’. What were Perls and Satir doing and how were
they doing it? In particular, they were asking questions to take people from ‘surface
structure’ (i.e. what was said) down into ‘deep structure (i.e. what they actually meant
and/or closer to their direct experience). They did this by seeking more specific
information. They challenged generalisations, distortions and deletions by asking, for
example, ‘what do you mean specifically?’ or ‘how do you know that?’ They were
encouraging their clients to chunk down, to get more specific. Perhaps we could even say
they were challenging people to get more ‘real’. The ‘meta-model’ was so named as it
Acuity Vol.2 155
identifies categories of language that people use to represent their model of the world; it is
an overarching model of people’s individual models. However, usage of the meta-model
is actually an exercise in going mesa, as it is designed to help take the speaker back to their
direct experience (i.e. ‘deep structure’) which the person then generalised (and
distorted/deleted) to create their internal model. According to Hall (2011): “When you go
down into the content (i.e. “mesa”) then you get details, facts, smaller and smaller pieces…
you narrow to identify the referents from which the map has been created. In the Meta-
Model this evokes a person to return to the actual facts of their life and by breaking things
down into bits now they can rebuild—or in NLP talk, re-map. That’s the power of the
Meta-Model.”
To go mesa to something would be to go into finer and final detail and in doing so we
begin to lose generalisations and possibly an understanding of the ‘whole’ (i.e. gestalt). If
we keep going mesa to an event, for example a game of rugby, we will see perhaps a
person kicking a ball. Without the ‘whole’ (i.e. the context of the aim of rugby, the rules,
the scoring etc), the kicking of the ball becomes meaningless. To go mesa to ourselves is to
reach direct experience (VAKOG) and to be an observer without (ultimately) any
thoughts, feelings, interpretations, judgements about the experience. As soon as we have
any experience about the direct experience, we are meta to that direct experience. Perhaps
the experience of ‘total’ mesa is what is sometimes described as being ‘in the now’ (e.g.
Tolle 2005) or in ‘flow’ (e.g. Csikszentmihalyi 2002).
To explore the nature of ‘mesa’ further, when we ‘go mesa’, this may take us in various
chunk down directions. For example:
1. Types: Going mesa to ‘dog’ might lead us to Alsatian, Boxer or Collie. These are all
types of dogs that are contained in the category of ‘dog’.
2. Components: Going mesa to ‘dog’ might also lead us to legs, nose, ears, tail. These
are all components of ‘dog’.
3. Functions: Going mesa to ‘dog’ might lead us to the functions or uses of a dog. For
example: a pet, a sled puller, a guide for the blind or a guard.
4. Temporal: Going mesa to a particular dog (eg. Rex), may lead us to Rex at
particular ages. We might look at a photo album of Rex through his life, seeing the
changes… the ‘process’ of Rex as it were. Going mesa to Rex is to establish where
he is at any moment in time.
The first three (above): (1) types, (2) components and (3) functions seem to come to a
logical ‘zero point’ of a smallest chunk. There comes a point where there is no more detail
of types or of components or of functions. The same might be said of (4) the temporal
element. There comes a zero point where the object is at a particular place at a particular
moment in time. All of these four distinctions could be considered reductionist in nature,
breaking down into smaller and smaller aspects.
The purpose and roles of ‘Meta’ and ‘Mesa’
In the same way that meta appears to have slightly different (but connected) definitions
and purposes, the same is true for mesa. Table 1 (below) suggests some of these
differences and hopefully provides more clarity about the need for (and purpose of) the
concept of mesa.
Table 1: Comparing and contrasting the different roles of meta and mesa.
Role Meta Mesa
Seeking information or Usually a state ‘about’ something. Looking inside something for
data E.g. thinking about thinking, feeling information. E.g. a ‘mesa message’
content about feeling good, talking would be ‘a message inside a
about Fred. A meta message would message’.
be ‘a message about messages’.
Changing category level Up a logical level to the next Down a logical level to components
& direction of thinking category or ‘container’. E.g. from or examples/ types that fall within
sheltie to dog (also see ‘Hierarchy the current category. E.g. from dog
of Ideas’ in James & Woodsmall, to sheltie.
1988)
Going beyond current Going outside the system to see all Going into the system to explore
experience of the system its levels and components. Taking a the details.
true third (or beyond) perceptual
position.
Changing detail level Bigger picture, larger chunk, Smaller picture, smaller chunk,
general, vague, abstract. specific, detailed, concrete.
Changing language Use of Milton Model (Inverse Meta Use of Meta Model – usage leads to
pattern Model) – usage leads to specifics of experience, narrower
generalisations. details.
Type of Change Shifting from 1st order change to Shifting from 2nd order change to
2nd order change (see Watzlawick 1st order change.
et al, 1974).
From learning II to learning I.
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From Learning I to Learning II etc Making changes within the system,

(Bateson 2000). also known as single loop learning.
Making changes outside the

system, also known as double loop
learning (see Argyris, 1994).
The illusion of introspection: Are we really going mesa or meta?
I confess that when I first began to develop the concept of mesa, I got excited about the
idea of going mesa as being a form of introspection (i.e. ‘soul searching’) where we could
go deeper and deep into ourselves and our inner universe. However, I came to realise that
I was really going in the opposite direction through layers and layers of meta-states (i.e.
states about states). But in the same way that I seemed to be able go meta to myself, what
did it mean to go mesa to myself?
To be ourselves is to be in the first perceptual position. Can we go mesa from there? Sara
Boas (2006) writes about the ‘zero position’ as an individual perceptual position without
ego or personality. As previously discussed, the furthest we can go mesa to ourselves is to
be in direct experience without thought or judgement. As soon as we endeavour to go
further in, we are meta-stating, perhaps analysing (thinking about what that would be
like). Any analysis, although reductionistic, will be an analysis of the content (and hence
taking us further away from direct experience). Analysis in this sense could be described
as using a mesa process (breaking things down into component parts) from a meta
perspective. In addition, if the process of analysis is designed to give meaning (and
meaning is about the thing we are analysing), our search for self and meaning is really a
meta-state quest.
Are our ‘parts’ mesa to ourselves? Isn’t this a chunk down and hence mesa? In an
analytical sense perhaps, however experientially, if we ‘go inside’ or ‘become’ a part of
ourselves we are meta-stating since it is a part of ourselves, an abstraction and hence meta.
This becomes the equivalent of taking a second perceptual position into a part. The
technique of taking on the perceptual position of a thing/part was sometimes used by Fritz
Perls in dream analysis (Perls 1970), where the object in the dream is considered a part of
the dream and hence a part of the dreamer. Although useful, this is still not mesa to
ourselves since we are working with a metaphor and acting ‘as if’ we were that thing/part.
As an aside, in second and third position we are experiencing our feelings/thoughts

(states) about someone else’s thinking/feeling (states) or the states of ourselves and others.
As soon as we step into second or third position we are going meta and ‘meta-stating’.
Modelling (the very root of NLP) appears to be about ‘getting into’ the mind of another
person. Can we not explore someone ‘from the inside’? When we take second perceptual
position into another person it is important to remember that ultimately we are still
mindreading – we can never really become someone else nor know for sure what it is like
to be them. We are simply seeking resources within ourselves via our internal
representation of someone else (and hence applying our mental state to it, i.e. meta-
stating). We may gain some insights into the intentions of another person, but we cannot
know for sure unless we check with them. For a grand philosophical article on this subject,
see Thomas Nagel’s “What is it like to be a bat?” (1974).
Philosophers and psychologists through the ages have been delving into the human
condition and to themselves personally. For example, in ‘Doors of Perception’, Aldous
Huxley seeks to journey into his own inner universe (1977), as does John Lilly in ‘Centre of
the Cyclone’ (1973). Rene Descartes, a proponent of reductionism, used this line of
thinking to eliminate everything that he could not prove about the world and himself until
he eventually reached his incontrovertible truth that he was ‘a thinking thing’. From here
he built his philosophical system (Descartes, 1989). However, is the ‘inner universe’ quest
really a mesa concern? Although it may appear to be, am I not exploring the inner universe
of myself (which would imply meta)? Is a ‘thinking thing’ not a category in which I find
myself (hence meta to myself)?
When we consider we are going ‘inside’ we are still contemplating aspects of and about
ourselves and hence going meta. Metaphors for example are meta-states of our mesa
quest:
• Are we fractal in nature, where the further we chunk down the more there is, but
with distinct patterns emerging?
• Are we like an onion with layers, every layer we strip away we get nearer and
nearer the core?
• Are like a building with levels, with the ability to go up to our conscious mind or
down into our unconscious? In Ericksonian hypnosis, we often talk of ‘going
deeper’ into trance, i.e. deeper/further inside ourselves? Again, the concept of
‘going deeper’ is a metaphor, so although it appears we are going mesa, we are
really going meta.
Of course, whether we are going meta or mesa (or a combination of both in sequence) the
purpose (particularly in a therapeutic sense) is to discover/access resources. The key here is
to be able to come back in/out again and apply those resources to something.
Acuity Vol.2 159
As a final thought for this section, perhaps the notion of going meta or mesa to myself is
also an illusion since I am still myself and cannot escape from that! To genuinely go meta
to myself would seem to take me to an unattainable ‘view from nowhere’ (Nagel 1986).
However, I can be myself experiencing meta-states – states about states e.g.
thoughts/feelings/beliefs etc about other thoughts/feelings/beliefs etc. I can step from one
state to another state or meta-state as I am still myself.
Interventions and Applications
Outside of NLP, interventions such as Arthur Janov’s (1990) primal therapy actively
encourage a client to drop into a specific point or feeling and to feel it and express it. NLP
tends to work in the opposite direction, avoiding the content and focussing on the process.
Indeed, it could be argued that dropping into feelings may re-stimulate the old anchor and
strengthen the negative feeling. Primal therapists would no doubt counter that dropping
into the feeling is not always about content (though repressed memories might emerge as
a result) and that content is only used to get into the feelings. Once the feeling is fully
expressed, the old anchor is then blown out.
If meta-states are states about other states (e.g. feeling guilty about feeling angry), what
would mesa-states be? What might it mean to have a state inside a state? Perhaps we go
mesa to meta-states in order to access a primary state. Might we be drawing from the
‘onion’ metaphor here, where we are peeling the meta-states away to reveal the original
state?
Another way in which the mesa approach may help is in getting so close into a problem
that it cannot be perceived as a problem any more. For example, when working with
submodalities (which are a mixture of meta and mesa – see Hall 2005), if a problem is seen
very close up (so that all you can see are the pixels in the picture as it were) it will often go
beyond a threshold and collapse. Any analogue submodality (e.g. distance, colour,
brightness, volume) will allow us to go mesa. If the issue is distance, how far away
specifically does it need to be to feel different? What specific shade does it need to be
between colour and black & white for something to change? How bright/dim does it need
to be? At what specific volume (e.g. on a scale of 0-10) does the feeling disappear?
Mesa can be used as a chunk down reframe. When confronted by someone saying that
they are afraid of snakes, ask which specific bit of the snake are they afraid of? Or what
specific behaviour/feature do they not like? For example, the hiss… go mesa again… what
specific volume/frequency/pitch does it need to be?
Mesa can be used with troublesome metaphors to bring the person back to direct
experience… “My manager is an ass” – “In what way?” or “What has he done to make
you think that?”
Going mesa to any experience will elicit facts and if this process is repeated the ‘whole’/
gestalt will fragment so that meaning dissolves. Going mesa deconstructs generalisations
and hence the person’s map (like the meta-model, which is an example of a ‘mesa-
process’). This then allows us to help the person reconstruct the map in a more resourceful
manner.
Conclusion
This article was written to further understand the nature of meta and also to introduce a
new label to NLP, i.e. mesa. In some ways, the information in this article is probably not
new, however before now, there has been no specifically defined opposite to meta.
Perhaps it is time to update our language to give us new distinctions. This may help to
give us further resourceful thinking patterns and hence a deeper, richer understanding of
who we are.
Biography
Joe Cheal has been working with NLP since 1993. As well as being a master trainer of
NLP, he holds an MSc in Organisational Development and NLT, a degree in Philosophy
and Psychology, and diplomas in Coaching and in Ericksonian Hypnotherapy,
Psychotherapy and NLP. He is also a licensed EI practitioner.
Joe is a co-founder of the Positive School of Intrinsic Neuro-Linguistic Psychology

(www.psinlp.com) and a partner in the GWiz Learning Partnership
(www.gwiztraining.com), working as a Management & Organisational Development
Specialist.
References
Argyris, C. (1994) On Organisational Learning Blackwell Business

Bandler, R. & Grinder, J. (1976) The Structure of Magic, Vol.2 Science & Behaviour Books
Bateson, G. (2000) Steps to an Ecology of Mind University of Chicago Press
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Therapy" in Payne, H. (ed.) Dance Movement Therapy: Theory Research and Practice.
2nd edition, London: Routledge, pp 111-130
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2002) Flow, Rider
Descartes, R. (1989) Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings, Cambridge university Press
(Translated by Cottingham, J., Stoothoff, R. & Murdoch, D.)
Dilts, R. (1983) Changing Belief Systems with NLP, Meta Publications
Grinder, J. & Bandler, R. (1975) The Structure of Magic, Vol.1 Science & Behaviour Books
Hall , L.M. (1996) Meta-States Neuro-Semantics Publications
Hall L.M. (2001) NLP: Going Meta Neuro-Semantics Publications
Hall L.M. (2005) Sub-modalities: Going Meta Neuro-Semantics Publications
Hall L.M. (2011) Personal correspondence
Huxley, A. (1977) The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell Harper-Collins
James, T. & Woodsmall, W. (1988) Time Line Therapy and the Basis of Personality Meta
Publications
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Lilly, J. (1973) The Centre of the Cyclone Paladin
Nagel, T. (1974) “What is it like to be a bat?” The Philosophical Review LXXXIII, 4 (October)
pp 435-50. Also http://organizations.utep.edu/Portals/1475/nagel_bat.pdf accessed
14.09.11
Nagel, T. (1986) The View From Nowhere, Oxford University Press
Perls, F. (1970) “Four Lectures” in Gestalt Therapy Now ed. Fagan, J. and Shepherd, I.
Science & Behaviour Books.
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problem resolution W.W. Norton & Company: New York
Acuity (Online) ISSN 2045-5402

Neuro Linguistic
Programming
A New Anthology of Shared Findings and Learnings

Published by the ANLP
November 2011
Vol. 2

MP012 1001 Motivational Quotes For Success Great Quotes From Great Minds

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Acuity (Online) ISSN 2045-5402

Enhancing and Advancing

A New Anthology of Shared Findings and Learnings

The Association of NLP

Article Author Page

Affirmations or Questions Richard Bolstad 5

Pseudo-orientations Richard Gray 12

Joining Up The Work of David James Lawley 27

Space, Time & Certainty Lucas Derks 42

Benchmarking as NLP L . Michael Hall 54

Landscape of Experience Joe Cheal 60

Questions about Meta-Programs Susie Linder-Pelz 78

Creative Practice Pedagogy Blane Savage 92

Anchoring and Classical Richard Gray 109

Blind Spots L . Michael Hall 124

Dimensions of Sanity Lucas Derks 137

Natural Navigation Joe Abrams 144

What is the Opposite of Meta? Joe Cheal 153

Enjoy the ‘songs’.

How Can We Do Better With Affirmations?

The Initial Research Studies

NLP Approaches to Affirmation

I Wonder If Positive Questioning Works Better Than Affirming?

Appendix. Key Questions: Deciding what you’ll ask of life!

1. Resourceful state; Rapport

Pseudo-orientation in time is a hypnotic technique pioneered by Milton Erickson and

Pseudo-orientations: the Basics

A pseudo-orientation in time is an exercise in which the individual projects herself into a

Most simply, a pseudo-orientation in time consists of sending an individual into another

1. The outcome must be stated as a positive thing or experience; something wanted,

Every individual has a tremendous number of these generally unrecognized psychological

It is important to consider that Erickson’s techniques included a heavy positive reliance on

Pseudo-orientations in time take advantage of this phenomenon. By fully associating into

Pseudo-orientations in time have the advantage of enhancing motivation to change on

As Erickson knew, imagined practice bears results in practical experience.

Creating meaningful futures

Another advantage of pseudo-orientations is their capacity to bypass conscious objections

Richard M Gray, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Fairleigh Dickinson

Joining Up the Work of David Grove

Phase I focussed on working with the organisation of a client’s subjective experience —

Phase II concentrated on using physical space to create a network of perspectives. The

Phase Dates (approx.) Domain Language Model Abbreviation

My aim in this paper is to present a model that ‘joins up’ the

Domains and Language Models

I believe it is important to understand and be adept in the workings of each domain of

The fundamental motif of each domain can be summarised as:

Metaphor is the faculty of experiencing an abstract or complex aspect of life in terms

Networks involve a number of interconnected, yet separate spaces/nodes which

Recognition arises from attending iteratively to a knowing.7

With Emergent Knowledge algorithms, adherence to the process is paramount —

Mediums, Means and Methods

Clean Language questions for working with Metaphor

Of course the notion of working ‘cleanly’ unites all Grovian processes:

In Metaphors in Mind: Transformation through Symbolic Modelling, Penny Tompkins and I

use CL, CS or EK to establish M, N or R domain Stages 1-2

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5

Symbolic Entry Developing a Multiple Six approaches Maturing

---------------- ---------------- ---------------- Introducing

When …, what When …, what

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5

Client What do you And what do Use metaphors Return to

Find a space that

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5