Become Your Own 'Spin' Doctor

I have been involved in studying and teaching NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) since the late 1980's. And while many of the original techniques associated with NLP have been absorbed into more mainstream pursuits (rapport skills, eye-accessing and anchoring among them), one of the techniques that I notice advanced NLP'ers using most often is also the one which seems to be written about the least - what NLP co-developer Dr. Richard Bandler calls 'spinning'.

Here's an abbreviated transcript of how I used it with a caller on my radio show recently who wanted to feel less fear and more happiness in her life.>

Me: Where do you feel fear in your body?

Caller: Everywhere I guess. I just feel scared and I don't know what I'm scared of.

Me: I'm not so worried about what you're scared of - do you feel any fear in your body right now.

C: No, not right now.

Me: Could you scare yourself just a little bit? Go on, think about the future... can you bring up just a little bit of fear right now?

C: Yes.

Me: Where in your body does it start - where are you first aware of it?

C: I think in my head.

Me: And where does it go?

C: Down my back.

Me: Great - and what direction does it spin - clockwise, counter clockwise? In order to feel a feeling it has to keep moving - so it starts in your head and goes down your back - where does it go next - back up to the top of your head?

C: It comes back to my chest.

Me: OK, and does it spin towards you or away from you?

C: Towards me.

Me: Towards you - great. Now here's what I'm going to ask you to do. I want you to imagine you're pulling the spinning fear out of your body so you can see it in front of you. You can see it spinning towards you but it's all happening in front of your body right now.

C: OK.

Me: Now, I want you to turn it upside down so now it's spinning the other way - now it's spinning away from you.

C: Right.

Me: What's your favorite color?

C: Um... pink.

Me: OK, I want you to make it pink - so it's pink and it's spinning away from you and I want you to put it right back inside your body now. Put it back inside your body so you can feel it spinning down through your chest and up your back, up to the top of your head and back down your chest and it's spinning away from you and it's a lovely pink color.

How does that feel?

C: (surprised and laughing a bit) It feels great!

Me: OK, so now I want you to spin it faster and faster - and how does it feel the faster you spin it?

C: (with great sincerity) It feels great...

Me: And I want you to take that great feeling and let it spread from the top of your head right down to the tips of your toes right out to the edges of your fingertips, and the more you spin the feeling the easier it will be for you to have this feeling anytime you want just by taking control of it - because it's just a feeling.

And we have so many theories about 'why we feel this' or 'why we feel that', and what we need to do about it, but sometimes the simplest thing to do is to just step right back into your body and just take control.

Here's how you can begin to play with this technique for yourself...

--------------------
Today's Experiment:
--------------------

1. Think about something that makes you feel angry, sad or fearful.

2. Notice where in your body does the feeling start? Where is the very first place that you're aware of feeling that way?

3. Now, notice where the feeling moves to next. Does it go up, down, left, right or in some other direction? (In order to feel a feeling it has to be moving - otherwise the nerves habituate and we don't feel them anymore!)

4. When you've identified where the feeling begins and where it moves to, notice which direction it is spinning. (If it doesn't feel like it is spinning, ask yourself which way it would be spinning if it was. This could be towards you or away from you on a vertical, horizontal or even diagonal plane.)

5. Next, imagine pulling the feeling out of your body so it continues to spin in front of you. Turn it upside down so that it is now spinning in the opposite director. If you like, imagine it being your favorite color.

6. Now, pull the 'new and improved' feeling back into your body, continuing to spin it in the new direction. The faster you spin it, the better it will feel.

7. Anytime you begin to feel the old feeling, you can simply reverse the direction of the spin and take control!

Bonus Tip:
You can use this same technique to amplify good feelings - simply notice the direction of the spin, add some color, make it bigger and spin it faster.

Have fun, learn heaps, and let the good times roll! (Or at least let the good feelings spin... :-)

With love,
michael