S: Umm … Yellow.
A: Okay, when Jan 'yellows' (Squeezes right shoulder) then, her breathing, facial expression, skin color and so on change to what she is doing right now … 'Yellow,' of course, is another verbal anchor for this experience. I've just now paired it with the other anchors we have established for it. Jan, what color would you like to call your resources?
S: Blue.
A: 'Blue.' All right, we'll call your resources 'blue'… Now I'd like to show you how to find, at the formal level, the resources Jan needs to get more choices about 'yellowing.' The first thing I want to do is find out what state of consciousness she's in when she's 'yellow'. And the way I'm going to do this is to simply ask her which representational systems she has access to in this state … I already have some information about which representational systems she's using. What is it?
Woman: Her accessing cues?
A: Yes, very good. When Jan is 'yellowing' her eyes are down and left which is … ?
Man: Internal dialogue.
A: Right,… internal dialogue … good. There is something else. You'll remember that she sighs slightly —breathing from the abdomen — and that she mentioned something about feelings. So I can also bet that there are some kinesthetics involved … But let's check this out with Jan …Jan, what I want you to do is to put yourself back into an actual situation when you were 'yellow.' And I'm going to ask you some questions about it, okay?
S: Okay.
A: When you're 'yellow' how easy is it for you to see what's going on around you externally?
S: Ah … (Looks up and left) not very … I could see things if I wanted to, I guess, but I don't look at things very much while it's going on.
A: (Squeezes S's right shoulder) Okay … How about internally? Do you use your mind's eye, or make pictures in your head when you are 'yellow'?
S: Ah … (Looks up and left, then down and right) … No.
A: (Squeezes S's right shoulder) All right … How well can you hear what's going around you externally when you are 'yellow'. Do you hear what other people are saying and what their tones of voice are like?
S: (Looks down and left then up) … Uhmm …
A: (Laughs) You won't find it up there … it's over here (Guides S's eyes straight and to the left) … [To audience] One of the things I'm doing is watching Jan's accessing cues to make sure that she's accessing and checking out the appropriate representational system, so I can be sure her response is congruent and valid. A lot of times people make pictures, hear voices or get feelings that are out of consciousness for them. So you have to check it out with their less conscious nonverbal forms of communication … You have probably also noticed that I've been reanchoring her as she gives each response. This helps to reinforce the anchor … Come up with an answer yet, Jan?
S: Well … I can hear some things when I listen for them … but in general not very much.
A: (Squeezes S's right shoulder) OK … How about inside your head? Is there a lot of noise going in there when you are 'yellow'? Do you talk to yourself a lot?
S: (Eyes move down and left. Starts nodding her head) … Oh yes … a lot of it .. . I'm saying all kinds of things.
A: (Squeezes S's right shoulder) Aha … Okay, let's move to kinesthetics. Do you have much external tactile body awareness? Like temperature, texture, pressure and so on?
S: (Eyes up and then down and right) Mmmm, no … not at all. That's interesting.
A: (Squeezes S's right shoulder) … How about internal feelings?
S: (Eyes down left and then down right) Oh yes, a lot of those (Voice very low. Begins to tense up. S grips left hand very tightly). I get so frustrated … I… (Lips tighten, clenches jaw.)
A: (Squeezes S's right shoulder) All right … come back … no need to access that too much … How about smells or tastes? Are you aware of any of those?
S: UhUh … none.
A: (Squeezes S's shoulder) … Any internal, remembered smells or tastes?
S: (Eyes down and left) No.
A: (Squeezes S's right shoulder) … OK … [To audience] Now I've got an explicit description of Jan's state of consciousness that we're calling 'yellow'. I'll map it out visually on the blackboard so you can all see what's going on … (Writes the following on the blackboard.)
'YELLOW'
Ve—?
V1—0
Ae — ?
Ai — X
Ke — O
Ki — X
O — O
A: "X's" mean full access to the representational system. 'O's' mean no access, or negligible access to the representational system. And question marks mean partial or questionable access … What this diagram indicates to me is that Jan is losing access to a lot of potential resources when she's yellow because all of these systems drop out — notably her visual system but also practically all systems involved in gathering information from external sources. Her internal dialogue and internal feelings override all of the other representational systems …
The reason that we have five senses is because they are all resources and each one can pick up information that isn't available to our other senses. We can hear things that we can't see or feel; we can see things that we can't feel, hear or smell; we can smell things that we can't hear or see; we can feel things that we can't see, hear or smell; and so forth … There are many situations that you can't see your way out of, a lot of situations you won't be able to talk, listen or shout your way out of, other situations you can't feel your way out of and so on.
If you want to be able to deal effectively with a situation you need access to all of your representational systems … Losing access to sensory resources is probably the primary block to problem solving … What I want to do is help Jan get access to those resources in her problem state by anchoring a state in which she naturalistically has access to the representational systems that she's missing when she 'yellows' … It's unfortunate, but what generally happens when people come up against a problem or a frustrating or negative situation is that the negative feelings or their internal dialogue or whatever begin to anchor up other negative situations or 4–tuples associated with the bad experience, rather than going right for the resources. They begin to spiral, or loop, in the bad experience, and that keeps them from getting to their resources … [To Jan] So, what I'd like you to do now, Jan, is to think of a time when you had your full potential and resources as a person. A time when you had full contact with the world around you as well as access to internal creativity and confidence. A time when you were able to handle anything that came up.
S: (Eyes down and right then up, straight left and up and right. Straightens posture from slumping position to erect, with shoulders back. Breaths smoothly and easily from whole chest. Smiles a broad smile. Color comes to her face.) Uh-huh … (Tonality strong and resonant.)
A: (Squeezes left shoulder) Now that's what I call 'blue'… (laughter) … In this state, Jan, that we're going to call 'blue', are you able to see clearly what is going on around you?
S: (Smiles, eyes defocus, nods) Oh yes, very clearly.
A: (Squeezes S's left shoulder) I thought so. How about inside your head, can you make clear pictures in there?
S: (Eyes up and right). Yes … But I don't do it all of the time … only when I need to think about something or piece something together.
A: (Squeezes S's left shoulder). OK, good … How well can you hear what's going on outside of you when you're 'blue'?
S: (Eyes level, shift straight across back and forth.) Oh, fine (nods her head) … I'm really aware of what people are saying to me.