The 8 states is a technique created by Owen Fitzpatrick and Brian Colbert of the Irish Institute of NLP which uses language and various anchors to enable people to go into a state to take in information and process it usefully and to solve problems and achieve results. As with many NLP techniques its best use for you can only really be found by applying the technique in the various situations you come across and by taking the time to decide for yourself how best you can use it. I find this technique very helpful to create a good state before the working day starts.

What is it in outline?

For those who are about to know what the technique is, you first find a quiet place with a little bit of space and imagine a circle drawn on the floor in front of you. Choose a point on the edge of the circle to start from and move there. You are ready to begin.

(1) Step one is that you step into the circle from the starting point. Are you there yet?

(2) Now you ask yourself a question in a way which is going to put you into one of the useful states Owen and Brian have identified. Now you step out of the circle back to the starting point.

(3) Repeat these steps once or twice. Once you have created the state in yourself move further around the circle (one eighth to the left or right).

(4) Repeat steps one to three, so you step into the circle from the new point and you ask yourself a different question in a way which is going to put you into another of the useful states. You then step back out to the new point. Then step back into the circle asking the same question in the same way. Repeat a couple of times

When you have created this second state in yourself you move a little further around the circle and do the same to install the next state in yourself. The idea is to work your way around the nine points of the circle back to the original starting point.

(5) Finally, you step into the circle and you experience all eight states at the same time. Couldnt be much simpler could it?

The 8 states

Owen and Brian identified the following states as being particularly useful.

· Openness

· Awareness

· Curiosity

These are the states to put yourself in to start consciously and unconsciously taking in all of the information around you which you are perceiving, and processing it in the best way you can. In terms of chunking (that is the size of the piece of information you are processing), openness starts with the big picture, awareness delves into the details and curiosity considers what isn't immediately apparent. Having prepared yourself you are ready to engage in whatever it is you need to do.

· Creativity

· Flexibility

· Pragmatism

These are states you put yourself in when you are dealing with a problem or thing. You start again with the big picture - what are all of the options here? - and then move to consider if you can use the ways you create which are better than the less effective ways you have been using to deal with the problem or thing. Pragmatism is where you choose the best of the ways.

· Responsibility

· Determination

These states which you go into now are the states which will make sure that when you have done whatever you need to do you will have dealt with the problem or thing successfully.

The Key

With this technique you create each of the states in yourself in the order listed above when you step into the circle. This is done by asking yourself a question in a way which will put you into the state. You must emphasise whatever word is most important in the question.

One, the question must be one which you relate to. The question should really make you go into the state; emphasising the most important word will act as a cue to your brain to focus on what is important.

Two, you must ask the question as if you really need the answer. Pretend you are an actor and at first exaggerate your body language, gestures and tone of voice so when you ask the question you can get to know what it feels like to believe in the question. You are asking the question realistically, arent you? One way to do this is to ask someone to observe as you ask the question and give you a mark out of 10 for how convincing is your act. Or you can work out another way that works for you.

This may all have seemed a bit vague up to now. Here are the questions that I ask myself.

· Openness: what is out there?

· Awareness: what can I be aware of more?

· Curiosity: I wonder what else there is.

· Creativity: how else can this be done?

· Flexibility: is there a better way?

· Pragmatism: taking what you have, what is the best way?

· Responsibility: what are you going to do about this?

· Determination: how am I going to get this done?

You may find that different questions work better for you.

Why does this work?

A number of NLP tools make this technique work and you can realise the technical complexity behind its simplicity.

Anchoring

An anchor is a thing such as a sound, smell, sight or feeling which triggers an association such as a happy memory or a feeling of calm when it happens. Anchors are created all of the time deliberately and unconsciously.

The circle acts as a spatial anchor. When you are in the space you associate it with a particular state you have created when you ask the question for that state in a realistic and convincing way. When you superimpose all 8 states onto the circle you create a stacking anchor which means that there are lots of associations with the one space.

Asking the questions either out loud or in your head creates an auditory sensation and adjusting your physiology (body language, gestures etc) creates a kinaesthetic sensation. Imagining the circle, you create a visual sensation. These sounds, feelings and sights create a further association with the 8 states. This adds up to a lot of anchors which you can fire off anywhere just by stepping into your circle. As its invisible no one will know what you are doing if you step into the circle in public.

Deliberate questions

Generally by asking yourself a question you force your brain to process for an answer. For the question to be recognised by your brain as being important it is important that the question really relates to you, that you believe in the question and you emphasise in your own way the most important word in the question.

Notice that for the state of responsibilityI ask the question as if I am someone else (what are "you"&) whereas for the state of determinationI ask how am "I" &. I need external motivation to start things but once I am doing them I build enough motivation inside myself to get the job done without external pressure. For me the youand the Iare the words which need emphasis. You might be different.

Use of language and tone of voice

A way to make the questions effective and relate to you the user is to use the Milton Model. This is a set of linguistic patterns and structures that Richard Bandler, the co-creator of NLP, observed being used by one of the most successful hypnotherapists, Milton Erickson.

Using one of his linguistic patterns, artful vagueness, in your questions leaves you to interpret what the question actually means to you right now. This may differ from time to time but the question need not change.

Using another pattern, presuppositions, can mean that to understand the question you have to accept certain facts. Whenyou are successful means not ifyou are going to be successful but that you are not sure yet by which date you will be successful but that it is a given that you are going to be successful.

Using another pattern, embedded commands, can covertly deliver commands to yours sub-conscious mind without it seeming that anyone is telling you what to do. Notice for the state of awareness, my question is what can I be aware of more?. The embedded command is in bold.

These are only three possibilities and you can use any of Milton Ericksons patterns to make your questions more effective for you.

Another way to make the technique work better might be to ask the questions as if someone you find influential is asking the questions - think of their tone, rhythm and emphasis on certain words.

Remember a question can be asked in many different ways and have many different meanings. Taking my question for the state of determination, I might gently and rhythmically ask "how am I going to & " which lulls me into a relaxed state and then drop the pitch and harden the tone "get this done" which delivers an order. I could instead emphasise the get this donesoftly but in a way which distinguishes it from the rest of the sentence. Do whatever works for you.

Changing your neurology

By using your brain to exaggerate the tone of voice and posture and breathing (i.e. your physiology) to begin with to put yourself into a state, you train your brain to secrete the right chemicals to put you into that state whenever stand or breathe in the same way in the future. Your physiology becomes an anchor.

The more you practice the simpler it becomes to go into the state at will simply by adopting the right physiology. And by going on to associate the 8 states with another physiological anchor, i.e. the step into the imaginary circle, when you take that step you are firing off an anchor which will make your neurology make your physiology put you into all 8 states.

Conclusion

The technique is a powerful one but it takes a little preparation and practice. Find the space, find the time. Make the questions powerful using all of the techniques you have been taught or have developed. Practise going into the states as if you are an actor. The results will be worth it and you will find out for yourself what they are.