How to Use NLP in Mentalism & Mind Reading Tricks
Lets get something straight before we continue. When I talk about using NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) in mentalism and magic, I'm not talking about using it in some sort of way to use psychological mind control like some 'mentalism professionals' claim they are using.
I'm not talking about when they 'say' they are using it to influence your decisions when picking a card, a box or just about anything. This isn't actually possible. Don't be fooled by the professional mind reader's or mentalist's false explanation for a trick. You cannot control people with NLP to the extent they say they do. This just isn't possible.
So now we've made that clear lets talk about a method where you CAN use it in a magic tricks. This is to make a crowd reaction stronger. This stuff actually works and will subtly add to your mind reading effects.
I'm talking about using NLP 'Anchors'.
So what is an anchor?
The word anchor comes from NLP whereby when you get an emotional response from someone, whether it is being happy, sad, excited, positive, negative etc. you anchor that emotional response with touch (kinaesthetic anchor), sound (audio anchor) or vision (visual anchor). You can then bring about that emotional response by activating the anchor you set.
Here's an example:
If you casually touch someone's knee every time they laugh, after about the 8th time, you can touch them on the knee when they aren't laughing and they will get a feeling like they want to laugh. You could also use a different type of anchor like a word with a different tone of voice (audio anchor), or a hand gesture (visual anchor) as a more subtle way of anchoring. Or, you can even use them all at the same time to leave a stronger anchor.
This can be abused and it already has been by pick up artists worldwide by using anchors to trick the opposite sex into thinking they have a stronger bond with the person than they really do. If you choose to use anchoring for that reason that is your business but I take no responsibility for your actions.
So how can you use anchoring in magic and mentalism?
There are numerous ways to do this and it really deserves its own book but I will share with you one method..
It's quite simple, every time you perform a trick and the audience reacts with amazement (you need to do a good trick by the way – I recommend an Ultimate Mind Reading trick of course 
..) you need to anchor that response. If it's a one on one setting, you can casually touch the spectator on the shoulder every time they react with amazement. Otherwise, if there's a bit of a crowd, you could bang on the table and say a word like “Jesus!”. This will anchor the emotional response of amazement with the crowd.
You can then bring them to a feeling of amazement more easily if after every trick you bang on the table and say “Jesus!”.
This is a subtle way of adding to your mentalism and mind reading tricks and the best anchors are by creating your own which you feel comfortable doing yourself.
Have fun..
If you would like to perform jaw dropping mentalism visit mind reading tricks
April 6th, 2010 - 13:34
hello…
May 26th, 2010 - 03:27
it really works!
August 18th, 2010 - 12:10
What a terrific idea! I had been exprimenting with classical conditioning for many years in the labarotary, however, I never understood how it could be applied to mentalism.
For practical purposes ,however, you would have to be a mentalist who does repeat performances on the same audience with a degree of frequency.
September 3rd, 2010 - 09:33
You might not be able to control people with NLP, but you will be able to influence people to make specific choices.
NLP has, unfortunately, been mixed with a lot of mumbo jumbo and spiritual stuff, but if you look at the core of NLP it’s about communication and how our brain percieves different ways of communication (both verbal and non-verbal). And that can be very useful.
This doesn’t mean that NLP is some miracle stuff, but it can be a tool. However when learning NLP you have to be very critical, because a lot of those teaching it, try to make it seem like a new age miracle knowlegde.
January 11th, 2011 - 22:59
This is amazing. It really works. It made me chuckle, because it’s sort of the same thing I did to train my cats to come to me. I would shake the treats, and say “Come”, and after a little while, just saying “Come” made them do just that.
It naturally works with anything. Also, I believe the number is 8, because they say it take 8 times of doing something before it becomes habit.
February 10th, 2011 - 22:38
I always felt if your performance is strong enough—you will be rewarded with a good applause. But then again I’m old fashioned.
February 21st, 2011 - 11:20
IT’S AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!