Sanctuary: Your Charging Station
The Oxford dictionary defines ‘Sanctuary’ as a safe place, especially one where people
who are in danger of being attacked or captured can stay and be protected. When
we talk about Sanctuary from the perspective of NLP, it’s not very different. This
technique uses language and spatial anchors to set up a protective mechanism for a
person so as to develop a kinesthetic alarm so as to warn them against potential
harm.
To break it down in layman terms, we create a sanctuary for a person to immediately
bring them up from a low state by putting them in a zone of comfort identified by past
pleasant experiences. It is one of the easiest patterns to implement that can be
mastered by frequent practice and the results can be observed instantly.
Sanctuary can be created anywhere and sometimes a place becomes your
sanctuary without even you realising it. For example, some people have ‘their spot’
in their house where they can concentrate better while they are working or studying.
That spot can change from person to person. It won’t matter how many people you
are surrounded by as long as you are in your sanctuary because you have a sense
of confidence and protection in your place.
Even when we are in school, there is that one bench that appeals to us more than
any other spot in the class.
When we leave our home and settle into a new city, we feel uneasy and nervous at
first because our home had become our sanctuary and leaving our safe space
makes us conscious.
After a long day of work, nothing is more tempting than going back home and relax in
peace. These are all instances where we have unknowingly created a sanctuary for
ourselves.
The concept of vacation is very popular in today’s world. But it is not possible to put
your life to a standstill and disappear into the blues every now and then to charge up
your batteries. We all need some “me” time to clear our minds and get our energy
back up so that we can be at it again. Sanctuary can help you at such times. It is a
technique that can be used anytime at any place.
Whenever you feel something is bringing you down, you can pick a spot to create
your sanctuary. It can be a chair, a spot on the floor, etc. Disassociate yourself by
viewing yourself in that place and imagine your high moments in life. Picture yourself
with all your achievements, the times when you have felt confident, safe and happy,
times when you were at the peak of your performance and felt proud of who you are.
When you sit in that place you can feel yourself lightening up and the surge of
positivity flow through yourself. You will associate yourself with the person who you
were imagining at that place. You feel the confidence, pride, happiness, sense of
achievement and belief in your own abilities. You will be able to find the resources
that had been lying hidden inside you. You will have created a filter against all
negative beliefs, doubts and feel unstoppable. This place will become your
powerhouse.
With constant practice we can create a strong sanctuary overtime setting up filters to
protect ourselves from beliefs and states that undermine us. This method can be
used to help not only ourselves but others around us.
Saumya Goyal