Derren Brown – Trains of Thought NLP Explanation
The other evening I was out at a birthday party and during the usual "so what do you do?" questions a guest got talking about this hot new thing called "NLP" and proceeded to talk about this amazing demonstration of Derren Brown creating amnesia and all sorts of things in people.
For those of you who may not be familiar with Derren, he is known for delivering a mix of psychological illusion, perceptual manipulation and persuasive technique to create some great TV viewing.
Much of what Derren does is a mix of NLP, hypnosis and brilliant stagemanship. So if you have ever wondered how Derren does what he does for his more "NLP" oriented video tricks then sit back and prepare to have your mind broadened as I unpack "Trains of Thought" from a NLP and conversational hypnosis perspective.
Watch Derren’s video first:
Firstly if you haven’t seen Derren’s trains of thought video or indeed have but want to get the full experience of it again, go watch it here. It’s a great example of many powerful NLP and conversational hypnosis techniques in action.
Then watch this video for explanation of basic NLP Terms used:
The deconstruction of the "Trains of Thought" video I am about to give is quite detailed and includes a number of NLP terms such as representational systems, sub-modalities and anchoring. If you are not familiar with the first two then please watch this short video next as it will provide you with a brief overview of what these terms are.
Anchoring if you are not aware, refers to process by which and external or internal stimuli triggers another representation or behavior. For example my partner and I have a small puppy named Dutchess who i’ve just started training to respond to my commands. (training a dog is a great way to get good at NLP, because both timing and flexibility in skills is required). Anytime I want Dutchess to roll over I simply need to wave my hand clockwise and she will roll over on her back automatically. It is like she must do it. This is an example of anchoring in action. She sees the unique hand movement and boom it automatically fires a specific behavior.
In NLP we can take a series of states that we elicit from people and chain them to install new behaviors, build new beliefs or any number of things.
Watch my NLP Explanation of "Trains of Thought" here:
Finally – assuming you know what representational systems, anchoring and sub-modalities are go watch this two part video where I unpack how Darren does his "Trains of Thought" experience.
And you can watch the explanation of Video 2 of 2 here:
How to make it practical:
OK, so if you have just watched the above two explanation videos you may be wondering – how can I make this practical? There are lots of ways, and the approach you take will depend on the skill level you have. Here are some suggestions:
Novice:
If you are a total novice with very little expereince of NLP then aim to utilise "pattern interrupts" skillfully. First off, in case you aren’t familiar a pattern interrupt is as the name suggests, it is a process that you use to "interrupt" a currently running pattern of behavior. So for example say you are out at a bar and the person in front of you is going on and on about something that you aren’t that interested in then be creative and come up with any number of ways to interrupt their flow of conversation. You could do this by keep looking just behind the persons head, you could point your finger at their waist and draw their gaze from you on to their midline, you could say something totally unrelated and on a totally different "wavelength" than the one they are on. Whatever you do be flexible and use the right level of pattern interrupt for the effect you are trying to achieve. Pointing at someone’s midline will most like get them to temporarily stop yet unless you utilize that in some way to redirect the conversation you are unlikely to create a big effect. However if you instigate a big pattern interrupt (use your imagination) you will totally cause the person to forget where they were in the conversation and can then you can direct their consciousness to where you want it to go.
Intermediate:
If you have significant NLP experience then you objective is to:
1. Create temporary form of amnesia with two people on any given topic. Perhaps you will cause them to forget a specific word or event. Be imaginative, playful and respectful.
2. Play around with using non verbal means to adjust and alter a persons visual sub-modalities of an experience. In order to do this you first need to be good at paying attention to the subject and noticing where they move their pictures to and roughly estimate the size and distance it is from the persons eyes. A good way to do this is to conversationally talk about different subjects that you know the likely visual properties of for example talk to them about seeing someone’s face up close, and enquire about a time if they ever experienced an incredible vista of something visually spectacular etc. Then carefully and respectfully non verbally (i.e without using language to suggest things) alter the way in which the person see that expereince. Once you have tested your work make sure to casually put their experience back the way it was.
Advanced:
OK so you are skilled at anchoring, pattern interrupts and conversational trance. First application for you out of this is to 1. repeat the demo that Derren did and see if you can create the same effect. 2. Once you have done this to two or three people (and by the way I trust and assume you are using your skills for good and not to negatively influence someone) then see if you can use advanced language skills to get a person to experience arm catalepsy while you create a temporary form of amnesia about the topic they were discussing.And remember there is only feedback. You can’t get good at anything unless you practice. So have fun practicing.
Share this article:
Hi!
I'm Tom.
Everyone has something they’d like to change in their life. I’m here to help you transform the behaviours that get in your way so you can have the life you really want.
Related Article
Get stories worth sharing delivered to your inbox
By signing up you agree to NLP Times Privacy Policy.
GOT A BURNING QUESTION?
Got a burning question you'd like me to answer in an upcoming article?