Control Panel Method
This method is useful
to ‘restore factory settings’ and normalise actual physical
symptoms that the client wants to regain control of. For example –
pain control, or metabolism control to aid slimming, although use of
this method can be applied to most issues to which a sense of scale
can be applied.
The basic principles
are set out below however we will leave the exact wording to you as
you may like to find a suitable method for your style of therapy.
- Talk to your client about the pain or the thing that they want to change, for the purposes of this example we will use pain
- Create a scale from 1 – 10 with 10 being the worst pain they could possibly experience, in order that you can measure where that pain is against the unconscious responses that will be elicited later in the method.
- Trance induction/deepeners if necessary
- Set up IMR (Finger Signals) in order that you can communicate easily with your client, however you may like to have them talk to you during trance to let you know how the pain is feeling at any moment.
- Ask the client to visualise or merely sense their control panel which will become apparent to them from a place deep in their mind. Remembering not to direct the client on the specifics of what that panel may look like - you may like to suggest maybe that the panel is in the shape of a mobile phone or a keypad or the cockpit of an aeroplane but whatever it looks like to them is fine
- Once the control panel has been identified you can make the suggestion to the client that there is a dial and the dial has numbers around the edge reading from 0 to 10.
- Once they have identified the pain or area they want to reset ask them to look at the dial and tell you using their honest unconscious finger responses where the pain is measured at the moment, remembering to give them the benchmark, ie 0 being really low pain and 10 being really high. Say the numbers from 0 to 10 until the client shows you with their finger where the pain is at the moment, and how severe it is.
- Having established a safe place, and anchored it, proceed to increase the ‘pain’ to its maximum. Then decrease it as far as possible, relaying to them the ability of one’s mind to control the pain response.
- Hand the control over to the client. You can then ask the client to turn down the dial, in whichever way is the best way for them, to 0 if that is feasible, or maybe just to 1 or 2 if it is a chocolate craving ! (you don’t want to completely take away the pleasure of eating chocolate though by turning the craving down it will help your client regain control of it)
- Once they have turned down the dial, ask them to secure the dial in a way that prevents anyone tampering with it. Say it is their dial to change and should the pain increase or the problem get worse so that the brain needs to have it brought to its attention for safety reasons, then it will make itself known in the form of a tingle or a warm sensation and that will raise the awareness of the issue to be addressed.
- It is always nice for the client once they have done the main issue that you give them an opportunity to do anything else – experiment with knowing that they are once more in complete control of their physical body through the control panel. They can make their nails grow, their skin to be more clear, metabolism can be sped up etc ... These are all nice to have and sometimes it is nice to add in anything else that you have discussed with your client or ask them to choose what else they might like to do while they have the panel out and in a position to make the changes they want. Give them two minutes of real time to do that and ask them to raise their finger when they are finished and are ready to move on to the next step.
- Once done – ask the client to return the panel knowing that they can return to it at any point and with each time that they do this they will find it easier to access just by taking a couple of deep breaths and focusing their attention on the panel.
- Carry out a last test now to check that they have had the pain resolved and exit trance.
It is possible for the
client to operate a control panel procedure without the trance in an
NLP style, and this has been as effective, if not more so for some
clients who respond better to the more direct approach
