At Empowerment Trainings and Talisman Training Ltd we use our own updated version of the process known as ‘The Drop-down through.’ We find this is a very useful process and readers can find other versions on the internet.
What I like about this process is that it is simple and is what we call ‘Clean.’ Clean means without content imposition from the facilitator. And has been derived from ‘Symbolic Modeling’ More about this in a future posting. For now lets get back to the process.
Drop-Down Through
Dropping through a feeling is only one direction and does not appear to be very flexible, so taking the feedback from a colleague’s wife I decided to look at other ways of running the principals of this process.
The presupposition is that there is another feeling outside of the current feeling, whether this is beneath the original feel, above it or to the side of it all directions work. It may be that some clients have an anchor to the idea of dropping through something. When a client chooses to go sideways, backwards or forwards I ask them to imagine that when the push through a feeling that they are pushing through big plastic doors like the ones you see in warehouses, supermarkets or hospitals.
The wording of question changes slightly depending on the direction the client chooses to explore.
Process
Client has an unwanted feeling or state.
1. Explain to the client that you are going to facilitate an exploration of the feeling or state. To do this they will either drop-down through the feeling, float up above the feel or push through the feeling to find out what lies beneath, above or beyond this feeling.
2.a. Ask the client which they would prefer to explore.
2.b. Ask the client on a scale of one to ten, with ten being very strong to calibrate the feeling.
3. Ask the client to then, “Get the unwanted state or feeling fully and completely and only when they are ready either:
a) Drop-down through it and tell you what lies beneath this feeling?”, or:
b) float up above this feeling and tell me what feeling sits above this feeling?”, or
c) “Push through this feeling and tell me what feeling lies beyond this feeling?”
4. Allow client time to process and wait for their answer and make a note of it.
5 Repeat step 3 using their word for the new feeling or state until the client either says something like, nothing, no feeling, void etc.
6. Ask the client to feel this, whatever word they use, fully and completely and when they are ready either drop-down through, rise above or push though “Nothing” and tell you: What lies beyond “Nothing”? (Here Nothing is taken to be their word.)
7. This is usually a positive state though you can go one more step beyond this state or feeling.
8 Ask the client to try and get any of the original feeling or state back. If they can repeat steps 3 to 7.
Please note that the feeling chain may be the same with fewer feelings or contain new feelings. A chain of feelings can be as short as 3 or 4 feelings, or as long as 25 feelings.
Once past the void repeat step 8 and see if they can get any of the original feeling or state back. If they can repeat steps 3 to 8 again.
9. Ask the client, “When you try and get (Original feeling) what happens?”
Some clients will collapse the chain with just one exploration others can take four or five explorations before they can’t get the original feeling or state back.
Example.
Original feelings 9 After 1st Exploration 3 After 2nd Exploration 0
Anger Anger Can’t get Anger
Hate Powerless Feels Peace
Powerless Fear
Fear Nothing
Nothing Peace
Peace
(c) NLP4Everyone 2007
