In NLP, anchoring refers to a stimulus response. The stimulus (anchor or trigger) may come from your external environment (someone touching your shoulder or seeing a red light) or be an internal representation. In either case, it triggers a conscious or unconscious internal response/feeling which may result in a behavioral response.

We all have lots of different anchors. You may have kept hearing a certain
song whilst you were on your summer holidays, and every time your now
hear this song again, it reminds you of the time when you were on that
holiday.

The following are examples of anchors.

Red traffic light – external visual.
Police siren – external auditory.
A gentle touch by a loved one – external kinesthetic.

Anchors can be very useful and they can also be counterproductive. Most anchors operate outside of your conscious awareness and have an impact on your mental state or behaviour whether or not you are aware of them.

Useful anchors are those that generate pleasant memories or put you into an empowered state (e.g. motivated or confident).

Examples of counterproductive anchors are:

1. Someone says something that results in you remembering an unpleasant memory that leads to an emotional response.

2. Your spouse says something to you in a certain tone of voice and body language and you react in a less than resourceful manner.

3. A coworker, who continually brings up problems without solutions, begins to speak and you say something to yourself such as “Oh no, not again.” and begin to tune him out.

These anchors if undesired can be changed or eliminated by various NLP techniques.