NLP eye patterns, or “Eye Accessing” as NLPers call them, are taught in the basic NLP Practitioner class. It gives you insight as to what people are doing inside their head. Not so much what someone is thinking, but HOW someone is thinking.
Not every person follows the same pattern, but there is a common NLP eyes pattern.
NLP Eye patterns (facing the client)
1. Eyes go up and to the right
A person sees a visually remembered image (something they have seen before)
2. Eyes go up and to the left
A person constructs an image in the mind they haven’t seen before.
3. Eyes go right
Remembers a sound they have heard before.
4. Eyes go left:
The person creates or imagines a sound they have never heard before
5. Eyes go down to the right
The person is talking to himself or herself.
6. Eyes go down and to the left
The person accessing a feeling/kinesthetic sensation.
Now here are my 10 tips for NLP eye patterns,
For the die hards
1. For the avid book readers who are reading the wrong books: Many times NLP trainers claim that left handed people are abnormally constructed, meaning usually their visually remembered images are on the left, and their imagined on the right. This is not necessarily true. It is more likely, but it isn’t a rule of thumb. Best thing is to verify instead of assume.
2. The best way to perfect your NLP eye pattern reading skills is by simply setting the intention that you are going to watch eye accessing and listen. A good way to do this is by watching interviews on TV, or while you are meeting up with someone else. Focus!
3. The best way to verify if someone follows the normal pattern is to listen to the person. People will often describe what they imagine, or have experienced before. That reveals the eye patterns.
4. The second best way to verify is to ask questions. You can easily ask something like: “What would you look like if you did wear a uniform for the first time?” (If the topic is actually about uniforms.) Stay on topic!
5. A lot of people hide kinesthetic inside a blink. Especially males.
Conclusion
Video: Strategies for waking up in the morning using eye accessing.
Next week I will offer an additional 5 tips about NLP eye patterns.