Stage #2

“The 1 Word Technique”

© Michael Norman International & www.PanicFree.TV

 “THE 1 WORD TECHNIQUE”
This is a very simple, and very powerful way of deliberately stripping away the ability of a
habitual thought to be anxiety-provoking.

For example: with Panic False Alarms people typically have anxious internal dialogue that
gives them a fearful interpretation of certain body sensations.

For example: “Is this a heart attack? Is this dangerous?”

PART 1: KNOWING WHERE TO TAP

There are just two parts to The 1 Word Technique. The first part is to set things up
by finding out exactly where to tap. To do this, look in your False Alarm Log, and look
at your answers to this question:

“What did I just think or say to myself that made me feel anxious or panicky? What
things did I think or tell myself that made the anxiety worse, or made the panic
escalate?”

Here are some examples from other clients:

“Oh f*ck, is this a heart attack?”

“I’m going to die, it’s not my time yet!”
“What if this isn’t a panic attack? What if this time it’s real?”
“What’s wrong… something is wrong… am I ok?”

I want you to choose just ONE thought / sentence from your False Alarm Log to
start—a sentence you said to yourself that made you feel anxious or panicky, made
the anxiety worse, or made the panic escalate. This is going to be the thought we
“tap”. (Later, you can repeat this process with other sentences, but we only want
you to use one sentence at a time).

(C) Michael Norman International & www.PanicFreeTV.com

 PART 2: “THE 1 WORD TECHNIQUE”
1) ONE SENTENCE: Choose just ONE thought/sentence from your False Alarm Log that has
been anxiety provoking when you’ve said it to yourself in the past (e.g. “Oh f*ck, is this a
heart attack?”).

2) TEST: When you say that sentence to yourself, is it anxiety-provoking? If it is, that means
we’re “tapping” in the right place.

3) NEUTRAL: Put that thought aside and shake your body out to get into a more “neutral”
state.

4) FIRST WORD BACKWARDS: See and say JUST the first word of that sentence to yourself
as you watch that SINGLE word moving very, very slowly… backwards… across your mental
screen (e.g. “Oh”).

5) NEXT WORD EVEN SLOWER: After that first word has disappeared off the left of your
mental screen, allow the next word to follow the same path, but this time even MORE
SLOWLY as it moves backwards across that “mental screen”. See and say ONLY that word,
because again, this is “The 1 Word Technique”—only one word at a time (e.g. f*ck).

6) EACH SUBSEQUENT WORD MOVES EVEN SLOWER & SLOWER: As you watch each
word—one word at a time—make sure that as the sentence progresses, each subsequent
word moves even more slowly than the last. (This is so your brain learns that the whole
sentence is only getting slower and slower as time moves on).

7) FAST REWIND: Once you’ve watched every word from that sentence move, one by one,
off the left of your “mental screen”, allow each word to VERY QUICKLY rewind from left to
right—starting from the LAST word all the back to the very FIRST word, back at the
beginning. Allow the rewind to happen very, very fast. (Please see the video if you need
clarification, and you can certainly do it even faster than the video if you can. Let the
rewind happen without much thought.)

8) TEST: Once you’re done, open your eyes (if they were closed), look around, and shake
your body a little bit so that you fully come back into the room. Then say that very same
sentence to yourself the way you used to—and try to see if you can get any of that old
anxious feeling back. How differently does it feel now?

9) REPEAT: Repeat this process a few times with each sentence UNTIL you notice that the
sentence has lost all the power it had to make you anxious in any way.

Once you’ve done this, and you’ve noticed that that sentence has lost all it’s power, you
can repeat this entire process with the next sentence in your False Alarm Log.

(C) Michael Norman International & www.PanicFreeTV.com

 VARIATIONS
Split Any Emotionally Powerful Words

If any word makes you anxious just by itself (e.g. “die” or “panic”), split it into TWO
separate words so it completely loses its meaning.

For example:

“Panic” —> Pa…………….. Nic

“Die” —> “D” (might sound like “dah”)……….. “ie” (might sound like “eeee”)

Please see the video for a visual example of this.

Auditory Only

You can do “The 1 Word Technique” without any visualizations if you find that easier.
Simple SAY each word out loud as slowly AS IF it really was moving backwards across
your mental screen. For the rewind, do your best impression of how that sentence
would sound if it was played in rewind, at lightning speed (like listening to an old
tape in rewind).

Move Your Head

You can also move your head as you watch that one word moving across your
“mental screen” from far right to left (in the same way you might when watching
someone walk slowly past). Then move your head back at normal speed to the right
to “get” the next word.

There are a number of reasons this can be VERY useful, but a big one is that it helps
your brain separate each word out even more fully.

Word Size & Distance

If you feel that you need more distance from the words, literally see them further
away from you. Allow yourself to have all the distance you need, whilst still being
able to see them. You can also make the words a lot smaller if that helps.

Additionally, it can be very powerful to allow those words to be small, insignificant

AND below you (e.g. ankle level)—so you’re HUGE in comparison, towering over
them.

(C) Michael Norman International & www.PanicFreeTV.com

Space In Between

You can also pay MORE attention to all the space in between the letters than to the
actual letters themselves. This can further increase your awareness of the vast space
not only between each word, but between even the letters.

Colour Your Words

You can change the appearance of the words in any way you’d like. You could allow
them to be rainbow coloured, black & white, dim, sparkly, or anything else you can
imagine that makes them less serious, less impactful and easier to laugh at.

Change The Font

You can make the words any font you want. You could choose a very thin, fragile-
looking font to make the words even less powerful.

Change Voice Qualities

While I don’t often use this variation, if you still feel anxious saying a sentence, you
can change the tone of voice you use. For example, you could say it in a sleepy voice.
You could also say it in a funny cartoon character’s voice. Or my favourite, you could
say it in the voice of someone you could NEVER EVER believe (e.g. the least credible,
least believable politician you know!).

Touch / Movement

Some people find this process easier if they physically imagine touching the word as
it moves past them very slowly. Feel its shape, texture, the roundness of certain
letters, the holes in the letters etc. Pay particular attention not only to all the space
between and inside the letters, but the vast space between words.

Pretending & Acting As If

If you find visualising difficult you have three options. First, you could do the Auditory
Only version (above). Second you could touch the words (also above). Or third, you
could just PRETEND and act AS IF you’re seeing one word at a time.

(C) Michael Norman International & www.PanicFreeTV.com