The 5-Channel Technique, According to Klaus Bernhardt

The 5-channel Technique, according to Klaus Bernhardt, is a speedy way of positively influencing the brain of people with mental health problems. It is based on the fact that things perceived through different sensory channels are also processed in different brain areas. The 5-Channel Technique stimulates these different areas to cooperate with each other. In combination with the 10 Sentence Method, which Klaus Bernhardt presented in 2017 in his international bestseller “THE ANXIETY CURE,” it is possible to free anxiety patients from their fears quickly and permanently.

This is achieved by neuronally restructuring a brain trained for anxiety and panic, literally removing the breeding ground for anxiety disorders. While breathing exercises, pure distraction, or even tranquilizers usually only help for a short time and do not produce a lasting effect (apart from addiction if taken for too long), the 5-channel Technique extraordinarily stimulates the brain. This quickly creates new and stable synaptic connections in which ease and self-confidence are stored instead of fear. The more such “positive synapses” there are in the brain, the more automatically you react with composure in previously anxious situations. The dreaded bodily reactions such as trembling, tingling, dizziness, sweating, a lump in the throat, and pressure in the chest and stomach are increasingly absent as the corresponding messenger substances (neurotransmitters) are no longer released.

The 10 Sentence Method: The Basis for the 5-Channel Technique

To work with the 5-channel Technique, you need ten well-formulated sentences using the 10 Sentence Method. If you don’t have these, you can find a SIMPLE GUIDE TO THE 10 SENTENCE METHOD HERE.

Once you have written down your ten sentences correctly, the next step is to connect your brain positively as quickly as possible. The 5-Channel Technique will help you exploit your gray matter’s full potential. When used correctly, it is possible to achieve a significant reduction in anxiety and panic very quickly and, with a bit of patience and a time investment of just 20 minutes a day, even become permanently anxiety-free. How long it takes you to achieve this goal depends, of course, on how long you have been suffering from panic attacks or another anxiety disorder. Suppose you have been suffering from anxiety for more than 5 years. In that case, you should expect it to take 3 to 4 months. At the same time, sufferers who have not been suffering for quite so long can return to life as if they had never had an anxiety disorder after just 4 to 6 weeks.

How to Use the 5-Channel Technique Correctly

Spend 20 minutes daily thinking about just one of your ten sentences, concentrating on one of your five sensory channels at a time. As a rough guideline, this means 5 minutes each for SIGHT and HEARING, 4 for FEELING, and 3 for SMELLING and TASTING.

So, in your imagination, see, hear, feel, smell, and taste one after the other, as well separated from each other as possible. Many people initially jump back and forth between the sensory channels. But don’t worry; this is normal and doesn’t disrupt the process. Just keep returning to the channel you are currently on until you have reached the appropriate number of minutes. You should do the 10 Sentence Method and the 5-channel Technique immediately before bed. This also includes your dream phases (REM phases) during sleep in the “reprogramming” of the brain, which again accelerates success.

Of course, this type of mental training takes some getting used to at first and requires some practice. Still, most anxiety patients actually manage to integrate this highly effective exercise into their lives in less than a week. The easiest way to explain the exact process is to use a concrete example. Let’s take the following sentence:

“I live in a happy relationship and am happy every day about what a loving and mindful partner I get to spend my life with.”

Important note: If you are sure this will never happen with your current partner, please do this mental exercise with a fantasy person you don’t “yet” know. If you were thinking of someone concrete, the sentence according to Rule 5 of the 10 Sentence Method would not be achievable. So, this is only about the human qualities that the perfect partner should have, but not about a specific person.

Choosing a situation within this sentence that you consider part of a perfect relationship is straightforward and effective. For example, this could be an excellent Sunday breakfast together, a walk through the woods, a romantic night of love, or a movie night followed by a visit to your favorite restaurant. Over the coming weeks, you can keep choosing new situations during your exercises as long as they fit in with the basic idea of a happy relationship. However, make sure that you only use positive language here. A good relationship also includes being able to argue sensibly occasionally. But the word “argument” alone has negative connotations. It is, therefore, taboo, and most people are likelier to lack happy hours together than to really need a culture of arguing.

Using the example of going to the cinema together, I will explain how you can optimally separate the sensory channels. But first, an important tip: probably some of you are thinking: “But I haven’t been able to go to the movies for a long time because of my anxiety.”

Please realize that the only reason you can no longer go to the cinema is because your brain is already planning that you might get anxious or even have a panic attack. It produces images of you sitting in a panic in a crowded movie theater and unable to leave it quickly enough. It plans scenes in which people look at you reproachfully because you push through the narrow rows of seats in the middle of the movie to finally get out. You can probably already hear the angry comments of other annoyed moviegoers in your mind.

So, realize the following: it is still a thousand times easier for your brain to call up all these negative images and inner dialogues than it is for it to produce even one positive thought. But this will soon end because this is precisely what the 10 Sentence Method and the 5-Channel Technique are for. It’s not about forcing yourself to go back to the movies despite your fears, but about teaching your brain in a protected environment (namely at home) to finally produce positive thoughts instead of negative ones.

Even if you can hardly imagine this at the moment, If you do the following exercise consistently for a few weeks, you will soon be able to do all the things that you still think are impossible again with ease. It doesn’t matter if you can’t believe in quick success yet. Still, you will experience it more and more often as soon as you consistently carry out the following training.

First Steps With the 5-Channel Technique

Find a quiet place, make yourself comfortable, and go through your five sensory channels one after the other. Do this exercise NOT in writing, but rather only in your mind, as the aim is to train a new way of thinking. If you cannot concentrate well enough, you can, of course, use pen and paper at the beginning. Still, it would be best to always do the exercise mentally more often than in writing as you progress.

To correctly perform the 10-Sentence Method using the 5-Channel Technique using our example, go to a nice movie theater of your choice with a loved one and start by concentrating only on the visual channel, i.e., on SEEING. Take your time. It’s not about being fast but immersing yourself as deeply as possible in the respective channel.

It doesn’t matter if the perfect person for you doesn’t yet exist in your life; imagine what qualities this person would need to have to fall madly in love with them immediately.

So, here we go! Here are a few ideas in advance of what you could see in your imagination:

• Posters of the movie you’ve chosen in front of the cinema
• A beautiful, inviting bar in the lobby of the movie theater
• The situation in which your dream partner buys the tickets
• You buy the food and drink and take with you to the cinema.
• The comfortable seats and the giant screen on which funny commercials are already playing
• Your partner’s hand tenderly stroking yours.
• The great movie you have decided to watch
• The moment when the lights come back on and you can see from the faces of the other visitors that you enjoyed the movie as much as you did
• Your partner who lovingly asks where you would like to go for dinner now
• Your favorite restaurant, where the waiter greets you warmly because you are a welcome guest
• Etc.

As soon as you have consciously perceived all the beautiful images that have come to mind in connection with this situation, switch to the auditory channel, the HEARING channel, and now calmly think about all the things you can hear during a perfect evening at the movies followed by a visit to a restaurant with a loved one.

You then switch to FEEL, then to Smell, and finally to TASTE.

The last two sensory channels, in particular, draw on ancient brain areas and are, therefore, particularly powerful in reprogramming, which is why you should keep going. In addition, around 98 percent of all fears are primarily produced in one of the first three channels. Hence, both smelling and tasting are usually unencumbered by old fear structures and are, therefore, very effective in positively reprogramming your brain right from the start.

The 5-Channel Technique Using the Example of a Lovely Trip to the Movies

Here is a concrete example of how this exercise should be carried out in your mind. Please adapt the individual details to your personal preferences. If you don’t like cola, use the drink you would prefer to drink in such a situation. This does not necessarily have to be water; it can also be beer, sparkling wine, or coffee. After all, we want to mentally plan and network behavior that describes how our life is excellent.

On the other hand, you already have a perfect command of behavior controlled by fears, which we don’t want to support any further. So if, for example, you really enjoy drinking coffee but are currently avoiding it due to your anxiety disorder, now would be the perfect time to start doing so again, at least in your mind. It is also essential that you don’t just imagine the individual details but that you live through them in your mind as intensively as possible.

SEEING: I see the movie theater, the big screen on which the commercials are already playing; I see the people with drinks and popcorn; I see my popcorn bag and ice-cold Coke. I see my partner waiting excitedly for the movie, I see their hand gently grabbing mine and stroking it, I see their beautiful smile, I see the movie starting, I see my favorite actor …

HEARING: I hear the dialogues in the movie, the music, the laughter of the people, the soft rustling of my popcorn bag, I hear the soothing sound of the chair as soon as I move in it, I hear my companion whisper a funny comment to me, I hear my inner dialogues about how happy I am to finally have such a great person by my side, I hear the crunch of the popcorn as I bite it …

FEELING: I feel the comfortable cinema seat, I feel the pleasant warmth in the room, I feel my partner’s gentle hand, I feel the cold bottle of Coke in my hand, I feel the crunchy popcorn in my mouth, I feel the excitement as the movie starts, I feel good because I can do everything I want to do again, and I feel the ice-cold drink that refreshes me wonderfully with every sip. Later, the calm and pleasant evening air as I happily leave the cinema, the anticipation of my favorite meal in the restaurant, the excellent and liberating feeling of finally being able to do everything I feel like doing again …

SMELL: I smell the smell of the movie theater, the perfume of my companion, my fresh popcorn, my cola, later the food in the restaurant, the dessert, maybe a good glass of wine or an espresso afterward (choose what suits you best here).

TASTE: I taste the popcorn, the cola, the tender kiss from my partner, the delicious food in the restaurant, all the side dishes and drinks…

You may realize just by reading these few lines how powerful this different way of thinking is. The more details you can think of as you mentally play through the situations, the quicker you will be able to lead an easy and happy life again because this exercise networks your mind at a speed that is 10,000 times faster than any form of everyday thinking. While the sentence “I’m spending a nice evening at the movies with my sweetheart” only creates a handful of synapses in your head, your head has to activate five different brain regions separately when separating the channels. As soon as you switch from one channel to another, these regions have to exchange data, as you now also want to hear, feel, smell, or taste something that you previously only saw. This forces your neurons to fire together again and again, which in turn leads to them connecting with each other via synapses.

Assuming you find 20 details for seeing, then another 20 each for hearing and feeling, and perhaps 10 things you can smell and five things you can taste, your brain can’t help but build up 20 x 20 x 20 x 10 x 5 synaptic connections. Have you done the math yet? If you do this exercise conscientiously, you can create up to 400,000 synapses in your head within 20 minutes, all of which only know one piece of information: Going to the movies regularly again, full of fun, and with someone who suits you.

As soon as you have practiced the 10 Sentence Method using the 5-channel Technique for a few days, you will notice that sticking to the respective channel takes work. Perhaps the wonderful smell of freshly mown grass spontaneously comes to mind when you smell it if your sentence is: “I love going for walks alone.” Then your brain can’t help but add the freshly mown meadow and the friendly waving neighbor with the lawnmower to the visual channel, while the memory of the sound of a lawnmower is also automatically recalled in the auditory channel and thus reconnected.

Jumping back and forth between the channels is not bad, as this creates many additional positive connections in the brain. The important thing is that you then return to the channel you were just in and look for other things that you will soon perceive again as soon as you have overcome the fear for good.

When tasting, it also makes sense to incorporate situations in which something is eaten and drunk while you are still seeing. Assuming you are planning to finally return to a job that makes you really happy, the lunch break with your lovely new colleagues could also feature in your exercise. That’s precisely why we took you to your favorite restaurant when we mentioned going to the cinema. After all, where is it more accessible to smell and taste positively if it is not there?

Some people still need help implementing the individual techniques at first. Please don’t let this put you off; after all, you are learning a new way of using your brain. As with everything you know, practice makes perfect.

If you need additional help because there are still a few things that are not entirely clear to you, or if you fear that your anxiety disorder has organic causes that your GP has not yet recognized, then we recommend our online video course “THE ANXIETY CURE.” This is structured as if you had 7 individual sessions with one of our best therapists. Here, you will learn everything about why anxiety disorders really arise, which causes are often overlooked, and what you should bear in mind for specific anxieties such as agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, hypochondria, panic attacks, or even emetophobia so that the 10-Sentence Method and the 5-Channel Technique can also work optimally for you. The video course is currently available with a 50% discount. This link will take you directly to this limited-time offer if you wish.

And now we wish you lots of fun and rapid initial success when working with the 10 Sentence Method and the 5-Channel Technique.