Modalities and Submodalities

Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) makes heavy use of changing the ways we represent things in our minds. Modalities mean our senses and spatial awareness (Vision, Hearing, Touch, Taste, Smell, where we are in relation to things around us)  and submodalities - e.g submodalities of sight could be colour, black/white, in focus blurred, still picture, moving picture etc. Submodalities of hearing could be loudness, pitch, frequency, doppler effect (sounds moving nearer or further away), muffled, perfectly audible etc. Submodalities of touch include warm/cool, soft/hard, sharp/smooth, yielding/firm etc. Taste submodalities include bitter, sweet, sour, tangy etc. Smell also has submodalities which can use the same words as submodalities for taste, but have a different quality when represented by smell. Spatial awareness submodalities include near, far, above, below, right, left, behind, in front. Changing the ways we represent things in our mind can be very powerful, for example - public speaking. If someone represents an upcoming public speaking engagement in their mind as a vividly coloured in focus movie, with a vast sea of faces going into infinity, the crowd is shouting loud abuse, the sea of faces is right in front of the speakers nose, they can smell the acrid body odours associated with fear, and they can taste the bitterness of anticipated screw up ........ This person may not have an anticipatory tingle of eagerness towards the speaking event. A simple NLP technique is to change the mental representation - a bit of trial and error is involved, but in this case changing the mental representation as follows may make a huge difference: A black and white still picture which is blurred, of a couple of friendly faces, a hushed silence where the audience is listening carefully, you can smell the tea/coffee that is prepared for after the talk, you can taste the sweetness of a successful presentation where your audience is in the palm of your hand. 

Go to http://www.experiencetheworlddifferent.com for more details, or ring Daniel Madden on 085 1318344 to arrange your free consultation.

Email: dmadden@experiencetheworlddifferent.com

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