Submodality Manipulation in Hypnotic Changework

The video below (taken from Changework Applications) shares a few tips on submodality manipulation in hypnotic changework (without trance, that is 😉 ) along with a demo of a simple submodality manipulation. There are a lot of little touches in the demo worth watching for, especially around the languaging!

If you are new to the concept of submodalities,  I have written up a brief ‘primer’ which you can find below the video.

httpv://youtu.be/Vp8wqpOfpWs

Submodalities

As human beings we are constantly engaged in cognitive processing. Moment by moment we are continually making sense of things, solving problem, making decisions, planning, reflecting and reminiscing and so on and so forth. And the vast majority of this processing goes on outside of consciousness.

One of the fundamental ideas of NLP is that this processing consists largely (if not totally) in the manipulation of representations – mental pictures, words, feelings, sounds and sometimes smells and tastes – that stand for the processes, things and states of affairs that we encounter in our lives.

Representations manifest across 5 sensory modalities:

• V. Visual: We make mental pictures
• A. Auditory: Mental sounds
• K. Kinaesthetic: Feelings
• O. Olfactory: Smell
• G. Gustatory: Taste

In addition to the 5 basic sensory modalities, there is also linguistic representation (words!), which will mostly be consciously experienced in the via the auditory modality. In NLP terminology this is referred to as Auditory Digital (Ad) but in more common parlance it is known as Internal Dialogue or Self Talk.

So if somebody is thinking of an apple, they may see a brief mental picture of one (V), hear the word ‘apple’ flit briefly through their mind (A/Ad), briefly experience a sense of the taste (G) etc. Essentially, they will access whatever representations they need to make sense of ‘apple’ in ways that serve the thought process… and they will do so mostly outside of consciousness.

Submodalities are the variables qualities that pertain to each modality. So, if someone has a visual representation of something, the image have size, distance from perceiver, location in relation to perceiver, be moving or still, be clear or fuzzy etc. Those distinctions within the modality are the submodalities.

As a hypnotist it is aiming to shift someones experience or perception, the ability to be aware of how a person is representing in any given moment is extremely useful, because it enables you to directly interact with those representations, enabling you to manipulate them in useful ways… both in the contexts of fun and exploration and changework.

Through adjusting the submodalities within a representation, we can change the quality of the experience independent of the content. This is useful for such things a making a goal more compelling or transforming a bad memory or unresourceful state into something more comfortable or resourceful.

(continued below video)

httpv://youtu.be/9gKZLeFRp2M

There are essentially two types of submodalities:

1. Analogue – these can be changed quickly or slowly along a continuum, like a volume control or a light dimmer switch.
2. Digital – these are mutually exclusive and polar, like on/off, 0 or 1, associated, dissociated etc.

Associated and dissociated (as understood in NLP terms) are particularly significant visual submodalities that probably require further explanation.

• Associatied – When you are seeing the action as if through your own eyes you are associated. Associated states tend to be more emotionally intense.
• Dissociatied – When you are seeing the action as if through someone else’s eyes, you are dissociated. Dissociated states tend to be more emotionally detached, allowing for more rational thinking.