Showing posts with label submodalities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label submodalities. Show all posts

Friday, November 28, 2008

Widdershins Spell

Hi Everyone

I'm back posting after spending time doing other stuff.

Here's a fun technique we were playing with last night at Practice Night at Melissa Tier's Center for Integrative Hypnosis. We hold biweekly Practice Nights for our past and current students from Melissa's Hypnosis Training in New York, and our NLP Training, and In-Depth NLP Training

As part of our In-Depth NLP we love to explore new techniques, deconstrct them to notice how they work, take out unnecessary pieces to make them more efficient, and add in other pieces to make them more effective.

I'm not sure what the technique is called, so I'll call it the Widdershins Spell because of a comment made by Charlie.

Widdershins of course simply means anti-clockwise. However, it has an implication of magik and spells. In particular a widdershins spell may be used to undo some other spell, a sense of unwinding. This widdershins spell is designed to unwind the power that a particular image may have on us.

In doing the technique we used Melissa's office chair which has rollers. This made it easy for the client to turn. If the client is standing you may want to stand near them to support them and keep them safe, although note that the turning is not intended to make the client dizzy and should be done at whatever rate is comfortable.

We will be writing a fuller post including details of the language patterns used, but here is a summary:

Summary of the technique
  1. Client picks an issue or problem they want to change
  2. Coach leads client to identify a picture associated with the problem
  3. Coach helps client to locate the picture in space (i.e. where is the picture located in the space around the client)
  4. Coach suggests that the picture will be changed when the client turns around and looks at it
  5. Coach guides client to all the way around (while the picture stays fixed in place)
  6. Coach asks client how picture is different
  7. Repeat 7 times (or until done)
Practice Group Demo
Desi volunteered to be the client (the exercise was done entirely content free). I asked her to sit in Melissa's chair. I then asked her to think of something, some issue, that she would like to change. 

When she had selected one, and was associating into it, I suggested that there was a picture associated with the problem, and asked her where this picture was. She pointed up to the right; the picture was perhaps 12 feet away from her, 3 feet square. We explored other submodalities, the one that seemed most significant was that the image was very bright, so bright it was difficult for Desi to look at.

I used some metaphors to suggest to Desi that when she turned around the picture would be different. I then asked Desi to turn in a full circle and when she was facing forward again, invited her to look at the picture and notice what was different about it. The major difference Desi reported was that the brightness had gone down and the picture was much more comfortable to look at.

We repeated the turning. By the time we had reached the fourth turn, the picture was entirely gone.

The plan had been to rotate up to seven times, so I suggested that Desi turn around once more and she would see a picture of an alternate outcome, some other state of being that she chose instead. She did so and accessed a positive state. We repeated this a few more times to build up the resource state.

How the Technique Works
Well, this is anyone's guess. But let's identify a few elements that are included in the technique:

Dissociation

Of course, using the visual modality tends to be dissociative, this after all is the whole basis of the V-K Dissociation ("phobia cure")

This technique takes the dissociation one step further: by fixing the picture in a certain location while the client rotates, it is made even more obvious to the client that the picture is "separate" from them.

Submodalities

By noticing the submodalities of the picture, and suggesting that they will be changed, the client is free to notice changes that do occur (and after all, all we are is change).

As with Desi, it is very likely that the changes the client notices will be in driving submodalities.

Change in Physiology

It is a truism that all trance begins with a change in physiology (after all what does "relax" mean?!?!). 

By using client rotation we are allowing the client to change their physiology and hence access altered states of mind.

Discomfort and Disorientation

Putting the client in a position of mild discomfort can also assist them in entering altered states. This is why, for example, Dr Richard Bandler,  will stare at his clients, he wants to make them sufficiently uncomfortable that going into trance is preferable to being stared at.

Hypnotic Language

Goes without saying.


Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Kinesthetic submodalities

In NLP, submodalities are the finer distinctions of our visual, auditory and kinesthetic representational systems.

So when we refer to kinesthetic submodalities, we are referring to distinctions that can be made about our feelings.

In NLP we do not make a specific distinction between emotional "feelings" and actual feelings in our body, on our skin, etc. This is because we believe that our experience is coded in a sensory manner. What this means is that when we have an emotional feeling, we likely actually feel this somewhere in our body, perhaps in our chest, or stomach.

So what are the specific submodalities of the kinesthetic representational system? These submodalities include:
  • Location. Where precisely is the feeling? Is it inside the body or outside the body? Usually we find that feelings are inside the body, perhaps not surprisingly! Assuming it is inside, where precisely is it? Perhaps it is in or around the heart, or the stomach or some other area.
  • Size. Does the feeling have a particular size? Is it large or small?
  • Shape. What is the shape of the feeling? Is it round? Does it have sharp edges? Does it conform to the shape of the body around it?
  • Metaphor. What is the feeling like? Is it like a warm glow? Or maybe like a sharp spike inside us? Or like a heavy weight?
  • Texture. Is it rough or smooth?
  • Temperature. Is it warm or cool? Hot or cold?
  • Color. While color is a visual submodality, sometimes feelings appear to have a certain color associated with them, so we include it here.
  • Movement. Does the feeling move? Perhaps it expands or contracts, moves out or in, or spins or rotates in a certain direction?
  • Direction. If the feeling moves, what is the direction of the movement?
  • Weight. What is the weight of the feeling? Is it heavy or light?
Warmly 
Shawn Carson

Monday, July 7, 2008

Auditory Submodalities

The auditory representational system is the things that we hear. We may hear things inside our head, such as sounds, or voices.

The submodalities of the auditory representational system include the following:
  • Location. Where is the sound? Is it coming from the left or the right? From above or below? In front or behind?
  • Distance. How far away is the sound or voice? Is it close or far away?
  • Volume. How load is the sound?
  • Tone. Is there a particular tone associated with the sound or voice? What is that tone?  
  • Identity. If the sound is a voice, whose voice is it? Is it your voice? Is it another person's? If so whose voice is it?
  • Duration. How long is the duration of the sound? 
  • Repetition. Does the sound or voice repeat or does it play once then stop? If it repeats, what is the cycle of repetition?
As always, identifying the key submodalities, the so called driving submodalities, allows us to make changes in our experience and the emotional content of our experiences. A key example which we hear about all the time deals with our internal voice.

Our internal voice, or critic, is the voice inside our head that tells us when we are doing the wrong thing, or when we have messed up, or when we are going to mess up in the future.

By playing with the driving submodalities of the internal critic we can change the emotional impact of the critical voice. For example we could:
  • Move the location of the voice, perhaps down to the ground.
  • Change the tone, say to a sexy or funny tone.
  • Change the identity of the voice. Was it your mother? Make it into Donald Duck.
By changing driving submodalities we can change the associated emotional content.

Harmoniously
Shawn Carson

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Visual Submodalities

We have talked recently about submodalities and their role in NLP.

Each representational system has its own set of submodalities, and depending on the individual, its own driving submodalities.

Visual submodalities include the following:
  • Location. If we see a picture in our mind, where is it? And yes, I know it is inside your head. But if it was outside your head where would it be? Would it be on the left of the right? Would it be up or down? How far away would it be?
  • Size. How big is the picture? Is it large or small?
  • Framing. Is the picture framed? If so, what is the frame like? Does it have a particular style or color? If it is not framed, is it wrap around? Or does it end? If it ends, how does this happen?
  • 2 dimensional or 3 dimensional. Is the picture three dimensional or two dimensional like a photo?
  • Movie or still. Is the picture still like a photo? Is it more like a movie? Sometimes it is in-between, it moves but only a little, essentially it stays as the same scene, but has some movement.
  • Associated or dissociated. Does the client see themselves in the movie, or are they seeing out of their own eyes?
  • Color or black and white. Is the picture in color or in black and white? 
  • Brightness. How bright is the picture? Is it bright or dim? 
  • Contrast. What other aspects of the picture are key? For example is there a particular degree of contrast between the various aspects of the picture, for example foreground and background?
Shawn Carson

Friday, July 4, 2008

Submodalities

Representational systems is the term we use in NLP to refer to our sensory systems.

So we talk about our visual (V), auditory (A), including our self talk (Auditory digital or Ad) and kinesthetic (K), systems or VAK.

Let's take a moment and consider how we think of a happy memory. Perhaps a picture comes to mind of a favorite vacation, a dear friend, a beloved family member...

Focus on that picture for a moment: 
  • Now make it brighter. How does that impact on the emotional impact of the memory?
  • Move the picture closer. How does that change your feelings?
  • Make the picture bigger. How does that affect it?
The brightness, location and size of a picture are known as the submodalities of the picture. 

Each representational system (VAK) has its own set of submodalities. 

In NLP we believe that our brains code information according to certain submodalities. For example, we may code experiences as pictures of the events. We may then keep pictures relating to memories, or past events, on one side of our body, and pictures relating to goals or other future events on the other side of our body.

The most important of these submodalities are known as the driving submodalities. Driving submodalities are the submodalities that our brain uses to code information. By changing these submodalities we can change the meaning or the intensity of the experience.

For example, if we move the picture of a memory further away, we may decrease the emotional intensity of the memory.

We will explore the submodalities of each representational system in other postings.

Shawn


Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Driving submodalities

A driving submodality is a submodality that creates a change in the intensity of the state associated with a particular Internal Representation (IR).

An example of a driving submodality

Think of some pleasant memory. Perhaps a time of fun and excitement. Get a picture in your mind's eye of the event. Notice the details of the picture, where it is, whether it is in color or black and white, how big the picture is, how close it is, and so on.

Now make the picture bigger. Notice how this changes the feelings associated with the experience. Now return the picture to its original size.

Now make the picture brighter. Notice how that changes your feelings. Now turn the brightness back to how it was.

Go through each of the submodalities in turn. See which one makes the most difference to the feelings associated with the experience. This is the driving submodality.

Shawn
new york nlp training

Friday, May 23, 2008

Melissa Tiers Practice Group Wednesday May 21, 2008

Melissa Tiers held her regular hypnosis and NLP practice group on Wednesday.

The session began with Shawn Carson of International Center for Positive Change giving a summary of his weekend Master Practitioner course. Shawn briefly explained the NLP concept of Strategies  and Logical Levels.

The group then practiced using eye accessing or eye movements to calibrate and reset a strategy. Melissa explained that a strategy would be reflected in a person's eye movements under NLP principles. Therefore by asking a client to move their eyes in a different pattern while thinking about a problem (especially a more resourceful pattern) will disrupt the old strategy.

The group then practiced mapping across submodalities for motivation.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Micro Submodalities

An interesting point arose on our recent trip to Atlanta to attend John Overdurf's master practitioner.

I discussed with John the fundamental difference between techniques such as EFT, where change is tracked through "client experience", and NLP where change can appear to be all or nothing. By this I mean that typically in EFT some client experience (such as their subjective level of discomfort with a particular issue on a 1-10 scale) is tracked. As the discomfort goes down, the client is made aware that progress is being made on the issue. In NLP we might work through a particular pattern with a client, and check, ie test, at the end to make sure the change has taken.

John's view was that both were fundamentally the same, and that it is the NLPer's role is to track the client's changing experience either way. In short that the client's state is ALWAYS in motion either way.

I absolutely think that John is correct, however it got me thinking about the nature of certain submodalities that change in an analogue way that can fairly easily be tracked over time by the client. Let's call these "micro submodalities". If we identify these submodalities for the client then the client's conscious and unconscious mind can communicate via changes in the micro submodality. NLPers will recognize this concept from some versions of the 6 step reframe.

A great example comes from the interaction of symbolic modeling and EFT. By using clean language and symbolic modeling to identify a clear representation of a kinesthetic feeling (size, shape, location, color, etc). Then as we "tap" on the issue, the size, shape and location of the feeling will likely change, indicating to the client that change is occurring.

More on this topic later!