Previously we mentioned the importance of recognizing and using submodalities, the subtle distinctions of the internal processing of each of the major sensory systems: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. People use their internal representations of their sensory experiences to create and process meanings. Each of the major sensory systems or modalities has submodalities that influence meaning:
- Visual: Size, distance, brightness, clarity, color, movement, contrast, location, frame, and point of view (especially associated or dissociated)
- Auditory: Volume, tone, pitch, inflection, rhythm, location, rate, and duration
- Kinesthetic: Intensity, quality, movement, direction, speed, location, (especially feelings on the midline of the body and chakra centers), and duration. [The “Kinesthetic Cluster” includes the senses of smell, taste, and touch as well as emotional responses—”feel” is both external and internal.]
People reveal their internal processing through their use of language. (See: Recognizing and Using Submodalities)
Have you ever blown something out of proportion? Have you ever been told to put something behind you? Do you know someone who has a bright future? What exactly do those expressions mean? They are more than metaphors. They are, in fact, references to specific visual submodalities that influence how we feel and how we behave. When we blow something out of proportion, we take what should be a small, perhaps insignificant image, and increase its size to the point that we are preoccupied with it. When we put something behind us, it stops blocking our view of the future, that which is in front of us.
When a patient or client is describing a problem, the language used to describe the experience is often almost a literal description of how the brain is using submodalities to code meaning. When people say, “that’s not clear to me,” or “it’s still fuzzy,” they are saying that their internal visual image is not in focus. To be able to understand the concept being discussed, they require a clearer, more definite image, one that has been brought into sharper focus.
A client was saying he had come up against a brick wall and he was not able to get over the problem. When asked how high the wall was, he said he could not even see the top, but when asked about the width, the wall was only a few feet wide. Once he saw that, he was able to see ways to get around it.
Psychological states can be affected by changing the submodalities used to represent the event or issue, making your learning this a really big deal. In fact, you may notice that when one submodality changes, just as when one piece of glass shifts in a kaleidoscope, other submodalities change automatically. You can read more about eliciting and changing submodalities in Healing with Language: Your Key to Effective Mind-Body Communication, (see Chapter 8).
Send your questions about how other-than-conscious communication skills can hurt or help your patients and clients to Joel P. Bowman (Joel@SCS-Matters.com) or Debra Basham (Debra@SCS-Matters.com), co-developers of Subtle Communication Systems. We will provide answers to those for you. For more information about Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), Hypnosis or Hypnotherapy, or about the Imagine Healing Process, visit:http://ImagineHealing.info or http://SurgicalSupport.info.
Healing with Language: Your Key to Effective Mind-Body Communication is available for a limited time for $10 plus $5 shipping within the U.S. For volume orders and overseas shipping, check with Debra. See the Table of Contents and List of Exercises in PDF format for more information about this comprehensive text and training manual.