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Outcomes and Competencies for Practitioners of NLP

November 8, 2023/in NLP Articles /by Chris Collingwood

Recommended Syllabus for Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming courses

At Inspiritive, we create high-quality NLP certification training. Anyone certified by us as a Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming is more than capable of undertaking advanced training at the level of Part 2 of the Graduate Certificate in Neuro-Linguistic Programming or Practitioner of Ericksonian Hypnosis.

Our recommendations for obtaining a Practitioners Certificate in Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Certificate Course participants are required to show competency as below.

If you have already attended a practitioner of NLP training, have you had presentations, live demonstrations, and supervised exercises in the following?

Outcomes and Competencies at the NLP Practitioner level

Rapport

Prerequisites: none

Learning outcomes:

to be able to establish and maintain rapport with one or more other people,
to be able to attract and hold someone’s attention,
to be able to elicit willing co-operation,
to make a distinction between the above (rapport) and liking

Competency:

matching, mirroring, cross-pacing, pacing and leading, using verbal and non-verbal behaviour,
eliciting and keeping another person’s attention

Perceptual Positions

Prerequisites: rapport

Learning outcomes:

to be able to demonstrate and use first, third and second positions in varied contexts,
to be able to meta comment about any experience from a meta position,
to be able to guide another person through the process,
to understand the benefit of using third position between first and second positions at all times,
to be able to demonstrate and use additional meta positions with first, third and second position to establish a cleanly detached third position and a clean first position,
to be aware of changes in others’ demeanour

Competency:

enter and leave first, third and second positions and describe the differences between them,
describe and demonstrate the function of multiple perceptual positions,
describe the purpose of the order ‘first to third to second to third to first’,
demonstrate guiding another person through the process of establishing and using cleanly differentiated perceptual positions,
adopt a meta position cleanly and comment from it on the experience or interaction just left

NLP Representational Systems

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions

Learning outcomes:

to be aware that all internal processing (thinking, remembering, imagining, emoting) uses sequences of representations of our senses, that is internal pictures, sounds, feelings (sensation, proprioception), tastes and smells,
to be aware that representations in different systems may be used sequentially, simultaneously and in synaesthesia,
to be aware that a prefered representational system is not an identifying category and has a useful life of 30 seconds,
to be aware that different sequences of representations suit different classes of material,
to know the difference between a single representational system, two or more in simultaneous use and two or more in synaesthesia
to be aware that all systems are in use constantly but conscious awareness is limited to the ones being represented identifiably in the moment,
to be aware that a lead system is not an identifying category and is information about the way someone is starting to think on this occasion or about the particular topic,
to be aware that different people use different sequences of representational systems to think about any given topic,
to begin to appreciate that everyone has their own model of the world and makes their own meaning of events and ideas
to be aware that representations of the world are not the world; they are mental pictures, sounds and feelings
to be aware of perceptual filters (those beliefs, expectations, and presuppositions we hold that influence the way we represent our experience) about the world and ourselves
to be aware of changes in others’ demeanour

Competency:

ask others how they are representing their internal processes,
demonstrate understanding of the transient nature of lead and preferred representational systems,
demonstrate understanding that representational systems are not identifying categories or fixed characteristics of people,
demonstrate understanding that all internal processes are sequences of representations,
demonstrate understanding that a sequence can include single representations, simultaneous representations and synaesthesia,
demonstrate understanding that all systems are in use constantly but those which are identifiable in the moment are available consciously,
demonstrate understanding that our internal experience is subject to perceptual filters as well as sensory representations

Sensory specific language – verbal predicates

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions, representational systems

Learning outcomes:

to be able to hear, recognise and use sensory based predicates,
to be able to respond in the same order and sequence as another person,
to be able to map across from one sense to another using predicates,
to be able to include all main senses in conversation,
to be able to leave all sensory predicates out in favour of non-sensory based terms,
to be able to recognise when someone else is not responding due to use of predicates outside their current thinking

Competency:

demonstrate recognition and use of sensory based predicates in all senses,
demonstrate matching sequences of predicates,
demonstrate mapping across senses verbally,
demonstrate use of non-sensory specific words

Eye-accessing cues

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions, representational systems, predicates

Learning outcomes:

to be able to elicit and read another person’s eye-accessing cues,
to link eye-accessing cues back to representation systems and predicates,
to be able to use others’ eye-accessing cues to prompt further information gathering,
to be aware that the majority of people have a similar eye-accessing pattern, some have the pattern reversed and others have one or two representational systems reversed,
to be aware that some people with split patterns could benefit from consistency within their own direction if they want it,
to observe and listen to the subject for feedback and ensure their well being
to be able to observe changes in others’ demeanour

Competency:

demonstrate eliciting others’ eye-accessing cues using sensory specific questions,
demonstrate eliciting others’ eye-accessing cues in conversation,
respond to another’s spontaneous eye-accessing cues using appropriately sequenced sensory based predicates,
guiding subjects’ eyes to access specific representational systems through gestures and / or words,
recognising the need for ecology in leading eye-accessing

Circle of excellence

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions, rep systems, predicates, eye-accessing cues

Learning outcomes:

to be able to elicit and maintain a change in own psycho-physiological state,
to be able to recognise and choose appropriate components for a resource state,
to be able to construct a context specific resource state to fit a particular function using resources from personal history, memory and imagination,
to take another person through the above processes, eliciting that person’s choice of resources,
to have live experience of intentional changes in state, emotion and resourcefulness,
to discover that states and emotional responses can be changed at will,
to have live exposure to evidence that people have different models of the world and different sequences of representation,
to recognise the importance of ecology and clients’ choice,
to be able to future pace resources into appropriate future contexts,
to be able to observe changes in others’ demeanour

Competency:

the ability to change own state,
the ability to construct resource states to fit general and specific situations,
the ability to lead another through these processes,
the ability to discuss the learning outcomes,
the ability to check ecology,
future pacing the work done

Sensory acuity and calibration

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions, representational systems, predicates, eye-accessing cues

Learning outcomes:

to be able to observe and remember others’ present behaviour without attributing meaning to it,
to be able to listen to others’ present behaviour without attributing meaning to it,
to compare others’ present behaviour with their own past examples and identify similarities and differences,
to be aware of the distinctions between observation, calibration and interpretation,
to be able to calibrate an individual’s state by comparison between their present behaviour (verbal and non-verbal) and similar behaviour previously observed in the same individual for which their meaning has already been established,
to be aware that meaning attributed to someone else’s behaviour remains speculation until verified by that person,
to be able to calibrate state changes in others by touch,
to be able to calibrate state changes in others by hearing (changes in voice quality),
to be able to offer sensory based descriptions of observations in all senses

Competency:

observe small changes in state,
hear small changes in state,
feel small changes in state,
compare present state with previous examples in same person,
describe observation, calibration and interpretation,
use sensory based description without interpretation

Anchoring

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions, representational systems, predicates, eye-accessing cues, sensory acuity

Learning outcomes:

to be able to elicit one or more states in others,
to be able to anchor each desired state visually, auditorily or by touch,
to be able to re-elicit each desired state by firing its anchor,
to be able to calibrate the changing intensity of an elicited state,
to be aware of the need to set the anchor as the state increases in intensity,
to be aware of the need to cease the anchor before the state peaks,
to be able to collapse anchors, chain anchors, stack anchors, slide anchors,
to be aware that anchoring is an example of first order change,
to be aware that anchoring can prompt second order change to occur,
to be aware of the subjectÐs ecology and choice,
to be aware that anchoring occurs naturally in daily life

Competencies:

elicit subject’s outcome for the exercise,
elicit particular states, one at a time,
anchor each state,
use visual, auditory and kinaesthetic anchors,
set anchors,
fire anchors,
collapse anchors,
chain anchors,
stack anchors,
observe state changes,
describe state changes in sensory based terms,
use sliding anchors

Well-formed outcome

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions, representational systems, predicates, eye-accessing cues, sensory acuity, anchoring

Learning outcomes:

to know and be able to apply the well-formedness conditions for outcomes to participants’ own outcomes,
to be able to elicit and describe an outcome with reference to well-formedness conditions for outcomes,
to be able to create nested well-formed outcomes,
to be able to elicit a well-formed outcome from another person,
to be able to use the Grinder Outcome, Intention and Consequence model on well-formed outcomes and ill-formed outcomes,
to have an experience of using different logical levels to increase understanding and integration

Competency:

elicit an outcome in positive terms,
take the outcome through well-formedness conditions,
elicit the intent of the outcome,
take the intent through well-formedness conditions,
elicit a sub-outcome,
take a sub-outcome through well formedness conditions,
take a well formed outcome through the Grinder Outcome, Intention and Consequences model,
take an ill formed outcome through the Grinder Outcome, Intention and Consequences model to find an alternative outcome

The meta model of language – overview

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions, representational systems, predicates, eye-accessing cues

Learning outcomes:

understanding the distinctions between primary experience, deep structure representation and surface structure representation from transformational grammar,
to be aware that people’s language patterns contain information about their thinking processes, beliefs and ideas,
to be aware of the distinctions between semantic ill formedness (distortion), limits to the speaker’s model (generalisations) and information gathering (deletions),
to be aware of the most useful order in which to challenge meta model violations (distortions first, generalisations next and deletions last),
to be aware that distortions include only presuppositions, mind reading, cause effects and complex equivalents,
to be aware that generalisations include only modal operators of possibility and necessity, universal quantifiers, and lost performativesto be aware that deletions include only nominalisations, unspecified verbs, lack of referential indices, comparative and simple deletions,
to be aware that additional categories are included in some circles but these are not additional language patterns and do not belong in the meta model,
to be able to recognise and challenge distortions in one’s own and others’ language,
to be able to recognise and challenge generalisations in one’s own and others’ language,
to be able to recognise and challenge deletions in one’s own and others’ language,
to be aware of the extra need for rapport in maintaining the relationship with others when using the meta model,
to understand that the meta model can be used sparingly, based on a need to know for optimal benefit,
to understand that the meta model can be used to elicit high quality, accurate information, to teach people to think more effectively and to assist people become aware of unconscious parts of their models of the world to provide another demonstration of the uniqueness of individuals’ models of the world,
to be aware that it is more useful to be able to respond to meta model violations than to be able to name them,
to be aware of the potentially confrontational quality of the meta model and treat it with care

Competency:

to be extra careful to maintain rapport when using the meta model,
to hear or read and challenge distortions in others’ language,
to hear or read and challenge generalisations in others’ language,
to hear or read and challenge deletions in others’ language,
to hear or read and challenge the above in own language,
to demonstrate awareness of the need to know principle,
to know when not to challenge meta model violations,
to demonstrate the effective order of challenge for most circumstances

Six step reframe

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions, representational systems, predicates, eye-accessing cues,

Learning outcomes:

to be able to distinguish between behaviour and intention,
to have an experience of working with different logical levels,
to have an experience of working with conscious and unconscious processes,
to have an experience of working with the metaphor of individual, communicating parts of a person,
to have an introduction to second order change,
to be aware of the story of John Grinder’s developing this process,
to be aware that this process is not used in some circles as they consider it has been superseded and that their reasoning is faulty,
to be able to elicit and use three specific and separate states in the subject,
to be able to change behaviour while holding the intention constant,
to be able to disseminate resources within the system of a person,
to be able to discuss and incorporate objections to any part of the process,
to be able to use the process on oneself and future pace it,
to be able to guide another person through the process and future pace it

Competency:

demonstrate the spatial six step reframe with self,
demonstrate the spatial six step reframe with another person,
demonstrate the six step reframe process in your own words with another person,
describe the difference between behaviour and intention,
describe the importance of the ecology check and future pace,
describe the use and incorporation of objections by any part of the subject

Negotiation between two parts in conflict

Prerequisites: session 1, well-formed outcome, meta model

Learning outcomes:

to be able to elicit responses from each of two parts of the subject using the metaphor of parts with distinct ideas and responses,
to be able to elicit outcomes, intents and purposes from each part,
to be able to elicit a dovetailed outcome for the parts,
to be able to elicit experience of each other’s beliefs and values for each part,
to be able to negotiate agreement and voluntary integration between parts,
to be able to check for ecology and elicit voluntary integration with the subject,
to be able to gather information and incorporate any objections

Competency:

demonstrate the process of negotiating between two parts in conflict with another person,
describe the benefits of taking each part’s outcome to a high enough logical level for the intentions to become compatible,
demonstrate or describe gathering information from any objecting part and incorporating that information and or part into the process,
future pace

Negotiation between more than two parts in conflict

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions, representational systems, predicates, eye-accessing cues, well-formed outcome, meta model,

Learning outcomes:

to be able to communicate with more than two parts of a person,
to be able to negotiate permission to work with two parts at a time as above,
to be able to establish an order and sequence which suits all parts and the subject,
to be able to establish a dovetailed outcome working with two parts at a time,
to be able to negotiate appropriate integration between consenting parts with a dovetailed outcome

Competency:

demonstrate the process of negotiating between more than two parts in conflict with another person,
describe the benefits of working with two consenting parts at a time,
demonstrate or describe gathering information from any objecting part and incorporating that information and or part into the process,
future pace

Content reframing

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions, representational systems, predicates, eye-accessing cues, well-formed outcome, meta model

Learning outcomes:

to be aware of the distinction between context and meaning reframing,
to be aware that any behaviour would work in an appropriate context,
to be aware that people do the best they can with the resources they have available to them in that situation,
to be aware that any meaning attributed to a comment or action can be reframed to offer a more or less useful one,
to be aware that reframing can be used therapeutically or destructively, to provide credibility,
to be aware that reframing is attributing a different meaning to someone’s words or actions, or placing someone’s words or actions in a different context so that they become either more or less appropriate,
to be aware that reframing was first described by Bandler and Grinder but has now been adopted as a term in psychology and related areas

Competency:

deliver a series of meaning reframes when presented with a complex equivalent until one or more reframes fit the subject’s situation,
deliver a series of context reframes in response to a comparative deletion until one or more reframes fit the subject’s situation

Stalking to Excellence

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions, representational systems, predicates, eye-accessing cues, well-formed outcome, meta model, reframing

Learning outcomes:

to put skills together for an outcome,
to elicit and anchor states,
to use different locations for different states,
to gather information,
to experience emergent learning,
to use second order change,
to increase calibration and sensory acuity,
learn and use the process,
to extend resources to additional states and contexts,
to discover that a positive intent underlies any state or behaviour,
to experience people doing the best they can with the resources they have at the time and in the context

Competency:

to guide another person through the process,
to use the process oneself,
to demonstrate keeping another person resourceful,
to demonstrate staying resourceful oneself,
to effect a piece of lasting change with another person,
to effect a piece of lasting change with oneself,
to demonstrate gathering information,
to demonstrate using prerequisite competencies in response to the situation,
to demonstrate recognition of resource and non-resource states,
to elicit and anchor resource states

Submodalities

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions, representational systems, predicates, eye-accessing cues, well-formed outcome, meta model, reframing

Learning outcomes:

to discover that subcategories exist within each representational system,
to discover that experience is coded in submodalities,
to discover that the meaning, intensity, desirability, credibility and memorability of an experience can be altered by changing submodality distinctions,
to be aware that different people use different submodality distinctions to make a given change in the quality of their experience,
to discover that some people believe they have limited or no access to one or more representational systems,
to discover that training can enhance people’s access to their internal representations,
to experience changing beliefs with submodalities,
to experience the need for ecology and consequence thinking when changing beliefs or doing other deep change work,
to experience tracking another’s experiences and gathering detailed process information,
to discover that pattern (in this case submodalities) has a lasting impact on subjective experience,
to discover that some submodalities drive others to alter with them and some submodalities only shift alone,
to discover that experiences can be rendered more resourceful through comparing and contrasting submodalities,
to discover additional combinations to add to one’s own repertoire through exposure to others’ descriptions of their submodality distinctions,
to reinforce the idea of different models of the world by exposure to others’ descriptions of their subjective experience

Competency:

to demonstrate eliciting submodalities from others,
to demonstrating eliciting driver submodalities from others,
to demonstrate using submodalities to effect change with ecology,
to demonstrate changing a belief with ecology using submodalities,
to demonstrate comparing and contrasting submodalities of a present state, a desired state and an interim state

Attention training

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions, representational systems, predicates, eye-accessing cues, well-formed outcome, meta model, reframing, submodalities

Learning outcomes:

ability to track one’s attention,
ability to shift one’s attention by choice,
ability to split one’s attention between two or more tasks,
ability to mark one’s place and return to it after interruptions,
ability to set and use life lines,
ability to elicit and use strong resource states with life lines,
ability to model another person implicitly by shadowing them,
ability to model oneself,
ability to detect patterns of organisation in others and oneself,
ability to use the unconscious mind as a source of information / inspiration,
experience of the conscious / unconscious interface,
direct experience of unconscious processing,
ability to incorporate personal ecology into all these activities

Competency:

demonstrate shifting attention between internal / external, different rep systems, different elements of one’s context, conscious / unconscious processing,
demonstrate marking one’s place in an activity and returning to it after a diversion,
demonstrate modelling another person implicitly with second position,
demonstrate setting and using lifelines oneself,
demonstrate guiding another person in setting and using life lines,
demonstrate familiarity with three options in life lines (time, task and context),
demonstrate finding a source of information via unconscious processing

Fast Phobia Process

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions, representational systems, predicates, eye-accessing cues, well-formed outcome, meta model, reframing, submodalities, attention training

Learning outcomes:

to understand the properties of double dissociation and split attention,
to understand the organisation of a simple phobia,
to understand when to use and when not to use this process,
to be aware of the patterns and sequence of the fast phobia process,
to be able to use the process with another person,
to have an experience of the process,
to be aware that the patterns are essential and to use them in one’s own words,
to be aware of the importance of anchoring a strong resource state for the subject at the start of the process,
to be aware of the importance of keeping the subject dissociated until the end of the process

Competency:

demonstrate the fast phobia process on a simple phobia with another person,
describe suitable situations and states for using the process,
distinguish between suitable and unsuitable material for using the process,
describe what makes complex and systemic phobias require additional work

Personal Editing

Learning outcomes:

to understand that changing state allows access to different resources,
to understand that changing state can be elicited through changing physiology,
to understand that a strong and steady resource state can change our responses to people, events and contexts,
to acquire multiple means of eliciting resource states to facilitate change in oneself and others,
to gain an appreciation of state dependent learning,
to gain an appreciation of targeted generalisation of resources across states,
to be aware that personal editing occurs naturally in daily life

Competency:

demonstrate personal editing with a strong, anchored resource state and repeated short exposure to representations of the choice point,
demonstrate personal editing by noting a choice point and then shifting one’s attention to movement,
describe instances of naturally occurring personal editing

The Milton Model

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions, representational systems, predicates, eye-accessing cues, well-formed outcome, meta model, reframing, submodalities, attention training

Learning outcomes:

to be aware that the milton model makes deliberate use of meta model violations,
to be aware that the milton model makes deliberate use of multiple time frames,
to become aware of and recognise embedded questions, commands and suggestions,
to be aware that the intent is to keep one’s words sufficiently general to allow the subject (individual or group) to make their own representations of the matter under discussion,
to be aware of when milton model language is used deliberately and when to use meta model challenges,
to be aware that milton model language is useful for making indirect comments and suggestions
to acquire facility in using milton model language knowingly,
to become aware that trance can be elicited in anyone provided it is tailored to their own thinking processes

Competency:

demonstrate use of the milton model to elicit a given class of experience while allowing the subject to represent their own content,
demonstrate the use of embedded questions, embedded commands and embedded suggestions

Transderivational search and Change Personal History

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions, representational systems, predicates, eye accessing cues, well formed outcome, meta model, reframing, submodalities, attention training, milton model

Learning outcomes:

to become aware of internal sensations as signals to indicate a state,
to be able to use internal signals to track back to earlier examples of a state,
to be able to elicit the imprint experience giving rise to the sensation,
to be able to change state and access resources for the subject of the imprint experience,
to be able to bring resources to the subject in the imprint experience,
to be aware of possible consequences and ecology in bringing resources to the subject of the imprint experience,
to have an experience of regression and time distortion,
to experience guiding someone else in this process

Competency:

demonstrate a transderivational search using a kinaesthetic signal and anchors,
use a transderivational search to find an imprint experience,
observe the imprint experience from 3rd position,
access suitable resources for the younger subject in the imprint experience,
demonstrate bringing resources to the subject in the imprint experience,
describe the difference in the experience of the imprint situation with resources,
demonstrate awareness of consequences and ecology when doing second order change work,
demonstrate bringing the changes to the present in first position,
demonstrate the above process with another person

Reimprinting

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions, representational systems, predicates, eye-accessing cues, well-formed outcome, meta model, reframing, submodalities, attention training, milton model, transderivational search and change personal history

Learning outcomes:

to become aware of internal sensations as signals to indicate a state,
to be able to use internal signals to track back to earlier examples of a state,
to be able to elicit the imprint experience giving rise to the sensation,
to be able to change state and access resources for each significant party to the imprint experience,
to be able to bring resources to each significant party in the imprint experience,
to be aware of possible consequences and ecology in bringing resources to the parties to the imprint experience,
to have an experience of regression and time distortion,
to experience guiding someone else in this process,
to distinguish between simple and systemic interventions,
to be aware of the purpose in bringing resources to the least significant party first and progressing through increasing influence to end with the subject of the reimprint,
to understand the purpose of leaving all new resources turned off after editing until all parties have new resources,
to understand that resources are free and care and generosity with resources adds to the quality of the work,
to appreciate that any resource when functioning changes the system, hence the need to turn them off until everyone is resourced,
to appreciate that providing each party with resources creates a systemic change and facilitates deeper learning for the subject,
to appreciate the convincing nature of the experience for the subject when all parties resources are activated together

Competency:

use a transderivational search to find an imprint experience,
observe the imprint experience from 3rd position,
take second position with each of the parties to the experience commencing with the least significant and progressing in ascending order of influence,
return to third position between each visit to second position with a party and note the resources that would assist the party,
access plentiful resources for each of the parties in the imprint experience one at a time, starting with the least significant and progressing through to the subject,
demonstrate bringing resources to each party in the imprint experience, one at a time,
demonstrate switching off each party’s new resources after editing them, before moving on to the next party,
describe the difference in each party’s experience of the imprint situation when that party has resources functioning,
demonstrate consideration of consequences for the subject and ecology for the system,
demonstrate turning on all resources for all parties and reexperiencing the imprint situation,
demonstrate awareness of consequences and ecology when doing second order change work,
demonstrate bringing the changes to the present in first position,
demonstrate the above process with another person

Timeline elicitation and use

Learning outcomes:

to be aware that Steve and Connirae Andreas discovered and developed timelines,
to be aware that Robert Dilts and John Grinder developed the spatial use of timelines,
to be aware that it is ecological for someone’s timeline direction to conform to their eye-accessing cue direction (if the future is right with eye-accessing cues then the future time line should move to the right or ahead),
to be aware that timeline comprehension and use is an integral part of NLP,
to be aware that different people use different timelines from each other,
to be aware that many people use different timelines in different contexts,
to be aware that we can try on different timelines,
to be aware of different cultural timelines and concomitant time use,
to be aware that we can place resources in our past for present familiarity,
to be aware that we can place resources in our present and future to assist us,
to be aware that we can use timelines spatially or internally,
to be aware that we can reimprint on timelines,
to be aware that we can track the history of any state using timelines,
to be aware that we can change responses in the present by adding resources to the past

Competency:

demonstrate reimprinting on a spatial timeline with another person,
demonstrate time line elicitation with another person,
demonstrate planning a future event and placing it on timeline,
model several different timelines from others and try them on,
demonstrate incorporating perceptual positions into reimprint,
demonstrate incorporating structure of emotions into reimprint

New Behaviour Generator with Timeline

Learning outcomes:

to be aware of the structure of affirmations and visualisations,
to be able to use association and dissociation for editing internal movies,
to be able to make internal pictures to order,
to be able to use perceptual positions in gathering information and designing future actions,
to be able to develop and use internal representations to construct new capabilities,
to be able to construct and use submodality distinctions to enhance new capabilities,
to be familiar with the process and the structure of the process of creating and installing new capabilities,
to be able to place the finished product at a suitable time on the timeline and future pace it,
to be aware of the rest of the system in which the subject lives and to incorporate it,
to ensure that foreseeable consequences are acceptable and ecological

Competency:

demonstrate association and dissociation,
demonstrate the use of perceptual positions in the process,
demonstrate eliciting and associating into resource states,
demonstrate eliciting and associating into the chosen new capability,
demonstrate editing the new capability,
demonstrate awareness of the need for ecology and consideration of the system in different time frames,
demonstrate placing the finished product in the subject’s history on their time line,
demonstrate future pacing

Swish Patterns – Standard and Distance

Learning outcomes:

to be able to make internal pictures to order,
to be able to change internal pictures to order,
to be aware if there is a preference for distance or standard swish,
to be able to distinguish between associated and dissociated representations,
to be aware of the need for an unique and always present element in the first picture,
to be able to swish a pair of pictures at speed,
to be aware of the function of a swish,
to have an experience of the changing response in a swish pattern,
to be aware that some schools find the swish comparable and better than a six step reframe,
to be aware of the difference in pattern and application between a swish and a six step reframe,
to be aware of similarities between the pattern of a swish, a personal edit and a fast phobia process

Competency:

demonstrate establishing a preference for a distance or standard swish,
demonstrate a swish pattern with another person,
describe the function of a swish and suitable material for using it

Swish Patterns – Designer

Learning outcomes:

to be aware that a swish can operate in any representational system or combination,
to be able to elicit a preference in representational systems from another person,
to be aware of own preferences of representational systems,
to be able to use the designer swish pattern with any representational systems

Competency:

demonstrate designer swishes with different combinations of representational systems

Swish Patterns – Visual Kinaesthetic

Learning outcomes:

to be able to use the swish pattern spatially,
to be able to experience the swish pattern in real time,
to be able to elicit and send resources in metaphoric visual form,
to be able to receive and respond to metaphoric visual resources from self,
to be able to elicit suitable states for using this process in others

Competency:

demonstrate guiding others through this process,
demonstrate experiencing this process,
describe the function of this process

Logical Levels and Chunking

Prerequisites: rapport, perceptual positions, representational systems, predicates, eye-accessing cues, well-formed outcome

Learning outcomes:

to understand the distinction between logical levels and logical types,
to be aware that logical levels is a classification system (started by the ancient Greeks),
to be aware that chunking up moves to greater abstraction,
to be aware that chunking down moves to greater specificity,
to be aware that chunking sideways produces comparable members of the same class,
to be aware that chunking sideways is also known as lateral thinking,
to be aware that a simple way to chunk sideways is to chunk up one level and then find a list of examples of its members,
to be aware that change work done at a higher logical level than that of the problem is more effective than using the same logical level

Competency:

demonstrate chunking up, down and sideways,
describe some uses of seeking the intention of peopleÐs outcomes,
describe some uses of seeking specificity,
describe some uses of lateral thinking,
demonstrate the use of chunking in establishing and maintaining rapport

Grinder and DeLozier’s Genius State

Prerequisites: circles of excellence, attention training, life lines, logical levels

Learning outcomes:

to be aware that changing state changes one’s perception of the world,
to be able to track and change peripheral vision,
to be able to silence internal dialogue,
to be able to apply well-formedness conditions to outcomes,
to be conversant with logical levels and chunking,
to have an experience of a genius state with life lines

Competency:

demonstrate eliciting a genius state using circles of excellence,
demonstrate wearing a genius state during an active dreaming walk,
demonstrate acting as guardian or guide to someone in a genius state,
demonstrate using life lines for those times where there is no guardian

Strategies

Learning outcomes:

to be aware of the existence of strategies for thinking,
to be aware of the well-formedness conditions for strategies,
to be aware that all representational systems are in use continuously,
to be aware that those representation sequences which show in eye-accessing cues are the strongest,
to be aware that strategies use the strongest representations,
to be aware of the seven basic strategies (learning, decision, reality, convincer, memory, creativity, motivation),
to be able to elicit strategies,
to be able to design effective and well-formed strategies,
to be able to check for effectiveness and well-formedness conditions,
to be able to streamline strategies,
to be able to install strategies by metaphor, rehearsal, demonstration and anchoring,
to experience conscious awareness of own strategies,
to observe the difference in people’s subjective experience of different strategies for doing a given function,
to have an experience of how others do their strategies by modelling them,
to have an experience of how we code reality and how others do it

Competency:

describe the well-formedness conditions for strategies,
list the seven generic strategies,
elicit a strategy,
check an elicited strategy for well-formedness and effectiveness,
streamline or redesign a strategy,
install the changes to a strategy,
try on others’ strategies

Metaphor

Learning outcomes:

to use Milton model language while telling a story or series of stories,
to be able to use metaphor,
to be aware that in NLP metaphor includes simile and allegory,
to be able to use universals from the culture, sub-culture or organisation of the audience,
to be able to construct and deliver an isomorphic metaphor,
to be able to tell a string of short metaphors for a purpose,
to be able to use metaphor as a vehicle for change,
to be able to tell metaphor to transfer a useful pattern hidden in interesting content,
to be aware of the distinction between deep and shallow metaphor,
to be able to describe a multiple embedded metaphor,
to be aware that people, organisations and cultures have deep metaphors they live by,
to be aware that deep metaphor is unconscious unless deliberately elicited,
to be aware that deep metaphor comes out in people’s language and expressions

Competency:

demonstrate eliciting a particular state through metaphor,
demonstrate offering a useful pattern through metaphor,
demonstrate a series of metaphors to make a change,
demonstrate an isomorphic metaphor,
describe a deep metaphor (eg business as war / sport)

Dilts’ Disney Creativity Strategy

Learning outcomes:

to be able to enter task specific resource states cleanly,
to be able to construct specific resource states for specific functions,
to be able to associate and dissociate cleanly at will,
to be able to shift between perceptual positions cleanly at will,
to be able to plan, develop and create a project from first principles,
to discover which of Disney’s dreamer, realist and critic states are more familiar,
to enhance, practice and redesign components of those less familiar,
to be aware that spatial sorting is a pattern while the Disney categories are content,
to be able to use multiple elements of NLP as appropriate,
to have an experience of Walt Disney’s method for creating

Competency:

demonstrate the Disney Creativity Strategy,
describe the point of keeping each state clean and separated,
describe the point of going in one direction and doing a complete round each time,
describe the point of planning the dream and criticising the plan,
describe the point of associating fully into each state

Separating Unwanted Synaesthesias

Learning outcomes:

to be aware of the importance of establishing the individual subject’s eye-accessing cues,
to be aware of the quadrant of each representation,
to be aware that the process can start at any point on the circle,
to be aware that replacing each representation in its place removes the intensity of the experience,
to be aware that some synaesthesias are viewed with defocused eyes in front,
to be aware that this process can be used regularly for daily experiences,
to have the experience of dismantling an unwanted synaesthesia,
to be aware of the relationship between this process and the fast phobia process,
to be aware that synaesthesias can be constructed by reversing this process

Competency:

demonstrate dismantling a synaesthesia with another person,
demonstrate dismantling a synaesthesia of one’s own,
describe suitable experiences for use with this process,
describe how the process could be reversed to create a synaesthesia with defocused vision straight ahead

The NLP Negotiation Model

Learning outcomes:

to achieve congruence within each member of negotiation team,
to achieve congruence between members of negotiation team,
to establish and maintain rapport within and between negotiation teams,
to establish well-formed outcome within negotiation team,
to chunk up high enough to provide multiple options for negotiation team,
to be aware of own negotiation teamÐs bottom line and best alternative to negotiated agreement,
to be aware that other interested parties’ higher logical level outcomes can be elicited,
to be aware that dovetailed outcomes lead to agreement,
to be aware that shared outcomes enhance rapport between negotiation teams,
to be aware that rapport between teams promotes an atmosphere of shared solution finding,
to be aware that negotiating with own side is never done in front of other interests,
to be aware of outframing, back tracking, relevancy, framing questions

Competency:

demonstrate parts negotiation with any internal conflict in each member of the team,
demonstrate establishing a well formed outcome,
use the outcome, intention and consequence model to chunk up,
establish a bottom line and alternative to negotiated agreement,
demonstrate eliciting outcomes and complex equivalents from other parties to the negotiation,
demonstrate dovetailing outcomes between parties to the negotiation, establishing and maintaining rapport,
demonstrate finding an acceptable excuse to talk to own team in private,
demonstrate out framing, back tracking and preparing other side for questions

Business Meeting Procedure

Learning outcomes:

be able to set agenda with quick items first,
be able to set and circulate time frame, date, time, location and agenda to all participants in advance,
be able to welcome participants and start on time,
establish procedure for questioning relevance (agenda on whiteboard),
establish ground rules, courtesy and local cultural requirements,
establish intent to finish on time regardless and to set another date if necessary,
proceed from quickest items to slowest,
if meeting runs effectively, it can finish inside the time frame allowing a period for social interaction at the end,
use principles of Disney Creativity Strategy (not criticising people, discussing problems and outcomes and plans),
allocate action to specific people and get their agreement to function, performance and time frames

Competency:

demonstrate setting up a meeting,
demonstrate chairing a meeting,
demonstrate keeping parties relevant,
demonstrate using the meta model to keep matters specific

Ecology

awareness of the presuppositions of NLP,
understanding the ‘as if’ frame with reference to the presuppositions of NLP,
recognising that the subject has choice at all times,
recognising that the subject’s values are the yardstick,
recognising that violating your own values is not useful,
recognising that process, not content will serve you and the subject effectively,
recognising that ‘why’ questions only lead to justification,
recognising that ‘what for’ questions provide high quality information on intent,
recognising that the subject’s model of the world is your starting point,
recognising that some interventions will not work and this is OK,
recognising that the present state has elements that may be worth keeping,
considering the costs and consequences of making and having every intervention,
considering the intervention from a systemic viewpoint,
establishing strong resource anchor for the subject before intervening,
establishing and maintaining rapport first, last and all the way through,
recognising the wisdom of using; multiple perceptual positions, multiple logical levels, multiple time frames,
recognising the accuracy of a clear congruency signal,
recognising that an incongruent response denotes a lack of information in the system

Assessment

Prerequisites: participation in all training sessions

Learning outcomes:

to discover one knows more than one thought,
to integrate the program into participants’ own thinking,
to revise any areas where participants are uncertain,
to change participants’ experience of assessment,
to introduce code congruency in assessment (same participants, same place, same media, same material, same time frames, same access to trainers, coaches, manual, notes etc),
to experience a complete piece of change work using any NLP processes that fit,
to experience working with different people as subject and guide,
to deepen the awareness of the presuppositions of NLP,
to gain additional practical exposure to NLP,
to gain greater appreciation of the conscious / unconscious interface,
to begin to use own expression of the NLP patterns,
to become familiar with the process of gathering information in depth as the basis for change work,
to become familiar with the routine concept of ecological checks and future pacing

Competency:

demonstrate rapport in interactions as a prerequisite for all other activity,
demonstrate any NLP concepts, processes, training exercises and language patterns from this program,
discuss the structure of any NLP processes from this program and reasoning for choices,
demonstrate mixing and matching NLP processes to fit the client and situation,
discuss the presuppositions of NLP and one’s understanding of them,
give a five to ten minute presentation on a topic from this program with minimal preparation

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The Myth in NLP of the Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic Person

September 3, 2023/in NLP Articles /by Jules Collingwood

Today, one of the hallmarks of a lack of appreciation of NLP is the notion that we “are” a representational system, as in “you are a visual, he is an auditory and I am a kinaesthetic”. A variation is “you are an auditory to visual to kinaesthetic and he is a visual to kinaesthetic to auditory” but this is just as benighted, only the box is bigger and if the very idea confuses you, that is how its user gets people to believe it. People do not have single, fixed sequences of thinking, however much they try to box ideas. How facile to attempt to identify a person on a single or small sample of expression, but this class of identification does make an excellent criterion to include in seeking a possible source of NLP training or practice.

Representational System Model

Representational systems is the name of a model of the way we code and order our thinking, memory and imagination. The model proposes that people think in combinations and sequences of images, sounds and sensations, tastes and scents. These internal representations match our external senses and when elicited in an associated form, like the sensory experience of being there, use the same neurological circuits as sensory experience. We distinguish linguistically between live sensory experience and internal representation by referring to sensory or representational vision, sound, feeling etc.

Everyone can use all internal representational systems simultaneously when attending internally, just as we can attend externally with all our senses, but often, only one system is in conscious awareness at any given moment. The supporting observations for this rely on personal reporting, choice of sensory specific words, known as “predicates” and the external evidence of eye accessing cues.

Eye Accessing Model

The eye accessing model proposes that people use location to gain access to the content of memory and imagination (this includes patterns). Material in different representations is accessed from particular locations by a flick of the eyes in the appropriate direction. The majority of people access visual representations by flicking their eyes above the eye line. Auditory or sound representations are sourced horizontally and feeling, both sensation and proprioception are found below eye level.

The distinction between accessing memory or constructed ideas is less clear cut. While there is a majority that keeps memory to the left of the body and imagination to the right, there is a sizable minority that does the reverse. Contrary to speculation in some NLP literature, the idea of a “normally organised right handed person” is not reliable. Ideally, to use eye accessing to assist someone retrieve information, we need to know exactly where each class of information resides for that person. We do this by asking questions to elicit deliberate accessing in each representational system and with reference to the past or the future. Questioning for future accessing needs to seek completely fresh ideas to ensure they have not been transferred to memory.

When information is accessed, it can be reviewed with the eyes on its location or it can be brought into our visual and/or auditory field and/or felt, smelled, tasted in the body. We can detect sequences of representation in someone else’s thinking through the sensory predicates they use and the directions of their eye movements.

Using Representational Systems

There is a choice, usually exercised unconsciously, of being aware of one or more representations simultaneously. When a memory or proposed situation is activated, we can become totally engrossed in it as if we were present in real time. Then we can experience all representational systems at once. If we represent the information as if from a distance, we might only see it or hear it, but in both these possibilities, use of more than one representational system is simultaneous.

Synaesthesia is another option. This occurs when we experience a representation, usually in a different system, in response to a sensory input or representation. Examples include, see favourite pet – feel warm glow; hear scratch on blackboard – feel teeth stand to attention; hear piece of music – see selection of colours. Synaesthesia is also the structure of phobias; see or hear phobic stimulus – experience disproportionately nasty feeling. The eye accessing evidence can be a fast flick of the eyes from one system to another, but this is seen with rapid multi-representational thought as well. If the eyes are defocused and facing front, this usually indicates a synaesthesia is happening. Synaesthesia can include more than two representational systems, though most reporting refers to two.

Outside NLP, most people are unaware of the way they use their internal representations or even that they have them. Synaesthesia is commonly defined as a condition a few people exhibit, not a choice. Some people are convinced they do not visualise and cannot learn to do it. In NLP, it is presupposed that we can learn to track our current uses of internal representations and learn to use the parts we have not known before. We can separate unwanted synaesthesias, create new and desirable ones, expand our repertoire of thinking by including habitually ignored representations and facilitate our capacity to learn with deliberate mental photographs and sound recordings. We can change the meaning we attribute to any content we think about by altering the size, volume, bandwidth, clarity, shape, brightness, temperature, distance, speed etc: of our representations of it. This uses a related model called Submodalities, which considers the packaging in which an image, sound or sensation is presented to us.

The myth of the visual, auditory or kinaesthetic person

When Grinder and Bandler first became aware of representational systems and eye accessing cues, it was through observation and listening. Grinder describes in “Whispering in the Wind”, hearing a conversation between two people in a petrol service station and becoming aware that they were using sensory specific words to each other, but from different senses. This did not produce smooth communication and it drew Grinder’s attention.

Grinder and Bandler conducted experiments with training groups, creating sub-groups based on sensory specific language. When they put strangers together according to the representational system used in their greeting, conversations were freer and more spontaneous in the group than when people were placed with others who greeted in different sensory predicates.

Initially, the idea of a preferred representational system was postulated, not to identify or label people, but as the basis for further research, which has been taking place ever since, with excellent results. But, the tendency of most people to take a single example of something, or an open proposal and over generalise from it occurred and the NLP community of the day welcomed the idea with open arms. Regardless of further observation and more discovery in the last 35 years, including evidence that we shift between representations when thinking and use all of them in different sequences or strategies, the original postulate has become an icon.

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How Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Can Help Change Your Beliefs

July 22, 2023/in NLP Articles /by Chris Collingwood

Many people live in psychological cages of their own making! The bars that make up these cages are the limiting beliefs that they have developed or acquired about themselves and the world. Beliefs shape the way we perceive the world, and they can limit our potential for success. However, we have the power to shape our beliefs through an application of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) called the submodalities model, that includes a specific process that can help us examine and restructure our belief systems.

Exceptional Beliefs Lead To Exceptional Effectiveness

Many successful people have held exceptional beliefs that have enabled them to achieve great things. For instance, Mohammed Ali believed that he was “the greatest,” while Elon Musk believes that humanity should expand its reach to Mars and that he and his team at Spacex are capable of succeeding at that. These exceptional beliefs backed by an individual’s capabilities have allowed these individuals to achieve exceptional achievements.

Limiting and Generative Beliefs

In NLP, the submodality belief change is done by contrasting the representation of a limiting belief with the same person’s representation of something they doubt. Then, they recode the content of the old belief to represent it as something they doubt to be true. They then insert the pre-prepared content they want to have as a new belief, giving it the submodality qualities of a belief.

Some people make a distinction between generative or useful beliefs and limiting or unwelcome beliefs, and they represent different classes of beliefs differently. With the submodality model of NLP we can find out how a particular person represents (codes) a doubt, a limiting belief and a generative belief. With that information it becomes a straightforward matter to assist the person in turning the limiting belief into a doubt and then coding what they want to believe with the qualities of a generative belief.

Well-formedness Conditions for New Beliefs

When creating a new belief using NLP, we need to ensure that it meets certain well-formedness conditions. The belief must be expressed in positive terms, and it must be initiated and maintained by the individual themselves so that it appears in their thinking, their states and behaviour. Additionally, the individual must be able to demonstrate the accuracy of the belief using sensory-specific terms and supporting evidence.

Changing Beliefs with NLP

To change a limiting belief with NLP, we must first identify the belief and examine it to determine its structure. We then contrast the representation of the limiting belief with the representation of something the individual doubts. The content of the limiting belief is then represented as a doubt. This creates a shift in the old belief, enabling us to insert a new generative belief modelled on a generative belief that they already hold.

The preparation for creating a new belief involves answering several questions. What do you want to believe? What do you want to have that belief for? In what context will the new belief operate in? What will believing that do for you? What are the likely consequences of having the proposed content as something you believe to be true? These questions help to ensure that the new belief meets the well-formedness conditions.

Conclusion

By using the NLP submodalities model to change our beliefs, we can transform our perception of ourselves and the world around us. By identifying and reprogramming limiting beliefs, we can adopt new generative beliefs that enable us to achieve exceptional effectiveness. Through careful examination and the use of well-formedness conditions, we can ensure that our new beliefs are positive, accurate, and sustainable.

Demonstration of a Belief Change

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Modulating Reality: A Deeper Dive into Neuro-Linguistic Programming’s Submodalities

July 21, 2023/in NLP Articles /by Chris Collingwood

I. Introduction

In the convoluted labyrinth of our minds, we find a complex mechanism of cognitive representations that function as mental simulacra of our sensory experiences. This paradigm, often referred to as Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), forms the foundations of our perceptions, feelings, and even our behaviours. A pivotal aspect of NLP is its submodalities – the finer details of our mental coding systems that define how we perceive and remember experiences.

II. Understanding Submodalities

In essence, submodalities can be considered the sensory building blocks of our experiences. When we perceive something, we do not simply engage with it as a monolithic unit. Instead, we parse it through a panoply of sensory dimensions or submodalities – sight, sound, touch, and their respective subcategories. For instance, when we recollect a visual memory, we do not just see an image. We perceive its size, its colour, its brightness – all examples of visual submodalities.

Submodalities, however, aren’t confined to the visual realm. In the auditory realm, volume serves as a submodality. When we recollect a song or a dialogue, we register the intensity of the sound in our memory. Similarly, in the kinaesthetic domain, texture and spatial extent – how large or small the area of a particular sensation was, both play significant roles.

III. Submodalities at Play: Adjusting Your Mental Imagery

Consider a mental image you have and imagine if you had a dimmer control. You could modulate the brightness, making it brighter or dimmer. This alteration of brightness is a classic example of tweaking a visual submodality. Similarly, in an auditory memory, you could play with the bandwidth, widening or narrowing the sound, hence altering an auditory submodality.

Submodalities also interrelate with each other, often in intricate ways. For instance, consider spatial location as a submodality. In a mental image, the object’s spatial location plays a crucial role, just as it does in an auditory memory or a sensory experience. The image can be flat or three-dimensional, akin to a TV screen or a hologram, while a sound could be mono or stereo. Sensations, too, can be constant or rhythmic.

IV. The Power and Potential of Submodalities

Understanding submodalities is not just a theoretical exercise. Rather, it’s an empowering tool that offers us the ability to change our perceptions and emotions. By altering the configuration of submodalities in our representations, we can influence our experiences. Making a mental image brighter or dimmer, for example, can respectively heighten or dampen our emotional responses to it.

Furthermore, when we alter a specific submodality, other submodalities may correspondingly change, creating a cascade of changes in our perceptions. Imagine revisiting a pleasant memory and gradually turning up its ‘brightness.’ As you adjust this visual submodality, you may notice alterations in your auditory and kinaesthetic experiences too. The sound might become clearer, the feelings more intense.

Such changes aren’t universal, though. Individual responses vary. Some may find their sensations intensifying as they turn the brightness up, while others may experience the contrary. This understanding of personal ‘submodality patterns’ can provide powerful tools for self-improvement and therapeutic change. The key is discovering how your submodalities are organised so that you can modulate and transform your experiences.

V. Submodalities and High-Performance States

Submodalities also play an essential role in achieving high-performance states or ‘flow.’ By adjusting the submodalities of our mental representations, we can enhance our performance in various contexts. For instance, making a pleasant memory more vivid and immersive can improve our mood and motivation.

Furthermore, when we use other NLP techniques to apply a high-performance state to a particular context, the submodalities of our mental representation of that context typically change. These shifts in submodalities can serve as valuable feedback, signifying evidence of a successful change in our state.

VI. Submodalities: A Mechanism for Altering Limiting Beliefs

In the rich tapestry of human cognition that NLP tries to explore, one intriguing application of submodalities involves the metamorphosis of limiting beliefs. The process commences by mapping out the cognitive representation of a constraining belief, juxtaposing it against the individual’s cognitive representation of an idea they’re sceptical about. They then reprogram the content of the original belief, repackaging it as something they would doubt as truth. Subsequently, they infuse the newly configured belief they wish to embrace into their cognitive framework, adorning it with the characteristic submodality hallmarks of a deeply held generative belief.

Human cognition, ever nuanced and complex, often distinguishes between generative beliefs that propel us forward, and limiting beliefs that chain us to unproductive patterns. These divergent classes of beliefs are often coded differently in the brain, reflecting their contrasting roles. The submodality model of NLP aids us in unpacking how an individual cognitively encodes doubt, limiting beliefs, and generative beliefs. Empowered with this knowledge, it becomes a much simpler task to guide the individual in transforming a limiting belief into a doubt, and subsequently encoding a desired belief with the submodality pattern of a generative belief.

VII. Conclusion

In essence, NLP’s submodalities model offers an enlightening lens to comprehend our subjective experiences and understand our personal submodality patterns. They hold the key to the doors of our perception, offering us an empowering tool to modulate our mental imagery, change our states and emotions, transform limiting beliefs and enhance our performance.

As we explore the mental landscape of our minds, understanding and working with submodalities can guide us towards self-improvement, offering insights into how we encode our experiences and empowering us to change these encodings to live more fulfilling and successful lives.

What are Submodalities?

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How the NLP Swish Pattern began

April 6, 2016/in NLP Articles /by Jules Collingwood

The NLP Swish Pattern

The NLP Swish pattern uses an individual’s own submodality changes at high speed to shift that person’s attention from the content they have to see, hear or feel each time they initiate an habitual act. The sensory representation of the memory of performing the start of their chosen behaviour shifts instantly into a highly attractive and dissociated representation of the person as they would like to be at some time after they have changed. This creates a shunt that diverts the person from the act they wanted to change before they do it.

Submodalities are the components of each representational system.
Representational systems are the systems of sight, hearing, feeling, taste and smell that we use to remember and imagine, creating trains of thought and emotions.
The senses are sight, hearing, feeling, taste and smell used in real time as we access external events.
Visual submodalities include size, brightness, location, distance, depth of field, focus, hue, rate of motion (think photoshop editing).
Auditory submodalities include location, volume, pitch, timbre, bandwidth, distortion, rate of motion (think sound mixing desk).
Kinaesthetic submodalities include temperature, pressure, location, rhythm, amplitude, moisture, volume, area, motion.

Submodalities provide and create the meaning we make of the content of our representations, (images, sounds and sensations) and the meaning of a representation changes when we alter the submodalities with which it is represented. A NLP Swish changes both the meaning and the content of representations attached to the act we want to change. For the purposes of using a Swish to break an habitual act, we use two analogue submodalities in representational systems of the person’s choice. These should be driver submodalities that change the intensity of the experience simultaneously with their direct action on the initial representation.

“Submodalities provide and create the meaning we make of the content of our representations”

Analogue submodalities alter in a continuous flow, increasing or decreasing in smooth increments, like the dimmer on a light switch or the volume control on a sound system.
Digital submodalities alter in discrete steps or have an on-off switch.
Driver submodalities alter the meaning or quality of the content of a representation while simultaneously altering additional qualities of the experience by changing at least one submodality in a different representational system. This change is linked to the change in the driver submodality.

The principle of the NLP Swish Pattern is to create an automated shift of the person’s attention to their highly motivating and self chosen representation of themselves in the future after the change.

The story of the Swish

Christina Hall is one of the founding owners of the Society of NLP and has been an NLP trainer since the early 1980s. She was working with Richard Bandler, the co-originator of NLP, as a blend of executive assistant and associate trainer. She also had a life partner called Peter, who played a central role in the development of the Swish.

“Christina Hall is one of the founding owners of the Society of NLP”

One evening, Christina was driving home from an NLP training seminar. Peter was with her in the car and they were discussing Bandler’s demonstrations. During the conversation, Peter experienced a sudden shift in his internal images and changed state. The new state was markedly resourceful and Christina’s attention was alerted. She asked Peter what he did and he described his experience as follows:

He had been thinking about something in life size, moving, associated images close in front of him. Suddenly the image shifted from its life size movie configuration and dropped down to his left side while it shrunk to a black dot at the bottom left of his field of vision. Simultaneously a (different) black dot rose up from the same place at the bottom left and enlarged and placed itself across Peter’s field of vision, where the previous image had been. This was a dissociated lifelike image of who he would be or how he would appear ideally, after making a change to the content he was first thinking about.

Christina took this information to Bandler and they experimented with it. In due course it became what is known as the Standard NLP Swish Pattern. It worked well for some people, notably those who include size, location and brightness in their analogue driver submodalities.

The swish created a shunt from the present state image with its unique components of the unwanted behaviour, directly to an idealised dissociated image of the person after the change is established. This produced a state that was sufficiently resourceful and different from the state associated with the habitual behaviour to break any link with the unwanted behaviour. As a shunt, any residual link would be broken each time the person was exposed to the initial stimulus.

Some people found it difficult to shrink an image and move it sideways while darkening it and others found it did nothing for them. These people use different driver submodalities. Bandler discovered that a large number of them work well using size and distance. For them, the initial associated image pulls away as if on a bungy cord, while shrinking down to become a dot in the far distance. Simultaneously, the desired state image starts from being a dot in the far distance and rushes forward, enlarging to occupy the position formerly held by the first image. This is known as the Distance NLP Swish Pattern.

Finally, for those who do not include any of these options in their own driver submodalities, or who prefer to work in the auditory or kinaesthetic representational systems, Bandler chunked up from the two formats above to describe the patterns that guide them. In the Designer NLP Swish Pattern, the individual subject’s use of submodalities is elicited and a swish is created for that person, using two of their own analogue driver submodalities. This is the most accurate description of the NLP Swish Pattern.

The Standard, Distance and Designer NLP Swish patterns are taught as part of the syllabus on our postgraduate qualification in NLP, the 10970NAT Graduate Certificate in Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

By Jules Collingwood, NLP Trainer

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Creating meaningful change and altering the way you represent the world

July 26, 2015/in NLP Articles /by Jules Collingwood

How The World Is Represented

When we look at the world or at our internal images, we are using the visual system. When we hear sounds in the environment or compose or playback sounds internally, we are using the auditory system and when we feel sensation, touch, our own muscle twitches or emotion related feelings, we are using the kinaesthetic system. We see, hear and feel our surroundings, but if we are attending to an argument we had with someone yesterday, we do not register everything we are exposed to. Our attention is on the recalled images, sounds and sensations associated with the argument.

We can change the meaning we attribute to the argument by exploring the sub components of our representations. These are known as ‘Submodalities’. If the visual system is a Modality then size, location, brightness, hue, motion, focus, and colour saturation are examples of visual submodalities. Auditory submodalities include volume, location, bandwidth, speed, pitch, rhythm and timbre (resonance). Kinaesthetic submodalities include pressure, temperature, volume, area, rhythm, texture and shape.

“We can change the meaning we attribute to the argument by exploring the sub components of our representations. “

The Making of Meaning

People make and code the meaning they attribute to experiences by representing the experience with specific submodalities. The exciting aspect of submodalities is that different people use different submodalities to make meaning. Thus, one person might discover that increasing the size of an image increases the intensity of the sensations they feel while another might find that moving the image to a different location in their visual field has a similar effect.

When we explore our individual application of submodalities in a group, it is fascinating to discover the different submodalities and combinations people use to denote different meanings for their experiences. Belief, alone, can be represented in many forms and some people code limiting beliefs (I wish that were not true) differently from generative beliefs (Of course I can rely on that being true).

Exploring our own submodalities brings this important part of attention to conscious awareness. For practical purposes, we can retain the memory of exploring our submodalities without overloading ourselves by attending to them constantly. When we want to change or enhance the meaning of an experience, we can attend to our submodalities long enough to map the changes. It is a matter of finding which submodalities in what combinations provide us, personally, with the particular meaning we are after.

Altering Meaning

Sometimes changing a submodality in one sensory system will alter a submodality in a different system. This is called a ‘Driver Submodality’ because changing it drives change in another submodality. Even though individuals use different submodalities to make meaning, there are some sufficiently prevalent combinations for advertising agencies to harness them in TV commercials. For example, natural gas used to be advertised on TV in the UK and more recently in Australia, using steel blue lighting to denote freezing cold conditions with people skating on the Thames or Sydney Harbour. When the skaters arrive home, the door opens and the gas fire lights as the lighting switches to golden amber, denoting warmth. If you are someone who creates a subjective temperature change with a change in colour temperature, this will be obvious. If not, what gives you a sense of warmth on a cold day, (other than crouching over a direct heat source)?

“Sometimes changing a submodality in one sensory system will alter a submodality in a different system”

Some people have a similar experience between sensory systems. In this case, they may see something which promotes a sensation or a sound, or feel something which promotes an image or a sound or hear something which promotes an image or a feeling. This is called Synaesthesia. Examples include seeing particular colours with numbers, seeing swirling colours when music is played, feeling a cringe when someone scratches a blackboard or feeling rhythms when looking at abstract or fractal art. A lesser known example is seeing the environment brighten, dim or change hue in response to smelling different substances.

It is worth discovering your own synaesthesias if you have them, as they can change the quality of your attention without your realising if they are running in the background. An administrator used the telephone extensively in her work. In the early 1990s, Australian telephone numbers acquired a nine (9) at the front to make them eight digits instead of seven after the area code. Shortly after this change, the administrator complained of feeling depressed. She and her partner knew about synaeshesias and they gave this one some attention. They discovered that she had fixed colours for numerals and each colour queued a sensation., Nine was an unpleasant grey colour with a dragging kinaesthetic and suddenly it prefixed every telephone number she used. They changed the synaesthesia and the depressing experience lifted.

Submodalites, synaesthesias and sequences of sensory representations all contribute to the quality of attention we bring to experience. They are also elements of how we use our attention.

By Jules Collingwood, NLP Trainer at INSPIRITIVE Pty Ltd.

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Recommended Syllabus for Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming courses

Outcomes and Competencies at the NLP Practitioner level

Rapport

Perceptual Positions

NLP Representational Systems

Sensory specific language – verbal predicates

Eye-accessing cues

Circle of excellence

Sensory acuity and calibration

Anchoring

Well-formed outcome

The meta model of language – overview

Six step reframe

Negotiation between two parts in conflict

Negotiation between more than two parts in conflict

Content reframing

Stalking to Excellence

Submodalities

Attention training

Fast Phobia Process

Personal Editing

The Milton Model

Transderivational search and Change Personal History

Reimprinting

Timeline elicitation and use

New Behaviour Generator with Timeline

Swish Patterns – Standard and Distance

Swish Patterns – Designer

Swish Patterns – Visual Kinaesthetic

Logical Levels and Chunking

Grinder and DeLozier’s Genius State

Strategies

Metaphor

Dilts’ Disney Creativity Strategy

Separating Unwanted Synaesthesias

The NLP Negotiation Model

Business Meeting Procedure

Ecology

Assessment

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Representational System Model

Eye Accessing Model

Using Representational Systems

The myth of the visual, auditory or kinaesthetic person

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Exceptional Beliefs Lead To Exceptional Effectiveness

Limiting and Generative Beliefs

Well-formedness Conditions for New Beliefs

Changing Beliefs with NLP

Conclusion

Demonstration of a Belief Change

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I. Introduction

II. Understanding Submodalities

III. Submodalities at Play: Adjusting Your Mental Imagery

IV. The Power and Potential of Submodalities

V. Submodalities and High-Performance States

VI. Submodalities: A Mechanism for Altering Limiting Beliefs

VII. Conclusion

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