NLP Submodalities

Introduction

Often we use metaphorical sayings in our language, which can provide insight into our minds. A statement such as “I can hear him loud and clear” might be ignored by a common person, but a person trained in Neuro-linguistic Programming will understand its inherent meaning. Such metaphors are a literal description of the person’s internal representation. The concept of Neuro-linguistic Programming submodalities tells us how the brain and nervous system functions operate, and how the mind programs our behavior, feelings and abilities.

As per Neuro-linguistic courses, there are three fundamental ways in which we think, namely through pictures, sounds and feelings. Thinking also happens with the help of taste, smell and meta-representational system of language. However, the primary representation is images, sounds and feelings. This is the domain of our Neuro-linguistic Programming submodalities, and it can help us distinguish between our internal representations.

In order to explain the concept of these three submodalities, you need to think of a pleasant experience.

If you see a picture of the experience, you are using the visual submodality. Identify whether the picture is in color or black and white. Is the picture three-dimensional or a flat photograph? Are you present in the picture using dissociation, or are you seeing the experience through your eyes using association? Is the picture panoramic or in a photo frame? Is the memory in the form or a movie or is it a still picture? Is the picture at a distance, or close by? Is the picture dark or bright, in focus or out of focus? Try to list all aspects of the picture, its location and finer details. This is the visual inner representation of the memory.

When you are able to hear the sounds in the memory, you are using the auditory submodality. Identify whether the sound is soft or loud, thin or full , timbre or resonant. What is the direction of the sound? Is the sound stereo or mono, clear or dull, moving fast or slow? Identify all aspects of the sound. This is the auditory inner representation of the memory.

If you can also feel the sensations within that memory, you are using the kinesthetical submodality. Identify the intensity of the feelings, and the texture on your skin. If the feeling had shape, what would the shape be? If the feeling had weight, what would the load be? Did the experience feel hot or cold? Which part of the body experienced a sensation? Identify all aspects of the feeling. This is the kinesthetical inner representation of the memory.

These Neuro-linguistic Programming quality attributes of the internal representation are the submodalities, and comprise of the VAK modalities. Neuro-linguistic submodalities consist of the building blocks of the internal representational systems, and are the qualities or properties of this representation. We can represent all our emotions, beliefs and experiences using submodalities within the brain using Neuro-linguistic courses. We give word meanings to each submodality property, which are then processes to create our reality. Submodalities are processed to create emotions, which are then used to determine our behavior. Submodalities are present at the primary levels as well as the Meta levels within our representational coding, as per Neuro-linguistic training.

There lies a key difference even within each Neuro-linguistic submodality. For example for a visual submodality, the image that we recreate is either in color or in black and white. It cannot be something in between as we cannot create an in between coding. Such a difference is called a digital submodality, where the function is either on or off. Another example of digital submodality is a picture that either is in motion or is still; it cannot be both.

On the other hand, the image can have a range of possible values. For example an image that is close or at a distance. There can be a range of possible locations the image can take even if it is at a distance. This submodality varies over a continuum, and is termed as analogue submodality.

Neuro-linguistic Programming submodalities become more important when we try to change them, and see how the alteration brings a positive change in our lives. An event of the past exists in the history. Our current response is not to the event in the history, but its memory that lingers in our mind. We cannot change what has happened in the past, but we can change the internal representation of the memory and how we perceive it today.