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Hi everybody, and welcome to "NLP: The Secret Science of Self- Empowerment." This Ezine is designed to bring to you techniques, theories and exercises from the fascinating field of Neurolinguistic Programming.

NLP offers fascinating concepts that can help you to develop better relationships with others and yourself - and focuses on bringing forth the unlimited powers of genius that lie withing each one of us.

About This Issue
In the last two issues we covered representational systems, VAKOH (visual, audio, kinesthetic, olfactory, gustatory), also called modalities. This week we are going to take a closer look at submodalities, the elements of which representational systems are made of.

Submodalities play a key role in changing the way we experience reality. Every state, be it happiness, confusion, excitement or lack of confidence, is experienced through the medium of submodalities. By changing the submodalities that come with a state, you can change the state itself.

This Issues Article: Submodalities - The Key to Changing Your Reality

In order to make sense of "the world out there" our brain needs to represent that world to our conscious self. It does so, by using our five senses of seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting. Right now, in this very moment, your brain is doing just that for you. You are seeing the computer screen in front of you, you are hearing sounds (Voices? Cars? Music? Your own breathing?), feeling the chair you are sitting on, along with some sensation of temperature, your hand moving the mouse and clicking away. And maybe you are tasting or smelling something. Coffee, flowers, cigarette smoke, toothpaste? No? That's fine. For the most part we experience reality through VAK (visual, audio, kinesthetic).

Submodalities are the structure behind your sensations. Each of your five senses (or modalities) consists of submodalities. Take a look at the following list to get a better idea of what I am talking about. I am not going to list olfactory and gustatory, simply because they don't play as important a role as VAK.

Consider the following examples of submodalities:

Visual Submodalities	Is what you are seeing:
Size Distance Tone Brightness Color Density Contrast Depth Focus Associated/ Disassociated Movement	big / small far / near color / black & white dull / bright full color / washed out opaque / translucent / transparent light & shade / flat three dimensional / two dimensional sharp / fuzzy looking out of your own eyes / seeing yourself from outside your body movement / still

Audio Submodalities	Is what you are hearing:
Distance Pitch Volume Location Tempo Tone Rhythm Clarity	far / near high / low loud / quiet surround / mono / stereo normal / fast / slow full / thin rhythmic / continuous / interrupted clear / muffled / echo

Kinesthetic Submodalities	Is what you are feeling:
Texture Pressure Location Temperature Humidity Size Duration Movement Speed Rhythm	rough / smooth heavy / light external / internal hot /cold dry /wet small / large area short / medium / long still / moving fast / slow regular / irregular

Every moment of your life your brain is recording information based on the above listed submodalities. Every memory you have is encoded in those submodalities. Every state you experience is expressed in submodalities. You can use this to your advantage, as you saw in last weeks exercise.

VAK Goal Exercise

1. Think of a goal you have. Something you want to achieve. Something that would make you happy.
2. Write down the submodalities that come with your goal. Use the list above.
3. Make your goal more real and more exciting, by changing the submodalities. E.g. turn up the volume, intensify colors, etc.
4. Write down which changes produce the best results.

You can do this exercise for more than one goal. You might find that there is a pattern of submodalities that always lead to a more positive experience of your goal. Use this pattern to adjust submodalities anytime you want to motivate yourself.

You can use the same kind of process to build confidence. Simply think about the future event you are afraid of and write down the submodalities that are attached to it. Change them around until that event has lost its fearful impact. For example, if you are scared of giving a talk in front of a large audience, make changes to the submodalities that come with your fearful imagination of this future event. Try looking at the scene from an onlookers perspective, rather than through your own two eyes. See yourself giving the talk from the back of the room. Still too scary? Freeze the scene into a still black and white picture and zoom it out. Getting better? Add some relaxing or funny music to it. Your knees feel wobbly? Turn them into solid steel. Or wood. Turn them into tree trunks that are firmly rooted to the ground. Feel how this groundedness makes secure and confident.

There are no limits to how you can play with submodalities. Anything is possible in your mind. You can give make your positive thoughts even more positive and your negative ones less negative. Just change the submodalities.

(Note: This technique by itself might not be sufficient to deal with severe traumatic memories. Seeking the help of a professional is advised in such cases.)

References:

Change your mind and keep the change, Andreas, S. and C., 1988.

An Insider's Guide to Submodalities, Bandler, R., MacDonald, W., 1988.

All the best,

Christoph Schertler
NLP Trainer/Coach - Founder PEC, LLC

Christoph Schertler has published an ebook on how to use NLP to build confidence. The NLP Confidence Builder contains over 100 pages of powerful NLP techniques and concepts that can help you overcome limiting beliefs and bring forth the life-transforming power of confidence from deep within you.

Get your copy today:

Christoph Schertler was recently published in "101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Vol. 2" alongside John Gray, Jack Canfield, Richard Carlson, Bob Proctor, Alan Cohen and many other leading Self Improvement experts.

Get your copy today:

About the Author

Christoph Schertler is a certified NLP Trainer and NLP Coach with a passion for helping others to empower themselves and bring forth their power and genius from within. He has trained with some of the biggest names in the field and is a firm believer in the transformational powers of NLP.

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The contents herein are solely the opinions of the editors, and should not be considered as a form of therapy nor advice. There is no guarantee of validity or accuracy. Personal Empowerment Coaching, LLC assumes no responsibility for injury and specifically disclaims any warranty, express or implied for any products or services mentioned. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, services of a competent professional should be sought. Copyright (C) 2006 by Personal Empwerment Coaching, LLC. Permission is granted to reproduce or distribute this newsletter only in its entirety and provided copyright is acknowledged.