Submodalities in 

NLP are fine distinctions or the subsets of

the Modalities (Visual , Auditory , Kinesthetic, Olfactory , Gustatory , and Ad) that are
part of each representational system that encode and give meaning to our experiences.

They are the building blocks of the representational systems by which we code, order
and give meaning to the experiences we have. Submodalities are how we structure our
experiences.

How do you know what you believe and what you do not believe? You code the two
different kinds of beliefs in different submodalities. We create meaning by using different
submodalities to code our experience, for example someone we like and someone we
dislike.

Changing submodalities is a very effective and powerful way of changing the meaning
of an experience. When we set a goal, for example, the more attention we pay to the
submodalities, the more specifically refined it becomes. The finer our distinctions, the
more clearly and creatively we can design our future.

Here is a version of how to use internal representations to change inner meaning:

https://vimeo.com/75205194

Here is a longer version of what submodalities are:

SUBMODALITIES
The concept of submodalities had been part of NLP since the late 1970′s, but they were
presented primarily as a way of enhancing experiences. Although association /
dissociation was the key element in many of the more effective standard NLP patterns
that had been taught for years, it was not clearly described as a submodality shift.

It was only in 1983 that Richard Bandler explicitly began to reveal the structure of
submodalities in general. He taught how submodality shifts could be used to change
habits (swish pattern ), change beliefs, and create motivation or understanding, and
how submodality thresholds could be used to break locked-in patterns like compulsions,
or to lock in new changes.

In short, he outlined how submodalities comprise one way of understanding the

underlying structure of all experience. Bandler and Grinder constructed
the Representational Systems of the VAK modalities with their qualities
(“submodalities”). This provided a language for describing & modeling human
experiences.

The concept of submodalities arose in the field of neuro-linguistic programming,

explaining that human beings ‘code’ internal experiences using aspects of their different
senses.

We have five basic senses: visual, auditory, kinaesthetic , olfactory and gustatory. In

NLP, these are referred to as representational systems or modalities. For each of these
modalities, we can have finer distinctions.

We could describe a picture as being black and white or colour, or it could also be bright
or dim. Sounds could be loud or soft, or coming from a particular direction. Feelings
could be in different parts of the body or have different temperatures.

Smells could be pleasant or offensive, strong or light. Taste could be sweet or bitter or
strong or mild. These finer distinctions are called submodalities and define the qualities
of our internal representations . Generally, we work with only three modalities — visual,
auditory and kinaesthetic. However, you be working with a client on an issue where the
olfactory or gustatory submodalities play a major role e.g. a food issue or someone who
is a chef. People have known about and worked with submodalities for centuries. For
example, Aristotle referred to qualities of the senses, but did not use the term
submodalities.

For most people, research within NLP states that the brain often uses these structural
elements as a way to ‘know’ how it feels about them, and what they signify internally.
The link is stated to be bilateral – that is, emotions attached to a mental experience are
affected by certain submodalities with which it is associated , and specific submodalities
can also be affected if the emotional significance changes.

The discovery that the emotion associated with a thought is often functionally linked to
the submodalities with which that thought is presented to consciousness, led to a variety
of brief therapy NLP interventions based upon change of these key submodalities.

In effect, voluntary change of submodalities on the part of the subject was often found to
alter long-term the concommitant ‘feeling’ response, paving the way for a number of
change techniques based on deliberately changing internal representations. NLP co-
originator Richard Bandler in particular has made extensive use of submodality
manipulations in the evolution of his work.
To match these subjective distinctions, Eric Robbie (an NLP trainer) demonstrated in
1984 that sub-modalities can be reliably distinguished from external behaviour – in the
case of visual submodalities, subtle changes in the eye and facial muscles surrounding
the eye are good indicators of specific visual submodalities; in the case of auditory,
subtle changes in the muscles surrounding the ears perform the same function for
auditory submodalities, and in the case of kinesthetic, subtle changes in the
musculature of the body reveal subjective variations in that modality too.

Submodalities are key components to many of the NLP change techniques.

Submodalities, by themselves or as part of other techniques, have been used to assist
people to stop smoking, eat more of certain foods and less of others, address
compulsion issues, change beliefs and values, enhance motivation, move from stress to
relaxation, address phobias, etc.
What exactly is a submodality?

A submodality in neuro-linguistic programming is a distinction of form or structure

(rather than content ) within a sensory representational system. For example,
regardless of the content, both external and mental images of any kind will be either
colored or monochrome, and stationary or moving. These parameters are submodalities
within the visual sense. Similarly, both remembered and actual sounds will be mono or
stereo when experienced internally, so mono/stereo is a submodality of sound.

Submodalities refers to the subjective structural subdivisions within a given

representational system. For example, in visual terms, common distinctions include:
brightness, degree of colour (saturation), size, distance, sharpness, focus, and so on; in
auditory: loudness, pitch, tonal range, distance, clarity, timbre, and so on.
Ordinarily, one can establish these by asking questions:

This image – is it bright, or dim? Coloured or black and white? How much colour? Is it big or small?
Is it near or far? In focus, or out of focus?”
“This sound – is it loud or soft? Is it high pitched or low pitched? Does it have a range? Is it near or
far? Is it one point source or spread out? Where is it coming from? Is it clear or muffled?
That feeling in your body – where exactly is it? Does it have a size? A temperature? Does it stay the
same, or does it move at all? Does it have a texture? Is it hard or soft?

NLP asserts that far from being arbitrary or unimportant, these submodalities often
perform a functional role, as a means by which emotions, related memories, felt-sense
perceptions such as “importance”, and so on, are presented to consciousness by
the unconscious mind, along with thoughts or memories.

NLP asserts that amongst the many possible submodalities, there will often be a
handful of so-called “critical” submodalities which can functionally effect large-scale
change, and that they differ between people, and can be identified by observation and
inquiry. NLP states that a change within these critical submodalities will often correlate
with a near-immediate subjective change in the emotion or other felt-sense with which a
mental impression presents itself.

Submodalities are therefore seen in NLP as offering a valuable therapeutic insight

(or metaphor ) and potential working methods, into how the human mind internally
organizes and subjectively ‘views’ events.

NLP views of submodalities

According to core NLP research, each person’s brain seems to code emotional
significance differently through variations in mental “image” or representation. Examples
found include people whose unconscious minds place black borders around bad
memories, people for whom visual images seen dimly are less compelling than those
seen brightly, people for whom a subjectively “good” memory is accompanied by one
kind of sound whilst a “bad” memory is accompanied by another, and so on.

For most people, there will be a handful of such distinctions which are ‘critical’ to
emotional perception, and thus to their mental processing. For example, these might be
submodalities that distinguish optimistic thoughts from depressive ones, or which
distinguish compelling and important thoughts from less compelling ones. For any given
individual, a submodality that turns out to be critical in how a given memory or thought is
subjectively experienced, is known as a critical submodality .

List of submodalities
Examples of distinctions that are embedded within sensory impressions include:

Representation system Examples of submodalities

Visual Size
(sight, images, spatial) Distance
Location: to the left, right, top, bottom
Brightness
Color or monochrome
Framed (nature of frame?) 
or panoramic
2D or 3D
Clear or fuzzy
 Shape: convex, concave, specific
Movement: still, photo, slideshow, video, movie, looping
Style: picture, painting, poster, drawing, “real life”

Mono / stereo
Qualities: Volume, pitch, tempo, rhythm
Auditory
Variations: looping, fading in and out, moving location
(sound, voice)
Voice: whose voice, one or many
Other background sounds?

Proprioception: Somatic sensation, location, movement

Kinesthetic
Tactition: pressure, texture
(propreceptive, somatic)
Thermoception: temperature

Olfactory/Gustatory Smell Taste

Here is another table listing submodalities:

Visual Auditory Kinesthetic

Black & White or Colour Stereo or Mono

Near or Far Fast or Slow Large Area or Small Area
Bright or Dim High or Low Pitch Weight: Heavy or Light
Location Verbal or Tonal Location
Size of Picture Rhythm Texture: Smooth or Rough
Associated / Dissociated Clarity Constant or Intermittent
Focused or De-focused Pauses Strong or Weak Temperature: Hot or Cold
Framed or Unbounded Size
Movie or Still Shape
If a Movie-Fast/Normal/Slow Pressure
3 Dimensional or Flat Loud or Soft Vibration
Near or Far
Internal or External
 Location

Submodalities: Key Building Blocks of NLP Techniques

Changing submodalities is a very effective and powerful way of changing the meaning
of an experience. When we set a goal, for example, the more attention we pay to the
submodalities, the more specifically refined it becomes. The finer our distinctions, the
more clearly and creatively we can design our future.

Yet how do submodalities really work? What mechanism or mechanisms explain the
effects? What skills does a person have to have in order to effectively work with making
submodality shifts?

Current research and exploration into The Submodality Model questions many of the

things that we have assumed about “submodalities.” Knowing and utilizing these secrets
of submodalities will powerfully enrich your understandings of what drives and governs
and thereby puts a turbo-charge to your selection and use of them.

We should recognize that the qualities of the VAK modalities operate at a meta-level.
We have to go Meta to detect these structural elements. We have to go Meta to play,
shift, alter, and “map them across. “We have to go Meta to recognize them as setting
frames of references for our thinking. This creates Meta-Programs and Meta-States.
And this meta-level framing then, in turn, governs and organizes the thinking-emoting
system as a self-organizing attractor.

A great deal of the magic of NLP has arisen from the genius of recognizing the
components of “thought, “consciousness, and “mind” as made up of the sensory
modalities of sight (visual), sound (auditory), and sensation (kinaesthetic) (the VAK). A
great many of the magic-like processes in NLP that creates transforming change and
new meanings emerges from our use of the distinctive features of the modalities that we
have labeled as “submodalities.”

The visual submodality Associated/Dissociated is a very important and refers to whether

or not you can see yourself in the picture (visual internal representation). You are
associated if you cannot see yourself in the picture. Often we refer to this as looking
through your own eyes. If you can see yourself in the picture, then we say you are
dissociated.

If you are associated in a memory, then your feelings (happy, sad, fearful) about that
memory will be more intense. If you are dissociated, this is more like watching a movie
of your life rather than being there (on the playing field) and any feelings will be less
intense or not at all.

Trauma State
Can NLP not do its magic in such cases? Of course it can! Any proficient practitioner
will simply keep interrupting the old program (meta-frame), re-enforcing new frames of
dissociation, comfort, and resourcefulness, and eventually go faster than the person in
out framing. When the gentleman out frames himself with pity, shame, guilt, being a
terrible person, hopelessness, etc., the NLP practitioner out frames that and jumps
another logical level faster than a speeding train, “And as you look at that sad pitiful
wreck of a man for
the last time in your life knowing that change has begun to occur, and will continue to
occur even when you don’t know it consciously, you can begin to wonder, really
wonder, about what learnings you can make from this so that you never have to repeat
it, but can turn around and face a brighter future than you could have even imaged
before now”

When we have a person with those kinds of rigid, limiting, insulting, and traumatizing
meta-frames working with such a person becomes a frames war to the end. Who will
get in the final out frame?

Our experiences result from our established frames. These meta-level frames identify
our more abstract and conceptual maps of reality and our meanings about self, others,
and the universe.

Submodality Failures
“Mapping over submodalities” & “submodality shifts” do not always work. In the
traumatic experience, note the quality of the cinematic features of your internal
representations that cue your brain and body about how to respond.

When we code a painful memory associated, close in image and sound, bright, three-
dimensional, loud, etc., we encode it with a structure that says, “Enter into that
experience again and feel distressed, angry, fearful, upset, etc.”

Here the submodalities encode the higher evaluative frame that essentially gives the
Behavioural Equivalent for: “Real, Close, Now, Associated.”

In this, the quality of submodality distinctions works as if “the switch” to experience. But
it does not do so because “the difference that makes a difference” lies in submodalities.
If associative processing moves us to think, feel, and act as if in an experience and
dissociate or spectate and the process moves us to step out and only think, feel, and
act about the experience, then this submodality (i.e. associated/ dissociated, also a
Meta-Program) provides an off/on distinction. Experiencing as if “in” the event;
experiencing as if “out” of it. Step in, step out.

Step in and go through the trauma again and feel terrible; step out and take another
perceptual position and feel more resourceful about it.

Notice that associate and dissociate not only describe a submodality, but also a Meta-
Program. Consider that. How could a submodality distinction, something that
supposedly exists below and under the level of the modalities also exist above them,
and have a Meta relation to them?

When we think about and work with submodalities, we never actually operate at a sub-
level (such doesn’t exist). We have moved to a meta-level. Thinking about,
detecting & shifting these qualities works with structure and process, not content.

Pattern: The Swish Pattern

The Swish Pattern is a useful technique to help people address an unwanted behaviour
response to a specific stimulus by changing key submodalities. Compulsive or
obsessive behaviours, such as an uncontrollable desire to bite your nails, smoke, eat
certain foods, or habits are often linked with a trigger or cue image.
1. Have your client identify a specific behavior that he wishes to change and the cue
image that starts the process.
2. Have your client identify a new self-image with the desired behavior(s) that satisfies
the positive intent of the undesired behavior. Have him generate a picture of this new
self-image.
Our task now is to link the cue image in step 1 with the new self-image in step 2.
3. Check the ecology of the new self-image and associated behavior(s).
Have the client assess the impact of this new behaviour on himself (what will he have to
give up or take on), his family, friends, co-workers, community, etc.
4. Identify at least two submodalities that reduce the desire for the behavior in step 1
and increase the desire for the new self-image in step 2.
Ask the client to get a picture of the behaviour in step 1 and then have him adjust
different submodalities and notice which ones reduce the desire for this behaviour. For
example, he may find that reducing the brightness and de-focusing the picture reduces
the desire for the behaviour in step 1. The submodalities should be those that vary over
a continuous range e.g. brightness, size, focus, etc.

Now ask the client to get a picture of the new self-image and behaviour (step 2) and
notice if the desire for this behaviour is increased as the submodalities identified in the
previous paragraph are changed in the opposite direction. That is, increasing the
brightness and improving the focus makes the new self-image in step 2 more
compelling.
It is possible to do the Swish Pattern with an auditory or kinaesthetic cue. In this case
you would use auditory or kinaesthetic submodalities. However, the process is easiest if
you use a visual cue.

Remember to break state when switching between behaviours.

For the rest of the procedure, it is assumed that the critical submodalities are brightness
and focus.
5. Have your client take the cue picture and make it big, bright and clearly focused. In a
corner of this picture (let’s say the lower right hand corner), have your client put a small
dark and de-focused picture of the new self-image and related behavior.

The client should be associated in the cue picture (i.e. can not see himself in the
picture, he is looking through his own eyes), while the picture of the new self-image
must be dissociated to be motivating and attractive. An associated picture gives your
client the feeling that he has already made the change, and therefore it will not be
motivating for him.
6. Have your client make the cue picture smaller, darker and de-focused as the picture
of the new self image gets bigger, brighter and focused. Continue until the cue picture is
a small dark, de-focused picture in the lower right hand corner of a big bright, focused
picture of the new self-image.
7. Have your client take a moment to enjoy this new self-image and the resources that
he now has available to him.
8. Break state. Have your client repeat steps 5, 6 and 7, but this time have him do step
6 faster.
It is important to break state after step 7. We want to create a compelling direction from
the cue picture to the new self-image. If we did not break state, then we would set up a
cycle where the new self-image leads back to the cue picture.
9. Have your client repeat steps 5, 6 and 7 until he has done it at least 7 times and step
six takes a fraction of a second to complete.
This is why it is called Swish Pattern in less time than it takes to quickly say swish, the
client has completed step 6. Speed is essential in step 6.
10. Test and future pace . Have your client think of the cue. Does he now think of the
new self-image and related behaviors?
Phobia Cure
The brain learns thing fast, not slow. Richard Bandler often uses the analogy that if you
were to watch a movie, one frame a day for five years, you’d never get the plot. The
brain is this way. It requires the rapid sequencing of the frames to get the idea. The
phobia cure needs to be done fast to be effective. What follows if the technique as it
exists for the cure of a phobia with a visual trigger- seeing a spider, or a snake, an
elevator, or your in-laws: =)
This is a technique that is best done with a pro, as it requires that you stay focused and
on track. It’s possible that you can go through this yourself, but you’d do much better
with a trained pro to guide you through who can use your non-verbal feedback to
determine how best to tweak the process to you.
A quick note- before doing the Phobia Cure, go through the Outcome Frame, make sure
you address the other issues that may connect with your phobia.
The Technique
1. First, imagine a big theatre, you’re sitting in a seat near the middle, and on the screen
is a still, black & white photo in which you can see yourself in a situation just before you
had the phobic response.
2. Next, imagine you are floating out of your body in the movie theatre, and up into the
projection booth. From here in the projection booth, you can see the screen, and you
can see yourself sitting down there in the seat in the middle of the theatre. Notice what
colour your shirt or blouse you are wearing down in that seat.
3. Now, turn that still snapshot up on the screen into a black & white movie, and watch it
from the beginning, to just beyond the end of that unpleasant experience. When you get
to the end, I want you to stop it as a slide, and then jump inside and run the movie
backwards. You will see everything happening in reverse- people will walk backwards,
things will move backwards, just like rewinding a movie, except you will be inside the
movie. Run the movie in reverse in colour, and take only one or two seconds to do it.
4. Now think about what is was that you had a phobia of, see what you would see if you
were actually there. How does it feel different?
5. Now you might wonder if this change will hold the next time you are really presented
with the situation… so go test it out. Use good common sense- if your phobia was of
snakes, then go find a snake in a pet shop to play with, not a cobra or rattler.
Agreement Frame
This pattern creates a common or joint outcome that both parties in a conflict or
negotiation can agree to:
Practice Example:
1. Specify a situation where you are negotiating between two people.
2. Ask each for their outcome and backtrack .
3. Find a common outcome that both can agree to.
4. Use CONDITIONAL CLOSE , below, to deliver.
5. If there are objections:
A. Ask each what their idea or objection is intended to accomplish. Go meta to that (…
and what will that get for you?) until you arrive at an outcome each can agree on.
B. Ask each what will happen if they don’t reach an agreement. Use this option if the
parties are being uncooperative or argumentative

Conditional Close
This frame helps you determine from the outset what issues need to be satisfied before
a solution can be finalized.
Practice Example:
1. ‘A’ makes proposal to ‘B’.
2. ‘B’ raises an objection.
3. ‘A’ backtracks ‘B’s objection.
4. Make the conditional close:
If I can satisfy your objection, then you would agree to ‘X’, is that correct?
5. If no, go back to step 2 and ask for all objections, then follow through the steps again.
 6. If yes, have fun!

How To Work With Submodalities

SubModalities: like to dislike script

1. Can you think of something that you like but wish you did not? Good, what is it? As
you think about that, do you have a picture?� (Elicit the SubModalities.)

2. Can you think of something which is similar, but which you absolutely dislike. For
example, ice cream and yoghurt. (Elicit the SubModalities. The location should be
different!)

3. Change the SubModalities of #1 into the SubModalities of #2.

TEST: Now, what about that thing you used to like?

How is it different?

SubModalities: belief change script

1. Can you think of a limiting belief about yourself that you wish you did not have?
Good, what is it? As you think about that belief, do you have a picture? (Elicit the
SubModalities.)

2. Can you think of a belief which is no longer true. For example, perhaps you used to
be a smoker. Someone who was a smoker, used to believe they were a smoker, but
now they no longer believe that. Or someone who used to own a new 1985 car,
believed that they were a new car owner, but now they no longer do. Do you have
something like that which used to be true for you, but no longer is? Good, what is it? As
you think about that belief, do you have a picture?� (Elicit the SubModalities.)

3. Change the SubModalities of #1 into #2.

TEST: Now, what do you think about that old belief?

4. Can you think of a belief which for you is absolutely true? Like, for example, the belief
that the sun is going to come up tomorrow. Do you believe that? (Or, the belief that it’s
good to breathe.) Good, what is it? As you think about that belief, do you have a
picture?” (Elicit the SubModalities.)

5. Can you think of a belief that you want to have, which is the opposite of the belief in
#1? Good, what is it? As you think about that belief, do you have a picture?

6. Change the SubModalities of #5 into #4.

TEST: Now, what do you believe? Why do you believe

you have this new belief?

Submodalities checklist
Visual
1234
Where is it (anchor)
Associated / Dissociated
Black/ White or Colour
Size of Picture?
Bright or Dim
3D or Flat?
Focused or Defocused?

Framed or Panoramic?
Movie or Still?
Movie-Fast/Normal/Slow

Auditory

Location
Direction
Internal or External?
Loud or Soft?
Fast or Slow?
High or Low? (Pitch)
Tonality
Timbre
Pauses
Tempo
Duration
Uniqueness of Sound
Kinaesthetic
Location
Size
Shape
Intensity
Steady
Movement/ Duration
Vibration
Pressure/Heat?
Weight

Submodalities checklist

Visual
1234
Where is it (anchor)
Associated / Dissociated
Black/ White or Colour
Size of Picture?
Bright or Dim
3D or Flat?
Focused or Defocused?

Framed or Panoramic?
Movie or Still?
Movie-Fast/Normal/Slow

Auditory

Location
Direction
Internal or External?
Loud or Soft?
Fast or Slow?
High or Low? (Pitch)
Tonality
Timbre
Pauses
Tempo
Duration
Uniqueness of Sound
Kinaesthetic
Location
Size
Shape
Intensity
Steady
Movement/ Duration
Vibration
Pressure/Heat?
Weight

Submodalities checklist

Visual
1234
Where is it (anchor)
Associated / Dissociated
Black/ White or Colour
Size of Picture?
Bright or Dim
3D or Flat?
Focused or Defocused?

Framed or Panoramic?
Movie or Still?
Movie-Fast/Normal/Slow

Auditory

Location
Direction
Internal or External?
Loud or Soft?
Fast or Slow?
High or Low? (Pitch)
Tonality
Timbre
Pauses
Tempo
Duration
Uniqueness of Sound
Kinaesthetic
Location
Size
Shape
Intensity
Steady
Movement/ Duration
Vibration
Pressure/Heat?
Weight

Swish pattern big picture

KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL SWISH PATTERNS
Swish patterns are for the purpose of creating momentum
toward a compelling future.
The Swish Pattern installs choices for a new way of life rather
than to change or remove old habits.

DOING A SWISH PATTERN

1. Get the picture that represents the habit or situation you would like to change. (When
you think of________, do you have a picture?”)
2. Get a picture of the type of person you would like to be. (“How would you like to be
instead? When you think of that do you have a picture?”)
3. Change the visual intensity of the desired state (brightness, size, distance, etc.) for
the most “real” or most positive Kinaesthetic.
4. Bring back the old picture (#1), NOW STEP INTO THE PICTURE, fully associated.
5. Now insert in the lower left hand corner, a small, dark picture of the desired state.
6. Simultaneously, have picture of current state rapidly shrink and recede to a distant
point while dark picture explodes into full view. (This can be accompanied by either an
internal or external SWIIISSH sound, but is not necessary—speed is!)
7. Repeat #6 a minimum of five times. Enjoy the results!
NOTES TO KEEP IN MIND
a. Be fully associated in old pattern.
b. Have detailed sensory-specific representations in the desired state.
c. If client is associated in final picture = OUTCOME
d. If client is disassociated in the final picture = DIRECTION (This is usually preferred to
create a compelling future.)
e. Make sure to have a break state between each Swish Pattern so as not to loop them.
Close eyes during each step of process and open them between steps.

SubModalities Swish Pattern Script

1. Elicit Present State or Behaviour: How do you know it’s time to __________? (EG:
Feel bad.) When you think of that ____________ (State or Behaviour) do you have a
picture?� (Break State)
2. Elicit Desired State: How would you like to (feel/act) instead? When you think of that
______________ (State or Behaviour) do you have a picture?
3. If desired, assist client in adjusting the visual intensity of the Desired State for the
most positive kinaesthetic.
4. Good, now step out of the picture, so you see your body in the picture. (Break State)

P.S.
.
D.S.

5. Good, now can you take the old picture and bring it up on the screen? Make sure that
you are looking through your own eyes.
6. Good, as you have the old picture on the screen, can you see the new picture in the
lower left hand corner, small and dark? Make sure you see your body in the picture.
7. Good, now have the picture explode big and bright, and have it explode up so that it
covers the old picture, while the old picture shrinks down and becomes small and dark
in the lower left hand corner, and do that as quickly as sssswishhhhh.�
8. Good, sssswishhhhh.
9. Now, clear the screen.
10. Repeat steps 5, 6, 8, and 9 until the unwanted state or behaviour is not accessible.
11. Test and future pace.

NLP Submodalities by Terry Elston