Have you ever felt an emotion come out of nowhere—a wave of anxiety, a flash of anger, or a moment of motivation—and wondered why it hit so hard?
The answer might lie in how your brain represents that experience. It’s not just the thought itself, but how that thought shows up in your mind.
That’s where submodalities come in. And once you understand how they work, you can use them to shift your emotional state—quickly, consciously, and with surprising control.
Let’s break it down.
What Are Submodalities?
In NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), modalities refer to the senses we use to process our internal experience—visual (sight), auditory (sound), and kinesthetic (feeling). Submodalities are the smaller elements within those systems. Think of them like the settings on a camera or audio mixer that fine-tune what you see, hear, or feel.
For example:
- Visual submodalities include brightness, color, distance, size, movement, and location in your mental screen.
- Auditory submodalities include volume, pitch, direction, clarity, and tone of voice.
- Kinesthetic submodalities include pressure, temperature, location, texture, and intensity of a sensation.
These settings aren’t just technical details—they determine how strongly an image, sound, or feeling affects you emotionally.
Why Submodalities Matter for Emotional Control
Imagine two memories.
One is a moment of failure. The image is bright, up close, and plays on a loop in your head with a loud inner critic’s voice. The other is a small win you forgot about—distant, dim, and silent.
Which one feels more real? More powerful?
The way your brain represents a thought—its submodalities—determines how intensely you feel about it.
If you can adjust those submodalities, you can literally change the way you feel in real time.
This is the core of state shifting. You’re not just changing your thoughts. You’re changing how your brain codes those thoughts—and that changes your experience.
Common Emotional States and Their Submodalities
Every emotional state tends to have a specific submodality pattern. Here are a few common ones:
Fear
- Visual: large, looming, fast-moving image
- Auditory: loud voice, sharp tone, urgent rhythm
- Kinesthetic: tight chest, cold, high tension
Confidence
- Visual: clear, centered, brightly lit image
- Auditory: calm internal voice, steady rhythm
- Kinesthetic: grounded, expansive, strong
Sadness
- Visual: gray or dark image, far away, still
- Auditory: slow, soft, echoing inner voice
- Kinesthetic: heavy, downward pull, slow-moving
These aren’t universal, but they’re common. And once you learn your own patterns, you can start to tweak them.
Simple Techniques to Shift Your State
Let’s get practical. Here are five ways you can use submodalities to change how you feel—starting today.
1. Submodality Mapping
Choose a memory that triggers a strong feeling—good or bad.
Close your eyes and notice:
- Where is the image located—in front of you, to the side, up or down?
- Is it in color or black and white?
- Still or moving?
- Is there sound? Where is it coming from?
- What sensations do you feel in your body?
Write down everything you notice. Then try adjusting the settings.
- Make the image smaller or move it farther away.
- Turn down the volume or give the voice a silly accent.
- Shift a heavy feeling to a lighter one by imagining it floating away.
You’ll be surprised how quickly the emotion shifts.
2. Contrast Technique
Recall a time you felt anxious. Notice the submodalities.
Now, recall a moment of deep peace or excitement. How do the submodalities compare?
Once you’ve spotted the difference, try copying the peaceful submodalities onto the anxious memory. Just try it. You’re not erasing the memory—you’re changing how it feels.
3. The Swish Pattern (Simplified)
This classic NLP technique rewires a negative pattern with a positive one using submodality shifts.
- Picture the unwanted state (e.g., procrastination). See it in full color.
- In the bottom corner, imagine a small version of your desired state (e.g., motivated, focused).
- Now “swish” the images: make the positive image grow and explode into the screen as the negative one shrinks and disappears.
- Repeat several times until the positive state becomes dominant.
This is one of the most effective tools in NLP for changing stuck emotional responses.
4. Change the Soundtrack
If you hear a harsh inner critic, try this:
- Turn down the volume.
- Move the voice behind you or farther away.
- Change the tone to something comical or soothing.
Even a slight shift in the internal voice can reduce stress and shift your emotional state fast.
5. Visual Brightness Control
Try visualizing a stressful moment. Now dim the image like a light switch.
Then, picture a joyful memory and turn up the brightness and color saturation.
The more you practice this, the more control you develop over how vivid—or dull—you let certain thoughts become.
When and Where to Use This
Submodality shifts are helpful when:
- You’re about to give a presentation and feel nervous
- You’re stuck in a procrastination loop
- You keep replaying a mistake or regret
- You want to boost confidence or motivation
- You’re trying to let go of a lingering emotional charge
They’re not a substitute for deeper emotional work—but they are powerful tools for managing your state in the moment.
Final Tips for Using Submodalities Effectively
- Practice regularly. Like a muscle, your ability to shift state gets stronger with use.
- Use it with awareness. Don’t suppress emotions that need attention. Use these tools when they serve your goals, not to avoid growth.
- Make it playful. Shifting submodalities is like mental magic. Treat it like an experiment and keep it light.
You Hold the Dials
Your mind is full of dials, sliders, and switches that control how you experience life.
You may not have realized it before—but you’ve been using submodalities all along. Now, you know how to adjust them.
So the next time your brain throws you a wave of emotion, pause. Notice. And shift.
Because when you change how you code your experience, you change how you live it.