NLP Glossary

Submodalities – The Language of Inner Experience

In psychology, modalities are the five sensory channels we use to perceive the world: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, and gustatory—in other words, seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and tasting. In NLP, we work with these same sensory channels on the inside: we remember things as images, inner voices, or feelings, even when the situation is long gone.

The term submodalities describes the subtle differences within these sensory channels—in other words, the smaller qualities that make up each modality. The little word “sub” means “under” or “part of”—and that’s what it’s all about: not just what we see, hear, or feel, but exactly how we experience it. An inner image can be in color or black and white, close or far away, big or small, bright or dark. An inner voice can sound loud or quiet, high or low, clear or muffled. A feeling can feel spinning or pulsing, warm or cold, on the surface or deep inside.

These submodalities play a huge role in how intensely we experience something—whether a thought paralyzes or inspires us, whether a memory feels light or heavy, whether a goal seems close and motivating or far away and out of reach. If you’ve learned to consciously change submodalities, you’ve got one of the most powerful keys to personal change in your hands.

In many NLP formats, submodalities are the main principle at work—even if it’s not always called that at first glance. In the Swish Pattern, for example, a compulsive image is linked with a motivating image, so that when you see the original image, the motivating target image pops up right away. The original associated image gets smaller and darker, while the target image (dissociated) becomes bigger and brighter. A limiting inner belief can sound loud and deep inside your head. If you make it quieter and change the tone of the voice, like with the Mickey Mouse technique, you can take away its power.

We don’t change the content, but the structure of inner experience—and that changes its effect.

What makes submodalities so fascinating is their apparent contradiction: They’re subtle and powerful at the same time. Often, just a small change is enough—and suddenly a problem feels totally different.

NLP assumes that the brain uses these representations like a kind of internal code. And if you can influence this code, you gain new freedom in thinking, feeling, and acting.

There are loads of formats where submodalities are actively used. Here are a few of them:

• Swish Pattern: Changing inner images by direction, size, color, movement, etc.
• Belief change: The submodalities of the old and new beliefs are consciously swapped with each other.
• Submodality Contrast Method (Mapping Across): Systematic change of submodalities from one state to another (like from fear to calmness).
• Fast Phobia Technique (VK Dissociation): Dissociation and changing of inner images – especially their intensity and closeness.
• Timeline Work: Changing submodalities in relation to time representations: like position, color, brightness, direction of movement.
• Goal Visualization / Future Pace: Boosting motivating states by intentionally shaping submodalities (like making the goal image bright, big, close, colorful).
• Kinesthetic Anchoring (like resource anchor): Using kinesthetic submodalities like direction, intensity, location, movement of a feeling.
• Parts Work with Submodalities: Changing the inner representation of a part (like an inner critic appearing smaller, further away, or being turned into color).

So submodalities aren’t just a technical detail in NLP – they’re the design parameters of our inner experience. If you know them, you can rearrange your world, live more intensely, and break free from old patterns. You could say: Big changes often start in the little differences.

Transderivational Search – When the Brain Looks for Meaning

Transderivational search is one of those NLP terms that sounds complicated at first – but on a second look, it opens up a deep understanding of how we humans create meaning. It’s an unconscious process that happens every time we hear language or experience a stimulus and ask ourselves: What does this mean for me?

Imagine someone says: "The key is on the table."

Your brain reacts instantly – but not just by recognizing the words, it starts searching for a fitting experience to fill that sentence with meaning. Which key? Which table? In what context?

What you make of the sentence isn’t an exact memory, but a mix of meanings, images, feelings – all based on your own experiences. And that’s exactly what a transderivational search is: the brain jumps through lots of stored experiences to figure out the meaning of the current info.

“Transderivational” means: The search goes across several levels of meaning, through different “derivations” or experiences, without relying on one specific, exactly identical situation. It’s like the brain is saying: I don’t know exactly what’s meant – but I’m looking for something similar that could fit.

This mechanism is used consciously in NLP, especially in the area of hypnotic language and language patterns – like in the Milton Model. When vague or ambiguous statements are used there (“You can now discover new possibilities”), the listener’s brain automatically starts creating its own meaning. It looks for something that makes sense subjectively – and that’s where the power is: The change happens inside the listener, not through given content, but through their own construction.

But transderivational search isn’t just important in hypnosis, it’s everywhere language isn’t complete – so, pretty much always. Even while you’re reading this text, you’re running countless unconscious search processes to fill the sentences with meaning. That’s what makes communication lively – but also prone to misunderstandings.

For NLP users, this means: If you choose your language so it’s open enough for personal interpretation, you trigger a transderivational search in the other person – and that starts inner processes that go deeper than any direct instruction. That’s exactly why this concept is so powerful – even though it’s almost never talked about directly.

Transderivational search shows: Change doesn’t just happen through new content, but often through the inner search for meaning. And if you can trigger that search, you touch people on a deeper level – where real movement starts.

Future Pace – Taking Change into the Future

Change that only happens in the safe space of coaching often stays fragile. In the moment, everything feels good – but as soon as everyday life hits again, the new behavior collapses, like it never happened.

That’s exactly where Future Pace comes in. Here, the desired change is anchored in a future, real situation – right where it’ll actually be needed later.

Future Pace literally means: future step – and that’s exactly what it is. The client is invited to imagine a specific future situation where a problem used to come up – and now experiences themselves there with the new resource, attitude, or strategy. This way, the new behavior gets not just emotional reality, but also a time dimension: it’s embedded in their personal life context. That’s not just motivating, but above all, stabilizing.

A typical example: A client worked on her fear of presentations in coaching. With a Future Pace, she now imagines herself standing confidently in front of the team in two weeks, breathing calmly, speaking clearly – and feeling: Yeah, that’s me. And it works. This way, the new behavior gets emotionally reinforced, stored in the nervous system as “doable” – and integrated as part of her self-image.

In NLP, Future Pace is a fixed part of almost all change formats: whether it’s Swish, anchoring, or timeline work. It wraps up the process and creates the transfer into the future. At the same time, it often acts like an inner test – because if doubts, resistance, or inconsistencies suddenly pop up during Future Pace, that’s a sign: there’s still some work to do here.

What makes Future Pace so special is how it connects imagination, emotion, and reality. It uses the power of imagination not for dreaming, but for practicing and locking in change. The brain often barely distinguishes between real and vividly imagined experience – and that’s exactly what we use here. If you experience success inside, you’re way more likely to live it on the outside too.

Future Pace is way more than just a closing ritual. It can be used in all kinds of contexts – not just in coaching, but also in sales, personal development, team processes, or working with goals. A salesperson who imagines themselves in a successful meeting before it happens – with a calm voice, clear benefit argument, and confident close – activates inner resources before reality even starts. Future Pace can also help in relationships: How do I want to react in a tough conversation? How do I stay true to myself when someone provokes me?

If you want to make Future Pace especially intense and thorough, you can use timeline future work. Instead of just visualizing one future situation, you can imagine several points along your life line where the change shows up: in a week, in a month, in half a year. The client sees themselves in different future moments, feeling stable and authentic with the new behavior.

This extended form of Future Pace often goes deep – it gives a sense of security, continuity, and inner clarity: This isn’t just a quick impulse – this is me in the future.

Depending on the timeframe and goal, you can scale Future Pace: from a quick bit at the end of a format to a powerful journey into the future over months or years. What matters is that the new inner reality lasts beyond the moment – that it keeps working even after coaching ends.

A well-done Future Pace is often the difference between a good coaching conversation and a real, long-term transformation.