VAKOG

Dive into the sensory-specific world of your conversation partners to achieve deeper understanding and to be better understood. This "sensory awareness" opens up unprecedented levels of communication.

We experience the world through our sensory organs. External stimuli—such as a ray of sunshine or a friend’s voice—are transmitted to our brain via our nervous system in the form of electrical or chemical signals. In the brain, these become images, sounds, and other sensations that represent the external stimulus. That is why, in NLP, we speak of representation systems.

What Does VAKOG Mean? Definition

The letters in the VAKOG system stand for:

V	visual	sight
A	auditory	hearing
K	kinaesthetic	touch / feeling
O	olfactory	smell
G	gustatory	taste

According to the NLP model, people use these five sensory channels with different emphasis. Some individuals are strongly visually oriented and make less use of information from the other channels. When people with differently dominant representation systems interact, it can lead to major misunderstandings.

The preferred or currently dominant representation system can be identified by dominant signal words or physical indicators such as speech rate, breathing, etc. Here you will find a list of words that indicate each representation system: Three VAK Types.

Linguistic Access Cues

Linguistic access cues to a specific representation system are especially evident in the verbs, nouns, and adverbs a person prefers to use. Such preferences for certain expressions related to seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and tasting can vary for the same person depending on the situation.

Expressions

Visual	Auditory	Kinesthetic	Olfactory	Gustatory
See	Loud / Quiet	Bile is rising	Wrinkle the nose	Juicy
Look	That sounds good	Floating on cloud nine	To have a cold / be stuffy	Smack (as in eating loudly)
Seem	Be deaf to it	Fall to the ground	Runny nose	Delicious
Clear / Manageable	Rumble	Fall into a hole	Have a good nose (for something)	Try
Bright / Dark	Musical	Let oneself fall	Fall flat on one's face	Full-bodied
Overview	Shrill	Stand firmly on the ground	Slam the door in someone’s face	Sweet / Lovely
Illuminate a matter	She doesn't listen to me anymore	Feel safe	A dubious person	Hit someone in the face
Opaque personality	Hear a pin drop	I feel uplifted	Odorless	A delicious treat
Overlookable	Be in harmony	My feet are asleep	Sniff	Yummy
Be lenient	Have your peace	My heart hurts	Sniffing	Feast
Have charisma	It clicked	My ears are ringing	Intrusive	Sweet
Grant insights	Hear the grass grow	I'm sweating	It stinks to me	Tasteless
Have good observation skills	Endure the silence	My heart is smiling	To make a long nose (to lie)	Love to pieces

VAKOG-Sentences

Visually oriented people sound something like this:

• Can you show me more houses in this area?
• I need to see more before I can even think about making a decision.
• I'm starting to see things more clearly, but I still want to take a closer look at some of your offers.
• Look, I'm not entirely sure if you've shown me everything. I'm still in the dark.

Auditory people sound like this:

• Tell me more about your product. I've heard a lot of good things about it.
• I'm still not satisfied with what you've told me so far. This isn't the first time someone has promised me their product will last forever.
• This sounds really good. Everyone is talking about how great your product is.
• It's always the same old story. You blare everywhere that you're the best, yet I’m struggling to explain that I can’t afford your services. I’ll need to get a little more direct to finally get through to you.

Kinaesthetic-oriented people might say the following:

• I need your support in this matter. I don't think I can handle it on my own.
• I don't want to rush into this. I'd rather take it slow, otherwise I'll end up in even more trouble.
• I have a good feeling about it. The matter has resolved itself on its own.
• The presentation excited me. They really put all the cards on the table.

VAKOG Idioms

Visual Idioms:

• This is all happening too fast, I can't focus on anything.
• I can't look at this any longer.
• The world is not just black and white.

Auditory Idioms:

• This is crying out for a new solution.
• It's too unclear for me.
• I can't hear this anymore.
• There's just a lack of harmony in the relationship.

Kinaesthetic Idioms:

• He's as hot as a furnace.
• She's as cold as a fish.
• When I hear that, everything inside me tightens up.
• The responsibility weighs on me.
• The pressure of the deadline is unbearable.
• He's trying in vain to balance the conflicting interests.
• The thought of it sends a chill down my spine.
• His knees are shaking just thinking about the board meeting.

Olfactory Idioms:

• Let the wind whistle around your nose!
• I'll give you a smack in the nose!
• I can't (stand) you!
• Don't stick your nose in everything!

Gustatory Idioms:

• To have had enough (literally: to have the snout full).
• It's always been a bit more expensive to have a special taste.
• To make one's stomach turn (literally: to let the bile rise).
• To make one's mouth water.

Sensory-Specific Language in NLP

Exercises

The Book Report

Three people have read the same book and are now reporting on their experiences. Pay attention to the signal words!

• The first person points out that they saw a lot in the book, that the examples were well chosen to illustrate the topic, and that it was written in a brilliant style.
• The second person might disagree with the tone: they feel the prose style was shrill. They could not get in tune with the author’s ideas, and they would like to tell them that.
• The third person feels that the book deals with a very balanced and weighty topic. They like the way the author touches on all the key themes, and they easily grasped the new ideas.

The Sales Letter

• Dear Sir, as we already discussed on the phone, I am sending you my book set and a tape of the last seminar. I hope the language is clear enough, and I look forward to hearing from you again.
• Dear Sir, I have carefully looked at the clear words in your letter. I see the problem and am sending you our photo set and video tapes. I hope you will watch these videos soon and get a good impression of us. I eagerly await your soon response. Goodbye!
• Dear Sir, I was very touched that you visited me recently. Now I can truly empathize with your feelings regarding your specific problem. Therefore, I am happy to send you my used handkerchief. At the next seminar, you can pour your heart out to me, and I wish you all the best until then. With affection and warm regards.