Focusing on the Representational Systems Builds Successful Communication Skills

Your five senses of sight, sound, touch and emotion, taste, and smell are the five representational systems in NLP. We usually operate in sight, sound, or touch inless we are eating. Each one of us uses a primary sense for communication.

You can often tell which system is dominant by listening to another person speak.

During hypnosis, if one's primary conscious state is visual, their altered trance state will be something different. So, if a person is a visual, for example, the induction would be begin with visual words then change to auditory, for example, then back to visual. This see-sawing would continue until the induction and suggestions would use another system entirely.

Doing this is an example of pacing and leading. You would pace with visual then lead with another system, perhaps auditory or kinesthetic.

This is a powerful way to build rapport in communication as well as induce another into a trance state.

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