Hello, this is Keith Livingston, welcome to "Learn NLP in a
Flash."

These free, brief, educational segments provide you with solid,
usable NLP techniques you can apply to your life right away. Each
segment explores the basics of an important and practical NLP
technique.

Today's subject is the Swish Pattern...

In December of 2002 I appeared on a national television show. I
was given 10 minutes to work with Rachel, who had a phobia of
snakes so severe that she couldn't even watch TV for fear that
she would see a snake by accident. She couldn't eat pasta because
it looked too much like a snakes! 

Ten minutes wasn't enough for even the NLP fast phobia cure - it
takes about fifteen. The American Psychiatric Association says
you can expect "tremendous improvement within one year" in the
treatment of phobias.

However, as I had watched Rachel talk to the show's host (John
Walsh), I saw her reaction when he mentioned the word "snakes."
Each time, her eyes would shift to a particular place (she was
unaware she was doing this) and she would shudder with fear. I
guessed she had an image of a snake in her mind's eye and that
she was looking at it.

This may sound odd but we all do it. People's eyes move around
when they are talking, listening or thinking. They move to access
different thoughts stored in the mind. Since Rachel was looking
in the same place each time before she shuddered, I was confident
she had an image of a snake there.

During a break we went backstage to work. I pointed to the
direction she'd been looking and said "you have an image of a
snake there, don't you?" She started to get tears in her eyes and
said "yes."

We then did what is called a visual swish. Rachel reported she
felt immediate relief "like a big weight came off my shoulders."
I then used an anchor collapse (another NLP technique) on the
residual feelings, the whole thing took about 10 minutes.

We went back out under the cameras and a live snake was brought
out. Rachel didn't touch it but was quite comfortable being a few
feet away. That's about the average person's reaction to snakes
and a far cry from her reaction ten minutes earlier.

I interviewed Rachel after the show, in her words her phobia was
"98% better." Pretty good for ten minutes.

To do a visual swish...

The visual swish can be used for any images you don't like. It
could be an image in your mind of a negative experience, or an
image that drives a bad habit (like the big, juicy picture of a
chocolate cake in my mind right now).

For this exercise, you need a dissociated image of yourself
accomplishing your goal and/or feeling the way you want to feel.
Dissociated means you "see yourself" in the image (as if you're
looking from the vantage point of a movie camera), rather than
"be yourself."

Start with the image that you want to change(the old image), big
and bright and the new image as a small dark dot in one corner of
the old image. 

This is the "swish" part. Quickly expand and brighten the new
image while simultaneously shrinking and darkening the old image
(it's important to do this quickly). 

Blank out your mental screen. 

Repeat, starting with the old image big, until when you think of
the old image it automatically goes to the new, more empowering
image. 

Always "swish" from the old to the new!

That's it for today's "Learn NLP in a Flash" segment. If you'd
like to learn more about this subject, go to the URL below.

http://www.hypnosisnow.com/nlppower.htm

Until next time, this is Keith Livingston.