Jamie Smart’s NLP Tip 56

How to Create Rich Experiences, 5 May 2004

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This Week’s Tip

Hello everyone, & welcome to the 202 new subscribers who have joined us this week (to see previous tips, go to The NLP Tip Archive.) 

I was in Bournemouth over the weekend, & the sunshine was so glorious each morning that I went for a long walk by the sea.  The beach there stretches out for miles & miles, & as you listen to the waves crashing against the shore, you can see scores of gulls wheeling in the air next to the jagged, yellow cliffs.  The beach there is a fine sand (rather than pebbles), and as the warm breeze caresses the skin on your face, it brings with it the fishy tang of the sea – you can almost taste the salt as you watch the boats bobbing to & fro in the waves.  By the time I’d stretched my legs for an hour, I was ready to be trained in Provocative Therapy by Frank Farrelly (a significant but rarely mentioned influence on the field of NLP.) 

Provocative Therapy involves provoking the client into healthy behaviours, & Frank Farrelly is the master, demonstrating extraordinary flexibility & creativity in getting through to people. His sessions are peppered with some of the most captivating stories & anecdotes, & the responses he gets are enormous.

One of the ways Farrelly gets people to really enter into the story worlds he’s creating is by getting all of their senses involved. The vivid, visceral language he uses to describe the details of people & events pull you into the experience, making it virtually impossible not to imagine the experiences he’s recounting.   

1)      Read the following sentence & notice what effect it has:

          “I ate a steak yesterday”

The sentence is fairly unspecified &, unless you are a Hindu, a staunch vegetarian or very very hungry, may have had little or no impact on you.  Contrast this with the following:

          “At lunchtime yesterday, I plunged my fork into a steak the size of an encyclopaedia & sawed off a juicy morsel of some of the tenderest, bloodiest red meat I’ve eaten in ages.  As the sharp aroma of the green peppercorn sauce reached my nose, I smacked my lips & let out a loud “Mmmmm”, savouring mouthful after delicious mouthful of smoky fillet. 

I’m guessing that this evoked more of a response in you.  When we read or hear words, our unconscious mind translates them into internal sensory representations (pictures, sounds, feelings, tastes & smells.)  The more of those sensory systems that are brought into the experience, the richer the experience will be.  This is one of the secrets of hypnotic communication.

Bring in all the systems

My friend Gina is a brilliant communicator. She doesn’t use fancy words, lyrical turns of phrase or precise descriptions, but when Gina’s enthusiastic about something, you just have to listen. Why? Because when Gina tells a story she cycles through all the sensory systems (pictures, sounds, feelings, tastes & smells) again & again. Gina does this spontanesously, but most of us tend not to unless we practice, so…

2)      Write out the following sentences, using the language of all five senses. 

-                     I walked through the park this morning.

-                     I saw a very attractive person this afternoon.

-                     I had a delicious desert last night.

-                     I watched a great film the other day.

-                     I sat in the garden yesterday.

(For more details on sensory language & examples of sensory words, see NLP Tip #6.) When you begin to bring more & more sensory language into your communication, it makes it far more engaging to the listener.  This is a key skill for…

-                     Powerful presentations

-                     Great public speakers

-                     Superb storytellers

-                     Hypnotic communication in general

3)      Next time you’re describing an experience to someone, crank up the sensory experience & use all 5 senses.  Notice what response you get.

When you involve all the senses, you get the person’s unconscious mind more fully engaged in the process. When you get their unconscious mind engaged, it can create a ‘whole body’ experience which people find powerful & compelling.  So what are the communications that you’d like to be more enriched?

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Summary

This week, we’ve been exploring the 5 senses in language.

1)      Read the following sentence & notice what effect it has:

          “I ate a steak yesterday”

The sentence is fairly unspecified &, unless you are a Hindu, a staunch vegetarian or very very hungry, may have had little or no impact on you.  Contrast this with the following:

          “At lunchtime yesterday, I plunged my fork into a steak the size of an encyclopaedia & sawed off a juicy morsel of some of the tenderest, bloodiest red meat I’ve eaten in ages.  As the sharp aroma of the green peppercorn sauce reached my nose, I smacked my lips & let out a loud “Mmmmm”, savouring mouthful after delicious mouthful of smoky fillet. 

2)      Write out the following sentences, using the language of all five senses. 

-                     I walked through the park this morning.

-                     I saw a very attractive person this afternoon.

-                     I had a delicious desert last night.

-                     I watched a great film the other day.

-                     I sat in the garden yesterday.

3)      Next time you’re describing an experience to someone, crank up the sensory experience & use all 5 senses.  Notice what response you get.

Have a great week & I’ll be back soon to talk about stories. J 

best wishes,

jamie

PS. Are you already an NLP Practitioner or Master Practitioner who would like to get a new perspective on the material.  We give mmmmassive price reductions for people who already have an NLP license.  Modular Master Prac starts in April, & Modular Prac starts in October.  Contact me for more details.