By Debbie Fitzgerald
Analyst Essay Topic – Metaphors
Changing a metaphor or metaphor re-structuring is one of the most powerful therapeutic uses for Reverse Speech.
Reverse Speech gives us the ability to look within the unconscious mind through the analysis of reversals. It brings the unconscious mind and the deeper realms of the sub-conscious mind to the surface, conscious mind.
Our unconscious mind is the source of all hidden beliefs, fears, attitudes, memories, our entire life experiences and basically knows everything about us. These are all stored in the unconscious as a series of multi-faceted pictures and images and are known as metaphors.
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The unconscious mind creates our reality and is responsible for our behaviour, actions, shaping our personality and running our our everyday life.
The subconscious mind cannot move outside its pre-programmed patterning – it automatically reacts to situations with its previously stored behaviour responses and works without the knowledge or control of the conscious mind.
It is these unconscious programmes (metaphors) that can interfere with our everyday life, sabotaging our success as it follows pre-programmed behavioural patterns.
Reverse speech enables us to delve into the unconscious mind, find the specific metaphors that a person is running and in turn, the reason behind certain behavioural patterns and emotional states.
An example of this:
A person strives and does everything to become successful and financially stable. They work hard, use all the right positive power techniques, affirmations, prayers and intentions but they never seem to succeed and get ahead financially.
If their subconscious mind is running the metaphor “my Earl is weak” and Earl is the metaphor for success, this person’s success and financial picture is unlikely to change very much.
This is because there is a disconnection between the conscious desires and the subconscious belief. These subconscious metaphors therefore control our lives in a very powerful way. In order to really achieve our desires, goals and be able to manifest what it is we want in life, the unconscious conditioning needs to be addressed and dealt with or we are forever going to follow its directives.
When we embrace our unconscious mind and become totally congruent with it, our conscious desires can be achieved.
Reverse speech really is a revolutionary way and seemingly the only effective way of changing behaviour in all ways.
In simple terms, as written in the Reverse Speech Analyst’s Training Manual by David Oates.
The unconscious mind thinks in pictures. These pictures are represented in Reverse Speech with metaphors. It is possible to access these metaphors, experience them, and even alter them, with a basic understanding of the sensory systems we all use as well as rapport building skills.
David also states, “I learned about the power of pictures and visualisations and how by changing the pictures you could also change the behaviour”.
The goal is to change the metaphors in a way that allows the conscious desires to manifest, by eliminating limiting beliefs and self-sabotage imposed on us by our unconscious mind.
By using basic visualization and following the techniques formulated in Reverse speech the first steps can be taken to changing a metaphor. This can create unconscious shifts and alter behaviour.
The basic principles behind visualization and thus changing a metaphor are as follows:
- Perform an initial 30 min recording session with a client using prompting techniques to encourage third level reversals. Analyse the recording and find all the speech reversals. Choose a metaphor that is dysfunctional.
For example: “sick wolf”, “my Earl is broken” or “my dragon is sick” - Set up a time with your client for a one on one session. For this visualization I will use the example of the dragon metaphor.
- Sitting down with your client and facing one another, begin to create a rapport by visualizing your whirlwind expanding and surrounding their whirlwind. This is an energetic bubble that is created with your energy field. (the whirlwind.)
- Ask your client to visualize a dragon whilst watching their eyes. As soon as their eyes flash upwards they have accessed a picture or visual image, touch your client in between their first and second knuckle. This has created a Kinaesthetic anchor. (the act of stimulating or accessing a part of the physical body. It is a process of associating an internal response with an external trigger. Any body part can be used but the hand is usually the easiest to access)
*If your client closes their eyes whilst visualizing the image relying on auditory cues is required by asking them when they have accessed the specific sensory channel. It’s natural to close your eyes as you are entering into a Metawalk state. (A Metawalk is the name given to the unique form of hypnosis developed by the founder of Reverse Speech, David John Oates. The term combines the use of two words – Meta, short for “Metaphor” – and Walk, coming from the aboriginal term “walkabout”, which is a spiritual journey in the desert. Hence a “Metawalk” is a spiritual hypnotic journey through the metaphors of the unconscious mind as revealed through Reverse Speech.) - Now ask your client to imagine the sound of the dragons roar, or another sound the dragon makes that may appeal to them more. As soon as you recognize that your client has accessed the auditory channel, with their eyes looking straight ahead and then moving to the left, anchor this experience again on the same spot that was used before.(in between the knuckles or other body part.)
- Next, ask your client to imagine what it would feel like to touch the dragon and feel its scales or what would it feel like to be the dragon. Again observe, so when your client has accessed the kinaesthetic channel by looking downwards and to the left, anchor this experience touching the same spot as you did with the visual and auditory channels.
Steps 4, 5 and 6 have now enabled your client to access the three sensory systems – visual, auditory and kinesthetic. Each sensory channel has been anchored in. When they accessed each internal sensory experience it was associated by an external trigger – the touch. - Continuing on, it is time to ask your client to describe to you what they see, hear and feel in their experience. Prompting them with questions, for example, what does the dragon look like, how big is it, what sound did it make and what did the dragon feel like.
Lowering the tone of your voice, speaking at a slower pace and adding a slight emphasis on each predicate when asking these questions will help enhance the experience for your client and encourage a deeper state of Metawalk. In step 7 we are using a simple form of an embedded command. - Now compare your client’s image to that of the stereotypical image of the dragon as described in the Metawalk image or Trance image section of the metaphor dictionary. The trance image as it appears in the dictionary is how the metaphor would appear in its healthy form.
The metaphor image for Dragon in the dictionary says varies. Upon research a healthy dragon is usually a white, silvery blue color, extremely tall, standing upright and regal looking, huge outspread wings, very muscular and well-built, well-groomed with vivid bright piercing eyes, scales are bright and shiny. - Metaphors are universal in their meaning, so they are also generally universal in their pictorial representation. *If your client’s image does not conform to the normal, healthy Metawalk image, then their general behaviour will be altered as a result of this. i.e. – someone with a small dull, dragon will generally have a weak, timid disposition and be physically weaker, have little or no self-respect than someone with a larger sized and brightly colored dragon.
*This is really important as not having the same image as the dictionary’s Metawalk image means your client has a dysfunctional metaphor which does need to be changed in order to make it a healthy metaphor. - Now it is time to break rapport with your client for a short moment. Ask them to clear their mind of the previous image. They can rub their hands together and/or stomp their feet on the ground, even have a drink of water. As the analyst you can do the same. This is called “Breaking State”. (interrupting the thought pattern.)
- Create a new state of rapport using the same method in step 3. Ask your client to access a new image of the dragon, but this time one that conforms to the healthy trance image or metaphor image that is defined in the reverse speech dictionary.
- Go through all of the three sensory systems described in step 4 – visual, 5 – auditory and 6 – kinesthetic above but this time anchoring each system between the second and third knuckle. This has created a new kinaesthetic anchor with the desired healthy image.
- Now we are going to alter the client’s current dysfunctional metaphor by merging these two anchors together.
- Break state again, regain rapport and ask your client to close their eyes and take a deep breath.
- Touch the first anchor in between the first and second knuckle – in the same spot as the first anchor was created. Ask your client to picture their current dragon image, the first one they imagined themselves when the session first started.
- Keeping your position on the client’s first anchor, now also place your finger on the second anchor in between the second and third knuckle, so that both anchors are now being touched at the same time.
- Now, it is time to ask the client to picture the new dragon that you asked them to envisage, when they are doing this, gently take your hand off the first (left) anchor but leave your other hand on the second (right) anchor for a few seconds, before slowly releasing it.
- Your client can now slowly open their eyes and come back to the room, and could be a little bit dazed. Allow your client to fully return. Offer them some water and be sure to tell them that the exercise they have just done can create unconscious shifts and alter behaviour.
Explain that they will feel different and they will notice a change in their behaviour. Tell them to be gentle on themselves as they have just experienced a big change in their unconscious mind even though it may have seemed like a relatively short fun exercise to them.
This basic visualization process is the simple form of Metaphor Restructuring. This technique works with most of the major metaphors that have detailed Metawalk images in the Reverse Speech metaphor dictionary.
Positive behavioural changes do occur in those you perform this exercise on and they will feel different. It would be useful to do another recording in around two weeks when the changes have integrated and see what is happening for that client then.
So, instead of falling prisoner and having our lives controlled by our own unconscious mind, everyone should embrace the world of Reverse speech.
Take control of your own life using three simple but powerful steps,
Change the Picture, Change the Metaphor, Change the Behaviour!!!