# Sub Modalities: Swish Pattern — Full 4-MAT Presentation Script **Presenter:** Dustin **Total Time:** ~20 minutes (plus ~30 min exercise) **Has Demo:** Yes --- *Last updated: March 21, 2026 at 12:00 PM MT* ## 1. WHY — Motivation (~3-4 min) *Goal: Short motivational opener. Why should the audience care? Pull them in emotionally before teaching anything. Do not name the topic until the reveal at the end.* --- Have you ever had one of those little habits -- something small, almost invisible -- that you know is costing you? Not a huge life crisis. Just a small thing. Maybe it shows up in meetings, maybe it shows up when you are nervous, maybe it shows up when you are on the phone with a client. And every single time it happens, there is this voice in the back of your head that says, "I did it again." I know you are already thinking of something, because everyone has one of these. [PERSONAL STORY PLACEHOLDER: A time you had a small, annoying habit -- something minor but persistent -- that you could not seem to shake. Maybe it was fidgeting, clicking a pen, touching your face, checking your phone at the wrong moment. Describe the moment you realized it was actually affecting how people perceived you or how you felt about yourself. Keep it light and relatable -- this is not about trauma, it is about those little things that nag at you.] Now here is what is interesting. Most people try to stop the habit. They white-knuckle it. They tell themselves, "I am not going to do that anymore." And what happens? They do it more. Because telling the brain "do not do that" is like telling someone "do not think of a purple elephant." The brain does not process negatives very well. And that means every attempt to fight the pattern only feeds it, doesn't it? But as you begin to consider a different approach, what if instead of trying to stop something, I could install something new? What if instead of fighting the old pattern, I could create so much momentum toward a new behavior that the old one just... cannot keep up? What if I could take the exact moment where the habit kicks in -- that split second where I lose control -- and reroute it so fast that the brain does not even have time to run the old program? Can you imagine what that would feel like -- to just be free of it? It is a good thing to realize that this is not willpower. That is not discipline. That is engineering. And the tool that does it is called the **swish pattern**. It is one of the most elegant, fast-acting techniques in all of NLP sub modalities work. And whether you use it on yourself first or go straight to applying it with clients, today I am going to teach you exactly how it works. --- ## 2. WHAT — Information (~15 min) *Goal: The main teaching block. What the swish pattern IS -- purpose, theory, mechanics, keys to success. Pull heavily from Gina's transcripts. Use "I" language.* --- ### What the Swish Pattern Does So what is the swish pattern, and what is it for? > "The swish pattern allows us to change and give new direction to the kind of thinking that we're holding in our mind." At its core, the swish pattern is a sub modalities intervention -- meaning I am working with the structure of how someone codes their internal experience, not the content. I am not digging into their childhood or asking why they bite their nails. I am working with pictures in their mind and changing how those pictures behave. > "Swish patterns are for the purpose of creating momentum towards a more compelling future. The swish pattern installed choices for a new way of life rather than removing or changing old habits." That distinction matters. I am not trying to rip something away from the client. I am not trying to delete a behavior. I am installing something new -- a direction, a choice -- that is so compelling the old pattern cannot compete. Think of it like this: instead of trying to erase a track on a record, I am recording a louder, better track right over it. > "It kind of replaces it. Now the thing about swish patterns that makes them a little bit unique is what we're doing is we're actually kind of running over the undesired behavior with a new desired behavior." --- ### What Swish Patterns Are Good For Now, an important clarification. Swish patterns are not for everything. They are designed for specific kinds of problems. > "A swish pattern really is for those minor, like annoying behaviors or even annoying feelings that you might get. Like every time you need to make a phone call, you feel nervous or something like that, you can use a swish pattern for that." > "It's really good for quick fixes." So I am talking about nail biting, cuticle picking, fidgeting in meetings, that nervous feeling before making a cold call -- small, contextualized behaviors that are annoying but not deeply rooted trauma. If someone has a major life issue, I am probably reaching for timeline therapy. But for these quick, targeted fixes, the swish pattern is incredibly effective. > "They don't take a lot of detailed personal history. They're very quick fixes. But the downside is they might not last as long as, say, for example, doing timeline therapy, right? It's a quick little fix that you could hang your hat on." --- ### The Key to Everything: Getting the Trigger Before I walk through the steps, I need to talk about the single most important element of a successful swish pattern. If I get this wrong, the whole thing falls apart. If I get it right, the pattern almost runs itself. > "The most important thing in a swish pattern is getting the trigger, the exact trigger of the present state or the problem state. Once you get that trigger, you should be able to affect change at that exact moment." > "The key to doing a good swish pattern is the trigger. You've got to get the thing that triggers the behavior. If you get the thing that triggers the behavior, you can have a very powerful swish pattern." So what does that mean in practice? If someone bites their nails, the trigger is not "I bite my nails." That is too vague. I need to find the exact moment -- the precise split second -- where the behavior becomes inevitable. It is what Gina calls the "point of no return." > "The person says, you know, I see my hand coming up my face and I got to bite my nail. But there's a point of no return. Maybe if the hand is down here, they can still put it in their lap. And by the time the hand is here, it's already in their mouth. But there's a point probably right around here where they can no longer stop. It's the point of no return. That's the trigger." I might have to micromanage the client to find it. I might say: "Is it here? What about here? What about here? Can you still stop? No? Okay, what about one step back -- can you stop there? Yes? Then that transition point is the trigger." In the demo, Gina does exactly this with a client who rubs his chin during meetings. She has him show her the behavior and then systematically narrows down the exact moment: > "So if your hand is like this, do you feel like you must do it? ... But here, no chance. It's going. What about here? No, it's pretty, like, right when it kind of like doesn't start moving around... Show me when it's the point of no return. There. Right there." That freeze frame -- that exact moment -- becomes the present state picture. And everything else in the swish pattern depends on getting that moment precisely right. --- ### The Steps of the Swish Pattern Now let me walk through how the swish pattern actually works, step by step. **Step 1: Elicit the Present State** I ask the client: "How do you know it is time to do this behavior?" I want them to identify the trigger and make a picture of it. This picture needs to be fully associated -- meaning the client is looking through their own eyes, not watching themselves from the outside. > "Keep the client fully associated in the undesired old pattern." So if someone bites their nails, the present state picture is literally what they see through their own eyes at that point of no return -- their hand coming up toward their face. **Step 2: Elicit the Desired State** I ask: "How would you like to act instead?" Now here is something important -- I want to work with the momentum of the existing behavior, not against it. > "We're not trying to replace the behavior, we're not trying to get them to not do the behavior. We want to use the momentum of the behavior. So what do you want to do instead of chomping down on your fingernails? Maybe you could just put your hair behind your ears or fix your glasses or fix your earrings." In the demo, the client who rubbed his chin decided he would adjust his glasses instead. Same hand motion, same momentum, completely different result. That is the kind of replacement behavior I am looking for. Then I have the client make a picture of themselves doing the new behavior. This picture is dissociated -- they can see their body in the picture. **Step 3: Intensify the Desired State** This is where sub modalities come in. I take that desired state picture and crank up the visual intensity. > "If necessary, assist the client in adjusting the visual intensity of the desired state for the most positive kinesthetic." > "Have them step inside their body and have them feel what it feels like... Have it feel really positive, pump up the visual, pump up all the submodalities for the most positive kinesthetic." I might say: "Make it brighter. Make it bigger. Make the colors more vivid. Step into it and feel what it feels like to have this new behavior. Feel what it is like to be this version of yourself." I want the client to have a strong, positive feeling associated with this new picture. **Step 4: Set Up the Pictures** Now I have the client step back out of the desired state picture so they are dissociated again -- they can see their body in it. Then I have them shrink that picture down, make it small and dark, and place it in the lower left-hand corner of their visual field. Next, I bring back the present state picture -- the trigger moment -- big and right in front of them, fully associated, looking through their own eyes. > "Now take the old picture of the present state and bring it up on the screen. Make sure you're looking through your own eyes." So now the client has two pictures: the old trigger picture big and in their face, and the new desired state picture small and dark in the lower left corner. **Step 5: The Swish** This is the move. I have the client simultaneously do two things: the small dark desired state picture explodes up big and bright, covering the old picture, while the old picture shrinks down and becomes small and dark in the lower left corner. And this happens as fast as the word "swish." > "Have the picture explode, big and bright. And have it explode so that it covers the old picture. While the old picture shrinks down and becomes small and dark in the lower left hand corner. And do that as quickly as swish." Then I say: "One, two, three -- SWIIISSH! Clear the screen." The "clear the screen" part is critical. That is the break state. **Step 6: Repeat** I run the pattern again. And again. And again. > "Present state, desired state, one, two, three, swish, clear the screen. Present state, desired state, one, two, three, swish, clear the screen. Present state, desired state, one, two, three, swish, clear the screen." The rhythm picks up speed as the client gets comfortable with it. I keep going until the client can no longer access the present state picture. > "You do this until they basically can't get the present state back anymore." > "And they go wait, wait, I can't get it back, I can't get it back. And you go great, so you're done." I might need to run it five times. I might need to run it ten or twenty times. The number does not matter. What matters is that the old picture becomes inaccessible. **Step 7: Test and Future Pace** Once the client cannot get the old picture back, I test. I say: "When you think of biting your nails, what happens?" And if the swish pattern worked, the client goes right to the new behavior. > "What are you going to do when your hand comes at your face? And they go like this." -- adjusting their glasses, tucking their hair, whatever the new behavior is. In the demo, after many rounds, Gina asks the client to cross his arms and let his hand move. Instead of going for his chin, he adjusts his glasses. Done. --- ### Critical Notes for Success Let me highlight the things that make or break a swish pattern. **Association and Dissociation Matter.** The client must be fully associated (looking through their own eyes) in the present state picture. In the desired state, dissociation is preferred because it creates a direction -- something the client moves toward -- rather than just an outcome. > "If the client's fully associated in the final picture, it represents the outcome. But if the client's dissociated in the final picture, it represents a direction, like something they move towards. So that's really preferred when we're trying to create a compelling future." **Break State Between Every Run.** > "It's extremely important to do that break state deliberately... you've really got to clear that screen because it happens so rapidly that you've got to make sure you clear the screen before you do it again and again and again." > "You've got to make sure you break the state between each run of the swish pattern so that you don't loop them together and create this never-ending loop." If I skip the break state, the pictures start looping into each other and the whole intervention falls apart. I can use anything -- "Do you smell popcorn?" "What color is your car?" -- anything that pulls the client out of the pictures for a moment. **Speed Is Everything.** The swish needs to happen fast. Not carefully and deliberately -- explosively fast. The word "swish" is roughly how long the switch should take. Some practitioners add an internal or external "SWIIISSH" sound, but the sound itself is not what matters. The speed is what matters. **Eyes Closed During, Eyes Open Between.** The client keeps their eyes closed during the swish itself, then opens them between runs to help with the break state. Open eyes, clear the screen, then close eyes and set up the next round. --- ### Advanced Swish Patterns Once I understand the basic mechanics, I can get creative. The classic swish uses the lower-left-corner-to-full-screen swap, but that is not the only way. > "If that doesn't work, what we like to say is you could use any PowerPoint transition. So you could have the present state in one blind and the desired state behind the blind and then the blind opens and there's the desired state." > "You could do a swish pattern that's analogous to the computer minimize button. Everybody knows what it means to hit the little yellow minus sign and it just goes." > "You could do designer swishes with the present state could be on the wall and the painting falls off the wall." The key principle is the same: the old picture goes away fast, the new picture takes over completely, and the break state happens between each run. The specific visual mechanism can be adapted to whatever makes sense for the client. If the classic version is not working, I try a different transition. The tool is flexible. --- ## 3. HOW — Exercise (placeholder) *Goal: Brief setup for the exercise and demo. Use "you" language here.* --- Alright, so now you know what the swish pattern is, how it works, and why that trigger is so critical. Before you practice it yourselves, let's watch how it looks in real time. **Demo goes here.** Pay attention to a few things during the demo. Watch how we find the exact trigger -- the point of no return. Watch how quickly the swish itself happens. And watch the testing at the end to confirm the old behavior is no longer accessible. Now it is your turn. You are going to get into groups of 2 -- one practitioner, one client. You will have about 30 minutes total, so switch roles halfway through. The client picks a minor, annoying behavior -- nothing heavy. Nail biting, pen clicking, phone checking, fidgeting -- something small and specific. As the practitioner, your job is to nail that trigger. Spend the time to find the exact point of no return. Then run the swish pattern until the client cannot get the old picture back. Do not rush the setup. Do rush the swish itself. A few reminders: fully associated in the present state. Dissociated in the desired state. Break state every single time. Speed on the swish. And test at the end. **Exercise goes here.** --- ## 4. WHAT IF — Future Pace (placeholder) *Goal: Self-discovery. Three questions.* --- **1. What questions do you have?** **2. What did you learn?** **3. What do I need to know?** --- **Word Count:** 2,978 words | **Estimated Talk Time:** ~21 minutes (at ~140 words/min medium pace)