The EcoPlural

Literally just ask them

Our most-used trick is simply asking someone inside to come into control. Sometimes, this is all it takes.

I suspect that some of the efficacy of this comes down to having practiced other methods first, but we do find that asking "backseat drivers" to come forward or push us out of front is more effective for us than trying to let go of control directly. If someone is particularly stuck in control, then they might ask the entire system to help push them out of front (which may or may not work, but it certainly seems more effective than asking only one person to help with this).

As with many things, having good cooperation makes life easier.

Allowing

Choosing to leave control also sometimes works.

It's difficult to describe the feeling of intentionally letting go, but I might compare it to the mental motions you make when falling asleep. It's more a matter of allowing than trying. The more effort that you expend trying to make it happen, the less likely that it actually does happen. It's a mental motion of becoming passive and waiting as opposed to trying to go anywhere. The rest happens on its own.

I would strongly recommend having the consent of a system member who wants time in control before doing this. Dropping out of control without warning can be very disorienting for everyone else, and it may or may not suck someone into control unexpectedly. We only drop out without advance warning in emergencies where not doing so would put us in serious danger.

Memory and Mimicry

A lot of switching guides are aimed more at the "trading places" experience of switching. This trick seems to work best for switches that feel like "becoming"; it's one of our own preferred strategies for those situations.

First, decide who you're going to try to switch with. If possible, get their consent (in advance is better than nothing- see if you can check with them in a shared journal so that they know to expect this). We've given each other blanket consent to switch as needed, but it may be good to get more explicit agreement when trying to switch on purpose for the first time.

Try to remember the sensations of being that person. Where do they sit in your body? How do they hold themselves? How do they tend to feel (mentally and physically)? Vividly remembering or mimicking these experiences can sometimes push you towards actually being that person. We've found the following observations helpful:

Areas of tension and relaxation

Areas of pain or numbness

Resting expression, facial sensations

Body language tendencies (big movements, curling inwards, etc.)

Internal sensations (vibrating, tingling, clenching, buzzing, etc.)

Baseline emotional state or attitude

Head sensations (foggy, heavy, tired, muted, etc.)

Strong opinions

For example, Red is easiest to summon by remembering how our eyes and shoulders feel: when she's in control, they feel more focused and broad, respectively. She also has a tendency to lift her chin higher. If I wanted to trigger a switch to her, then I might focus my eyes more, pull my shoulders back and out, raise my chin, and try to replicate aspects of her most recent mental state as best I can (What was she feeling? What was she thinking about?). Breathing out as I start trying to mimic someone also seems to help, though I'm not entirely sure why.

Different body parts may work better for different system members. Take some time to notice how each of you feel in your body and experiment with that. If you're unable to remember how other system members experience themselves in your body, then you may want to ask your system to write down information on this for you.

Dissociating and Associating

In cases where switching feels like trading places, you might be able to think of it as trading your attachment to your body with someone else. As you detach, they attach.

Detaching is dissociation. You likely know the mental motions for dissociating already (and if you don't, then you may be able to learn them by paying attention to how it feels to unintentionally dissociate. Please don't set off dissociation that interferes with your life on purpose to see what it feels like).

Associating is the opposite of dissociating. Associating intentionally may or may not be something you're familiar with, but a good way to practice this is using grounding exercises. Engaging with your senses, reminding yourself of information about the present, and leaning into the world around you can all be thought of as associating with your body and the world.

When you switch, the person currently in control dissociates. They detach from the world, your body, etc. At the same time, someone else associates with these things. If you can learn to do this on purpose, then that process can be used to switch intentionally.

Visualization

This is another strategy that tends to work better if you experience switches as trading places- think of it as a visual metaphor for dissociating and associating that can make that process easier. It also requires some form of sensory imagination, though it likely could be modified for conceptual imagination.

Imagine that your body is a suit, mech, or other container. You are inside this container. Visualize your arm inside its arm. We tend to imagine it as a colored ghost-arm or gas.

Notice that when you wiggle a finger, your body's finger moves, but your finger is distinct from its finger. See if you can imagine moving your finger without your body's finger moving. Imagine that separation.

When you have a good sense of your own fingers inside of your body's fingers, slowly pull your arm out of your body's arm. Take off the suit. Notice how it feels without you inside of it. This is likely to be a strange feeling, and it may take some practice to get here without that strangeness sucking you back into control. Let it be strange. Observe it from a distance. Detach.

Allow another system member to do the same process in reverse: ask them to move their arm into your body's arm, putting the suit on. Let them move its fingers, then the rest of it. Your body's fingers are now their fingers. Your body's arm is their arm. Again, this step may take some practice before you're able to sustain it for more than a moment or two.

You may or may not have traded control over your train of thought during this process. If you haven't, then trading mental control can be approached in a similar way.

Imagine that your brain is a mech. There is a pilot's seat. Whoever is in the seat has control of your main train of thought. You are in the seat. Notice that.

Ask someone to sit down in the seat with you and notice what it's like to share that space with them. Ask them to notice what it feels like as well. You are both in the seat, both in your center of thought, both present. This can be a very useful place to be, and I might suggest practicing it further.

If you'd like to fully switch out, then get out of the seat, leaving your system member alone in control. If you are having a hard time leaving the seat, then you might ask your system member to push you out of it. Allow them to take up more and more mental space until you are not in the center of thought anymore. This can take some practice.

Your system member should take a moment to notice how it feels to be alone in the seat. You are not at the center of noticing anymore. They are.

This was the first method that we learned to voluntarily switch, and we do still use it when sharing control- it can be very useful for allowing someone else to control your arm without fully switching out. It seems easiest to learn when starting small and building up. Trade control of a single finger first and practice sustaining that. Add more of your body as it becomes easier to maintain that trade.

Associations

Some methods don't care how you experience your switches. This is one of them.

System members generally have things that they associate themselves with. These things might include colors, activities, people, concepts, objects, emotions, opinions, and more. When they are around, these things are more present in your mind.

You may be able to "summon" someone forwards by surrounding yourself with these associations. Being around their things makes it much easier for them to be around. This means that learning what each person is associated with can give you a list of potential switch triggers for them.

Ask your system members what they like. Ask them how they think of themselves. Ask them what makes them feel like themselves. Their answers might give you ways to call them forwards.

Music is our go-to associative tool. We each have our own playlists, and playing someone's music is an easy way to pull them forwards or hold them in place. I suspect that this works as well as it does because each of us has noticeably different music preferences, but making playlists may still help if you have similar tastes so long as there are different songs for each of you. Try to minimize overlap if you build playlists for this.

Dealing with the Situation

There is often a very good reason for someone to be in control, and exploring that reason may help open space for someone else to come forwards.

What about your environment brought that system member forwards? Is there an ongoing need for them to be present that you haven't considered?

Is there something that needs to be processed by that specific system member? Are they best-suited for the current situation in some way, or do other system members lack the skills needed to deal with it? Does the situation remind them of something else?

Have they had a lot of time in front lately? Sometimes, spending a lot of time in front makes it harder to let go of front. This can be worked through, but it means that you may need to put in more effort to force a switch than you otherwise would. Balancing front times can help prevent this in some cases (though that does require some degree of switch control- these things take time to arrange).

Let it Be

You might become a master at switching on purpose. Even then, you will sometimes still have no control over who is around. Things happen. You might have switch triggers that override your ability to control switching. You might have a harder time using your strategies in chaotic environments. You might just have an off day where it's not working.

It's okay if you don't have full control over switching. Switching on purpose often takes time and practice, and even with that practice, sometimes a situation takes fronting out of your control.