EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
involves stimulating the left then the right sides of the brain back and forth visually, auditorily, or kinesthetically. It can be done by moving the eyes back and forth or in particular patterns, by listening to sounds going back and forth from ear to ear, or by a sensation on one side of the body then the other. It involves bi-lateral stimulation of the left and right hemispheres of the brain while focusing on an issue you wish to improve.
Before learning EMDR I learned several other bi-lateral methods such as “Recapitulation” by Carlos Castaneda, WAHE GURU chant with eye and breath movement learned from the Sikhs while I was working at 3HO, and then I completed Level 1 & 2 of EMDR with Dr. Francine Shapiro in 1994. Dr. Shapiro said she’d been told it’s origin was from the Vedas from India. I continued studying bilateral methods and have been using them on many of my clients for many diverse issues such as weight, smoking, anger, depression, anxiety, phobias, traumas, OCD, as well as to increase abilities and skills such as in a sport, playing an instrument, acting, public speaking, etc.
I have been amazed at some of the results I’ve gotten over the years. Sometimes issues that are not even being targeted disappear. For example, one woman who was severally depressed, bulimic, and had been angry with her spouse for 8 years did EMDR in a morning session with the focus on early childhood issues and a miscarriage she'd had. At one point during the EMDR she said “I’m looking through a room, through a hallway, and in to another room with a yellow sweater laying on a bed - what does it mean?” I said to just stay with the image and feelings until something else came up and something did. That evening she told me that she had a severe water phobia as far back as she could remember. She said she had never taken a bath, had never waded in the ocean, and couldn’t even shower if the water came to her ankles. She said that 30 minutes after our session she had gotten in to a swimming pool and played with her children for and hour and loved it. Her fears were completely gone. She asked how that had happened as she had never even discussed having the phobia with me. She said she also felt loving towards her husband for the first time in 8 years. I couldn’t explain how it had happened but my guess is that she had a scary experience as a baby in the bathroom, saw the yellow sweater and her connection with that image erased her fear of water. I am just grateful that her lifelong fear of water is gone and that her estranged relationship with her husband has been healed. |
