Getting Past Your Past: Take Control of Your Life with Self-Help Techniques from EMDR Therapy

by Francine Shapiro

in most cases problems arise or intensify because of an interaction between this predisposition and current life experiences. Research has actually shown that stress can negatively affect our genes, even damaging them to the point of shortening our life span. It can also have a negative effect

EARTH: GROUNDING, SAFETY in the PRESENT/REALITY: Take a minute or two to “land” and to be here now. Place both feet on the ground and feel the chair supporting you. Look around and notice three new things. What do you see? What do you hear? AIR: BREATHING for CENTERING: You can use your favorite breathing exercise here. Another option is to breathe in through your nose as you count four seconds, then hold it for two, then breathe out for four seconds. Take about a dozen deep, slow breaths like this. WATER: CALM and CONTROLLED to switch on the RELAXATION RESPONSE: Check to see if you have saliva in your mouth. Make more saliva by moving your tongue around and imagining the taste of a lemon (or chocolate). When you are anxious or stressed, your mouth often “dries” because part of the stress emergency response involved in “fight or flight” shuts off the digestive system. So it seems that when you start making saliva,

you switch on the digestive system again and the associated relaxation response. That’s a theory used to explain why people are offered water or tea or chewing gum after a difficult experience. If you have difficulty making saliva, then start yourself off with a sip of water. FIRE: LIGHT UP the path of your IMAGINATION: Bring up the image of your SAFE PLACE or some other positive resource. Where do you feel it in your body?

past that set the basis for the problems, processing the present triggers, and encoding new memories of success by imagining doing well in the future. During processing,

Future Template Relax your body and take several long, slow breaths. If you find your mind wandering, take another deep breath and bring it back to the exercise. Focus on the future situation you’d like to deal with. Decide how you would like to be seeing, feeling, acting and believing in that situation. Use your Safe/Calm Place exercise to bring up the feeling you’d like to have by identifying some experience in your past where you succeeded. Then bring up the positive cognition “I can succeed.” Focus on the positive feelings, such as strength, clarity, confidence or calm. Focus on an image of doing well in the future situation. Feel the positive emotions and body sensations that go along with it.

sit quietly and notice your belly expand and contract as you breathe. Simply notice, quietly. If you find your mind drifting away to other things, then gently bring your attention back again to your belly. See if you can do it for five minutes at a time. Then increase your meditation time daily until you can sit comfortably for 20 to 30 minutes. If you would like to also include your religious practices, consider adding a phrase from your orientation: “God is good” or “God is great” or “God is one.” You could also use the word “Om” from the Indian tradition. Or a word such as “peace” or “love.” Repeat the phrase or word each time you inhale and exhale. Also, meditation practices that focus on a sense of gratitude can be very helpful. Sit quietly and think of the things in your life that you are grateful for. Bring your attention to your heart and simply repeat, “Thank you for all you’ve given me” as you inhale and exhale. The “you” can be