Renegotiation is not about simply reliving a traumatic experience. It is, rather, the gradual and titrated revisiting of various sensory-motor elements comprising a particular trauma engram. Renegotiation occurs primarily by accessing procedural memories associated with the two dysregulated states of the autonomic nervous system (ANS)—hyperarousal/overwhelm or hypoarousal/shutdown and helplessness—and then restoring and completing the associated active responses. As this process progresses, the client moves from hypo- or hyperarousal, toward equilibrium, relaxed alertness, and a here-and-now
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