Everything You Need To Know About: Eye Movement Therapy

We've been exploring a new energy healing topic each month. Some of these you have probably heard of and others may not be as mainstream, but they are equally as impactful.

One of these healing methods is called eye movement therapy. It’s been around a while. You may have heard of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) or other eye movement therapies, but ours is completely different from any of those, and I believe to be even more effective. Eye movement therapy is a relatively new, nontraditional method to help people overcome all sorts of trauma, anxiety and phobias. It’s been especially effective in helping military personnel and veterans overcome post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul and in this case they may be the windows to healing the heart and mind. When traditional medication or therapy doesn’t work, eye movement therapy is often the solution when either used alone or in conjunction with several modalities. Some people see results in just a few sessions of eye movement therapy, but more traumatic experiences may take numerous sessions. It can be a lifesaver for people who aren’t seeing progress through traditional therapy and are looking for a solution.

EMDR has been around since the late 1980s. California psychologist Francine Shapiro was out hiking in the forest and having trouble letting go of negative and disturbing thoughts when she made a discovery quite by accident. “...she discovered that her anxiety lifted after moving her eyes back and forth while observing her surroundings,” write Hal Arkowitz and Scott Lilienfeld in Scientific American. She began testing this method on her clients who struggled with anxiety and quickly found that they also were able to let go of anxious thoughts by moving their eyes in specific patterns.

Today there are more than 20,000 mental health practitioners trained in EMDR so eye movement therapy is definitely catching on. I’m excited to introduce my own version of eye movement therapy methods to you through my new Trilogy total energy solution.

So, how does eye movement therapy work? Eye movement therapy simulates the eye movements that happen during REM sleep and the brain’s natural restorative healing process. During eye movement therapy, a  therapist may move their fingers back and forth in front of your face and ask you to follow the hand motions with your eyes. At the same time, they will ask you to think back to a disturbing event.

The therapist will guide you to gradually shift your thoughts to more pleasant ones. The hope is that your disturbing memories will become less disabling after each session.

Eye movements create are categorized as what we would call a “dual attention task” that involves focusing on the emotions connected to memories and eye movements at the same time. In simpler terms, you are doing two things at once! Many practitioners believe that this dual attention pushes the troubling memory or image from working memory into long-term memory where it is not as easily recalled.

I have written quite a bit about how our unhealed memories hold us back in all sorts of areas. But people can transform negative emotions through techniques like my Trilogy method and start living their life the way they were mean to!

Many studies show that this type of therapy is as effective as more traditional cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for treating people with post-traumatic stress disorder. Cognitive approaches to depression or anxiety work by reliving a troubling event and discussing it with a therapist. With eye movement therapy there is no need for clients to talk about the traumatic event or experience.

Eye movement therapy is a very tangible therapy that works well for people who might be a bit skeptical and want to easily see results. For those who are leery of hypnosis or think talk therapy is too “touchy feely” for them, it can be an ideal method for moving past traumatic memories. Using eye movement therapy for general anxiety is also becoming more common as more clinicians and patients come to understand the benefits of this unique treatment.

Energy healing has been around for thousands of years and is the foundation for the Healing Codes I developed nearly two decades ago as well as today’s revolutionary Trilogy method. There is so much we know and so much we don’t know. It is exciting to be part of this movement of acceptance of alternative methods of healing in the U.S.!