Back Into Balance Body and Mind

Talk therapy (counselling and psychotherapy) is a powerful way to bring about healing and meaning. « Better out than in, I always say » (Shrek): there is a science behind that wisdom. A meaningful conversation with a trained counsellor/psychotherapist where the inner world (our thoughts and experiences) is given a shape and a realness through spoken, written or drawn words, have a direct impact on our body’s chemistry. Sometimes we can struggle to translate and describe our inner experience. It can be the case with traumatic experiences. Maybe there are no words or no words are strong enough to describe the acute pain of loss, the fear that follows a tragic accident, or the deep impact of abuse or neglect. Eyes Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a technique that bypasses the narrative, the story. It goes straight to the reshaping of our brain connections. Trauma is the inability to live in the present. Our present experiences are tainted by a traumatic past experience. After a car accident, even months or years later, the idea of driving or even being a passenger might remain inconceivable. This is not due to the experience of the car here and now but to the experience of a car accident there and then. EMDR can help us differentiate between past and present so that the thought of the past accident doesn’t trigger fear in the now. It is not about forgetting or erasing from memory the undesirable experience. The memory remains, but without the emotional charge because “I know and experience the difference between what was and what is”.