How to deal with negative emotions
Lift the impact of past trauma, resolve emotional difficulties (such as phobias, nervousness, stress, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, rage, jealousy, hypervigilance, anger, worry, rumination, inhibition, suicidal ideation, OCD and others).
What are emotions? Can they be controlled or changed?
When it comes to a conflict between emotion and logic, emotion always wins. You cannot "logic" your way out of your emotions. So if this is true, how do you "get rid of" unwanted emotions such as fear, anger, jealousy, hatred or rage?
The latest fascinating findings in neuroscience shows that our emotions are how we predict and construct our environment and perception based on our past experiences. Our bodies take in bits of information from the environment and our minds make predictions on what will happen, good or bad, based on similar experiences in our past. As a part of our predictions, our bodies will recreate specific patterns of physiological sensations. Sensations like a racing heart, sweaty palms, butterflies in your stomach, clenched jaw, changes in breathing, etc. What we view as an emotion is our intellectual label/concept to describe this pattern of physiological sensations that we are predicting. But in reality, the emotion is the physiological sensations.
Our innate physiological ability
Usually, our bodies have a natural way of regulating these physical sensations in the moment of an emotional response. Meaning, if left alone, if we do not try to control our response, our bodies would generate these physiological responses and then return to a state of calm. Animals are better at doing this than humans are. When an animal is chased by a predator and escapes, when the danger has passed, the animal's body will shake to release the stress and then it will go back to doing what it was doing before it got attacked.
When emotions become stuck
When we experience trauma or intense or prolonged stress, situations where it was not safe or it was too overwhelming to experience the intense wave of physiological sensations, we do not process the emotion, but rather, we repress it. In future similar situations, the body will continue to recreate these unresolved physiological responses, and the mind predicts that something bad will happen. As humans, we are taught to do things to control, repress, relieve, ignore, or suppress the response. Unfortunately, this interferes with our bodies’ natural process.
Updating the prediction
Emotional Resolution (EmRes) can help remove these emotional blockages by reconnecting to the physiological sensations and feeling the discomfort. This allows the body to fully resolve the physiological sensations. Once the body returns to a state of calm, the mind’s prediction in future similar situations will be updated to no longer predict a negative outcome.
What is Emotional Resolution??
Your body knows how to resolve physiological sensations in the moment. Emotional Resolution (EmRes) is simply a process in which the physiological sensations that are problematic for you are deliberately triggered, and you are guided to allow yourself to experience those sensations without trying to control them until your body finishes processing them, returning you to a state of calm. EmRes returns your awareness of your body's innate ability to process your emotions.
What happens during a session?
EmRes sessions are performed with you seated safely and comfortably in a chair, via a Zoom meeting, and you remain fully aware and conscious the entire time. I will guide you to identify the moment in a recent event in which you experienced an emotional reaction that is unwanted. Alternately, I will ask you general questions regarding the nature of your difficulty. By reliving the event or through the questions asked, the physiological sensations will be reactivated. The sensations, although uncomfortable, are never harmful and do not last long. Once the sensations come up, I guide you to connect with them, to feel them without trying to control them. This allows your innate physiological ability to take over until the wave of sensations has completed and calmness is achieved. I am here to help guide you and hold space for you to feel safe and supported to feel the sensations.
For past traumatic events, I will never guide you to relive the traumatic event. In fact, it is not unusual that the emotional response you want to change can be changed without even knowing what the original event was that caused the response you are having to a specific situation.