As a psycho-spiritual therapist, I am always looking at ways to integrate evidence-based clinical healing modalities with spiritual principles and ideas. My favorite evidence-based practice to incorporate into sessions is EMDR. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a well-established and evidence-based therapeutic technique used to treat trauma, anxiety and depression. While its impact is undeniably impactful, it can also be a powerful spiritual tool, capable of facilitating profound personal growth and spiritual awakening while simultaneously healing trauma.

As a psycho-spiritual therapist, I am always looking at EMDR as an incredible transformational tool. Clients are able to connect to their higher selves or in IFS language “self energy” to assist in their own spiritual development and transformation.

What is EMDR?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a therapeutic approach that helps individuals process traumatic or distressing memories and negative beliefs. By stimulating bilateral stimulation, It's based on the idea that the brain naturally processes information during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, and EMDR aims to mimic this process. It helps your brain and body process difficult memories, taxing the working memory so the brain can find more adaptive thought patterns. It can help individuals access and process difficult memories in a safe and controlled manner and find more adaptive coping strategies. EMDR involves a specific eight-phase treatment protocol that helps individuals process and integrate disturbing memories and experiences. This process basically exhausts the old story to make space for more adaptive and aligned patterns to emerge and be accessed. Therefore, it can help the brain reprocess these memories, reducing their emotional impact and allowing for healing and growth. EMDR is about letting the client guide their own healing. When healing occurs, it makes space for deeper spiritual healing. When faced, the trauma can be a portal to deeper healing.

How Does EMDR Therapy Work?

EMDR therapy works by engaging the brain's natural healing processes. During therapy sessions, the therapist guides the client to focus on the traumatic memory while simultaneously engaging in bilateral stimulation, such as eye movements, tapping, or audio tones. This bilateral stimulation helps the brain process the traumatic memory in a new way, reducing its emotional charge.

The Benefits of EMDR Therapy

EMDR therapy has been proven effective in treating a wide range of mental health conditions, including:

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): EMDR is highly effective in reducing PTSD symptoms, such as flashbacks, nightmares, and hypervigilance.
Anxiety Disorders: EMDR can help alleviate symptoms of anxiety, panic attacks, and phobias.
Depression: EMDR can be beneficial for treating depression, especially when it is related to traumatic experiences.
Grief and Loss: EMDR can help individuals process grief and loss, reducing emotional distress and promoting healing.
Generational Trauma: EMDR can help heal the impact of epigenetic trauma passed on through the lineage.
Performance Anxiety: EMDR can help athletes and performers overcome performance anxiety and improve their performance.

The Spiritual Dimension of EMDR

While EMDR is a secular therapy, many clients report experiencing profound spiritual insights and transformations during the process. Some of the ways EMDR can be seen as a spiritual tool include:

Accessing Deeper Levels of Consciousness: EMDR can help individuals tap into deeper levels of consciousness, allowing them to access wisdom and insight that may have been previously hidden.
Releasing Emotional and Spiritual Blockages: By processing traumatic memories, EMDR can help release emotional and spiritual blockages that may be hindering personal growth and spiritual development.
Connecting with Guides or Ancestors or a Higher Power: One of the most remarkable aspects of EMDR is its capacity to facilitate connections with ancestral and spiritual guides. These beings, often referred to as the wise soulful self or spirit guides or ancestors can offer wisdom, support, and healing energy. By tapping into these cosmic connections, individuals can gain a deeper understanding of their family history and the collective human experience.
Promoting Self-Acceptance and Compassion: EMDR can help individuals develop greater self-acceptance and compassion for themselves and others.
Fostering a Sense of Purpose and Meaning: By resolving past traumas and limiting beliefs, EMDR can help individuals discover their true purpose and meaning in life.

IFS Informed EMDR as a Bridge Between Worlds

EMDR, traditionally used for treating trauma, has evolved into a profound psycho-spiritual practice by integrating other modalities with it. By stimulating the brain's natural healing processes, EMDR can help individuals access and process deeply held emotional memories. This can lead to a profound sense of release and transformation.

IFS (Internal Family Systems) has proven to be one of these highly effective modalities to combine with EMDR. This year, I have been training in IFS informed EMDR with the Syzygy Institute. This integrative model helps heal trauma, utilizing EMDR in a softer, more compassionate way. When integrated with Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, EMDR becomes a particularly potent tool for those seeking to break free from generational cycles of trauma. IFS informed EMDR views the whole person as a complex system of parts, each with its own unique role and perspective. By working with these parts, individuals can gain insight into their internal dynamics and develop greater self-compassion. These parts can include our ancestors and generational burdens that we unknowingly carry.

Connecting with Ancestors and Guides

Healing is not just about the individual. It is also about the lineage and community of the individual. I believe healing an individual also helps heal the ancestral lineage and the communities connected to the person healing. One of the most remarkable aspects of EMDR is its capacity to facilitate these connections with ancestral and spiritual guides. I have witnessed these very special connections to ancestral lineages time and time again in session with clients. These "guides," can offer wisdom, support, and healing energy to aid in the healing process. By tapping into these inherent connections, individuals can gain a deeper understanding of their family history and the collective human experience. IFS also incorporates ideas of healing generational burdens in the therapeutic process; which is another powerful way to heal familial histories.

Healing for the Future

Indigenous cultures have long honored the concept of the seven-generation principle, which encourages individuals to make decisions that benefit the next seven generations. By embracing EMDR as a spiritual therapy, women can actively participate in this legacy of healing.

I often think of future generations in the healing process as we are also in the process of becoming ancestors ourselves. When women heal from generational trauma, they not only transform their own lives but also contribute to the healing of future generations. By choosing to address these wounds, they become pioneers of a new era, one characterized by love, compassion, and empowerment. This is the world I want to see and I work very hard to create this world in the work I offer.

By approaching EMDR with an open mind and a willingness to explore the depths of your being, you may discover a powerful tool for spiritual growth and transformation. This transformative journey that will not only benefit you but also ripple out to future generations.

If you are a woman who longs to break free from the chains of the past, consider exploring EMDR as a path to liberation.