From
the seminar - Learning The Techniques of Energy Psychology:
Background:
 Where your
thoughts go, your energy flows. Learning what the processes are
that generate the thoughts that we experience is to empower ourselves,
through the use of will to direct this energy flow and experience
meaningful changes that not only benefit our lives but those around
us. Certainly the concept of the power and use of thought to affect
change is not a new concept. Even in the earliest writings of the
Egyptian mystery schools, the concept and use of energy healing
was highly developed, but taught only to a select few.
Today, the
techniques of energy therapy and energy psychology are finding their
way into mainstream therapy with startling and impressive results.
Phobias which may have taken weeks, months or even years to experience
a breakthrough can now be brought to manageable levels, if not released
completely, within 15-30 minutes. Rediscovered knowledge about how
the body and mind process and hold emotions has shed new light for
treatment and release. The purpose of this manual is to provide
you with a means of helping your clients/patients discover the limitations
that have presented themselves as obstacles to the enjoyment of
their life and the rich fulfillment of their own creativity.
Problem Solving...Methods of being an effective
observer to uncover blocks.
Quite often,
therapists, trainers, life coaches, etc. have spent a good deal
of time in learning techniques to help their client/patients. The
one common problem that most express is in knowing what to treat.
To be able to move along a path that is beneficial for our client/patients,
we must be able to communicate effectively, know the right questions
to ask and how to observe both conscious and unconscious responses
and quite often the unconscious responses yield the greatest answers.
Two such responses that we will discuss are representational systems
and linguistic clues.
We all create
thought images. One of the many theories of modern neuroscience
is that our thought patterns are similar to that of a hologram.(pp
46 marriage of the mind). Typically we represent this thought by
several automatic body responses. For most individuals, when they
represent thought by pictures or images, their eyes normally go
up, either to the left for memory or to the right for imagination.
These individuals are visual. Those who represent thoughts by sounds
or words keep their eyes' horizontal and again either to the left
for memory or to the right for imagination, they are auditory. Those
who represent thoughts by feelings typically do so when their eyes
are down and to the right. They are kinesthetic. Those who represent
thoughts by engaging in a self-directed conversation will represent
this by having their eyes go down and to the left. This is what
we refer to as auditory digital. These are also the individuals
that will have their foot wagging when you are trying to talk with
them. Good luck! They are already engaged in their own conversation
and you will have to disrupt that conversation before you will have
an effect.
Please don't
be confused by visual clues. Most of the time, they are quick gestures.
A person who is visual will not raise their eyes and keep them there.
It will be a quick gesture up and then back to another focus point.
Also, because one system, visual, auditory or kinesthetic is a preference,
we all operate in all systems, we just have one that is most comfortable
for us.
Body language
can be a rich source of information and in addition to eye cues,
help's us to determine our client's/patient's representational system.
Observe a person, who sits in a chair with their shoulders back,
chin up and when they speak, may make gesture with their hand's
high. This individual is using a visual system. Visual individuals
also typically breathe higher in the chest and sometimes utilize
more shallow breaths. Those individuals who lean forward with their
body or have their head cocked to one side, as though listening,
are auditory. When auditory people speak they usually keep their
hands near shoulder level. Sometimes auditory individuals gesture
with their hands near their ears or stroke their chins and mouth
thoughtfully. (Primary Objective pp 121) . Kinesthetic people may
have their chest somewhat concave as though their shoulders are
slumping forward. They may rub their legs or chest and stomach area
as though they are rubbing the feeling in. Kinesthetic people usually
breath lower in the abdomen.
In addition to visual cues, linguistic clues can be extraordinarily
informative. They provide a means or determining representational
systems and also give clues to the subconscious barriers that the
client/patient has placed in their way. Words and phrase such as
"I see your point", "this is a bright room",
"everything looks dim", I seem like I am living in a fog",
are all visual linguistic cues. Phrases such as "I hear what
you are saying", "that rings a bell", "say it
louder", "listen to me", "you don't have to
shout", are all auditory linguistic cues. Phrase such as "I
feel stuck", "I've had a rough time", "Don't
push me", all indicate a kinesthetic person.
Although
we have touched on visual, auditory and kinesthetic cues, our response
systems are not just limited to these three. Remember, we have five
physical senses and although they may not be used as extensively
as the other three, olfactory and gustatory do have their place
with certain individuals. "Of all the rotten luck", "that
relationship has left a bad taste in my mouth", "that
idea stinks". These are representative of olfactory and gustatory
representational systems.
The purpose
of learning to recognize different representational systems gives
us the unique opportunity to communicate with people in their own
language. Our communication now becomes personal, we understand
our client/patient, we talk their language and nothing will put
your client/patient more at ease than good communication. Often
you help to defuse a situation simply by the art of good translation.
How many times have you heard couples, speaking about their problems,
and some states, "he doesn't listen to me any more", to
which the other person replies, "she rubs me the wrong way."
What we have here is a failure to communicate! One person is speaking
in auditory terms ( he doesn't listen to me anymore) and the other
is replying in kinesthetic terms (she rubs me the wrong way). Once
we put the information into one of these systems, then the parties
can communicate.
Another thing
to consider is that although we may have a preference as to which
system we use, it is easy to lead a person into another system to
work with them. Once there is rapport, the client/patient can be
encouraged to use another system to facilitate emotional work. Take
for example an emotional outburst, abreaction. Typically these are
kinesthetic in nature. The individual's eyes are down, they may
even have their arm wrapped around themselves, as though they are
holding themselves. They may state that they feel lost, hopeless,
sad, etc. One way to lead this person into another system, because
the one that they are in- the kinesthetic system is somewhat overwhelmed,
is to ask, "if you made a picture or an image of that feeling,
what would it look like?" This question does several things.
First, the question momentarily shorts-out the emotion. That is,
they probably don't have a picture to go along with the emotion,
they are too wrapped-up in the emotion. Secondly, linguistically
it does several things. There is the presupposition that a picture
or image of the emotion can be made. Also, there is the deep structure
meaning of the emotion represented by the image. If need be, the
image or picture can be manipulated in various ways until the intensity
of the emotion is manageable. We will discuss this technique more
in the live seminar.
Linguistic
clues also give the astute observer a hint of what barriers the
client/patient has installed as a subconscious barrier. These barriers
are typically experienced to some degree as survival, impossibility,
obligation and desire and are powerful beliefs that operate at the
unconscious level and generate some of the most disabling emotions.
The barrier of survival has its linguistic clue in the word need.
"I need to have my boss listen to me!" The barrier of
impossibility is typically expressed by the phrase I can't or that's
just not possible for me to do. Obligation is expressed with the
words I should, I ought to. The word or phrase, I want to denotes
desire. A person's beliefs are expressed through and by the barriers.
Typically, it is doubt that prevents the individual from releasing
the influence of the barrier and unlocking the belief. With the
energy techniques, the barriers can be released and the beliefs
are automatically disrupted. Take for example the belief that an
individual is not worthy. Worthy covers a huge assortment of descriptive
terms, self-confidence, love, a good job, success, peace, happiness,
etc. When the technician test that belief they might find that the
individual test strong to the statement "It's just not possible
for me to be worthy." This would suggest that their concept
of worthiness is blocked by some belief that suggests that, being
worthy is just not possible for them. If they are experiencing some
guilt about some event, you might find them testing weak to the
possibility of being worthy, meaning that it is possible, but testing
strong to the statement that they shouldn't be able to experience
worthiness, meaning that they have placed an obligation on themselves
preventing them from experiencing worthiness. We will get more into
detail about this concept and methods of testing statement in the
methods of analysis section.
Knowing about
representational systems, their accompanying body language and linguistic
clues give the technician a great advantage and certainly a variety
of tools to assist the client/patient in uncovering the real challenges
they are facing. Knowing how to properly fashion the most effective
means of asking questions will only enhance these tools. First,
forget asking why! Why? Because. And, that is typically the answer
you get, because! Or, you may be the recipient of a historical account
about why your client/patient thinks and reacts a certain way. The
client way state, "well that's the way I was taught."
You want to phrase questions in such as fashion, that the client/patient
is required to process information, dig deep, look for the truth
and real meaning about their emotions. Asking how, what, when, where
encourages the client/patient to do just that. Take for example
these variation of a question concerning anger. You may ask your
client/patient. "Why are you angry about that event?"
Or, you could rephrase the question and ask, "What is it about
that anger that is important to you?" With the first question,
"Why are you angry about that event?" Your client/patient
could respond with a simple, "well I don't know, just because!"
The second method of questioning can't really be answered with the
same response, it requires processing. You are not asking why the
client/patient did or responded to something, you already know they
responded, they have already admitted or demonstrated anger. What
you are asking is the importance of the response, what that response
meant to them, how does it enhance or diminish their world.
Emotions
are strung along in groups. It is not so much the events in life
that we remember with intensity but the emotions that we associate
to those events. These intense emotions are grouped seemingly like
beads on a necklace. For example, a client/patient could be asked,
"can you remember a time when you experienced a similar emotion?"
Often that we state another event, to which they can be asked, "Can
you remember an event even before that event when you experienced
a similar emotion?" Again, most can remember another event.
You can continue this questioning and get information about a whole
series of events that are very dissimilar in nature but have one
thing in common and that is the emotion that the person associated
to the event.
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