Dynamic sessions that move toward productive change rather than maintain the status quo regularly introduce new things. These include: experiments (also known as excercises), Practitioner behavioral changes (like increasing or decreasing pace of reflections) and trying on of different channels of attention for the client (such as turning toward sensation or image). In this episode
Some of our clients have been “going, going, going” and are going to continue doing so until they “collapse.” When we can see that coming it’s often worth introducing the idea of planning or preparing a time when they can permit themselves to “not do more” but instead allow their bodies to try to rest
There are times in sessions when movement becomes increasingly free and involuntary. It’s a special thing to watch the body “come out of freeze” like that. And there are cautions: like being attentive that a sharp angle on a joint doesn’t cause damage for later. To avoid this practitioners need to monitor the range of
When we’re stressed we think less. That’s true for everyone but it’s an especially vexing fact for our distressed clients – many of whom desperately need to make more helpful and healthful decisions on behalf of their well-being. Milton Erickson, the famous psychiatrist and hypnotherapist, knew this too. That’s why he maintained a list to reference
There’s a classic moment in SE sessions when a client is successfully moving through the activation cycle only to balk at allowing the discharge or deactivation phase because it “feels too weird” and indeed often times this phase includes truly odd, unsettling or even frightening sensations. It’s important to get adept at gauging how much