The Following are three methods you can use to confront and tackle emotional issues in your past and present.
Scribbling
(as taught by Allie Duzzett)
The easiest, fastest way to see instant emotional shifts
The "scribbling technique" is one I recommend often to my clients and students. This is a page that will teach you how to do it. Please read the entire thing before trying your first healing scribble!
How Scribbling Works
All emotions are chemical, and they need to be metabolized, or broken down, to be removed from the body. All emotions are also energetic. Scribbling takes the energy of emotions (and even things like pain and structural imbalances in the body) and transmutes them into physical motion. On a body level, we are burning the chemicals of our emotions just like our bodies burn fat. This is called a kinesthetic transmutation of energy. We're taking energy and "burning it" through motion with our physical bodies.
What You Need To Get Started
Scribbling is easy! You can get started with paper and any writing utensil: crayons, pencil, pen, marker, chalk. Technically, you don't even need paper at all--some people scribble on drawing apps on their phones. I prefer to scribble with crayons on paper.
Choosing Your Scribbling Topic
The first thing you do when you scribble is write the topic on the top of the paper. This clarifies to the conscious and subconscious minds what you are working on.
When you pick a topic, I recommend scribbling on small pieces of your topic, not the whole thing at once.. If you start scribbling on "childhood abuse," you will fill up 35 pages of scribbles and get nowhere--and possibly just stir things up, because that is so big there's no way you're going to clear it all at once in a 20-minute scribbling session.
Before you start scribbling on something big, I recommend imagining the energy of it gathering into a ball, and then smashing the ball with a hammer into smaller pieces. Then scribble out the smaller pieces in small increments (say, 5-10 minutes of scribbling at a time). This can take several days to work through various issues, but it WILL work and this is much better than trying to do something big all at once. Scribbling through 10 or 15 pieces one at a time will be more effective.
You can also just choose to start scribbling on the smaller things from the get-go. For example, instead of scribbling on "childhood abuse," you might scribble on, "The anger I felt when I was made to do X and I didn't want to." Even THAT might be too big, but at least it's smaller than general "childhood abuse." The "size" of different topics will really vary person to person. Scribbling on "resistance to getting married" might take 2 minutes for someone pretty open to marriage, and days and days for someone who was abused in a previous marriage, for example.
Set a scribbling time limit for your session. Set a timer. Then be done. If you need to resume the session later you can do that. Five to twenty minutes is usually best.
Another mental visualization is to imagine that the trapped emotion contains so much ink or crayon or pencil lead that needs to get out. Each line, curve or scribble on the paper is getting it out of you the past trauma, event or emotion to the paper. It really doesn’t matter if you have flowing lines, sharp streaks or jabs. The point is that you are getting it out of your system. The scribbled page
One way to get a sense of when you’re done is that your scribble pattern may follow a particular pattern such as horizontal figure eights. You may also get a sense that you’re done. When you are finished you may simply crumble up the paper and throw it away or burn it. For heaven's sake, don’t keep it. You're done and letting it go.
Movement Therapy or Kinesthetic Release
Any physical movement can be used to release and resolve emotional trauma, if harnessed for that purpose with intent. What this means is that if you have a trauma you're working on clearing, you can decide in your mind that your workout today is going to help release or metabolize that trauma.
You will need to begin by identifying the issue you want to work on - just write it down or identify it in your mind. If it’s a larger or more significant issue in your life you may need to break it down into smaller chunks like described in the scribbling exercise.As you move through your workout - a brisk walk, high-energy dance, etc. imagine that you are kicking out, stomping down or punching out and releasing the negative effects of the emotions or experience. Remember, our experiences are for our learning and growth, so the objective is not to forget but to reframe what we have gone through.
After your designated time is up, check in emotionally and ask did I release what I needed. If you get the sense of not quite, soldier on for a few more minutes. Your intent is more important than the exact time. You may begin with the intent of “I’m going to release this anger in 10 minutes”. Consider using activities of daily living as part of releasing past emotional trauma. Mopping or sweeping the floor. Kneading bread or folding laundry can be done with healing intention.
Self-Hypnosis Emotional Release
(Gestalt Emotional Release)
This is the most direct method and works by confronting the emotions or situation directly. Understand that all hopeless situations are consequences of previous unhealed experiences and trapped emotions. This method can combat despair, depression, frustration, anger, upset, confusion and anxiety.
Step One: Identify the issue that’s bothering you. It can range from emotional to physical to psychological. Back pain or skin issues that won’t go away, unexplained rage or depression, fears or phobias, interactions with selfish people or your job or career not going anywhere. Our goal is to clearly define the problem.
Step Two: Find a quiet place, get comfortable, and get ready to FEEL! The goal is to really connect with yourself and allow deeply buried feelings to come out in a safe and controlled way. So spend a few moments preparing. You want quiet and without distractions.
Step Three: Tell God your intent and purpose is to release trapped or buried emotions and to understand the root of the issue. Try to explain the problem you're experiencing in words either in your mind or out loud. “I’m willing now to feel the things I haven’t been able to feel. Please bring as many of them as I can feel and process in an hour. When the time is up, I set the intention that I will be done.”
Step Four: Allow yourself to feel the emotions one at a time as they surface and pick the one that stands out the most as the one that needs to be taken care of today. As each emotion surfaces, imagine that someone is at the control center of your spiritual mind, turning the knob on that emotion to the maximum level. Once the emotion is to a near unbearable level, search in your mind for the first time that you experienced that emotion. This could be as far back as early childhood.
Step Five: Once this memory is discovered. Explore it. Where were you? How old were you? Who else is there? What is going on? Allow yourself to confront the situation as your older and wiser self. If you become scared, triggered, or feel like feelings of trauma are surfacing, remind yourself that you are in a safe place now. You are not in the past situation now. These are just memories now. In your mind, speak to those involved in the memory, including your younger self. Seek understanding if possible. If not, give the situation and everyone involved over to God for judgment, all blessings and punishments that God gives to those involved are just. Remember, holding on to the pain of the past only causes problems in the future.
Step Six: Once closure is reached, incorporate your younger self into yourself with a hug or embrace. Recognize that if your younger self was in the wrong in the memory, you are still worthy of love, and your younger self will eventually learn better (after all, he/she will become who you are now.) Let them know that you will help them learn and get better. Give yourself some positive affirmations. Tell yourself that you are loved, you are strong, you are whole, etc. Be sure to include things specific to your experience. When you feel that the emotion in question is gone, go ahead and bring yourself back to full consciousness.
Step Seven: Recover. It often takes a full day. Drink lots of water, rest, go for a walk. Notice how you feel different.
