What is IEMT?
Integral Eye Movement Therapy (IEMT) is an effective, transformative therapy for anxiety, anger, depression, emotional blocks, limiting beliefs, phobias, unwanted habits and trauma. It can create rapid change, allowing you to free yourself and move forward from the past and into a healthier, happier future.
IEMT was developed by Andrew T. Austin, based on work by Steve and Connirae Andreas, and is used in many countries around the world. Various techniques are employed, depending on individual needs, including eye movements and careful questioning, to rapidly process and discharge uncomfortable reactions to memories and change unhelpful beliefs and emotional imprints (ie how we have learned to feel or be a certain way). These may have manifested as, for example, “I feel anxious” or “I am an anxious person”. IEMT helps you to remove these imprints or labels in a comfortable way and stop the reactions to them that may have developed into anxiety, phobias, addictions etc. This allows you to step out of the loop and into a new way of being.
How does IEMT work?
During the course of life, memories and imprints can become stuck, neurologically-speaking, and this can lead to negative emotions and unwanted behaviours. Moving the eyes along different axes whilst focussing on the memory or emotion accesses the different parts of the brain where those memories and emotions are stored. This, together with the mindful focus on the eye movements themselves and carried out in a calm, relaxed state in a safe space, prevents the previous overwhelm in the brain, freeing it to process the memories and change the emotional coding of them. It has a similar effect to the REM stage of sleep; REM is believed to help the brain process emotions and consolidate memories as well as facilitate learning, creating a clearer canvas for the next day. It is rather like moving a memory or identity imprint from ‘current’ or short-term memory - where it triggers negative responses as if the event or emotion were taking place now - to long-term memory so that it is no longer experienced as current. As a result, it no longer triggers uncomfortable feelings. Many of my clients have reported that the memory, feeling or unhelpful belief now seems more distant and they can be more objective about it.
Aside from its speed and efficacy, another benefit of IEMT is that it can be carried out ‘content-free’, with no need to talk about the details as you work through the therapy. This removes the possibility of the re-entrenchment of memories and feelings, and many people find this ‘content-free’ approach more comfortable if the memories are particularly painful or embarrassing.
Can IEMT help me?
Because of its ability to resolve long-term, chronic problems, if you’ve already tried other therapies but still feel stuck or ‘not quite there’, IEMT can help. I have found that people often try both IEMT and hypnotherapy as the ‘last resort’ but tell me they wish they’d tried it earlier.
If you’re struggling with something, why not give IEMT a go?
Contact me for more details.