A gentle reminder: These sessions are self-guided tools, not a replacement for a licensed EMDR therapist. For deep or complex trauma, please work with a professional. You can pause or stop any session at any time. Your safety always comes first.
Before we touch anything painful, we build a vessel strong enough to hold it. This is where the images, the weight, the grief — all of it — can be placed safely while we work.
Take your time. There is no rush here.
Before we go any further, establish your safe place. This is where you will return any time this session becomes too much. It can be real or imagined — a room, a garden, a memory, a moment.
Write it down. Make it vivid — what do you see, smell, feel? The more specific, the more your nervous system can actually go there.
You will use this as your anchor throughout. If at any point the processing feels like too much — close your eyes, breathe, and return here.
0 = completely calm · 10 = overwhelmed
⚠️ If you rated 8 or above — please go back to your safe place first. Stay there until you feel at least a 5 or 6.
Tap a prompt to expand it. Choose the one that feels most alive — most charged — right now. Trust what pulls at you.
Follow the light with your eyes. Tap your knees or shoulders alternately — left, right — with the rhythm of the dot. Hold your chosen prompt loosely. Whatever arises is exactly right.
If your heart races or you feel flooded — stop. Close your eyes. Place both hands on your chest. Breathe in for 4, hold for 4, out for 6. Return to your safe place.
Without judgment — what do you notice? Even something subtle. A slight loosening. A thought. A memory. Or perhaps just tiredness — which is also information.
Same 0–10. How activated do you feel right now?
You do not need to resolve everything in one session. Even a small shift is meaningful nervous system change. Healing is slow, layered, and nonlinear. You are not behind.
The pain is real. And this is also true. Hold both — the weight of what you've been carrying, and the truth of who you are. Let the dot weave this in while you breathe.
Your feelings are not weaknesses. They are marks of a person with an intact conscience. You deserve to heal.
Name what you're carrying today and what you want to believe instead. Your words will be woven into the full session.