The EMDR Container script, word for word

The Container is the companion to the Safe Place. Where the Safe Place gives your nervous system somewhere to settle, the Container gives distressing material somewhere to wait — so a memory or feeling that surfaces at the wrong moment doesn't hijack your day. Below is a full word-for-word script you can read, record, or be guided through.

Before you begin

Sit somewhere comfortable and undisturbed. This exercise is about containment, not avoidance — you're choosing to set something down so you can pick it up deliberately later, with support. If nothing feels distressing right now, you can still practice building the container so it's ready when you need it.

The script

"Imagine a container — any container strong enough to hold whatever you need it to. It might be a box, a chest, a safe, a vault, a jar with a tight lid. Picture it clearly. Notice what it's made of, how big it is, how it closes and seals. Make it as strong as you need…

Notice the lid or the door, and how it locks. This container only opens when you decide to open it. Nothing gets out on its own…

Now, if there's a thought, an image, a memory, or a feeling that's been pressing on you — one you don't need to carry right now — imagine placing it inside the container. You don't have to look at it or work through it. Just set it down inside… and if there's more, add that too…

When you've placed what you need to, close the container. Seal it, lock it, do whatever makes it feel secure. Notice that the material is safely held in there — not gone, not forgotten, just waiting until you and your therapist are ready to open it together…

Take a slow breath. Notice how your body feels now that you've set that down. If you'd like, picture where you'll keep the container until next time — a shelf, a room, somewhere out of the way…

When you're ready, bring your attention gently back to the room, knowing the container is holding what it needs to hold."

Using it well

The Container works best paired with the Calm Place: set the hard material down, then move to a place of calm to settle afterward. Some people add a few slow sets of bilateral stimulation while sealing the container to deepen the sense of it holding. If material keeps "leaking" back out, that's worth telling your therapist — it usually means the memory is ready for planned reprocessing rather than containment. Both exercises are core to Phase 2 preparation and part of the broader work of EMDR resourcing.