If you were to go to the IEMT website you will find a great explanation of what IEMT is and how it works but it can be a bit technical and wordy, which is great if you are a therapist or practitioner in other modalities looking to add this amazing set of tools to your toolbox but if you are someone who is seeking help it could be a bit off putting. So let me break down IEMT for you so you can get a feel what it can do for you.
I
Is for Identity – in other words who you are and what you do on a day to day basis. We look at your patterns of behaviours, your beliefs, values and habits. So many of which are unconcious but often leak out in your everyday language. Even simple changes in usage of your language can open opportunities to start changes in your life. Awareness of the different aspects of who you are offers fascinating insights and can highlight areas where change can happen.
E
Is for Emotions. Specifically negative emotions. So many clients contact me due to unresolved emotional issues. Issues such as stress, anxiety, guilt, remorse, shame, fear, anger and so on (okay so technically, for the experts reading this, some of these aren’t emotions but they are for the clients sitting in front of us).
So many of the emotions are associated with past events which, if only you could let go of or could look at them without the emotional rollercoaster you could get on with your life again. Within the IEMT model there are numerous ways of achieving this, so depending on what the negative event or events are we can work to get you in to a position to get back on track. This brings us to the letter…
M
Memories. If only you could forget that incident or event, life would be so much easier. Well let me tell you here and now this is not about erasing memories but it is about easing the link between memory and emotions and this is where the magic of the eye movement technique, which is the corner stone of IEMT, comes in.
So many people go through weeks, months and sometimes years even, of talk therapy going over the same old ground. Talking about ‘that thing’ that happened hoping it will slowly fade away or at least you’ll get used to it. But what if I told you that by using IEMT you can reduce the link between the emotion and the memory. That would be pretty useful wouldn’t it? You see when people are constantly re-visiting a past negative event there’s a good chance it’s a very vivid memory. Full technicolour Imax, surround sound experience. So you can imagine if we are re-running this in our heads time and time again our emotions are going to be pretty frazzled.
By using the eye movement technique we effectively reduce that Imax experience down to a grainy, black and white, 405 lines, 1960s TV programme on your Granny’s old TV. (obviously this is an analogy, every experience is different BUT you get my drift and there will be a difference that’s for sure). Then once your negative emotional memory is squidged down, the emotional attachment comes down with it to the point where you’ve got the memory but …yeh, whatever.
NOW HERE’S THE KICKER. YOU DON’T HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THE MEMORY!
I REPEAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THE MEMORY
HUZZAH!
Yep, that’s right. As long as you’ve got a strong emotion attached to a vivid memory that’s all that’s needed. Which is pretty cool for me as well as I’ve enough of my own shit going on without having to take on board yours as well!
WIN-WIN!
Which leads us nicely on to…
T
Tranformational
As you are beginning to see now, there is a lot more to IEMT than just eye-wiggling. There are linguistic, behavioural, emotional, relational, physical as well the memory aspects of work within IEMT. So if you’ve a lot of baggage to let go of or you want to move on in life but can’t work out why you can’t or you keep repeating the same patterns or you’ve tried other modalities which have left you wanting give IEMT a chance and you may just find that it can be truly transformational.
Rob Brennan Coaching and Therapy 