Reconnecting with Your Body
In the Healing Room
Module Fifteen - 60 minutes
What is a Healing Room?
A Healing Room is a safe and sacred space for you do do your own healing work supplementary to your personal therapy. Having a good therapist and seeing them regularly is important for deep and transformative healing. If your therapist is familiar with IFS, EMDR or some of the other modalities interwoven in these instructional modules - all the better. But it is not requirement, because your therapist will very likely understand and value the modules contained here. After all, doing this work will open important areas of exploration and healing, teach emotional self-regulation skills, and provide many resources that will support your work with your therapist.
Even if you don't have a personal therapist currently, having a Healing Room and doing these modules can help you in the ways listed above until you are in a better position to find a good therapist. Ultimately that will enhance and deepen what you are able to do on your own. But doing it yourself will better prepare you.
Finding a Space
Some therapists may even want to create a Healing Room at their practice for clients to use, when they do not have sufficient space or resources to create their own.
things you will need
Basic Materials
- Scrap paper, writing paper, index cards of different colors, post-it notes, a journal to write on
- drawing paper, or sketch pads to draw on
- pens, colored pencils, markers to draw and write with
- small colored glass beads, marbles, stones, or fuzzy balls from a craft supplier
- Yoga mat & bolster or pillow to sit on
- stuffed animal or doll
Additional Materials
- different card sets
- cloth labyrinth
- The Moon Deck
- A stereo or just earbuds or headphones for playing alternating bilateral stimulation (ABS) recordings
- set of Chakra Stones
- Love' stone
- fidget-spinner
Attachments
- Basic Genogram Symbols
- Alternate Nostril Breathing page
- Resources of the Self page
- Ocean Crossover
Alternating Bilateral Stimulation
Remember, The Healing Room is set up with a stereo system that can provide audible Alternating Bilateral Stimulation (ABS) which is a component of EMDR therapy (Eye-Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing). The unique Alternating Bilateral Stimulation sample played continuously in The Healing Room is called Ocean Crossover and mimics ocean waves moving back and forth across the room at a gentle low volume in the background. It has a relaxing effect and supports the neural integration of new perspectives and healing of negatively charged memories, particularly when it is paired with specific tasks.
*Having the ABS playing at a volume loud enough to hear it, but low enough that it seems to fade into the background while you learn these skills, is optimal.
Orientation
Grounding
Resources
Orienting Instructions
Take a deep breath.
Look around the room, notice colors, textures, sizes & shapes.
Listen to the ocean wave sounds of the Alternating Bilateral Stimulation. Perhaps you can also hear the white noise and other sounds from outside the room.
Move: turn, stretch, walk around, sit in different places in the room. Really think about and notice the sensation of moving - mindfully. Notice the different views and perspectives from the various angles and heights at different locations around the room.
Touch: touch walls, floor, furniture and any objects in the room.
Explore: open drawers, boxes, books, magazines.
Name & Describe: (to yourself, quietly) 5 things you can see in the room, using 2 adjectives and a noun, like this; "I can see a large framed painting."
Say: (to yourself, quietly) "I am here, now, in my Healing Room."
Say: (to yourself, quietly) "It is _MTWThFSaSu_____day, (month, day, year)."
Say: (to yourself, quietly) "This is a safe & healing space."
Stand in the center of the room and realize that each wall, represents a compass direction (E, W, N, S) and directly above you through the ceiling is the center of the sky above you, the zenith. These directions could be marked by a post it note or remembered by some specific object on the wall or ceiling, if that is something you would like to do. And below, you can see your feet on the ground. Choose a direction to face; we suggest the wall to the East. East is the direction of the rising Sun and the start of a new day. Each day you do this is a new day and the first day of the rest of your healing journey.
Take a deep breath.
You are ready for the next step, Grounding.
Grounding Instructions
Take a deep breath.
As you proceed through Grounding, pay close attention to your body and your breath. Be mindful.
Find the little book entitled 1001 Pearls of Yoga Wisdom, and open it to p. 53. Read #'s 49, 50, & 51. Next turn to p. 55, and do Mountain Pose.
Take a deep breath.
Find Buddha's Little Instruction Book. Read page 50.
Take a deep breath.
Turn to p. 125 in 1001 Pearls and, returning to Mountain pose, do Lotus Mudra. Then from the end of Lotus Mudra, take a deep breath and let it out slowly as you raise your hands straight up over your head, opening the lotus as you go. It should be open with your arms stretched out above. Then inhale slowly as you slowly close the lotus by bringing your arms back down, elbows at sides, and closed lotus in front of your heart. Repeat several times.
Take a deep breath.
Stretch your arms fully out the sides with fingers fully extended, and twist slowly back and forth at the waist as far as you feel comfortable going. Repeat several times. Think of yourself as a flexible but strong tree, twisting in the wind. Do several more while closing your fingers into a tight fist with the hand moving toward the back, and opening the fingers all the way in the hand moving forward. You are taking in resources as you close each hand and releasing tension and toxic energy as your open them. Try wiggling all your fingers in front of you with the open hand each time.
Take a deep breath.
Module One B
Grounding Instructions (continued)
Take a deep breath.
Optional: take out a yoga mat and do three simple yoga poses if you know them, or try ones you find in 1001 Pearls of Yoga Wisdom or any other Yoga sources. Cat/dog, warrior poses, table pose, downward dog, & seated twists are very good ones at this point.
Take a deep breath.
Take out a cushion or yoga bolster and place it in the center of the floor.
Take a deep breath.
Choose a small object from your collection (like marble or a fuzzy ball) to be your grounding object and set it within reach of the bolster. Bring 1001 Pearls of Yoga Wisdom and the Alternate Nostril Breathing page with you to the bolster and sit comfortably on the bolster. Alternatively, sit on any seat in the room for this.
Take a deep breath.
Open 1001 Pearls of Yoga Wisdom to page 24 and do the Ankle and Wrist Rotations and Head and Shoulder Rolls, skipping the toe part unless you wish to include it.
Take a deep breath.
Then do Alternate Nostril Breathing.
Say: (to yourself, quietly) "I am here, now, in my Healing Room."
Say: (to yourself, quietly) "It is _MTWThFSaSu_____day, (month, day, year)."
Say: (to yourself, quietly) "This is a safe & healing space."
Take a deep breath.
Reach out for the object you chose to be your grounding object and hold it, first in one hand, then the other. As you hold it, notice your connection to the earth, the special spot where you are sitting in your Healing Room, the positive energy you are feeling flowing in and around you. This is your first resource. Keep this marble and bring it anywhere with you. Holding it can remind you of all of this.
Take a deep breath.
Find the book, Healing Trauma. Read Grounding & Centering pages 42-43. Do the exercise.
Take a deep breath.
You are ready for the next step, Resources.
Resources
Take a deep breath.
Take a deep breath.
Find the book, Tao Oracle, and read pages 132-133.
Take a deep breath.
Your Self is your greatest resource. Everyone has a Self. Read pages 17-19 in Parts Work and p. 321 & 28-31 in Self-Therapy to get more details about the Self.
Take a deep breath.
Find the Resources of the Self page on the bulletin board. It lists the 8 C's and 5 P's, qualities of the Self. Read through these, and rate how much you are experiencing each one in the present moment, from 0-10. Write these ratings on a colored index card. Identify which one you have the most of right now. Think of all the times in your life when you experienced having this quality. Each time you recall an experience of having that quality, take out your marble and hold it while you picture yourself in that memory, and recall the details of the surrounding scene, where you were, who else was there, colors, smells, sounds - all the details you can recall. Notice how you feel now in the present as you do this, especially within your body, physically.
Take a deep breath.
You have completed Orientation, Grounding & Resources. Bring your index cards and marble with you. Hold the marble mindfully & often during quiet reflective moments each day. Return and repeat Orientation, Grounding & Resources as often as you wish to schedule it. Make any modification that feel right to you. The room is a resource. When you feel ready, do Module Two: Developing & Deepening Resources.
Grounding with Your Root Chakra
Take a deep breath.
In any of the Chakra books, you will later read about the Root Chakra, which is an energy center in your body that is located between your tailbone and pubic bone. It is your connection to the Earth. It is associated with the color red, and certain stones which possess root chakra energy.
There is one of these in a set of Chakra Stones. You may take this red stone out and feel the energy of it in your hand or place it or hold it on your body at the location of the chakra. You can picture red light and imagine roots through your legs or hips or feet locking in to the Earth's center and the gravity that holds you in place.
Take a deep breath.
You can read more about the Root Chakra in any of the Chakra books, and do the associated exercises during a later repetition of this module.
Take Your Time/Repeat
Journal and/or Draw What You Discover
Keep scratch paper, writing pads, journals, and/or sketch pads to make drawings and write notes about your Healing Room experience. Take a moment at any time during your Modules, or at the end to do so.
Read On
Feel free to read more in any of the books referenced in your modules. Specific excerpts have been identified for quick reference and easy digestion within modules, but you are welcome to spend more time in these books to expand your knowledge and increase your understanding. Schedule additional time in your Healing Room to use the resources in whatever way makes sense to you.
Approved Consultant in IFS & EMDR: individual and group consultation via Zoom.