Further Developments in Eye Movement Interventions – IEMT, EMI, EMDR

This blog post will be of interest to the hypnotists, therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists and NLPers amongst us. It is a further development of my previous post here: http://garysmilerturner.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/developments-in-working-with-eye.html

This previous post describes taking eye movements to 3D. Following that post I now have a host of observations and calibrations for the 3D model. In this post I’ll describe how I now take eye movements to multiple layers.

I had a talented young lady to work with the other day, who had a large number of multiple hub traumas to work with. My work was cut out with the time available. The lady was clever, IEMT/EMIplus was working well to alleviate all the negative emotion, yet, there were just a massive number of traumas for her to process.

So I started to think “how can we work quicker?” and an idea popped into my head. 

My original trade was as a Building Surveyor, and I still hold Chartered Status. I am a skilled CAD (computer aided design) operator. I also have skills with Photoshop. Both use something called ‘layers’. 

Think of layers as sheets of clear paper, acetate maybe even on an overhead projector. Different sheets can be laid on top of each other to form one image. I instantly wondered as to whether I can overlay one trauma on top of another – and process at the same time. 

Understanding Hebbs Law, and the plasticity of memories, I knew that initially the two memories would be combined together making the trauma worse. Yet I also knew that they would be being processed at the same time, neutralising the negative emotion. My work with this client already demonstrated she responded well to eye movement intervention. 

So I told her what I planned, and we started. 

We took two trauma memories and she managed to hold them both in her mind – overlapping on layers. We started the work. It took her intense concentration, yet she managed to hold both trauma memories at the same time, and we processed. It took just two passes and they were neutralised. 

The feedback was that it appeared as though they were one memory, before they were processed to neutralise the emotion, becoming dissociated along the way, with the submodalities going out of focus and distance being achieved. 

Testing confirmed it – the first double trauma layering had worked. 

So we repeated with two more, and yes, it worked. 

So we did three and achieved success once more. 

From memory, I think the most memories should could hold in layers was around five – all of which were processed. Interestingly, some of these memories jumped as would happen usually with processing, and the jumped memory continued one the same layer. The usual processes were happening – just all at the same time, each on individual layers.

My suggestion is to give this a go – when you feel the client is capable – remember we must put them first. I would suggest that not every client would have the resilience to hold several traumas in mind, let alone the concentration required to process. This first client could though – and it demonstrates what is possible. 

I feel it is our duty to share with each other our findings, especially when it can help us in our work. In this way we are putting our clients first. So please share this amongst others whom you know to be doing eye movement interventions, and hopefully we can all learn to be more effective in the future. Please let me know the feedback from this blog too – including what you notice, and any ideas you may have!

“Cage Fighter Floored by Sea Snake”

Here’s a bit of my life story. At the end of 2005 I was bitten by a sea snake and nearly lost my leg. It made the papers, Zoo and Nuts magazine, with the immortal headline “Cage Fighter Floored by Sea Snake”. The headline, and the reporting, made me laugh. But it was good publicity. 

I fought and defeated the French K-1 star Gregory Tony, fighting him in Germany. The following week my wife and I disappeared off to Egypt for a holiday. The final destination was Sharm El Sheik. The last day we went on a snorkel safari, and at one stage I nearly got blown onto the reef as the currents that day were strong. I pushed back to the boat, got on board, and my ankle immediately started to swell. 

Four hours later I had flu like symptoms and my leg was blowing up. It was OK though as we were getting on the plane home. By the time we landed at Heathrow I couldn’t put weight on my leg and it had blown right out, my taxi driver friend Richard helping me into the taxi home. 

The flu like symptoms passed within around 24 hrs but my leg had a severe infection. It turned out to be a staphylococcus infection causing cellulitis. I was in a great deal of pain from my skin, which was appearing like it was burnt. Even a sheet going across it in bed was agony. 

I was in and out of hospital that week, and it was a radiographer who noticed the pin pricks, my bloods were carried out, and their best suggestion was that I had kicked a sea snake as I was snorkelling which had bitten me – me not noticing as I was driving back to the boat. Fortunately it’s hard to be bitten by one cleanly due to the nature of their teeth; I also was in fine health and large volume. This had accounted for my flu like symptoms, and also why my oxygen count was so low. It had knocked my immune system into touch however allowing the infection from the bite to take hold. 

We fought it for several days before I was admitted to hospital. There the surgeons opened me up and strawberry milkshake poured out. They told me time was off the essence and they were rushing me straight in for surgery – and that when I awoke I may not have my leg. I told them “do your best then, just get me down there now if time is of the essence”, and off I went. 

Fortunately I awoke to find my leg there. I’d lost lots of flesh from inside my lower right leg. They had operated to clear the infection through two large holes which ‘tracked’ together. I could see my tendons move like in a Terminator movie. I couldn’t put any weight on my leg for a month. The medical team were superb in every respect – the British NHS is often criticised yet I had exceptional service and attention. I was in for five days before released, having to hyperventilate to pass the oxygen test that allowed me to leave – I still wasn’t oxygenating my blood properly.

After two months I did my first training session with Steve Fox. I was used to doing intense 45 minute rounds – yet here I was dead after a minute. My training team stuck with me and coaxed me back to full fitness in a short space of time – and all the time I was still receiving medical attention as my leg was growing back and the wounds clearing. 

I needed to get fit quick – just four months after the incident I was due to fight Carter Williams – K-1 USA Champion in his prime – in Ohio, opening the Arnold Classic for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Fortunately the medical team were doing wonders, my family were still helping me out nicely, and my team were being awesome as always. Fitness was returning fast - and my leg was quickly recovering.

The week before the fight I was finally cleared to fly by the medical team and off we went. I fought Carter in front of an 18,000 live audience and millions watching on PPV – and won! Just four months after nearly losing my leg I had defeated one of the most feared fighters on the K-1 circuit, and at a prestigious event too. 

As I think back I only managed to do this thanks to my fighting spirit and humour. A great medical team doing everything they could. My training team were quite simply awesome. My wife and my family for helping me every step of the way – in the early days waiting on me hand and foot even, as I couldn’t stand even with crutches. 

It’s a nice little journey to remember – nearly losing my leg to defeating a feared fighter. It reminds me that anything is possible, and it is easier to if you have the right people around you. 

So to everyone who helped me at that time – thank you so much, you know who you are, and every time I see the scars I’m reminded of your support with a smile. I know what the scars represent. 

Just thought I’d pop this in a blog, a quick glance at part of my life story.