Healing Technique: Mind-Body Release

Mind-Body Release is my synthesis of the REBT and IFS theories. REBT says that our belief systems create our reality and we have the power to change our belief system, a theory you can read more about here. IFS says that we can take feelings in our body and release them by having a conversation with the subconscious, a theory you can read more about here. The integrated approach, Mind-Body Release uses dialogue with the subconscious to quickly and efficiently release trapped beliefs. The average person is able to work through a belief in less than 20 minutes with this method.

The core idea of the theory is founded in the mind-body connection which says that we subconsciously store emotions in the body. Books like The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van der Kolk go over this idea, an idea that is regarded as a psychological fact. IFS took the idea a step further and theorized that we can engage the subconscious in conversation just like we might another person, something it chooses to do through the use of metaphor. It also emphasizes the importance of validating one's own emotions in order to release them.

The subconscious is the focus in this theory.  As such, always ask the subconscious the questions, don't try to do anything on a conscious level. If you use the conscious mind to come to conclusions or answers, this method will most likely not work. All of these ideas are integrated into the steps below:

1. Identify a core negative belief that you want to work on and identify the part of the body in the most distress when you say that negative belief to yourself.

   1. If you can't identify the negative belief the next best way to work on something is by identifying an idea or concept, whatever bothered you in general, or an emotion. Both work but are less impactful overall than belief systems. You can read about how to identify beliefs in my post on RAT listed in the first paragraph of this post.

2. Ask the subconscious to turn the strongest physical sensation into a metaphorical image that you can talk to. (Not absolutely necessary but typically helpful)

   1. This is done to facilitate conversation with the subconscious. The image can take any form that the subconscious wants. Most people experience metaphorical images (most don't make a ton of sense), an image of a younger self, or the body part itself. Doesn't matter what it is, what matters is that you can have something (anything) to talk to as a medium to access the subconscious.

   2. If no metaphorical image comes to mind, that's okay. Just talk to the body part itself and use the body's reaction as answers. A decrease in symptoms I would take as a subconscious yes whereas an increase in stress/ tension I would take as a subconscious no.

3. Optional steps if you want additional information:

   1. Ask what age the image is (or body part).

      1. This is asked merely for possible insight into when it occurred. Sometimes this question can be very illuminating, but not typically.

   2. Optional step: Ask how the metaphor is trying to protect you.

      1. This serves to validate ourself subconsciously so that it can be released.

      2. What we are actually asking is how your subconscious is trying to protect you by holding on to the stuck emotion. For example, maybe the subconscious is holding on to a time when someone betrayed you in order to protect you from the devastation of being betrayed again. Holding on to the betrayal means that you are choosing to hold on to pain in the name of protection, but healing doesn't come from withholding pain, it comes from releasing it. We assume that the subconscious is always trying to help you, never hurt you, even though it doesn't always work out that way, so the question helps you understand what is going on at a conscious level. Go with whatever answer comes up.

      3. Sometimes the answer won't make sense, but your subconscious knows what it's referring to. Trust your subconscious and move forward to the next step.

      4. If no answer comes, move on.

4. Ask the metaphor if it's willing to release what it's holding on to.

   1. If yes, continue to the next step.

   2. If it isn't willing you can do a couple different things:

      1. Ask what you can do in this moment to help it feel comfortable transferring the responsibility and do whatever it says metaphorically in your head.

      2. Ask the metaphor if it would rather do something else other than hat it's currently doing. If yes (which it basically always says yes), ask it if it's willing to take part in an experiment to see if you can't help it do what it wants and if the experiment doesn't work, it can go right back to doing its job.

5. Ask the part to release all negative emotions that it's holding on to.

6. Ask the part to replace all negative emotions with positive emotions, whatever the subconscious chooses. You don't choose the positive emotions consciously.

7. Repeat until all body sensations are gone when the negative belief is said to the self and is no longer believed.

   1. Sometimes you may need to repeat this process multiple times with the same area of the body. You know if it's working if you feel physical release of any degree.

8. Repeat with a positive belief until the positive belief is 100% believed.

Identifying beliefs does not come intuitively for a lot of people and is the hardest part of this process. My post on RAT goes over this concept in depth if you're struggling with it.le and is the hardest part of this process. My post on RAT goes over this concept in depth if you're struggling with it.struggling with it.