We are a trauma informed practice, utilizing somatic modalities to help self-regulate our emotions by reprograming the neural pathways in our brain to heal our body and mind. At Illuminated Path, we offer evidence-based treatment modalities such as Somatic Therapy, Emotional Freedom Techniques, Internal Family Systems Therapy, and EMDR to heal past trauma and open the door to a new life.

Somatic Therapy

Somatic therapy is a type of therapy that relieves the effects of anxiety, stress or trauma on the body. When something threatens us, we have three choices, flight, fight or freeze. When we are unable to run or fight, we may go into a frozen state where we dissociate in an effort to protect ourselves. We literally “turn off” a part of our brain that decides, “this is too much.”

While this coping mechanism might have worked well during the time of trauma, however, this continued way of coping doesn’t work later in life. As the first step, learning how to calm the body will help calm the mind. Then we can think clearly.

Sometimes anxiety is about what is going on at the moment and other times it is about dealing with the past. The problem is that when we do not deal with what has disturbed us in the past, it remains stuck and manifests in different ways. We may experience mysterious or painful symptoms in our bodies, or we numb ourselves with drugs, alcohol, sex, shopping or anything else that can help us disassociate. We need to connect back to our bodies and address the disturbance. This can happen gently and without flooding with the proper techniques.

Somatic therapy works primarily with the “felt sense” of the trauma by accessing physical sensations, imagery and motor patterns, with less emphasis on thinking or emotional processes. When a traumatic event takes place, that was not discharged or released, it becomes locked in the nervous system as well, especially if the person was unable to escape or fight. An incomplete physiological response may develop if the person was unable to fight or get away. To release the activation trapped in the body, we focus on sensations in various parts of the body. Sensing into the body is one of the most effective ways to release the trapped survival energy.

By using these somatic therapies, we enable the nervous system to re-regulate so we can deal with what is happening in your life, past, present and future, leading to inner peace and freedom.

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)

Emotional freedom technique (EFT) is an alternative treatment for physical pain and emotional distress. It’s also referred to as tapping or psychological acupressure.

Similar to acupuncture, EFT focuses on the meridian points, or energy hot spots, to restore balance to your body’s energy. It’s believed that restoring this energy balance can relieve symptoms that a negative experience or emotion may have caused.

While acupuncture uses needles too apply pressure to these energy points. EFT uses fingertip tapping to apply pressure.

Tapping helps you access your body’s energy and sends signals to the part of the brain associated with the stress response. Stimulating the meridian points through EFT tapping can reduce the stress or negative emotion you feel, ultimately restoring balance to your disrupted energy.

Studies have shown that EFT tapping has an impact on stress biochemistry. Tapping has benefits for stress, anxiety, depression, sleep problems, chronic pain, and weight management.

Internal Family Systems Therapy

Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an evidence-based model of psychotherapy that we are all made up of multiple parts. These parts take on roles such as the inner child, inner critic, and consist of wounded parts and painful emotions such as anger and shame. These parts often try to control and protect the person from the pain of the wounded parts. The sub-personalities are often in conflict with each other and with one’s core Self, a concept that describes the confident, compassionate, whole person that is at the core of every individual.

IFS was developed by psychologist Richard Schwartz. In his work as a family therapist, Schwartz began to observe patterns in how people described their inner lives: “What I heard repeatedly were descriptions of what they often called their “parts”—the conflicted subpersonalities that resided within them,” Schwartz says. He began to conceive of the mind as a family, and the parts as family members interacting with one another. Exploring how these components functioned with one another was the foundation for IFS and the idea of the core Self.

Thus, this treatment modality is also known as “parts work” because we recognize and work with the parts of ourselves that are in conflict with one another. For example, there may be one part of you that wants to stay in a relationship, and another part that has valid concerns and wants to end it.

The goal of IFS is to help individuals access that core self so they can heal the wounded parts and restore mental balance and harmony. This is achieved by changing the dynamics that create discord among the different parts and the Self. With a deepened sense of Self-awareness, you can get clear about what you want most and create the relationships and life you truly desire.

IFS is an evidence-based psychotherapy model. It has been found to be an effective treatment for improving general functioning and well-being in regard to clients with chronic pain, anxiety, depression, issues with self-concept, and physical health conditions.

EMDR Therapy

The past informs our experiences in the present. As we go through life, our memories become the basis of our mental health. Often, negative or traumatic memories are maladaptively stored (the person was unable to process and integrate the memory successfully).

These past experiences continue to have a level of distress long after the event. Sometimes, present-day experiences can trigger reactions based on these past painful memories and cause significant pain in our current lives.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a comprehensive, evidence-based therapy designed to heal trauma, painful memories, negative emotions, anxiety, and other negative patterns. It is one of the most validated and researched treatments for concussion.

EMDR was originally developed to treat the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and has since expanded to treating anxiety, phobias, depression, eating disorders, sexual dysfunction, and stress caused by chronic diseases

EMDR therapy facilitates the accessing and processing of traumatic memories and other adverse life experiences to bring these to an adaptive resolution.

The goal of EMDR is to fully process past experiences and identify the emotions attached to those experiences. Negative thoughts and feelings that are no longer useful are replaced with positive thoughts and feelings that will encourage a healthier response.

EMDR therapy is an eight-phase treatment. After the clinician takes a thorough history, she determines which memory to target first; she asks the client to hold different aspects of that event or thought in mind, then bilateral stimulation (through eye movements, buzzers, tapping, or sound) is used to stimulate reprocessing. This process is believed to be connected with the biological mechanisms involved in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep when memories are processed in the brain. Some clients describe the process as feeling like a lucid dream or watching a movie of events from their life. In successful EMDR therapy, the memories become less disturbing, and the meaning of painful events is transformed on an emotional level. Unlike other forms of therapy, the insights clients gain in EMDR therapy result not so much from clinician interpretation but the client’s own accelerated mental and emotional processes.