My suggested reading guide to emotional and physical healing. Start where it feels right to you. In my mind this is a nexus of deeply interrelated research. I tried to present the religious or life-experience perspective of each writer / researcher. I divided the post into two parts because many people will find one section or the other distasteful. I combined them in a single post to try to help bridge the gap for both groups.
Claude (the AI) analyzed this post and noted that I might add something like: All these people at least imply a framework that might be summarized like this, “locate the distress in the body and give it a 0–10 rating → hold it in gentle attention while something safe is present → let it discharge or be handed over → recheck the 0–10 rating”. There are so many other similarities throughout.
Again, my recommendation is find one of these people that you like and dive in. The water’s great! May the Creator bless your journey.
Part I: Psychology & Trauma Work
Peter Levine
Difficult to understand, usually need a therapist to apply. Search for David Berceli’s Trauma Release Exercises (TRE) for a type of self application (not sure Peter Levine would completely agree).
Who: Biophysicist / Psychologist who discovered how animals shed trauma through physical shivering and mind-body resolution. He is Jewish, and apparently non-religious, but deeply spiritual. His stories about dream-state and meditative interactions with his relative, Albert Einstein, are remarkable aspects of what one might call his spirituality. His discovery is remarkably similar to Pat Ogden’s Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: if you can’t understand Peter Levine, try Pat Ogden.
What: Somatic Experiencing
My Distillation: Notice a sensation of distress in your body, and name only the sensation (tight, hot, frozen), not the story. Then find a place in the body that feels neutral or good, and rest there. Move slowly between the two, a little at a time (he calls these “pendulation” and “titration” respectively). Never try to carry more distress than you can stay present with. As you go, the body may want to finish what it couldn’t at the time: push away, turn, run. Let that happen slowly, in small movements, not as a big release. Discharge usually shows up as trembling, heat, tears or a deep spontaneous breath. Let it come and pass, then rest. Engage and deeply embody the new sense of release.
Quote: If frightening sensations are not given the time and attention they need to move through the body and resolve or dissolve, the individual will continue to be gripped by fear.
Books: Describing his discovery: Waking the Tiger, In an Unspoken Voice
Practical application: Healing Trauma
Pat Ogden
Very academic, easier to watch in action. Somewhat difficult to apply, typically a trained therapist would apply this.
Who: She co-founded the Hakomi Institute with Ron Kurtz and built Sensorimotor Psychotherapy out of Hakomi, typical attachment theory and neuroscience. What is remarkable is how similar her approach is to Peter Levine’s. If you don’t understand one, try the other.
What: Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
My Distillation: Consider a memory, but don’t tell the story. Instead, watch what the body does as you touch the memory lightly. Be aware of posture, breath, tension, and small impulses to push, turn away or collapse. Stay inside your “window of tolerance.” For example, when you are too activated / aroused, or you go numb, stop and come back to present resources like noticing your feet on the floor, a long spine, a sense of strength. Then return to the memory a little bit at a time. Allow any defensive movement that was cut off at the time of the memory to finish slowly and deliberately. Meaning will come after the body has settled, not before.
Quote: For example if a patient has a memory of when they wanted to protect themselves or defend themselves, the body will do something like tighten up or you’ll see a tension in the legs for the flight response. In this place, if you help them stay with their body’s response, then the body can start to find the action that resolves that initiation. So the memory has catalyzed these unfinished responses and then we can help the body carry them through to completion. — edited down from a PsychAlive interview
Books: Trauma and the Body
Richard Schwartz
Easier to understand, best to apply with a friend or therapist.
Who: Psychotherapist / Marriage and Family therapy PhD who discovered a type of “parts work” that is based an internalization of family systems therapy. In the work of Peter Levine and Pat Ogden, the trauma is body-trapped emotional energy, whereas Richard Schwartz (and the human mind itself, evidently) greatly personalizes and perhaps anthropomorphizes the unresolved trauma. It allows one to talk directly to the “part” that held / dealt with the trauma in a way that allows the part to tell its story, realize that the core person is (usually) much older, release the burden attached to the trauma, and re-integrate.
What: Internal Family Systems (IFS)
My Distillation: Identify something about yourself that is unexpected. It could be physical pain or a funny behavior that is distressing. Ask yourself how you feel about the part. If the feeling is not pure curiosity / compassion then ask the part that is hesitant / angry / fearful (etc) if it would step aside for the moment. If / when it has, approach the wounded part with deep unthreatening compassion and hear its story. Ask if it carries a burden, then help it get rid of the burden. Allow it to see the more mature you in your current context, and help it to become a functional part of you. Find out what it wants to do, and allow it to fulfill that place. Recursively work through the part(s) that previously were asked to step aside for the moment of the session.
Quote: The mono-mind paradigm has caused us to fear our parts and view them as pathological. In our attempts to control what we consider to be disturbing thoughts and emotions, we just end up fighting, ignoring, disciplining, hiding, or feeling ashamed of those impulses that keep us from doing what we want to do in our lives. And then we shame ourselves for not being able to control them. In other words, we hate what gets in our way. — No Bad Parts
Books: No Bad Parts, You Are the One You Have Been Waiting For
Video: youtube.com/watch?v=DdZZ7sTX840
youtube.com/watch?v=UNtussFaYC0&list=PLpw6pADhfze-LLk4JJFYZflUIyRTogyLw
Robert Falconer
Easier to understand, best to apply with a friend or therapist.
Who: Psychologist who expanded Richard Schwartz’s IFS to include “Unattached Burdens,” which Christians would call demons or evil spirits, but which can also be sort of inanimate entities like ideas or preconceptions or other (unhealthy) connecting paradigms. He is not religious in the strict sense, but deeply spiritual.
What: IFS Unattached Burdens
My Distillation: When using IFS (see Richard Schwartz), you may find entities that are not parts at all, rather energy structures that might be anywhere on the spectrum of consciousness: an animate, conversant “demon” or a simple “wall”, “anchor”, “darkness”, etc. These have some amount of earned but non-native presence. Once you have identified this thing, then compassionately approached it and ask whether it is a part or not. If it’s not a part, it won’t lie about the fact, but it might be evasive. Once identified as non-part, ask the Creator or the Light to send down light to surround the entity and contain it. Possibly to bring it “in front of” you so that you can clearly identify it. Then allow it to go in the Creator’s loving hands to where it belongs. Afterward, check on the part of you that was displaced or affected by the “unattached burden”, since that part often has its own burden.
Quote: I think in the west we’ve developed what Tanya Luhrmann, the Anthropologist, calls the Citadel model of mind. Basically, that our minds are private, “everything in here, its private property and nobody gets in here”, all nicely contained in this skull. This constitutes our identity. It looks strong from the outside or at first glance, but it’s not. The Citadel model is incredibly brittle and therefore fragile. A person with that model of mind hears one “voice” or has one vision and they shatter. They go, “My brain’s broken!” Then our entire medical system backs them up, “Yeah your brain’s broken you need to take these meds for the rest of your life. It’s a biological problem. All these images and visions have no meaning. Sorry about your neurochemistry, you’re damaged goods.” I think the epidemic of mental illness that we’re now experiencing is a result of this Citadel model of mind.
Books: The Others Within Us
Video: youtube.com/watch?v=-3C9yeS7Cgw
youtube.com/watch?v=YwCt9b76Y_A
Susan McConnell
Very academic, but a very clear teacher. Need a therapist or friend to apply.
Who: MA in somatic psychology, IFS senior trainer and Hakomi therapist who synthesizes Richard Schwartz’ IFS plus Hakomi (see also Pat Ogden) with a body-involved application of both.
What: Somatic Internal Family Systems
My Distillation: Apply IFS through the body as well as in the mind. When you find a part, you can also find where it lives in your body. Breathe with it consciously, and let it present to you bodily just as it might verbally. Let your own body resonate with what it feels (“radical resonance”). In this way, the Self is felt and thought. For some people one is much more available than the other. Let the part move if it wants to. For example it might make a gesture, a posture, or a slow movement. Where it’s appropriate and safe, attuned touch (yours or a therapist’s hand) can reach parts that words cannot. Susan McConnell observes that unburdening which the body takes part in tends to last.
Quote: And since human system levels are interconnected, Self-leadership at any level helps to heal all levels. We believe that each client who unburdens helps reduce the burden load of the planet, allowing all of us to have a little more access to the Self.
David Grand
Easy to understand, best to apply with a friend or therapist.
Who: Psychologist who expanded standard EMDR (Francine Shapiro — I love her as well!) to create an even faster method of processing trauma by finding natural places where the eyes “want to rest.”
What: Brainspotting
My Distillation: Hold your head still and let your eyes slowly track a pointer across your field of vision while you stay aware of a distressing feeling. You can do this yourself, but it’s often better if a trained partner can work with you. At some positions the feeling will spike, or the body will react with a blink, a swallow, or a nod. This visual angle or “direction” is what David Grand calls a brainspot. Holding the right spot lets the deep brain process what talking can’t reach. Hold your gaze in this place with the help of the pointer, and be aware of what comes up naturally. Don’t interfere with the flow except if it becomes overwhelming. When initially discovering the brainspots, also find a “resource spot”. This is a position where you feel calm and settled, to which you can return whenever you might become overstimulated. This is very similar to Peter Levine’s resource, Pat Ogden’s window and Craig Miller’s safe person.
Quote: It was like a dance of connection and attunement between client and therapist, much more than a mechanical process. Clients would often ask how I knew to stop my hand where I did. When I asked if they had any idea why I’d stopped, they seemed to have no clue—even when it was their own nodding head that had stopped me! — Brainspotting (2013)
Books: Brainspotting
Video: youtube.com/watch?v=JcAT8U8zFkY
youtube.com/watch?v=iMzf0h5Qkno
Daniel Siegel
Harder to understand, easier to apply.
Who: Psychiatrist who developed discoveries of how the prefrontal cortex interacts with the amygdala / thalamus / brain stem into an psychological neurobiology. He created mind and awareness tools that facilitate an “everyday neuroplasticity”.
What: Mindsight
My Distillation: When you’re overwhelmed, stop and notice what is happening in your body, then find it in your heart / mind. Remember that an emotion is something you have, not something you are, so “I feel angry” is true, but “I am angry” is not possible. Naming the emotional state makes it something you can change or control, and helps relieve it of its power. Dan Siegel’s approach is to picture your mind as a wheel with you the hub, while thoughts, feelings and sensations are points on the rim. Step back to the hub and watch the rim. This is very similar to Rupert Spira’s, “Find that place where you are aware but where the content of your experience hasn’t entered yet.” As you perceive your self vs thoughts and emotions like this over and over, you allow the brain to build new pathways.
Quote: Mindsight is the difference between saying “I am sad” and “I feel sad.” Similar as those two statements may seem, they are profoundly different. “I am sad” is a kind of limited self-definition. “I feel sad” suggests the ability to recognize and acknowledge a feeling, without being consumed by it.
Books: Mindsight
Video: youtube.com/watch?v=4zFDb5d0IrA
youtube.com/watch?v=f-m2YcdMdFw
Jessica, Nick, and Alex Ortner (siblings)
Easy to understand, easy to apply.
Who: Three siblings who built on and popularized Gary Craig’s Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), and perhaps Dan Siegel’s Mindsight. They teach how to identify damaging beliefs, then how to rewire the subconscious mind through an EMDR-like tapping technique on meridian points of the body.
What: The Tapping Solution (meridian tapping)
My Distillation: First pick a specific problem and rate it from 0 non-existent to 10 life destroying. Next tap the pinky side of one hand and say: “Even though I have {description of negative thing}, I deeply and completely accept myself.” Then sequentially tap through the “meridian” points on one side (for example, the middle of the right eyebrow, outside of the right eye, under the center of the eye, top lip under the nose, the chin, the right collarbone, under the opposing (left in this case) arm, top of head) while expressing the negative thing exactly as it feels. At this point rate it again. If it’s still there, ask “What does this remind me of? When did I first feel this?”, and tap through the sequence on that question. Finish with a round(s) on what you’d rather feel.
Quote: Our mind takes an inventory of past events and uses them to project the probability of success in the future. Depending on the information it gathers, we either move forward, or the fear response is triggered and forward progress is circumvented.
Books: The Tapping Solution by Nick Ortner
The Tapping Solution for Weight Loss and Body Confidence by Jessica Ortner
The Tapping Solution for Pain Relief by Nick Ortner
Gorilla Thumps and Bear Hugs by Alex Ortner
Rupert Spira
A little difficult to understand, easy to apply.
Who: Philosopher who has explored the idea of essential non-duality or unity of existence. Expresses the difference between essential existence and mind and body experience while demonstrating that the mind and body experience are in fact made of essential awareness. This (in context of Dan Siegel and others here) allows a clearer understanding of who you are versus what you experience.
What: Non-Duality and essential Self awareness
My Distillation: Notice that whatever you experience (thought, feeling, sensation, environment) is known. Continue by asking or noticing, “What knows this?” It’s likely you won’t be able to pinpoint the knower as an object in the common sense. Stay there, in the deepest part of you that is open awareness. It is here that you can see that experiences come and go but that the awareness they appear in doesn’t. From there, look at a wound or a fear and notice that it too appears in you, but it isn’t you. Rest there, and let the body’s feelings take their own time to catch up.
Quote: From time to time, pause, take a step back from the content of your experience. Whatever the content is: your thoughts, your feelings, your relationships. Just pause, untangle yourself, take a step back. Ask, “What is it that is aware of my experience?” That question takes you back from the content of your experience to your being, the fact of being or being aware. Stay there. Go back there. Rest there. It’s you that’s your home. You’re always safe there. You’re always at peace there.
Part II: Christian Healing
Beatty Carmichael
Easy to understand, easy to apply.
Who: Christian addiction recovery therapist who discovered how forgiveness and repentance “clear spiritual space” for physical healing, exorcism / removal of spiritual entities, and emotional resolution. Works from a “conservative” (perhaps non-pentecostal) evangelistic Christian perspective.
What: Spiritual jurisdiction / legal rights management
My Distillation: Identify a physical issue and rate it 0 to 10. Ask God to show you whom you need to forgive and what you need to repent of. Forgive each person specifically for what they did, and for how it made you feel. Don’t try to get between them and God to absolve them, just release the energy of the event. Repent specifically, including any agreements you’ve made with fear or with lies about yourself. In his framework, this removes the “legal right” a sickness or injury uses to stay. Then, in Jesus’ name, command the pain, condition or spirit to leave. Check the symptom 0 to 10. If something remains, ask what still needs to be worked through and repeat. Beatty Carmichael asserts that this works “most of the time”, and asserts that the balance are simple physical issues. I am not personally convinced of this… note the others on this page for more insight.
Quote: If you’ve wondered whether a Christian still needs to repent, the answer is yes.
Books: The Prayer of Freedom, Outrageous Peace
Craig Miller
Some work to understand, easy to apply.
Who: Christian therapist who focuses on the link between “healings that didn’t work” and emotional trauma. Resolve one, resolve the other. Very much working through Shapiro or David Grand style mind-body resolution of emotional trauma or negative states. This in order to resolve personal space to include or accept healing. He works from the Pentecostal or Apostolic Christian perspective.
What: Answers for people whose injuries / sicknesses are difficult to heal
My Distillation: When praying for healing with a “client”, begin as you normally would by commanding the condition to leave, dealing with forgiveness, sin, and anything demonic. If the condition stays, the block is probably in the soul, not the spirit. The soul is the mind, the will, and emotions, as distinct from the spirit. At this point see whether they can remember when they first felt this way. Adult words like “helpless” or “not good enough” often point to childhood. If they can’t remember, guess what that child might have felt. Rate it 0–10. Make the person aware of the presence of Jesus as the “power”, plus the memory or idea of someone who actually comforted them at some point in their life. Let these two stand between them and what hurt them. Have them self-hug across the chest and pat slowly, left and right, while they hand the feelings over in their own words. Lead them through forgiveness, which comes fairly easily after first releasing the emotion. After forgiving, take in the opposite of what you gave away. Mentally “release the cellular memory of the trauma”, declare the healing, and re-assess. If it isn’t near zero, move to an earlier experience: trauma comes in layers.
Quote: I will always hold on to the emotion that’s given to me unless somebody of greater or equal significance comforts me enough to be safe enough to let it go.
Books: Breaking Emotional Barriers to Healing
Video: youtube.com/watch?v=RppU5kEBkVs
youtube.com/watch?v=oMkQil2nmpY
Joanne Moody
Easy to understand, easy to apply.
Who: Miraculously healed woman: fourteen years of nerve pain and thirteen surgeries to no avail, she felt called to a healing conference and was indeed healed and then called to heal. She is a very clear teacher on the topic of healing. Her perspective is healing by the Holy Spirit from the Pentecostal or Apostolic Christian perspective.
What: The Vineyard five-step healing prayer and a huge amount of experience. As much as she uses the prayer, she also lets the Spirit lead with many almost random approaches. She has a lot of videos packed with insightful stories.
My Distillation: Approach the person in love. Remember that they are not your project, they are God’s child. Start with an interview and keep it to a minute or two: what is wrong, how long it has lasted, and “What do you want Jesus to do for you?” That question invites their own yes and expression of belief. This is the “mustard seed” Jesus spoke of. Gently stop them from retelling the whole story, because reliving it drains their faith and yours. Ask what was going on in their life when it started. Often a fear, a loss or a shock sits underneath the symptom, and that root is where to pray. Get a pain rating from 0 to 10 first, so partial improvement registers as progress, not failure. As you pray, have them tell you if the pain moves or gets worse. In Jo’s experience this is a sign of a spirit that is causing the issue. Tell it to leave, in Jesus name. Note that the interview, diagnosis, prayer selection, re-interview, post-prayer suggestions are training wheels. The goal is the “one-step model”: depend completely on the Holy Spirit and move in love.
Quote: Jesus gave us a model of simply depending on the Father and moving in love. And that is what we call the one-step prayer model.
Books: Everyday Supernatural
Video: youtube.com/watch?v=1A-ITYnGpYs
youtube.com/watch?v=j50ajmLcl5I
Randy Clark
Easy to understand, easy to apply.
Who: Christian teacher and healer who discovered several approaches to how belief (he says “faith”) works in healing. Works from the Pentecostal or Apostolic Christian perspective.
What: Words of knowledge and faith-activated healing.
My Distillation:
Quote: So the principle is this: Wherever there is more faith, more happens. Whenever there is great faith, great things happen. Where there are more people of faith, more things happen in that congregation than in a congregation where there is less faith. It is that simple.
Books: The Essential Guide to Healing co-written with Bill Johnson, Power to Heal
Jenny Weaver
Easy to understand, best applied by an experienced team.
Who: Worship leader and deliverance minister, known as “the girl who sings the scriptures.” After a terrible childhood, she believed in Jesus while in jail, but was only “delivered” from demons that still had place years later. Already a church worship leader, she accidentally wound up in a two-and-a-half-hour session of deliverance and found freedom from demons that still had place. She works from the Pentecostal / charismatic prophetic perspective. Her territory is the same as Robert Falconer’s in the strict sense of the capacity for conscious entities to have place in our mind space.
What: Deliverance (casting out demons)
My Distillation: Some mind / heart problems aren’t “you” at all, but a spirit that came in through an open door: occult practice, drugs, self-harm, abuse done to you, or what a parent did or claimed. Name each door, repent of and renounce what was opened, and get rid of anything tied to it. Then, in Jesus’ name, command what came in to leave. Don’t converse with it, if you need to know something, ask the Spirit of God. If it manifests (shaking, growling, screaming), don’t fear it and don’t feed it attention, bind it in Jesus’ name and command it to silence. Keep calling on Jesus until there is peace, then fill the space with worship. If there is a self application, it is worship first, then working through above while in worship.
Quote: I had asked Jesus into my heart, but I had not been delivered. — We Need to Talk podcast
Books: The Sound of Freedom