Some traumatized people (or Littles) struggle using a safe/vault for Containment, because it triggers memory. I don’t have to explain that; if it’s you, you know exactly what I mean. Containment can also be a great relief and that is why I want to share a variation that could be easier and definitely will be funnier. In this exercise you will meet a box or chest that first jumps and then rides on a train. There is really nothing threatening about it.
You may close your eyes for this exercise, if you want to.
Now imagine that in front of you, maybe a yard away from you, there is an open box or chest…
You can now place things inside the box, that you struggle with….. that are bearing you down…. or neutral things too. Maybe you can imagine them on a DVD or video tape on an audio tape…. maybe you want to place pictures of memories into the box too….
and when you have done that, you can close the box, if you want to you could lock it, but you don’t have to, whatever feels right to you…
And then the box starts to move in a miraculous way and jumps.
From one yard to 3 yards, to 5 yards, and you can follow it with your inner eyes, to 10 yards…. back to 7….. to 12….
back to 10….. to 17….. to 20 yards….
back to 18…. to 25…. to 30 yards distance.
And again back to 25…. to make a huge jump to 40 yards….
Back again to 35…. to 60…. and back there it already looks a little smaller, but clearly visible.
To 50 yards…. to 90…. to 130 yards….. back to 110….. it jumps to 150 now, still visible but a lot smaller already.
To 140…. to 200…. 250….230….. then a giant jump to 400….
back to 350…. then to 500 yards. And there, at the horizon it might be barely visible…. and there is a train waiting and the box is loaded onto the train….
And maybe like a child likes to play with a remote control you can let the train move to the left and the right while you follow it with your inner eyes. First it goes left…. slows down… then back to the right…. turn the switch to left….. and then right again….
and back to left…. to the right…. left…. and right…. and left…. and right….
the train goes to the left…. and the right…. and left…. and right….. to the left…. and to the right…. left…. and back to right….
and now you decide to let the train move on…. into the horizon…. further and further away…. further and further…. even further…. hardly recognizable now…. maybe only a spot on the horizon…. it is now far far away.
And as the train vanishes at the horizon…. you can, step by step, return your awareness to the room, sense how you are sitting on your chair, your arms and legs, open your eyes and take in your surroundings, maybe stretch out a little, to fully return to this room.
For this exercise it will be of advantage to have an audio file you can listen to. Most cell phones have that option. Record it, speaking slowly and leaving enough breaks, where I have made dots, or ask a kind person to record it for you. If the slow eye movement in this exercise reminded you of EMDR that is certainly no coincidence.
(I don’t know who invented this. I learned it from a doctor in a trauma clinic.)
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