Why should you get trained in Transformational EMDR™? If you’ve ever felt that EMDR could go deeper or completed the EMDR process only to sense that your clients still needed something more, you might resonate with the principles of Transformational EMDR™. It does far more than just offer EMDR therapists a fresh perspective, it helps them provide clients a richer therapeutic experience — one that transforms the clients’ life on a very profound level that puts them on their true path so they can, like C. G. Jung said of all of us, become who they were always meant to be by discovering their truth and living it.

Transformational EMDR™ is an approach that enables both therapist and client to move past barriers that traditional methods struggle to overcome, creating a more meaningful therapeutic journey. Here are ten reasons for you as an EMDR therapist to become Transformational EMDR™ trained:

Reason One: It Teaches You the Psychoanalytic Language

Francine Shapiro recognized in 1990 that EMDR was a psychoanalytic process. This was the reason she expanded the name from EMD to EMDR. She realized that there was more going on in sessions than desensitizing an image or memory. Because clients could not stay focused on a single memory, they began to free associate to relevant thoughts, feelings, images, and memories.

Given this reality that EMDR is psychoanalytic, there are few resources that educate the EMDR therapist as to what this psychoanalytic language looks and sounds like —or what to do with the material if they do notice it. Transformational EMDR™ therapists are trained to understand every granular piece of material that is presented in an EMDR session, especially the language of the unconscious that is so powerful and yet often ignored.

Reason Two: It Teaches You to Create the Environment for Self-Healing

Jung, early in his career, realized that theories, models, and preconceived ideas were of no use. He realized that his job was to help the client explore things for themselves without his interference. Shapiro also pleads her case over and over again to stay out of the way, do not interfere, and yet now more than ever, EMDR therapists are adding this or adding that, say this, asking that. All this does is prolong the time a client has to spend in phase four and keeps them out of the 

self-healing state of mind required for profound healing.

Transformational EMDR™ therapist stay out of the way and completely trust the self-healing power of EMDR and the unconscious mind. They realize that EMDR heals at the speed of thought, so they never interrupt of ask a questions that is not in the service of keeping the client in FLOW.

Transformational EMDR™ therapist understand the concept of FLOW. They know how to create the environment for it to exist, to be maintained and utilized. This brings us to reason three, creating flow.

Reason Three: It Teaches how to Create the Flow State

Flow is the ultimate human experience and the only experience where all six motivational neurotransmitters are released simultaneously. The Transformational EMDR™ therapist knows how to create the environment for flow to exist. They also know how to nurture and maintain flow. They know flow is the state that EMDR’s self-healing power is accessed. 

Flow was discovered by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He described it as the ultimate human experience. The state of flow is when the human being is lost in a single task. They lose track of time, they do not eat, they do not talk, they are lost in their endeavor. This happens to anyone who is engrossed in a single task they care about. 

There is much more to say about flow that you can read about in my book, The Hero’s Journey, or read Mihaly’s books. Flow is what gives the EMDR client access to the collective unconscious, which is the storehouse of knowledge that Jung describes, where the psyche has access to everything that ever happened throughout history. It is beyond personal knowledge. This access gives the client an ability to find their ah-ha moment.

Reason Four: It Teaches You to be Comfortable Not Knowing

The transformational EMDR™ therapist embraces not knowing. They understand that they do not know, the client does not know, but EMDR will show us what is true. This creates a very curious therapist who is waiting, watching and listening to every breath, word or movement. In this way the therapist is also lost in flow accessing their inner genius.

Reason Five: Teaches how to Identify the Two Transformational Cognitions

Transformational EMDR™ therapists are trained to quickly recognize the client’s negative core belief that is limiting their client’s life. They usually can identify this interfering negative belief in the first or second session. Upon identifying THE negative core belief, they have a deep understanding of what the client’s struggles are like in the present, how they began and what to do about them, so their future is optimized. Transformational EMDR™ therapists know every element of the six-stage transformational process.

Reason Six: It Enhances Problem Solving Abilities

The Transformational EMDR™ therapist is required to learn everything they can about anything that interests them, not just EMDR. It is assumed that they have a vast and deep knowledge of the EMDR literature, as this is just a place to start. Their curiosity moves beyond EMDR. The best Transformational EMDR™ therapists learn everything they can and forget everything they know when they are in front of their client.

Transformational EMDR™ therapists are extraordinary problem solvers. This problem-solving strategy does not always come from the EMDR books but from the collective unconscious of the therapist. The solution is accessed by the therapist cued from the client. This is a mysterious process, but this dynamic can be set up in every session. The transformational EMDR™ therapist understands exactly how to set the stage for such events.

Reason Seven: It Enhances Your Ability to Evaluate Query Responses

The Transformational EMDR™ therapist knows that all query responses are not equal. Some parts of the response are durable and will return in the session. Other responses are not important. The responses from the unconscious are gold, but if you miss them, they are not durable; they will not return. The Transformational EMDR™ therapist is extremely discerning in evaluating every word a client speaks during EMDR processing because they understand what the language of the unconscious sounds like when it presents itself.

Reason Eight: It Teaches You the Language of the Unconscious

The Transformational EMDR™ therapist is comfortable working with their client dreams. Transformational EMDR™ therapists understand that they must do their own Transformational EMDR™ work, which includes working with their own dreams. The dream is no longer a mystery but an ally.

Reason Nine: It Guides You to Do Your Own Internal Work

The Transformational EMDR™ therapist doesn’t take themselves too seriously. They must have other skills they have mastered or are trying to master. They have to have done their own work, which creates an internal sense of peace that will generate to their clients and colleagues. They must have a good sense of humor —and if it is self-deprecating, so much the better. The Transformational EMDR™ therapist aspires to help their clients get to what they themselves aspire towards; what Charles Bukowski describes below as a free soul.

Charles Bukowski said, “The free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it – basically because you feel good, very good when you are near or with them.” It is not uncommon for a client to say, “I’m free” or words to that effect, in phase five during transformational EMDR™ therapy.

Reason Ten: It Accelerates Individuation and an Experience Their Truth

Transformational EMDR™ sees the work from a psychoanalytic lens. This perspective is about putting the client on their true life’s purpose. The six-stage transformation process is the map that the therapist and client follow so that the client can get to their truth and is no longer burdened by the past. The client’s negative cognition is dismantled, and the client begins to live their authentic life from the positive adaptive perspective. A single cognition sounds like a simple thing, but this process affects every area of the client’s life. Transformational EMDR™ offers the client their true life’s purpose and experience as a freedom they have never experienced in their life. They are free.

If you’re interested in becoming a Transformational EMDR™ Certified EMDR therapist, be sure to register for our next advanced EMDR training.