Integrative
Healing
Services by Rosalinda Huck, LMT, NCTMB,
Specializing in Emotion-Focused Body TherapyTM
What is EFBT?
What is Emotion-Focused Body TherapyTM ?:
Emotion-Focused Body TherapyTM (or EFBT for short) is a specialized body therapy session that was created and developed exclusively at the Lighthouse Emotional Wellness Center. It offers a uniquely "whole-istic" approach to emotional wellness by both directly and indirectly addressing the physical body's distress through the use of a variety of integrated healing modalities.
EFBT
assists in releasing old patterns through the combined application of
techniques such as guided meditation/hypnosis, eastern bodywork
(shiatsu and acupressure), sonic entrainment (sound therapy), energy
healing (reiki healing, qigong, crystal therapy), therapeutic oil application (essential oils and aromatherapy), and therapeutic massage
(swedish, deep tissue, hawaiian lomi lomi). The premise of EFBT
is to help you release and heal stress that is bottled up in the body.
What can I expect in an EFBT session?
Each individual's experience with EFBT varies and depends on what he or she is working on releasing. In general, in an EFBT session, you will:
Each individual's experience with EFBT varies and depends on what he or she is working on releasing. In general, in an EFBT session, you will:
- Feel nurtured and experience cleansing, grounding and healing
- Release negative energy from your body, mind, and spirit
- Create a long-lasting feeling of relaxation and peace
- Foster a positive outlook on your health
- Become educated on body awareness and how you can make changes to alleviate stress and tension
What is the basis of an EFBT session and how would I benefit from one?
Daniel R. Condron writes in his book, Permanent Healing, that "thoughts have power... you create your physical body each day by the thoughts and attitudes you create and maintain."
In essence, you carry a written emotional history of yourself in your physical body--in your cells, your tissues, organs, and body systems--based on your personal experiences, both past and present. As you continue through life, what you know and believe from your past is accumulated and stored in your physical being as stress, trauma, and thought patterns through cellular memory.
Author, biophysicist, and healer, Dr. Joyce Whitely Hawkes writes that, "... physical health begins in our cells. Likewise, healing must touch the cells, because illness also begins at the cellular level." (Cell-Level Healing: The Bridge from Soul to Cell, 2006).
When stress is stored, it commonly manifests as physical symptoms and conditions, or "dis-ease", such as frequent headaches or migraines, chronic muscular pain, anxiety, insomnia, etc. Because cells continually regenerate, making your body "new" again, receiving EFBT assists in rewiring your body to release these old, often negative and counter-productive patterns in your cells.
Emotional stress, and consequently physical discomfort, is then released. An EFBT session can also further prepare you to release everyday stress as it arises, thus feeling more free and healthy on a more regular basis. For anyone experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety, or past trauma, EFBT can be especially beneficial.
In essence, you carry a written emotional history of yourself in your physical body--in your cells, your tissues, organs, and body systems--based on your personal experiences, both past and present. As you continue through life, what you know and believe from your past is accumulated and stored in your physical being as stress, trauma, and thought patterns through cellular memory.
Author, biophysicist, and healer, Dr. Joyce Whitely Hawkes writes that, "... physical health begins in our cells. Likewise, healing must touch the cells, because illness also begins at the cellular level." (Cell-Level Healing: The Bridge from Soul to Cell, 2006).
When stress is stored, it commonly manifests as physical symptoms and conditions, or "dis-ease", such as frequent headaches or migraines, chronic muscular pain, anxiety, insomnia, etc. Because cells continually regenerate, making your body "new" again, receiving EFBT assists in rewiring your body to release these old, often negative and counter-productive patterns in your cells.
Emotional stress, and consequently physical discomfort, is then released. An EFBT session can also further prepare you to release everyday stress as it arises, thus feeling more free and healthy on a more regular basis. For anyone experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety, or past trauma, EFBT can be especially beneficial.
How is this different from getting a regular massage?
Therapeutic massage on its own has been proven to alleviate many physical conditions, in addition to elevating one's overall mood. Sometimes, though, this relief is temporary, with symptoms and conditions resurfacing. In some instances, receiving therapeutic massage can even release stored stress on an emotional level, in a way, "stirring the emotional pot", which can later leave the receiver confused, and sometimes even upset and not understand why.
Much of this is due to not having an understanding and/or awareness of WHY and HOW a certain issue is recurrent, and therefore trapped, in the physical body. An EFBT session takes the therapeutic massage experience to the next level by assessing your physical complaints, and providing physical and emotional nurturing simultaneously through several modalities. EFBT is NOT solely massage--rather, massage is just one tool used to assist in the healing process. EFBT sessions are focused sessions, in that they are not necessarily full-body massages. When massage is warranted and incorporated, it usually is to address particular areas of the body that are relevant to the points of stress and discomfort that are occurring.
By doing so, deeper layers of accumulated stress are accessed as the body is gently guided in the process of letting go of and clearing out these debilitating patterns. The result is a better understanding of how your body becomes unhealthy and what steps to take towards feeling more grounded in personal wellness.
In this way, EFBT complements counseling, coaching, and psychiatric services and treatments as a vehicle towards personal growth and physical and emotional healing.
Much of this is due to not having an understanding and/or awareness of WHY and HOW a certain issue is recurrent, and therefore trapped, in the physical body. An EFBT session takes the therapeutic massage experience to the next level by assessing your physical complaints, and providing physical and emotional nurturing simultaneously through several modalities. EFBT is NOT solely massage--rather, massage is just one tool used to assist in the healing process. EFBT sessions are focused sessions, in that they are not necessarily full-body massages. When massage is warranted and incorporated, it usually is to address particular areas of the body that are relevant to the points of stress and discomfort that are occurring.
By doing so, deeper layers of accumulated stress are accessed as the body is gently guided in the process of letting go of and clearing out these debilitating patterns. The result is a better understanding of how your body becomes unhealthy and what steps to take towards feeling more grounded in personal wellness.
In this way, EFBT complements counseling, coaching, and psychiatric services and treatments as a vehicle towards personal growth and physical and emotional healing.
How do I know if I need EFBT vs. simply getting a massage?
In tribal societies, there is usually a shaman, or medicine man or woman, to whom those in the community turn to when they are experiencing some sort of ailment, be it physical, spiritual, mental, or emotional. They pay a visit to this village healer when they are in need of some guidance or even a blessing and protection.
Having an EFBT session is similar to going to see a shaman for guidance or to alleviate an ailment. Time is taken to discuss what you are feeling and experiencing, and then various techniques are employed to assist you in gaining the relief or clarity you seek. The EFBT clinician is like a shaman, in that he or she is a conduit for healing to occur. At its roots, an EFBT session is a healing session--for anyone seeking to release and change any emotional blocks or patterns that are manifesting physically.
With EFBT you are nurtured into a place of deep healing. It is centered around creating emotional awareness through and within the body. It is ideal if you want to make a change in your life and want to understand how your body communicates this need to change.
Having an EFBT session is similar to going to see a shaman for guidance or to alleviate an ailment. Time is taken to discuss what you are feeling and experiencing, and then various techniques are employed to assist you in gaining the relief or clarity you seek. The EFBT clinician is like a shaman, in that he or she is a conduit for healing to occur. At its roots, an EFBT session is a healing session--for anyone seeking to release and change any emotional blocks or patterns that are manifesting physically.
With EFBT you are nurtured into a place of deep healing. It is centered around creating emotional awareness through and within the body. It is ideal if you want to make a change in your life and want to understand how your body communicates this need to change.
Is EFBT only for those going through serious or difficult issues?
No. EFBT is for anyone who would like to have a better understanding of him or herself, or anyone wishing to embark on a path of self-discovery. EFBT is also an opportunity for learning how to ease stress on a regular basis by becoming educated on proper breathing, how to regularly use visualization and imagery as a way to relax, and what you can do throughout yoru day to decrease physical aches and pains associated with stress.
