Our brains have a natural capacity to process experiences and integrate new information. But when something traumatic or overwhelming happens, our brain and body can go into fight, flight, freeze, or other survival responses to protect us. Sometimes, even after the experience has passed, parts of it can continue to feel very present. Emotions, physical sensations, images, or beliefs connected to what happened may still be activated by situations in our lives today.

EMDR helps the brain revisit and reprocess these “stuck” experiences in a more adaptive way, from the safety of the present, so they no longer carry the same emotional and physical intensity.

As reprocessing occurs, memories can begin to feel less emotionally charged, less “stuck,” and more distant. New and more helpful insights and perspectives can emerge, and negative beliefs connected to the experience can begin to shift. The experience becomes something you can remember as part of your past, rather than something your mind and body continue to respond to as though it is happening in the present.

EMDR is a structured therapy that happens in phases. You don't begin by immediately diving into your most difficult memories.

Early sessions focus on understanding what is bringing you to therapy, exploring relevant experiences and patterns, identifying potential targets for EMDR, and building strategies to help you stay grounded and manage distress. This is the preparation phase.

When you and your therapist determine that you're ready, you'll begin reprocessing selected experiences. Your therapist guides you through the process, checks in with you throughout the session, and adjusts the pace based on how you're responding. You are always in control of the pace in the sessions.

Reprocessing is the part of EMDR that helps your brain work through a targeted memory or experience.

During reprocessing, you'll briefly bring aspects of the experience to mind while observing bilateral stimulation to be grounded in the present. Your therapist will guide you through short sets of bilateral stimulation, pausing between sets to ask what you're noticing.

You don't have to force anything to happen or figure out what you're “supposed” to be thinking. Your therapist follows what emerges and helps guide the reprocessing as your brain makes new connections and the experience begins to shift so it no longer holds the same emotional intensity and stuckness.

Bilateral stimulation is a distinctive part of EMDR and involves alternating stimulation from one side to the other.

This can include guided side-to-side eye movements, alternating sounds, or tapping. Your therapist will help determine which form works best for you.

Bilateral stimulation is used during EMDR to help facilitate the brain's information-processing system while you attend to aspects of a targeted experience.

Yes. EMDR can be done virtually, allowing you to participate from the privacy and comfort of your own space.

For online EMDR therapy, we use a specialized, HIPAA-compliant online EMDR portal designed specifically for virtual EMDR sessions. The platform allows your therapist to facilitate bilateral stimulation remotely, including visual and auditory forms of bilateral stimulation.

Some clients find it comforting to be in their own space while reprocessing, while others find the therapist’s physical presence in the room comforting. Your therapist will help you determine which approach works best for you and prepare you for virtual reprocessing so that sessions remain structured and supported.

Yes. Traumatic and adverse experiences can shape not only what we remember, but what we came to believe about ourselves because of what happened.

Experiences from the past can leave behind beliefs such as “I’m not safe,” “I’m not good enough,” “It was my fault,” or “I’m powerless.”

As experiences are reprocessed, these beliefs can begin to shift and more adaptive perspectives can emerge—for example, “I am safe now”, “I am worthy,” or “I did nothing wrong/ It wasn’t my fault”.

EMDR isn't about simply replacing a negative thought with a positive one. The goal is for the new belief to begin to feel true, rather than being something you are simply trying to convince yourself to believe and leads to positive changes in your life.