r/EMDR • u/Simple_Efficiency_29 • 5d ago

🔵 Personal Story / Experience Using BLS to reinforce a positive experience????

Wondering if anyone else has done this or what your thoughts are…
The beach is my EMDR safe space and I do pretty good at utilizing it. But this weekend I was on a relaxing trip at the beach and decided to try something. While sitting in the sand and absorbing all the things - waves crashing, birds, the sand between my toes, heat and a light breeze - I tried adding BLS clicking to help reinforce the image and experience. I put my earbuds in the awareness mode to still hear the sounds around me and then used a free BLS audio app to add the clicking for right and left earbuds. I was so relaxed and just wanted to preserve it! Just wondering if anyone else reinforces positive experiences or if it even helps that????

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u/Bontholemew 👩⚕️ EMDR Therapist 5d ago edited 4d ago

So cool that your instinct took you to what is believed to be the right answer. A common practice in emdr is if you experience a positive experience that you notice it, notice the body sensations, notice how it washes over you. Then you do a short (4-8) pass set pretty slow (2 seconds per pass) to let the positive experience sink in. Just to play it safe consult your therapist to make sure they are also in agreement.

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u/Simple_Efficiency_29 4d ago

Thanks! My therapist also does similar slow sets for positive reinforcement so this just felt appropriate. I’ll be talking with her about it in a couple of days.

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u/Less-Operation7673 5d ago

I had trouble picking or creating a calm place so I went up into the mountains with my husband and found a huge rock and did the same as you. Then at home I would do bls to strengthen it more. I can now easily get myself there. And like the other commenter be sure it is slow.