The Rewind Technique
Rewind for Strong Emotional Memories
Introduction
Allow yourself to just sit in a comfortable position, just begin to relax
and just listen to my voice and you can be aware of other things if you want.
In a moment, I am going to run you through some techniques for removing emotion from
traumatic memories.
Relaxation
So as you just sort of sit there, listen to me and begin to just relax a little further...
To start with I would like you to think of somewhere you'd like to be. Somewhere pleasant, somewhere calming, somewhere relaxing.
maybe on a beach somewhere, or
taking a walk, somewhere through the woods somewhere, in a forest or something.
you feel relaxed.
and as you allow your mind to go there
at some point during this, your instinctive mind, the part of you that
swats flies out of your face
without you having to think about it. The part of you that controls your breathing, your heart rate...
sometimes that part will respond.
to what I'm saying faster than you consciously respond.
Warm Experience
So, to start with, I'd like you to
get a sense of a pleasant experience. Something that's....
...not too bad to think, about something quite pleasurable,....
relaxing. That's right....
Get a sense of what you can see there.
what you'd be able to hear.
what you'd be able to feel, for example, if it was on a beach.
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Perhaps you could, see the waves lashing on the shore, hear them as they ... roll in
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Feel the sand beneath your feet, the warm sun on your skin.
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Maybe if it was walking in a forest you'd see the glistening rays of light shimmering through the trees.
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Feel the warmth in the ground beneath your feet.
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Sounds of birds and other animals.
So wherever you choose to let your mind wander, just let a part of you go there now.
and then find yourself somewhere there. Where you can just relax and listen to the things I am saying.
Trauma Experience
And I would like to you to just think of a
traumatic experience.
and in your own mind, just rate it
from 1 to 10 with one being...
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....You're quite happy to think about it....
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And 10 being ...makes you feel really uncomfortable....and you would rather not think about it.
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Once you've done that, just begin to experience again.
that pleasant place that you've gone to. That relaxed place...
that you're in.
Emotional Spinning Wheel
And in a moment I am going to ask you to think of THAT again.
Only this time, when you think about it, I want you to
get a sense of the feelings starting in your stomach.
perhaps rising up and then spinning round forwards, and then back into your stomach again.
and this time get a sense of a color that that spinning can take, a color that represents that traumatic...
experience, and that feeling
Just take the time to do that now. Just getting a sense of that spinning feeling from your stomach, up into your chest and folding forwards right back into the stomach again. Almost like a wheel.
And get a sense of what colour it is as well.
And have that Wheel spinning, and spinning,
Change direction and Colour
Now what I want you to do is pop of your body.
Just get a sense of it being pulled out from your body...
...so it's in front of you, still spinning forwards. Now I want you to flip it over and change the color to a calm color. In a moment.
So in a moment i want you to popped out of your body, flip it over,
and change the colour to a calm colour. And really begin to spin that. So do that NOW! Clicking it out of your body, flipping it over...
then spinning it so it's spinning towards you. In a calm color spinning fast and faster whirring (whirring sounds)
Really spinning faster and faster, whirring
faster and faster and faster, and just watch it spinning faster.
faster and faster, really hear it whirring and spinning
And then as i continues to speed up and work faster and faster and faster in that opposite direction.
Return Changed Wheel
Going around and around and around towards you click it straight back into your chest again.
Click it back. Keep it spinning faster, and faster and faster and faster. Really concentrate on that spinning. (Whirring sounds again)
faster and faster and faster. Really going for it. Really spinning it faster as fast.
That's right. The instinctive part of you can continue to spin that faster and faster...
faster in the opposite direction, with that new color in that new way. And consciously you can just continue to listen to me. Just begin to follow the next set of
instructions.
TV Screen
So what I'd like you to do now is to imagine yourself sitting somewhere with
a television screen in front of you. It can be a favorite seat or whatever you choose....and you have got the remote control in your hand.
And so you can control that TV,
and at the moment I want that TV to have a blank screen.
and just be looking at that blank screen.
Trauma Footage
And in a moment what I am going to ask you to do is: I'm going to ask you to have in a moment the video footage, of that old incident, that traumatic incident
Now it could be video footage of a whole day, of a week, of a month, or a year - whatever it happens to be.
Health Start and Finish
All that's important is that that video starts from a point where you felt calm beforehand.
and either right up to a point where your felt Okay afterwards...
Or it could right up till Now. To when you are listening to this.
Disassociation
And before you press any of the controls to actually watch that video
What I would like you to do is just
get a sense of drifting up out of that body that is sat in that chair....
that's watching that video
Just imagine getting a sense of drifting off out of that seat and off to the side....
so that you're in a position where you can see that YOU sitting there in that chair...
but you're in a position where you can't see what's on the TV screen.
So as you drift new position where
you're off to the side, and you can see that YOU sitting there.
But you can't see the TV screen
And if you quickly get yourself into that position. Then what I would like you to do is Now....
Watch that YOU in that chair pressing play
so that YOU in that chair can Now press play. And have that YOU, off to the side there....
watching that YOU in the chair.
watching that video all the way through from the beginning
all the way to the end, really fast.
At a rate and speed, so that it's all over and done with in 10 seconds.
I'm doing that NOW. All the way through to the end. (quick sounds)
And once it's reached the end, that YOU in that chair, YOU can watch that YOU in the chair, pausing it at the end at that relaxed scene.
Drifting into the Screen (Association)
And now I'd like that YOU that is off to
the side to drift and float through space, through time into the TV screen, into the YOU....
...that's paused at the end of that whole incident on that TV screen.
Rewind
And now I'd like you to take no longer than 5 seconds.
....when I say NOW to rewind all the way back...
so that everything goes backwards, all the speeches backwards. Walking is backwards, Everything is backwards
and rewind all the way back
from where you are at the end.
inside that TV screen, seeing what you saw, hearing what you heard.
But everything will be backwards. It's all the way back to the beginning where you felt calm and relaxed and you feel okay.
So Do that. NOW. Heading all the way back to the beginning. really really fast,
so that everything goes really, really funny, really really funny, all the way back to the beginning, all the way back, all the way back, really, really fast, everything back. That's right. Everything moving back, and then pause. (super quick)
Drifting back to the chair
That's right. And now drift up out of that old old movie, that old movie, just drift up, and drift over and ....
Just sink yourself back down into that seat watching that movie, seeing that paused screen there.
paused at the beginning where everything is Okay, nothing had happened....
Fast Forward 5 seconds this time
This time I'd like you to take 5 seconds to fast forward the movie from the beginning all
way through to the end when I say, Now. Just having everything going forward
really really fast and the speech is really funny. The speech is like Mickey Mouse (voice noises) just like that. So just in a moment when I say NOW
fast forward all the way to the end, and then pause it right at the end and take no longer that 5
seconds to do this. Fast forwarding. NOW (voice noises) Fast sounds
all the way to the end. And when you reach the end, pause it again.
Drift into the Scene
And now drift up out of.....
That seat again, and drift through space and time and float and just drift into that, you again in the end of that old, old movie. And as you drift into
that old, old movie, as as you drifted back into that old, old movie...
Rewind (2)
I like you want to just say Now to rewind all the way back to the beginning again this time take no longer that 2 seconds....
And do that NOW (Rewind gargled quick speech)
All the back again. faster and faster and then pause it. Right at the very beginning. That's right. Pause it right at the very beginning.
Drift
Then just drift up again out of that old, old movie
drift through space and time, and float and sink back down into that seat, watching that old movie.
Fast Forward Again
And now again it is paused at the beginning. So again when I say NOW....
I want you to fast forward it again
this time. When I say, now
I want you to fast, forward it all the way to the end, and then pause it at the end
in no longer than 3 seconds.
Doing that. NOW fastforward, fastword, very, very fast, at the very end (high voice forward quickly)
And then pause it.
Drift to the screen and Snap rewind
That's it
Now just up out of that seat, drift and float and
sink back into that screen, into that YOU at the end of that, paused old, old movie. You know, sort of old distant thing.
And then just drift and sink into that old movie, and this time in a flash, so quickly...(Snap) That quick!. It's just just like a click (Snap) Fast
that old movie all the way back to the beginning.
really, really fast - rewinding, when I say NOW and then pausing at the very beginning. Doing that NOW. (Quick speech backward) And then pausing at the very beginning
That's it.
Drift to the seat and Relax
And now just drift up again, out of that screen and back across through space and time. Now again sinking deeper and...
deeply into that seat, and relaxing even deeper.
Deeper, perhaps with each breath, or perhaps with each word I say.....
...or the spaces between my words. Just continue to relax deeper. And you don't
have to give it any effort, or even notice that it's happening.
Fast Fast Forward like a Snap
And this time, just in a flash, watch that old movie, that old, old movie and fast forward
all the way to the end.
So it happens (Snap) that quickly, (Snap) just like a click, really quickly from beginning to end. And do that. NOW.
Fast forward. That quickly. All the way to the end. To the end.
That's it. And then Pause it.
Drift into the end of the movie and fast rewind
Then, this time, again just drift up and float into the end of that old distant movie there.
And this time, rewind again even faster still, seeing if you...
...can do it so fast you're almost unaware of any of the movie in between. The beginning and the end. And do that NOW.
(Fast speech rewind) so fast you are unaware of anything in the middle and then finding yourself at the very beginning before anything happened when you were calm and relaxed.
And just drift up out of that old movie, that old distant movie...
And just drift over....
and sink down into that seat watching that movie.
Relaxation Building
And this time, once you've drifted over there and sunk down into that seat.
just take a few moments to notice how relaxed you feel. Maybe you notice your legs relaxed...
your arms relaxed, your chest, your back.
Just notice how relaxed you can feel.
as you watch that old movie on that old TV screen.
Final Watching of Movie at Comfortable Speed
And as you click the movie on at a comfortable pace, just want you to notice how relaxed you are as you watch through the movie. At a comfortable speed. As you watch that through just take maybe 15 or maybe 20 seconds to watch that through and notice how calm you remain at the same time.
Watch that through and notice how relaxed you can remain at the same time.
And as long as you continue to breath, you can continue to relax.
That's right.
And as you watch that, I'll just talk to you in the background.
And instinctively what can take place, is that you can begin to generalize what you can learn now. You can begin to generalize it.
Future Memories
Learn that you can process it -
and future memories, any future incidents
that occur that have any similar styles of emotion, any similar types of emotion
in the same sort of way
that allows the recall of those memories to be recalled calmly. It doesn't matter whether you like the memory or don't like the memory...
As a logical sort of opinion, morals, or whatever....
But at the same time you can recall those memories in a calm and relaxed manner....
Unconsciously you generalized, to learn, to improve how you respond to things in the environment...
That's right.
The Snowball
It's like rolling a snowball down a mountainside....
It starts off small and grows larger and larger and larger.
Or it's like throwing a stone into a pond where the ripples spread out and everything in the pond, under the pond, and on the surface changes.
and yet the surface still looks the same.
That's right.
Count Down
And now i am going to count from 10 down to 1 and at the count of one....
you can open your eyes. Feel relaxed and refreshed...
And I am going to ask you again to just think of the old, old memories
to rate them from a scale of 1 to 10 again....
so that you can notice the difference.
10,9,8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3. You can become more alert
more refreshed. 1). You can open your eyes,
Post Work
Now just think for a moment about those old, old old memories and those things that just worked. Just think back and see if you can just try to get the same sort of response from them.
and again just grade those memories.
just grade those memories and see where on a scale of one to ten with 1 being unbothered, 10 being most extreme....
Just see where it now falls. See which number it is now.
Continuation of Process
And the interesting thing is after doing this once....
Your brain starts to do automatically in the future.
Not only does your brain start to do this automatically in the future, but the numbers will go down lower and lower....
each time, while at the same time you'll have some safety awareness.
For example, if you need to learn something from the situation....
Anything you need to learn from the situation or anything you need to remain aware of for your own safety will have very little emotional content, but you will remember that unconsciously.