Natural processing* is a form of process-oriented somatic therapy with bilateral stimulation developed by Craig Penner, MFT, EMDRIA Consultant and SE Practitioner. The main difference between traditional EMDR therapy and Natural Processing* is the enhanced focus on body sensations through real time physical awareness and the easier detection client dissociation. The human mind tends to dissociate when it is faced with distressing thoughts, emotions and sensations. It’s a protection mechanism, so that a person can function on a daily basis and avoid the trauma.
The foundation to this work is a deep understanding of our core “drive for completion” (resolution, growth and healing), on every level. However, our inherent dilemmas between our “drives for completion” and our primal drives for safety and survival, need to be acknowledged, expressed and resolved in order to build resilience, our spontaneous ability to learn, grow and adapt to our new circumstances. Use of bilateral stimulation further enhances the client’s ability to grow towards resolution.
Expert trauma researcher Bessel Van Der Kolk writes in his book titled “The Body Keeps the Score,” that “Trauma results in the fundamental reorganization of the way the mind and brain manage perceptions. It changes not only how we think and what we think about, but also our very capacity to think. We have discovered that helping victims of trauma find the words to describe what has happened to them is profoundly meaningful, but usually it is not enough. For real change to take place, the body needs to learn that the danger has passed and to live in the reality of the present.”
