Rainbow, we did some shaking exercises too, accompanied by sound effects. I like how T did the shaking. I am not so good at that. But even watching him do it felt good to me. It seemed to me like "hey this could help!" I actually like doing these physical things much better than the questions that often accompany this type of work: "where do you feel this in your body? blah blah" T didn't have to ask me this because I told him right away about my heart.

It's the Waking the Tiger - Peter Levine - Trauma Institute thing. I know there are a lot of offshoots, but my T's SE derives directly from the Levine school of thought. He's been doing it at least as long as I've been seeing him, which I think is 4 years. Who knows how many years before that. He seems really comfortable with it. My T is not dogmatic, though, and would not do this with everyone. He has a big toolbox and uses what is most appropriate for each client. He and I haven't done any SE for years until now. And we did EMDR early in therapy but not since (although he has offered it to me on certain occasions, but I declined). I think my T recommended I read Waking the Tiger at our very first therapy session ever. I read most of the book back then and may revisit it since we are doing this stuff again. Rainbow, I think SE is a pretty harmless therapy so if a T is doing it with only a couple of workshops of training, I don't think it's a big deal. the techniques aren't that complicated, and it's not going to hurt you to do SE with an inexperienced T. I feel differently about EMDR. I would not do that without an experienced practitioner who is at least level 2. YMMV.

I think I've just been so miserable, I am willing to try anything. What is there to lose? Might as well.

I need to learn that skill because I find I am affected by other people's negativity and I want to distance myself from them. Sometimes I can't get away and then I am stuck with not knowing how to deal with it.