Unburdening a part

My T wanted to deal with my teenage part who is embarrassed about her body and sex, by a process of unburdening. We'd never done that before. She had me choose air, fire, Earth, or water to be the medium for unburdening. I chose water--a submarine, to be exact. Then she wanted me to put all the stuff I wanted to unburden into the submarine, in any way I wanted to do it. I had my eyes closed, and did this silently. She wanted me to take my time with it.

Then she asked how I felt, in my body. I said "maybe lighter," but I'm not sure. I said "my mind" is thinking more than feeling anything. I told her my mind is wondering if this was going to work, and feeling kind of silly about it. She said that was okay, and if it doesn't work, we'll try it again. She thanked me and told me to feel grateful to myself for allowing me to try something I'm not sure I believe will work.

Did anyone ever do this type of exercise, either with IFS or some other therapy? Did it work? Thanks.

Mr T tried guided imagery with me, but my imagery seems resistant to guidance.

rain, i think i've done something similar to that. we used a box or trash can to dump all the emotions, lies, etc. one time i saw a big trash dumpster, lol, so there was obviously a lot i needed to release. usually there is crying on my part or some big emotional expression to get the emotions out. it's weird because i don't always notice a big difference later but i know something happened. i don't know if that quite makes sense. i guess i just trust that something is happening even if i don't really understand how it all works.

I haven't tried quite the same thing, but my T has used hypnotherapy and guided visualisations with me, with similar themes - one involved removing rocks from a heavy backpack, another involved throwing pebbles (that represented my negative thoughts) into the sea. The whole process left me feeling a lot more relaxed than I'd been, and, yes 'unburdened'

There are things I've tried in therapy that I've been sceptical of and have made me feel silly... but... sometimes these things are worth a go, in my experience.

Thanks, CE. Not all techniques work for everyone.

It makes sense. I never understood EMDR but I know something happened, even if was subtle. I'll know if this method worked or not--sooner or later.

After we did it, I also felt very relaxed, more than I had been in the session up until then. I'm a skeptic, but will be happy if it works! Thanks for your input.

I use imaginary fire to burn things that feel hurtful to me. Water too. Kinda imagining myself cleansing in the sea (since I love sea and I always feel so much better when i have a chance to take really long swim in the waves. Sadly, real sea is some 1000 kilometers away, so I have to use my memories of it).

I do IFS and have done similar work. Guided imagery is difficult for me and doesn't usually work well, but for others it's great. I think things I always worth a try. Just be honest with your T about whether or not it is working for you. You don't want to spend time on things that are not working for you.