In this step, you’ll identify the part of yourself—your "protector"—that tries to shield you from harm, even when the threat is no longer present. Your protector can manifest in various forms, from a voice of self-doubt or an inner critic to behaviors like people-pleasing, hypervigilance, or emotional numbness. While the protector means well, it's often reacting to past trauma and is unaware that the current threat isn't real.
This step helps you begin to understand your protector’s role in different areas of your life, including your relationships, decision-making, and emotional responses. Recognizing this is key to shifting how you respond to stress and triggers, providing the space to start healing.
Key Tips:
Recognize Your Protector: Reflect on how your trauma responses show up. Is it through tension in your body, feelings of anxiety, or a specific thought pattern like self-doubt? These are your protector's signals.
It Doesn’t Have to Be a Character: Your protector might not look like a person or object. It could simply be a feeling, a physical reaction (like tightness in your chest), or even a behavior like overthinking or isolating yourself.
Be Compassionate: Approach your protector with kindness. It’s only trying to help you feel safe, even if its methods are sometimes overwhelming or counterproductive.
Acknowledge Its Role: Understand that your protector is trying to shield you from past traumas, even if those threats aren’t present today. Take a moment to thank it for its efforts.
There’s No Right or Wrong: Your protector can show up in any form or feeling—it doesn’t need to make sense. Trust whatever comes to mind.
Step-by-Step Guidance:
Introduction: In this step, you’ll identify your protector. This is the part of you that reacts when you feel unsafe or triggered by trauma. It may show up as anxiety, self-doubt, physical tension, or even emotional numbness.
Recognize Your Protector: Think about how your protector usually shows up. Does it manifest in your body as a tight chest or a clenched jaw? Or does it come as a feeling, like the urge to escape or withdraw?
Compassionate Approach: Whatever form it takes, remember that your protector is just trying to help. Acknowledge its presence with kindness, even if it sometimes causes discomfort or prevents you from moving forward.
Acknowledge Its Purpose: The protector's role is rooted in your past experiences, where it helped you feel safe. Let it know that you recognize its efforts, but also that you're in a safer place now.
Begin Eye Movements: When you’re ready, click 'Begin Treatment' to start the eye movements and hold this awareness of your protector in your mind.
Examples:
Alex's Protector: Alex identifies his protector as the tightness he feels in his chest whenever he receives criticism at work. It shows up to warn him of potential emotional harm, but Alex recognizes it as an overreaction now that he’s in a safer environment.
Bella's Protector: Bella’s protector manifests as self-doubt. Whenever she is around her family, she feels an overwhelming urge to shrink into the background to avoid being hurt. She starts to understand that this response was developed to protect her from childhood feelings of neglect.
Elena's Protector: Elena’s protector is hypervigilance—a constant readiness for danger. This used to serve her well after her kidnapping, but now she acknowledges that the threat is no longer there, and the protector doesn’t need to be so active.
John's Protector: John feels his protector as a younger version of himself who steps in with self-criticism whenever he faces judgment. He begins to see that while his younger self was trying to protect him, he no longer needs to be so harsh on himself.
Objective:
The goal of this step is to help you recognize and identify your protector. Whether it shows up as a physical sensation, an emotion, or a behavioral pattern, by acknowledging and externalizing it, you can start to engage with this protector more consciously and gently guide it toward a more balanced role in your life.