Using Eye Movements To Heal "Distressed" Neural Pathways
Now that you're familiar with the basic and variant guidelines for using eye movements with bilateral music you are ready to learn a deeper set of applications.
People use eye movements with auditory bilateral stimulation to strengthen and relieve unproductive and self-defeating patterns of how they think, feel and act. It can be useful for the purpose of bilateral stimulation to consider these stuck patterns from the perspective of "distressed neural pathways". (It may seem a bit complicated at first but if you stick with it the results will likely justify the effort. ) Here's some ideas:
1. As always, get physically comfortable, start listening to your bilateral stimulation source through headphones or ear buds at a low volume,
2. Begin to slowly more your eyes in a random manner around your entire field of vision. There's no need to follow any pattern: simply move your eyes randomly so that you have a chance to look in many different directions.
3. Pay close attention to any type of positive or negative thought, emotion or sensation that occurs when you approach, reach or pass over a particular visual spot. (In Brainspotting, a positive location is called a "resource spot", while a negative one is known as a "distress spot".
For example, if you want to reduce test anxiety, take a moment to imagine the distress of an exam and then begin randomly moving your eyes until you notice a "felt sense of personal significance"as described on the previous page. This is your distress spot.
You can just as easily engage the process from a resource perspective: visualize yourself completing the exam with ease and confidence, feeling the satisfaction from knowing you did well, and then begin randomly moving your eyes slowly until you locate a noticeable "felt sense of personal significance." This is your resource spot.
4. Once you are aware of the location of either the distress spot or resource spot, resume moving your eyes in a random manner until you notice yourself experiencing a contrasting thought, emotion or sensation.
In other words, if the first spot you locate is negative in some way (i.e. a distress spot) then move your eyes randomly until you locate a spot that is positive in some way. Similarly, if the first spot you locate is positive in some way (i.e. a resource spot) then move your eyes randomly until you locate a spot that is negative in some way. These two spots generally but not always relate to each other in some obvious manner.
5. As always, don't try to judge or figure anything out on the basis of logic. Instead, just receive what you notice and remain available to what happens next. This is a great way to identify and untangle neurological "cross-wiring" that has potentially been tripping you up for many years.
6. Now that you've located these two spots, repeatedly and very slowly move your eyes back and forth between them. (Again, it may help to use a finger or pen to shift your gaze smoothly between these two locations.)
This technique allows your brain to connect two or more isolated or fragmented areas of your awareness into a greater integrated whole. Negative energy or information that is accessible via one virtual location dissipates when bridged to a more positive visual location.
Next: Resolving Specific Sources of Distress With Eye Movements
Ready to keep going? Now that you know how to use eye movements with bilateral stimulation to heal "distressed" neural pathways you're ready to learn a similar technique to use eye movements to resolve specific sources of distress.