We are all well acquainted with side effects. With Lifespan Integration, some of the side effects are: decreased anxiety, more energy, balanced emotions, freedom from past negativity, and better relationships.
I am very excited to offer Lifespan Integration (LI) at my office here in Renton. With this approach, we are able to access feelings and memories stored in the body from traumatic experience and integrate them into our adult selves. The anecdotal evidence of LI, as well as my experience with many clients, suggests that many people experience desired relief quite a bit faster than with traditional talk therapy.
Utilizing the LI approach, a timeline of memories for the person receiving the counseling is created from their first memory to their current age. All together, these memories create a “movie” that shows the younger parts of the self that time has passed and that these “split off parts” of the self are an important part of the adult self. LI also utilizes active imagination, where the therapist coaches the adult self in nurturing and soothing their younger aspects of self. This approach guides the recipient into the Alpha level of brain functioning that stress reduction and mindfulness techniques utilize. The repetition of the timeline gently coaches the brain to develop new neural pathways.
I also see similarities between LI and Tai Chi, where we are not necessarily retrieving energy from some point in past history, but rather freeing ourselves from unconsciously constricting and clenching ourselves RIGHT NOW in order to defend against past memories and negative ideas about who we are because of the identity we created in that past experience.
I have been a skeptic of structured approaches to healing in the past, but since experiencing Lifespan Integration both as a therapist and a client, I am amazed at how straightforward, effective, and fast this method of healing is. When the old structures of defense dissolve into the adult self there is a release of energy that is noticeable, and many people receiving this form of therapy report rapid changes and shifts in their body, relationships and life. LI is an exciting addition to Renton Family Therapy’s array of effective and brief approaches to therapy, which all allow people to come in for relief, insight, skills, and deep healing and then get back into life without the ongoing dependence on a therapist.
If you have an experience or identity that you would like to see shift, or if you would like to experience more compassion toward yourself, call 206-877-3188 today for a free phone consultation to see if LI is right for you.