Shuttling Awareness

I recently attended a webinar featuring Peter Levine and Bessel van der Kolk discussing trauma. During the webinar, Peter Levine shared a powerful technique to foster resilience and promote a deeper understanding of the ebb and flow of emotions. This technique is similar to a Gestalt technique for shuttling awareness that I learned during my hypnotherapy training. It encourages you to engage with your experiences uniquely.

The Technique

The technique involves reflecting on the past 24 hours and finding a moment when things were slightly better than your current experience. If it's hard to pinpoint such a moment, you can try to recall a time when you felt more aligned with your true self or the person you aspire to be. You can also expand the scope and explore the past 2 or 3 days for similar subtle improvement or self-alignment moments. This retrospective exercise sets the stage for a profound connection between the present and the recent past.

The core of the technique lies in alternating between these positive images or moments, the current sensations within the body, and your current experience generally. By comparing the contrasting experiences, you gain a heightened awareness of the transient nature of emotions. This dynamic interplay serves as a reminder that, even amid difficulty, there is a natural rhythm to life, where moments of improvement are not only possible but inevitable.

The Benefits of Shuttling Awareness

Shuttling awareness is a technique that allows you to recognize positive or more desirable experiences, contributing to the development of resilience. By practising this technique, you gain a broader temporal perspective, alleviating the intensity of current struggles by highlighting the impermanence of emotions and experiences.

This practice also normalises the idea that challenging moments are a natural part of life and moments of relief or positivity also occur. This reduces the sense of isolation and creates hope and encouragement, motivating you to believe in the potential for improvement.

Shuttling awareness also facilitates the integration of positive experiences into the present moment, fostering a more balanced emotional state. It contributes to emotional regulation by helping you recognize that emotional states are not static.

Moreover, this technique requires paying close attention to your internal experiences, fostering a deeper understanding of emotional patterns and triggers. By actively engaging with past and present experiences, it encourages mindfulness and present-centeredness, cultivating a present-centred awareness.

By incorporating this technique, you can gain the power to navigate through your emotional landscape with a better understanding and compassion. Acknowledging that challenging moments and moments of improvement exist, you can start your journey towards healing and resilience. Inspired by the insights of Peter Levine and Gestalt Therapy, this practice is a potent reminder that even in the darkest moments, there is a glimmer of light; with time, that light can grow brighter.