The Importance of Processing and Integration after a session
How you take in new information and make it meaningful
After most therapeutic type appointments, such as intuitive energy healing, brainspotting, counseling, hypnosis, or coaching, processing and integration of the energies and new information needs to happen after the session. Recognizing ways your brain and body best process and integrate is key to avoid resisting, rejecting, or bypassing and instead, allow you to receive maximum benefits. Let’s take a look at these two concepts via definitions and ways to use them.
Let’s start with the definition of processing that I have created that relates to a therapeutic type session.
Processing: The contemplation of an idea, experience, feelings, emotions or energies that have come into your awareness and understanding to review the meaning (or lack thereof) and determine whether it is beneficial, neutral or something to release.
When this new awareness and understanding comes up, there are multiple ways you can do this “review.” You may need to process information multiple ways, but note which one is your primary method.
Verbal Processor – prefer to talk it out loud
Talk about it with a trusted friend, partner or family member.
Record an audio or voice memo for yourself which will keep it private, but help you have that audible conversation. If you want a sounding board or to be heard, send the audio to a trusted friend, partner or family member.
If you are working with another coach or therapist, talk through what you are discovering.
Writer Processor – prefer to write it out
Keep a journal or notebook of all your thoughts and reflections that are coming up and dissect them at all angles. This is your safe haven to go as deep as you want to truly uncover the meanings.
You can also use the automatic writing technique working with your higher self or write free form where you write continuously without making any corrections and letting it flow.
Creative Processor – prefer to use hands and creativity
Doodle, draw, paint, bake, or create anything to help move the energies that are coming up and put you in a flow state.
Dream Processor – prefer dreams to process information
Keep a journal and a red light pen near your bed so if you wake up and have an epiphany, write it down.
Movement and Sound Processor – prefer to incorporate physical movement or sound
As emotions and thoughts are coming up, move in a way that helps release the energy. Run, dance, shake, walk.
Listen to music that speaks to your current process.
Neural Pathway Technique Processor – prefer to use alternative methods to process that are either unconscious or conscious
Self-techniques: meditation, self-hypnosis, self-brainspotting
Practitioner guided techniques: hypnosis, brainspotting
As you are processing, your thoughts, emotions, and body are aligning on how you want to incorporate or release the information. This is when integration can begin and many times they both are happening at the same time. Note that release is even a form of integration. You know what you don’t want to experience, feel, or have in your life.
It’s important to notice if you are looping and repeating the same information over and over again without the ability to decide what do with it, especially if it’s the same story over the course of a long time. When you are looping, you are pausing the ability to integrate. Instead, your processing becomes looping, which is where you do not want to be as that keeps you unable to move forward.
Integration
Integration has two ways it can occur, consciously or unconsciously, and most likely you are doing both of them at the same time. Many of the techniques overlap into both categories because of this reason. Integration is key, especially if this new information you’ve been processing is something you need to use to change or become more of who you want to be. It happens on the physical, mental and emotional level, just as processing does. This integration work, both conscious and unconscious is incorporated into the time line jumping/quantum leaping and working with the quantum field and is used in my Alignment package.
Conscious Integration: Becoming part of your being through repetition that is conscious (something you are aware of doing). This includes repetition in your feelings, thoughts, and sensations, and creating and sticking with a new habit. Visualization and working with the quantum field during meditation can be conscious as you are aware of the changes you are making in your energy field.
Double duty: You can consciously integrate while you are processing through methods such as writing or talking it out. By the end of the journal page or discussion, you have fully integrated what you needed and it’s complete, like a decision or something you no longer want to do.
Example #1: An exciting new job opportunity is available that you truly want and you are verbally processing (aka talking through) this possibility with your partner. As you are listing out the pros and cons, you are integrating by being in the moment of what your new workday will look like. You are integrating these new energies, feelings, thoughts, and ideas and expanding into your new possibility. Your energy is already at that new job and now all you have to do is say yes and begin.
Example #2: You realize that you need to change up your morning routine. Your current routine is no longer working for you. You are a writer processor, so you take time to write down a variety of new morning schedule ideas of how you begin your day. Conscious integration begins as you start incorporating these new habits, like getting up earlier to do 20 minutes of yoga before work.
Unconscious Integration: Becoming part of your being that happens when you are unconscious state and can include processing at the same time. This integration occurs during dreaming, sleeping, meditation, daydreaming, visualization, hypnosis, and brainspotting.
Example #1: During a brainspotting session, you are both processing on something you want to clear/change (your new awareness) and also reprogramming your neural pathways to shift and integrate it.
Example #2: Let’s go back to the above example #2 of changing your morning routine. You have written down that you need proper sleep in order to get up earlier. By setting your intention before bed that your sleep is deep and restorative and that you will wake up motivated for your 20 minutes of yoga is a way to begin thought pattern integration so you can get up and be ready your new morning. You can also unconsciously and consciously integrate by doing a visualization practice which is changing your neural pathways, seeing yourself doing your new morning routine.
After many therapeutic and energy type sessions, there can be gaps on the “what’s next” and “what do I do with this information?” Having the awareness of what your mind, body, and spirit needs to do in order to make a shift in life is imperative so you can ensure success of your appointments.
If you are interested in more tips on post session work, make sure to sign up below to download my “How to Maximize your Intuitive Energy Healing Session and Get Results.”
