What to Expect from an EMDR Intensive

Do 50-minute therapy sessions feel too short for you? If you’re seeking extended time for deep, focused healing, EMDR intensives may offer the support you need. 

What is an EMDR intensive?

Have you ever dreamed of flying across the globe and landing refreshed and ready to explore? For many seeking to heal from trauma, EMDR therapy offers a similar journey – though instead of traveling the world, you’re traveling to the undiscovered places within your psyche.

Traditional weekly sessions can resemble taking a flight with multiple layovers.

Each EMDR session involves revisiting the airport, going through security, boarding, and taking off, within the span of 50 minutes. Each week, you repeat the same process. While progress is made, it may feel fragmented and slow.

An EMDR intensive flips the script. It’s the psychological equivalent of hopping on a direct, long-distance flight.

You skip the layovers and spend most of your time in the air, moving in the direction you need to go. You cover vast distances efficiently. 

Instead of weekly 50-minute sessions spread out over months, you dedicate several focused hours to EMDR processing, across 2 or more days.

Intensive therapy allows you to dive deeper, faster — potentially accelerating your healing journey.

It’s an opportunity to experience significant progress that would typically take longer to achieve in weekly therapy.

Here’s what to expect from an EMDR intensive. 

1. We’ll prepare & craft a plan together.

During your intake session, we’ll discuss your goals, identify memories to process through EMDR, and personalize the intensive program based on your needs. I’ll ask you questions like:

• What is bothering or distressing you the most, right now?

• What themes in your life would you like to explore? (Relationships, self-esteem, childhood, family, culture, community, identity, grief, transitions, finances, physical health, etc.)

• What do your coping mechanisms, resources, and support network look like? 

• What is your processing style? Do you like to verbalize your thoughts & feelings? Or do you process better in silence, through art, through music, or another medium? 

Based on your answers, we’ll co-create a map for your intensive therapy experience. 

2. You’ll engage in self-care before, during, and after the intensive experience.

Before your Intensive

Prioritize adequate sleep, healthy meals, and activities that bring you joy and relaxation. This might include walking in nature, taking a hot bath or shower, reading a book for pleasure, exploring your hobbies, or spending time with loved ones. Nourishing yourself physically and emotionally creates a solid foundation for intensive work.

During the Intensive

I’ll check in with you throughout our time together, paying attention to your verbal and nonverbal cues. Our intensive program is fluid, not rigid – meaning there’s plenty of time for bathroom breaks, movement and stretching, grounding exercises, and resourcing practices (such as Calm Place and Healing Light Stream), in response to your body’s needs. These self-care breaks are not interruptions, but essential parts of the process. 

After

You may feel tired after your EMDR intensive, since your brain will have done a lot of processing by then. Be kind and gentle with yourself. Don’t schedule any major events or tasks right after your intensive – give yourself the rest of the day to relax and integrate. You might journal your experiences, continue self-care practices, or utilize the resourcing skills that you developed during the program.

3. We’ll have plenty of time for deep processing.

EMDR intensives offer dedicated time for memory reprocessing and brain-body healing. This doesn’t imply constant emotional intensity. Rather, it’s focused healing work with plenty of space to breathe, reflect, and ground your senses. 

As an evidence-based trauma treatment, EMDR involves recalling disturbing memories while simultaneously engaging in bilateral stimulation (through back-and-forth eye movements, alternating sounds in the ears, or tapping your hands on opposite sides of the body).

This helps the brain and body to reprocess the memories, reducing their negative emotional impact and allowing for healthier integration into your overall life story. 

Remember, processing happens at your own pace. It’s not a race to “get over it” quickly. I’ll adjust the pace of the work to match your processing style and brain-body needs. 

4. We can incorporate ritual & ceremony as desired.

Some people find that incorporating rituals or ceremonies into their EMDR experience enhances the healing process. This could look like: lighting a candle together, having a ceremonial cup of tea, creating a sacred space, using symbolic objects, acknowledging the presence of guides and ancestors, incorporating cultural and ancestral practices, and more. 

There are many ways to bridge ancient wisdom and modern psychotherapy, if you so choose. Therapy doesn’t have to be a blank-slate process, devoid of personal meaning. As a holistic and culturally sensitive therapist, I welcome you to bring your world into the therapy process, so that we can create a space that works for you.

5. Beyond the intensive: you may experience subtle processing in the following hours, days, and weeks.

Be mindful of subtle changes in your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. You might feel a range of emotions, or notice energy moving around your nervous system. You might catch yourself reframing negative beliefs, speaking more kindly to yourself, or finding solutions to problems that previously seemed insurmountable.

Post-intensive, you might feel less weighed down by the past, emotionally and physically.

These are all signs that your brain and body are rewiring and recalibrating themselves. 

If you’re interested in EMDR intensives for accelerated healing, let’s connect.

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Therapy services are available virtually, for adults located in Colorado. 

About the Author

I’m Liz Zhou, a holistic trauma therapist (MA, LPCC, she/her). My work integrates teachings from psychology, neurobiology, multicultural awareness, and spirituality. I provide compassionate therapy for highly sensitive people across Colorado.