What Actually Happens in an EMDR Session?

First, an EMDR session usually starts with a quick check-in so you and your therapist agree on today’s focus.

Next, you choose a specific memory or theme and notice the feelings, beliefs, and body sensations that go with it.

Then, you do short sets of bilateral stimulation (eye movements, taps, or tones) while you track what changes.

After each set, you briefly share what you notice. As a result, the memory often feels less intense over time.

Finally, you and your therapist help your nervous system settle and make a plan for the rest of your day.

People often ask about EMDR after hearing that it is powerful, different, or intense. The question underneath is usually simple.

What is it actually like to be in an EMDR session?

This is not hypnosis. You stay conscious and present. Instead of guiding you to relive the past dramatically, your therapist helps you stay grounded while you notice what comes up. Throughout the session, you remain aware, oriented, and in control.

An EMDR session is structured, paced, and collaborative. Nothing happens without your consent or participation.

Before Any Processing Begins

EMDR does not start with eye movements.

However, an EMDR session is not a performance test. Instead, you simply report what you notice, and your therapist helps you stay oriented. For example, you might name a feeling, a memory detail, or a body sensation. Meanwhile, the structure keeps the work steady and predictable. As a result, many people feel more control and less overwhelm.

Early sessions focus on your nervous system, your history, and how you respond to stress. During this phase, you build regulation skills, containment, and internal resources. This step matters. Without it, processing can feel overwhelming or ineffective.

You and your therapist identify what feels safe to work on and what does not. Together, you choose targets intentionally. EMDR is not about opening everything at once.

If your system is not ready for trauma processing, your therapist does not push EMDR forward. Preparation is part of the treatment, not a delay.

What the Session Structure Looks Like

When EMDR processing does occur, the session follows a predictable structure.

Your therapist asks you to bring to mind a specific memory, image, sensation, belief, or emotional state. You do not need to describe it in detail. In many sessions, you do very little talking.

While holding that material lightly in awareness, you engage in bilateral stimulation. This may involve eye movements, alternating taps, or alternating sounds. The stimulation is rhythmic and brief. It occurs in sets, with pauses in between.

After each set, your therapist asks what you notice. You might mention a thought, an image, a body sensation, or an emotional shift. There is no correct response. You do not need to analyze or explain.

The therapist tracks how your nervous system is responding and adjusts the pace accordingly.

What It Feels Like Internally

Experiences during EMDR vary.

Some people notice memories shifting, images changing, or emotions moving through more quickly than expected. Others experience physical sensations, spontaneous insights, or a sense of distance from material that previously felt overwhelming.

EMDR does not focus on reliving the past. Instead, it helps the brain reprocess stuck material. Many people feel surprised by how little effort this takes once they feel ready and resourced.

Throughout the session, you stay aware of where you are. At any point, you can pause or stop. Most importantly, you stay in control.

Is EMDR Hypnosis?

No.

EMDR does not involve suggestion, altered consciousness, or trance states in the way hypnosis is typically understood. You are fully awake and able to speak, move, and make choices throughout the session.

What changes is how the brain is processing information, not your level of awareness.

Does It Feel Intense?

Sometimes. Not always.

When EMDR is done with appropriate preparation and pacing, distress stays within a tolerable range. Emotional activation rises and falls rather than escalating. The therapist’s role is to keep the system within that window.

If your activation rises too high, you and your therapist slow down or pause. Then you return to grounding and regulation skills. EMDR should not push you past your capacity.

What Happens After the Session?

After EMDR sessions, people often notice shifts that continue between appointments. Emotional reactions may feel quieter. Triggers may lose intensity. Memories may feel more distant or neutral.

Some people feel tired. Others feel clearer. There is no single “correct” after-effect.

Containment is always addressed before the session ends so that material does not spill into daily life.

EMDR Is Not One Thing

Not every EMDR session looks the same.

Some sessions focus on preparation and stabilization. Others involve active processing. Some involve working with parts of the system or relational themes rather than single events.

The process adapts to what your nervous system can tolerate and what it needs.

How This Is Approached at LK Institute

At LK Institute, therapists use EMDR intentionally—and only when your system is ready.

Our Trauma Readiness IOP and counseling services are designed to help people understand not just what EMDR is, but when and how it should be used. Much of our work focuses on building the stability and capacity required for processing to be effective rather than overwhelming.

For some clients, EMDR becomes a central part of treatment early on. For others, your therapist introduces it later. Either way, your therapist paces the work to your nervous system, not to a protocol timeline.

EMDR is not about losing control or being taken somewhere against your will.

It is a structured way of helping the brain do what it could not do before, under conditions that make integration possible.

Learn more: https://lkinstitute.com/counseling | EMDRIA: https://www.emdria.org/