Compendium of emotional connection principles and practices

I came across Raphael Cushnir's site recently and wanted to share this excellent list of emotional connection principles and practices, they are ideal for use with Emotional Freedom Techniques.

Essential Terms:

Contraction a temporary system lockdown, experienced
either as tension (fight/flight) or numbness (freeze).

Expansion a quality of openness and flow. It coexists naturally
with positive emotions, but it can also coexist with any emotion.
Emotional connection of any kind produces expansion.

Addiction/Compulsion the continuous use of any substance
or activity to create disconnection from one’s emotions.

Advanced practices for challenging emotions:

Breath – Use actual breath and/or your mind’s eye. Inhale directly into the stuck bodily sensation. Exhale through that same place, helping to restore inner space and flow.
Posture-movement-sound – Express the internal “vibration” of an emotion by translating it into these external forms.
Touch – Place a gentle hand on a tense or otherwise uncomfortable physical spot. Keep your hand still or caress the spot lightly.
Direct Inquiry – Let the contraction or emotion speak directly, unmediated by thoughts and concepts. Hear the emotion’s “voice” to support acceptance of its subjective truth.
Cradling – Cultivate a quality of emotional attention that resembles the spacious, caring way a parent instinctively holds a distressed infant.
Mental detachment – Maintain an even-keeled awareness of thoughts, beliefs and stories that arise while practicing 2 X 2. Rather than pushing them away or getting lost in them, simply note their presence, along with any immediate response they produce, and then return your focus to emotional flow. continue reading