A
Powerful Way to Heal:
Emotional release through the Inner Smile
Emotions
are Here to Stay
Emotions are a part of life. Some situations
lead us to feel emotions that are hard to let go of, so we end
up carrying them around with us. They take up space in our minds
and bodies, like clutter in the attic of a house. This practice
is designed to help you clean up your inner clutter.
Introduction
My name is Doug Hilton. I have a Masters degree from the University
of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I am certified at Level Two in Eye
Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. I have been training
and working in the field since 1984. At one time or another I
have specialized in working with each age group and have worked
with individuals, couples, families and groups in a variety of
settings. I have mostly focused on working with addictions, but
have also specialized in treating trauma and psychiatric issues.
I am really excited about working with Master Chia. Master Chia
is the founder of the Healing Tao in the U.S.A.
and Tao Yoga in Europe. He has also established
the Universal Healing Tao Center and Tao
Master School at Tao Garden Health Resort. This is his worldwide center for Taoist training
as well as for holistic healing, detoxification and rejuvenation.
It is in the northern Thailand countryside near
Chiang Mai.
His practices of the Tao to combine
with what I consider to be the most effective counseling approach
that the West has to offer with the incredibly effective Universal
Tao practices. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing,
called EMDR for short, was discovered in the United States by
Dr. Francine Shapiro. It involves alternating stimulation to the
senses while people focus on key aspects of old problems that
still plague them. Its use has spread around the world and has
been used to treat emotional upsets of all kinds, including such
traumas as people experience from going to war, from being in
a car accident, and from being abused physically, emotionally,
or sexually.
In
my clinical work I quickly found out that EMDR worked much quicker
and more effectively than any of the other approaches that I had
used previously. Just as promised in the training, using EMDR
brought about permanent releases of emotion even if a person was
skeptical about the process. It required no interpretation and
little clinical intervention. I have used EMDR on close to one
thousand clients, including using it in a drop-in group where
none of the participants were required to share what issues they
were working on, and I have found that it works for most people.
However, the aspect of the treatment that focuses on clearing
out any emotional effects on the body due to being upset about
the issue seemed to me to be less systematic and thorough than
the rest of the protocols. People still seemed to have hard or
sore spots in their abdomens after completing all of the EMDR
protocols. Typical of the way the West views how the mind and
body are connected; EMDR seemed to put more emphasis on the brain,
the top part of the body.
Taoism
has used eye movements for 5000 years to help balance and create
cooperation among the emotions. Taoist practices create that balance
through knowledge of how emotions are created and stored in the
internal organs. Negative emotions are not seen as sinful and
positive ones are not seen as holy. The practices emphasize creating
an environment where positive and negative emotions can work together.
Their practices view the entire body as connected.

The
brain is seen to operate similarly to the hard drive of the computer
while the organs contain the software. If there is a virus in
the system it is important to fix the hard drive and the software
or the virus will keep coming back. The Inner Smile is a basic
Taoist practice that is used to transform negative emotions that
are stored in the internal organs into positive virtues. By combining
EMDR with the Inner Smile a practice has been created that you
can do yourself that will effectively heal emotional wounds in
both the mind and the body.

Why
Eye Movements Work
The eyes are an outer extension of the brain.
They have a close connection to both the parasympathetic and sympathetic
nervous systems. in fact, the eyes are so important that 4 out
of 12 of the cranial nerves are involved solely with vision and
eye muscle movement.
Your eyes provide information to
your brain in the shortest and most direct route possible. At
many points in the practice you will be asked to move your eyes
in particular ways so that you can work through your emotions
more effectively. If you have eye problems or experience discomfort
while trying to perform the eye movements, you can use the Butterfly
method instead. Simply cross your arms over your chest so that
your fingers reach your shoulders. Then alternate between tapping
on your left and right shoulders instead of looking left and right
with your eyes.

What
To Expect
By following the instructions on this CD
you will be guided through the questions you need to answer in
order to be prepared. Then you will go through two of the sections
of the Inner Smile, which involve clearing out and energizing
nervous system and your digestive system. Then we will use the
EMDR practice to reprocess your feelings about a problem you have
had by first helping you create a secure place inside yourself,
then build up your inner sense of being supported by others in
your efforts, then remove your negative feelings and beliefs about
the problem, and then build up your positive beliefs and feelings
toward it. In the last part of the practice we will return to
the Inner Smile and transform any negative feelings or body sensations
in your internal organs into positive ones. Despite the effectiveness
of the combined practice, be aware that you could still have negative
feelings come up in the process and people sometimes feel a bit
emotionally drained after it is over. Use this CD on a day when
you are confident that you will be able to take whatever time
you need for the rest of the day to recuperate. Keep in mind that
you should stop the process and repeat the Safe Pl ace part of
the practice if you feel overwhelmed at any point. The purpose
of the practice is to help you remove emotional wounds, not add
to them.
Please
also remember that you are the one in control of this practice.
This process taps into your ability to heal yourself. The practice
just guides you through the process. It is also important to know
that each person will have a unique experience of the practice.
You may experience thoughts, feelings, body sensations, or some
combination of those experiences. Your mind may also seem like
it is jumping around a lot. Some people experience nothing at
times. Sometimes people are quite emotional at the beginning of
the processing and then their emotions quickly subside. Others
take some time to access emotions and then they dissolve slowly.
Avoid judging whether or not you think the process is working
or you are doing it right. Whatever happens is the right experience
for you. All of those experiences are natural in this process.
Please do not stop the practice if you are questioning whether
or not you are doing it right.
The
purpose of this practice is to produce permanent relief from the
emotions that you have had toward your problem. It does not require
that you believe it will work in order for you to benefit from
it. If you are skeptical, just suspend your judgments while you
follow the instructions as best you can and judge the effectiveness
of the practice after you have completed all of the activities.
The Preparation
Before you begin the practice, please take out a sheet of paper
and write down your answers to the following questions. You will
be using your answers in the practice.
First,
what issue (if any) would you like to work on? If this is your
first time doing this practice, you may want to listen to the
CD with no particular issue in mind or choose a relatively minor
issue in your life so that you will be more likely to have an
experience that is not too emotional the first time. However,
having said that, be warned that issues can sometimes seem small
at first but end up being quite emotional once you start examining
them, in a similar manner to how the tip of an iceberg that pokes
up out of the water can give one a deceiving impression of how
big the entire iceberg is.
Now
write down your answer to this next question: What picture represents
the worst part of that issue? Describe the scene as if it is a
snapshot of a moment in time. If you cannot decide what the worst
part of the issue was, take a moment to sit back with your eyes
closed and allow your mind to float back in time as you think
about the issue until you remember your first memory about it
and write that down as your answer instead.
This
next question might sound like it implies that you are to blame
for your problem, but that is not what it is trying to determine.
Part of the reason that we have difficulty letting go of an issue
is because somewhere deep down inside of us there is a faulty
belief that we should have been able to prevent or stop the problem
from happening. You know that you should not think that way, but
you still do. The following question tries to find out what belief
is keeping your problem stuck to you: When you think about that
picture of the worst (or first) part of your problem, what negative
belief do you have about yourself now? Please write down your
answer. Usually this type of deep-rooted belief can be written
in very few words and starts with “I am…”. If
your answer describes something about the situation or another
person instead of describing you, try again. Examples of suitable
answers would be: “I am stupid”, “I don’t
deserve…”, “I am not loveable”, “I
am not safe”, “I cannot stand up for myself”,
or “I am not good enough”.
Now
write down what, ideally, you would rather believe about yourself
now when you think about this issue after the practice is over.
You may not be able to believe that statement yet. Again, your
answer should be in the form of “I…”. Your answer
might be the exact opposite of the negative belief that you wrote
down before it, or it may be a whole new statement.
Next,
please write down the numbers one through seven across your page
from left to right. This scale represents how true the ideal belief
statement that you just wrote down feels to you right now. Circling
the number one would mean that you do not believe your ideal belief
statement at all. Circling the number seven would indicate that
the statement feels totally true to you already. Circle the number
that suits your feelings the best. If your choice is the number
seven, your ideal belief statement many not be ambitious enough.
You can change it if you like. Feel free to aim for the best belief
about yourself that you could possibly have when you think about
that picture.
For
your next response, ask yourself “When you think about the
negative picture, what emotions do you feel now?. Write down your
answers.
The
next question you need to answer in order to be prepared to do
the practice is “On a scale from 0 to 10 where 0 is no disturbance
or neutral and 10 is the most disturbed that you can imagine feeling,
how disturbing does the picture feel to you now?”. Write
down the number that fits your feelings the best.
The
last question is: “Where do you feel those emotions in your
body?”. You may feel it in more than one place. Write down
your answers.
Congratulations.
You have answered all of the questions. Now keep your answers
close by so you can read them when they are required during the
practice. Now find a quiet and comfortable place to sit and we
will start the practice.
Three
Minds into One Mind
Now we will bring three minds into one mind. We will begin by
synchronizing the two sides of the brain, the First Mind. Hold
the bridge of your nose with your thumb and middle finger. Let
your index finger rest on your third eye, between your eyebrows.
Move your eyes left and right for ten sets, looking left and right
inside your brain.
Now
you can bring your hand down and relax with your hands clasped
in your lap. Sit on the edge of your chair so that your sexual
organs are able to receive energy from the ground more efficiently.
Now smile. Lift up the corners of your mouth and eyes. Allow yourself
to feel the warm, energizing energy of your smile as it starts
to flow throughout your face and head and throughout your whole
body. Smiling has been shown to produce incredible healing effects
on the body. Bring your focus to your forehead, the Center of
Happiness. Allow that feeling to flow down your face and neck,
over your thymus gland just below your sternum notch, and then
flow over your heart. Sink your mind slowly down to your heart.
The heart is the Lord of all the Organs. It is also the Center
of Peace and the Second Mind. Smiling to your heart reduces feelings
of hastiness, impatience, and hatred and increases feelings of
love, joy, gratefulness, appreciation, and respect. Look left
and right inside your heart for ten sets. Always move your eyes
at a pace that feels comfortable for you. Keep the pace even and
move your eyes as far in each direction directly left or right
as you can without straining your eye muscles. Keep your head
still while you move your eyes.
Now
move your smiling energy and your mind down the center of your
chest toward your navel. The region about 1.5 inches behind your
navel, just in front of your kidneys, is your Third Mind. It is
referred to as the lower tan tien. There are actually more neurons
in your lower tan tien than there are in your head. The lower
tan tien is the Center of Control. Breathe deeply. Allow your
focus to sink deeper and deeper into your tan tien, exploring
your inner universe.
The
Inner Smile – The Digestive System
You can use the Inner Smile to heal, energize and protect your
digestive system. Smile and move your tongue around in your mouth
along your gums, massaging your gums until you get a mouthful
of saliva built up. Then tighten your neck, exhale, and then swallow
down hard so that the saliva is pushed down your esophagus. Follow
your saliva as it travels down your throat, through your esophagus,
through all the bends of your small and large intestines, and
then ending up at your perineum between your sexual organs and
your anus. With practice you can see and feel more and more of
what happens inside of you. Feel the saliva warming and lubricating
your entire digestive system.
The
Inner Smile – The Nervous System
Now you can direct the smiling energy all the way down your spinal
cord and throughout your nervous system. Smile and focus at the
base of your skull. Now slowly move the warm, smiling energy down
your cervical vertebrae to your neck. Keep flowing the energy
down, moving through all of your thoracic vertebrae. Then you
can keep going down through all of your lumbar vertebrae, and
then all five bones of your sacrum. You stop at your coccyx, your
tailbone. Now breathe deeply in and out and feel the energy moving
throughout your whole nervous system.
Creating
Inner Safety
Now we are going to start building you up inside for the work
to come. This first short exercise is called the Creating Inner
Safety. Picture a time when you felt safe and happy. Picture the
image outside of you and then breathe it into your forehead. Be
careful to pick a place that was not ever the scene of something
upsetting for you, or those upset feelings might resurface when
you do the processing. Now close your eyes and move them left
and right for about ten sets and then stop. Good. Now reflect
on what happened in the processing. Now go to where you left off
at the end of the last set and move your eyes for ten more sets.
That’s it. Again, reflect on what happened in the last process.
How do you feel? Okay, let’s do it one more time. Return
to wherever you left off in the last set, then move your eyes
back and forth for another ten sets. Go ahead. That’s good.
Now reflect on what happened while you were moving your eyes.
How do you feel now? Often people feel quite relaxed after doing
this exercise. This gives you a sense of what happens in the processing.
Now that you know how to do this part you can do it whenever you
want. In public you can tap on your knees instead of moving your
eyes or tapping on your shoulders. Remember to stop after about
ten sets each time.
Creating
Internal Support
Now we will move into the Creating Internal Support phase. Think
about the people you would like to bring into your safe place
for support and inspiration if you could. Your support network
can be any number of people. The people can be real or fictional,
alive or dead, famous or not. Bring in anyone you like. You can
also bring in symbols, words, or other objects if they will help
you feel strong and confident in your safe place. Put them wherever
you want in your safe place and imagine that whatever you want
to feel or acquire from them is automatically transmitted to you
when you start the processing. Now go ahead and start the eye
movements again, moving your eyes left and right for about ten
sets and then stop. Reflect on what you experienced during the
processing. If it seemed like the presence of one or more of your
supports upset you instead of inspired you, take them out of your
safe place before you start the next set of eye movements. Now
return in your mind to where you left off during the last process
and move your eyes for another ten sets. Good. Now stop again
and take a little time to reflect on what happened. If you have
been looking at the situation from your eyes up until now, switch
your perspective now so that you are looking at yourself in your
safe place. See yourself looking strong and confident. Good. Now
start the processing again, moving your eyes left and right for
ten more sets. That’s good. Take a moment to reflect on
how you feel now. Often people feel quite good at this point.
Congratulations. You have completed another part of the healing
process.
Now
we will move on to the part that people are often anxious to reach,
where we remove the negative feelings that are associated with
a particular event from your past and replace them with more positive
ones. From this point forward you will need to refer to the answers
that you wrote down to the set of questions that were posed at
the beginning of the CD. Remember as we go into this part of the
practice that everyone has different responses to the processing,
none of which are wrong. Try not to judge your experience. Please
also remember that if you feel overwhelmed you can stop at any
time. If that happens, stop the processing and quickly focus on
your safe place to calm yourself down. You can do the eye movements
to enhance the effects of the Safe Place if you like. Also, if
at any point in the processing you seem to get the same results
over and over you can return to your original image when you start
the next set of eye movements. That often helps to start your
mind sorting out a new area of your problem.
Negative
Emotional Release
The first part of that process is called the Negative Emotional
Release phase. It involves removing the negative feelings you
have toward the problem you chose. You will notice that the sets
of eye movements are longer in this phase, using sets of twenty
movements instead of sets of ten. In order to set up the processing
properly you need to recall all the negative aspects of your problem
that you listed in your responses to the questions that were asked
of you earlier. These include the picture of the worst or first
part of the issue, the negative belief you have about yourself
when you think about the picture, the negative emotions that arise
when you think of the picture, and the location of those feelings.
Hold as much of those four aspects of your issue as you can and
then start the eye movements, this time moving your eyes left
and right for about twenty sets instead of ten. Good. That’s
it. Now stop, blank out the image and take a deep breath. Reflect
on what happened during the processing. Some people will experience
little or nothing for the first couple of processes. Now return
in your mind to where you left off in the processing and start
the eye movements for approximately another twenty sets. That’s
it. Good.
Now
blank out the experience and take a deep, cleansing breath. Reflect
on what happened while your eyes were moving. Now keep repeating
this process until you are sure that when you think about the
negative image that you started with you feel completely undisturbed
by it. If you notice that you have negative feelings in your body
when you are doing the eye movements you can help remove those
feelings by putting one or both hands where the discomfort is
while you do the eye movements. Remember, if you seem to get stuck
in the processing where you get the exact same experience each
time you do the eye movements, you can go back to the original
picture when you start the next set. You can pause the disc now
while you complete the Desensitization Phase. Go ahead and pause
the CD now.
Increasing
Positive Emotions
The next phase is called the Increasing Positive Emotions phase.
This is when you build up the thoughts and feelings that you would
like to have when you think about your problem situation in the
future. First you need to check to make sure that the positive
belief that you wrote down that you would rather have about yourself
is still the one you would like to enhance within you. If you
can think of a belief that you would rather have now, go ahead
and change it. Just make sure it fits the criteria that were described
earlier for a suitable belief for this exercise. It should be
as short as possible and start with “I…”. Rate
how true the desired belief statement that you wrote down earlier
feels to you now on a scale from one to seven, where seven means
that the belief feels totally true to you. If it is already rated
a seven, go on to the next section, the Body Scan. If it is less
than seven, you will proceed with the Positive Installation Phase.
Think about the original negative picture that you started with
in the last section and also think about the positive belief that
you have chosen. It might be difficult to see the original picture
now. Just do the best you can. Now you can start the processing
again using the eye movements, but this time only move them for
about ten sets. Go ahead. Good. Reflect on what you got when you
did the processing, then return to where you left off and move
your eyes for another ten sets. That’s it. Keep repeating
the process until the positive belief feels completely true to
you when you think of the original picture that you chose. You
can pause the CD now and complete the process before moving on
to the next section. Go ahead.
Now
we will start processing the event out of your body in this next
section, which is called the Body Scan. Close your eyes, think
about the original picture that you chose, and mentally scan your
entire body. Take note of wherever you feel anything, positive
or negative. If you have a positive feeling, touch that place
in your body with your hands and do the eye movements using sets
of ten. If the feeling is negative, touch where you feel it and
then process it with your eyes using sets of twenty eye movements.
Then reflect on what happened in the processing and then do another
set of the same number of eye movements. Keep repeating the process
until the negative feeling is completely gone or the positive
feeling does not improve with any more processing. Do not be surprised
if the feeling in your body moves around during the processing.
Well done. You have accomplished a lot already.
Inner Smile – The Heart
The next section of the practice has to do with ensuring that
all of the places where your upsetting memory was recorded are
cleared out so that there is no way for it to affect you again
in the future. We will start by focusing on your heart. Look,
listen, and feel inside your heart as you breathe slowly and deeply.
Think about the original picture you chose that represented the
worst or first part of your problem. The color of the energy of
the heart is red. Look for any cloudy color and pay attention
to any bad memories that come up when you focus on the heart.
Experiences in which you felt impatience, hastiness, or hatred
tend to be stored in the heart. Whatever you find, once you notice
it just focus on it, smile to your heart and move your eyes, looking
left and right inside your heart for about twenty sets. Then stop
and look to see if there is anything negative left there. If there
is, process it away with the eye movements for another twenty
sets. Keep repeating the process until nothing else comes up when
you focus on your heart other than the bright red energy and feelings
of joy and love. Pause the CD now if you need to in order to complete
the process. Go ahead.
Inner
Smile – The Spleen, Pancreas and Stomach
Now focus on your forehead, move your attention slowly down to
your heart, and then blend the energy you have collected with
your spleen, pancreas and stomach. Your spleen is located under
the left side of your lower rib cage. Memories that involved feelings
of worry, over-thinking, and negative thinking tend to be stored
in your spleen. The energy in your spleen, pancreas and stomach
is a bright yellow. By blending the energy from your Center of
Happiness and your Center of Peace with them, you can transform
some of the worry and dark, cloudy color into the virtue energies
of openness and trust. You can process away any remaining negativity
by using the eye movements. Think about your original picture
and then look, listen, and feel inside your spleen, pancreas and
stomach. Move your eyes left and right as you look inside your
spleen, pancreas and stomach for sets of twenty movements. You
can pause the CD now in order to completely process away any negative
energy in those organs. Go ahead.
Inner
Smile – The Lungs
Good. The next organs to be reprocessed are the lungs. Breathe
the happy energy into your forehead, then move it slowly to the
region of the heart and blend the happy energy with the loving
energy there. Then move the energy from the heart so that it’s
radiance is shining into your lungs. The energy of the lungs is
white. Bad memories tend to be stored in the lungs if they involved
feelings of grief, sadness, loss, or depression. Now think about
your original picture and look, listen, and feel inside your lungs
for any negative feelings or experiences or any dark and cloudy
color. Process away anything negative that you discover using
sets of twenty eye movements, looking left and right inside your
lungs, until all that is left is a bright white energy around
the lungs and feelings or courage and righteousness. Healing your
lungs will help you to know what the right thing is to do and
to have the courage to act on that knowledge. You can pause the
CD now until you have completely transformed the negative energy
in your lungs. Go ahead.
Inner
Smile – The Kidneys
You can now move your attention from your forehead to your heart
and then to the area of your kidneys. Your kidneys are bean-shaped
and are on both sides of your navel just below your rib cage.
The energy of your kidneys is a dark blue color. The kidneys tend
to store memories in which there are feelings of fear associated
with them. Blending the loving and happy energy with the kidneys
and processing away bad memories that are stored in them returns
the kidneys to their natural, healthy state, producing a beautiful
dark blue energy, feelings of strong willpower, and the virtues
of kindness and gentleness. Think about your original picture
and then look, listen, and feel inside your kidneys. Process away
any cloudy color or bad memories with sets of twenty eye movements,
looking left and right inside your kidneys. Pause the CD again
until you have completely cleared out your kidneys. Go ahead.
Inner
Smile – The Sexual Organs
Now that your heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys have been cleared
out of negative energy you can turn your focus toward your sexual
organs. Allow the happy, smiling energy from your forehead to
flow down to your heart, blend with the loving energy in your
heart, and then flow down to your sexual organs and blend the
energies there as you breathe slowly and deeply. The energy of
your sexual organs is a bright pink color. Smile to your sexual
organs. Reprocessing the memories stored in your sexual organs
using sets of twenty eye movements transforms memories that contained
feelings of guilt and shame and a dark, cloudy color into feelings
or vitality and freedom. Think about your original picture while
you look, listen, and feel inside your sexual organs. Notice any
dark, cloudy color, feelings of guilt or shame, or upsetting memories
that arise. Process away the negative memories using sets of twenty
eye movements as you look left and right inside your sexual organs.
Go ahead and pause the CD now until you completely reprocess your
sexual organs.
Inner
Smile – The Liver
Well done. The next organ to be addressed is the liver. Your liver
is a large organ that can store a lot of emotion and experience.
It is located under the right side of your ribcage and is triangular
in shape, reaching across your chest to just past the middle of
your ribcage on the left-hand side. The energy of the liver is
bright green. Memories involving feelings of anger, frustration,
jealousy and envy tend to be stored in the liver. Processing with
the loving and happy energy and the eye movements allows the liver
to dissolve any dark, cloudy color around it and to transform
any negative memories into feelings of kindness, generosity, and
forgiveness. Flow the healing energy down from your forehead to
your heart and then blend the happy, loving energy with the energy
of the liver. Smile to your liver. Now think about your original
picture and look, listen, and feel inside your liver for any negative
feelings or dark and cloudy color. Process away any unwanted feelings
or any energy using sets of twenty eye movements, looking left
and right inside your liver. Repeat the sets of eye movements
until the liver is completely cleaned out and energized. Pause
the CD while you complete the processing. Go ahead.
Examining
Your Abdomen
Now think about your original picture and physically feel around
in your abdomen to see if there is any tightness, tension, or
any knots or tangles there. Any pain like that is an indication
that you may still have emotions locked up in your body. If you
find a tight or sore spot, just massage that spot while you focus
on it and look inside it, moving your eyes left and right as you
look inside the painful spot for sets of twenty movements. Keep
doing that until all of the spots have been processed away.
Gaining
Perspective
Excellent. Now allow your mind to float slowly up until it is
high above you. Now look down at the problem situation that you
have addressed in this practice today. Ask yourself, is there
another way to look at or resolve the situation that you have
not considered? Is there another perspective that you could take
that would help you to let go of any remaining thoughts or feelings
that you have about the situation? You may want to write down
any insights that you have gained as a result of this exercise
so that you do not forget them.
Congratulations.
You have completed the entire practice. Remember to relax and
take it easy for the rest of the day so that the healing you have
done can be fully absorbed by your body.