EMDR is getting popular. You're seeing it on social media and celebrities are talking about it (We see you, Prince Harry!). It is important to first tell you that while people are vaguely familiar with the eye movement portion of EMDR, it is much more than just a simple therapy technique. It's a whole psychotherapy. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a therapy designed to help people relieve their emotional distress from traumatic life events. The basic principle of EMDR is that our brains have the capacity to heal themselves when given the opportunity to do so. Most people who are familiar with EMDR know that it involves bilateral stimulation, which means activating both sides of the brain through simple, gentle movements or other stimulus. Moving your eyes back and forth with the guide of a lightbar, holding tappers in both hands, or hearing tones in alternating ears activates both brain hemispheres and allows you to maintain a dual awareness of the present moment and to consider a painful memory simultaneously. This allows you to process your trauma in a way that encourages all the healthy and adaptive information to link up with the traumatic memory, allowing your brain the chance to use its healing properties to metabolize the traumatic memory for you to feel better about yourself and safer in your world.