Dynamic processing method
The Dynamic Processing Method is a different way to learn and grow. If Dynamic Trauma Integration is the destination, Dynamic Processing Method is how you get there. The heart of this model are the 4 Layers of Presence discussed elsewhere on this site in-depth. It is built on strengthening your ability to notice and shift your perception: how you see things (your internal lens), and how you interpret what’s happening to you and around you.
This is the layer trauma disturbs the most. Perception, and our identification with our perceptions, runs deeper than beliefs and insights. From an anthropological perspective, perception is connected to our worldview - the story we tell about ourselves and the world. It’s verbal and non-verbal, it lives in the body as much as in the mind, and most of the time it operates beneath conscious awareness entirely. Perception is the actual hinge between freedom and suffering - not what happened to you, but how you’ve learned to read what’s happening now.
Most therapy works through beliefs and insights. But these are built on perception, and trauma distorts perception before a thought is ever formed. This is why insights and restructuring beliefs alone often isn’t enough to change anything for the long haul. This method works one layer deeper. I teach you to work with metacognition directly - thinking about your thinking, experiencing your experiences, perceiving your own perceiving. This develops your capacity to catch the moment you start identifying with your perception and playing with that perception in order to become more flexible and open to other perspectives. In terms of trauma, this means catching when you are identifying with a defensive and protective read on reality, and learning to let it go bit by bit.
This is the bridge between in session work and real life, day-to-day, growth.
This method can be practiced individually and with others.
Any of these sound familiar?
If so, you are in the right place
Do you feel stuck with how to integrate your experiences?
Have you learned a lot, but your daily habits don’t reflect your growth?
Do you “know better”, but do it anyways?
Have you learned the skills, but don’t use them when it matters most?
Do you get tired of talking with people in the same old way?
THE PRACTICE OF LETTING GO
Underneath everything else, there is one perception running the whole show, usually without you noticing it at all: your sense of “me”. We spend lifetimes building and defending our construct of self. It is a narrative about who we are, what we are capable of, our ethics and morality, our daily habits, our sense of purpose, what’s safe and unsafe for someone like us. But how much of that is actually you, and how much is conditioned response built to survive?
What’s the point
Asking that question directly, not as a philosophy, but as a practice, closes the gap between inner and outer experiences, between self and other, between what feels alive and what’s gone numb. It reveals how much of what you take as solid reality - “that is just how it is” - is actually mind doing what it is built to do: labeling, sorting, defending. Just like we don’t see the actual color of plants, we see the color light spectrums that our eyes can see. This is just how the information processing system of our mind has evolved over millennia. Once you can see the labeling happen, you get to choose your response from what is actually here, instead of reacting from old conditioning that may have nothing to do with what’s right in front of you right now.
what happens
Here is what that looks like in practice: I might ask you to pause mid-sentence and notice what you’re attuning to in that exact moment - a thought, feeling, body sensation, urge, role you’re playing out, a story about being broken or strong, a fear you are protecting. We don’t analyze it right away. We just notice it lightly, and practice setting it down or playing with constructing other identities with it. I guide this noticing in the same order every time: breath, body, emotions, thoughts, beliefs, qualities, urges, action, and the five senses. I move from more concrete, to more abstract, and back to concrete. We start with breath and body because they are immediate and tangible. It is harder to argue with or get lost in than a thought or story. For people that dissociate frequently, this can be a tough step and we may only work here for a while. From there we move through emotions, thoughts, beliefs, qualities and actions: who you are being, what you are doing, and what how you are relating with the moment. We then begin to play with all of this by changing up the story, the worldview, and seeing what shifts in your subjective experience. This way you are not so invested in managing the old story anymore, you can meet this moment in a fresher way.
For example, if you are noticing a belief about being different isolated, I would:
Create a pause
Ask you to feel into that belief with your breath and body in this moment
Ask you to notice emotions that are active
Ask you to notice mental activity right now: memories, pictures, thoughts (words running through your mind), the speed of your mental activity, and how full your mind is with all this activity
Ask if you are aware of any other underlying beliefs making themselves known right now
Ask what qualities of the present moment you are attuning to - “it feels kind”, “it is rough and stubborn”, etc.
Ask you to notice any urges currently coming up
Ask you if you notice yourself doing anything presently
Ask you to notice all of this at once. We spend time here, there is a lot to notice.
Guide you to then notice the world around you with your senses- what you see, smell, touch, taste, and hear
Then begin playing with a bunch of what-if questions related to identity: what if that bird you hear was experiencing all those emotions? What if you are the bird? How would you respond differently to these experiences if you were the bird?
Then return to what your internal cues and notice what shifted
These steps can be repeated as often as needed. People can spend different amounts of time exploring different steps depending on what the issue is that they are unlocking. Like any skill, this gets easier with repetition. Letting go eventually becomes as natural as grasping once was - not because you stop having thoughts, feelings, roles, etc., but because you stop mistaking them for the whole of who you are.
“You gave me light when I was scared of the darkness.”