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EMDR: New Performance Enhancement

Rochelle Brooks had feared the water her entire life. She took swimming lessons almost every year of her life from childhood onward — and always dropped out. She went on family boating trips and never left the boat. She had given up on herself as far as the water was con­cerned. But working as the top editorial assistant at Ms. Fitness Magazine had put her in a precarious position. In her job, she was always being confronted with stories about people who had conquered their fears and overcome phobias and there she was — a quitter! Then she met Dr. Sherrie Raz.

Dr. Raz had taught seminars at the June 2000 FITCAMP and Rochelle was im­pressed. In particular, she liked what Dr. Raz had to say about creating breakthroughs in life. When Rochelle heard that Dr. Raz was returning to Los Angeles later last summer for some private sessions with clients, she decided to try the doctor's techniques one-on-one.

Dr. Raz flew into Los Angeles from her private practice in Boca Raton, F!. and she and Rochelle had a session at a swimming pool in the San Fernando Valley. Within fifteen minutes Rochelle had her head fully submerged fully underwater- something she could not have formerly done. As they progressed through the "lesson" Dr. Raz continued to use some of the EMDR tech­niques she uses in her practice. She asked Rochelle to hold her hands while she mentally simulated an anxiety-provoking situation, all the while maintaining strict eye contact.

Within the next hour, Rochelle was swimming on top of the water, under the water, stroking like a butterfly and relaxing in spite of her former phobia. During the following weeks, as Rochelle showed her newfound ease in the water to friends and family, they were amazed.

Dr. Raz's work reduces anxiety about nearly any situation. She has been a prac­ticing psychotherapist for twenty eight years in the United States and Europe, uti­lizing a hi-tech combination of movement and sound to enhance her belief in the power of the individual to heal herself.

'Traumatic experiences at any age can be stored in the body in a variety of ways often and they often provoke a debilitating emotional reaction at some later point in life," Dr. Raz explains.

"My method was developed as a way to reduce the stored trauma in order to re­lieve the blockage that anxiety causes, thereby increasing focus and creativity," she adds.

To do this she uses a combination of traditional Psychological methods with a more high tech component called bilater­al stimulation. It is an aural element or technique which stimulates both sides of the brain using sound. This element of the therapy allows a person to perceive situa­tions in a new light , without distraction, and permits, she believes, ease in finding solutions to problems.

Dr. Raz claims only to be a facilitator of this method, which she developed using a combination of Eye Movement Desensiti­zation (EMD) developed by Francine Shapiro-Shapiro's work has been docu­mented as effective by the Harvard Medi­cal School- and Body Healing developed by Peter Levine. She also uses Music Ther­apy in her practice. The aim of this non-in­trusive therapy is to first reduce anxiety, then to find the source of trauma, and re­lease it through movement- while becom­ing conscious of its source. This is then fol­lowed up with repetition and positive feed­back exercises to maintain the positive effects of the work.

On another, more recent visit to Los Angeles, Dr. Raz — who is a former President of the Green Cross, which is an international trauma institute — visited with an agoraphobic woman who had been unable to leave her house for fear of having massive anxiety attacks in public. The agoraphobic woman was also unable to sleep at night. Following a session during which the woman was taught how to use the bilateral stimulation for herself, she began to sleep at night and also made several excursions out, including going to a restaurant for dinner.

"That was a great success for both me and the patient," Dr. Raz explains, "because she experienced such a rapid success."

She adds, "Of course, this is not an all encompassing cure-all, and often it takes much more than one session for the thera­peutic benefits to take place, however the simple reduction in anxiety that the tech­nology induces can often allow the patient to overcome blocks and help themselves fairly rapidly."

Most recently Dr. Raz has become fo­cused specifically on her work with per­forming artists and athletes around the world. Several years ago she founded and presided over the International Association for Psychology and the Performing Arts, an institute of doctors from around the world concentrating on the specific needs of the performing community. Her clinical practice and research with performers has spurred the innovative psychological ap­proach for performers called EQ Performance Enhancement, which blends traditional coaching with the more modern technological methods discussed previously. EQ helps performers relieve audition anxiety and enhance their creative ability to focus, and build a character to a point of truth in expression. For athletes, Dr. Raz's approach can spell the difference between a win and a second place finish in a competition.

Doctor Raz teaches a course in the Theatre Department of Florida Atlantic University called, "Psychology and Perfor­mance". She will be giving a workshop in Los Angeles on February 16th and 17th at the Renegade Theatre in LA focusing on the needs of stage and film actors. She has been featured at FITCAMP and other health symposiums as a leader in a new field called Sports Performance Enhance­ment Specialists.

Dr. Raz is available for private sessions or group programs and can be reached at her Boca Raton office.