The beginning of my Heartstream Process® Journey
It was May 2015, and I was going through the painful process of separating from my husband of 22 years. It had been a year of a great deal of fear, even terror, about going it alone and supporting my two daughters. I had just become certified as an EFT practitioner, leaving my legal career behind, when my trainer and mentor, Michele Hart, invited me to her home over Takaka Hill for a weekend of EFT.
Arriving at Michele's home, I felt so safe and nurtured. After settling into her soft, cosy sofa with a warm cup of tea for a personal session, Michele suggested, in her kind, soft voice, “I’d like to try something new; is that okay?”.
Michele had recently been on an NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) course and was keen to bring it into her work with EFT tapping. Of course, I was open and enthused; I always loved new ways of working and exploring techniques.
Michele was always so creative, and I just lapped up everything that she shared with me. We began tapping using the basic EFT protocol, tapping on all the meridians of the body, when Michele simply asked, “Where are you feeling this emotion in your body? When I described feeling it in my chest, Michele inquired, "What does this feeling look like?"
Immediately I saw an image in my mind’s eye of a scrunched-up piece of grey paper; it looked old and worn. The image was so clear that it really was showing me, as a metaphor, how I felt all tight and scrunched up. Michele asked me to bring this image I was seeing out front of me. I felt a huge sense of relief. I sighed. Something had shifted in my body, and it no longer felt so tense and heavy.
Michele, with a tone of curiosity, asked me, “What do you see coming that is going to release and heal this image?” At first, I didn't see anything coming, but as I watched, I saw the image begin to change right in front of me! I felt so immersed in the experience until the image stopped changing. It reached what felt like a resolution; this image was now a bright white, brand new piece of paper.
My rational brain couldn't understand what this was all about at all, but my body felt at peace—really at peace. Then, out of thin air, this inner message came through: "It's a new start." This was what the image was conveying to me, and it was perfect! My cognitive mind was catching up, and I now understood at a deep level that this was exactly the right message for me at the time.
I was surprised to discover that the intensity of the original issue, which was all to do with the fear of going it alone, which had been right up there in intensity of 10/10, was no longer there. I felt happy and free, and I returned home feeling much more positive about the future. I also left with the clarity that I didn't have to return to my old legal career, but I could make a new start as an EFT practitioner and set up my own EFT practice.
I was so grateful to Michele for introducing me to her “Right Brain Process,” as she called it, and I went home with the enthusiasm to try the process with my clients.
Developing the Heartstream Process®
I began experimenting further, adapting, changing the process to the way I worked, and integrating the techniques I had learned in my own NLP training, hypnotherapy, energy healing practices, mindfulness, and working intuitively.
I learned to slow things right down, to give the client space to process, and to just hold space in "presence," trusting the brilliance of my client's subconscious mind to find healing resolution.
I found that asking the client to bring the image out in front of them to a place that feels comfortable and to observe the image as an independent observer created a space of safety for the client to explore working with the visuals presented.
It was fascinating to witness that the images the clients would see would most often bypass their conscious mind, as clients would say, “I know this sounds weird or crazy, but I'm seeing this... and I have no idea what this is about!” It seemed that the conscious mind had a hard time keeping up!
I noticed how some clients would be so immersed in a three-dimensional experience with all their senses engaged and not just the visual. Sometimes it went way beyond inner visuals. This was especially so with my sensitive and highly sensitive clients.
I would intentionally ask my clients, as the images reached a resolution, if there was a message for them, and almost always the client's subconscious mind would just present a message of profound insight and understanding. It was as though the client’s wisdom self was communicating with the client’s ordinary self. At times, it felt like there were four of us in the room—our ordinary selves and our wisdom selves!
We would, at the end of the process, “infusing” the concluding image and message into the client’s body and energy field. The clients would leave the sessions profoundly changed from the core of their being. These messages and images would be so anchored in them that they would report that they had remained for many months and even years.
I have worked with hundreds of people over the last eight years using this process, and for those that were able to connect with inner visuals, the results have been astounding, deep, and profound. Even those clients who start working with me and cannot access inner visuals initially over time are able to do so.
I believe we can all have access to our subconscious and its own unique language, visuals, metaphors, and sensations, but we have lost this innate connection. It really is a matter of retraining the left side of the brain, our cognitive brain, to get out of the way, to let go, and to trust.
I decided to call the revised technique the Heartstream Process. Firstly, because the technique focuses so much on the heart centre and tapping in this area during the process, and secondly, because it is a reflection of my mission of streaming the heart energies of healing into the world. I have learned so much along the way, exploring in what way the Heartstream Process improves on the Basic EFT protocols to benefit my clients.
The benefits of the Heartstream Process®
One area in which I have found the Heartstream Process so effective is working directly with core beliefs. Somehow, the process creates a direct line of healing in ways basic EFT cannot. I have found that by merely asking the client where they feel the negative core belief in their body and then asking the body to provide an image to work with in the Heartstream Process, core beliefs become directly workable. This has enabled me to shift core beliefs in ways I couldn't before.
I have found that the other area that has been significant in using the process is with implicit memories. These are the experiences in early childhood before we had language. Knowing that these experiences can be resolved without having to search for events or specific memories has helped me personally find a great deal of peace.
I have also discovered that this process is so helpful and safe for clearing trauma without going to those places at all. I realise that by working with metaphors, there is much less likelihood of triggering for our clients.
Training in the Heartstream Process®
This year, with the encouragement of colleagues and my mentor, Jade Barbee (Master Trainer of Trainers with EFT International), I offered the first international online training course for EFT practitioners. I had some wonderful and enthusiastic participants, including a couple of EFT International trainers, both of whom inner visuals are a big part of their work. It was such a joy to share this technique and to see so much enthusiasm. I am excited about sharing and teaching this technique with others, starting with certified EFT practitioners.
I am so grateful to Michele Hart introducing me to working with inner visuals and it has since been a big part of my own self devlopment work as well as my professional work.
I'm delighted to continue to offer Heartstream Sessions and now classes, workshops, and training in the Heartstream Process next year, in 2024.
If working with inner visuals and going deep with clients is an area you wish to specialise in, then do get in touch to experience the process and learn more about the next online training in January 2024.
Carolina Kerridge,
LLB (Hons), Holistic Therapist, Cert., and Accredited Advanced EFT Practitioner. Holistic coach and meditation instructor. I am also the creator of the Heartstream Process®, practicing at the Heartstream Wellness Centre and Clinic in Richmond, New Zealand.
I specialise in working with sensitives, HSPs, and empaths. I help others with relationship issues, chronic illness, anxiety, trauma, addictions, and negative emotions. I seek to empower others to live confident, fulfilling, and enriching lives.