April Steele, a world renowned EMDR therapist specialising in attachment and trauma has often referenced Thich Nhat Hanh who devoted his life to world peace
(He was nominated by Martin Luther King for the Nobel Peace prize of 1967) and to making Buddhist practices such as mindfulness accessible and relevant to people throughout the world in the 20th and 21st centuries. His calm, deeply embodied teachings in Mindfulness have offered our society highly effective interventions in the treatment of anxiety and depression.
In his book Reconciliation he speaks of a process very similar to Imaginal Nurturing – a process developed by April Steele to support the healing of childhood trauma.
He writes:
The 5 year old child within needs a lot of compassion and attention. It would be nice if every day we would find a few minutes to sit down and practice this meditation – “Breathing in, I see myself as a 5 year old child. Breathing out, I smile with compassion to the 5 year old child in me.” It would be very healing and comforting, because the 5 year old child in us is still alive and needs to be taken care of. With acknowledgement and communication, we can see that child responding to us and she or he begins feeling better. If she feels better, we feel better also and we start to feel great freedom. (p.66)
Post originally by April Steele and published 2021.