As an organizational psychologist determined to put my time and energy where it can have the most beneficial effect on our current challenges, I look to where the science already indicates that we can move together for the greatest overall good.
What could be more essential than learning to work skillfully with our emotions and reclaim the energy they steal from our more honorable pursuits?
Since I first read about the Emotional Rescue Method in the book by Dzogchen Ponlop, I haven’t encountered a single daunting problem that would not benefit from everyone in the room having greater emotional resilience. But why choose this Method?
The latest findings in psychology, neuroscience, and biology point to why the three steps of the Emotional Rescue Method work so well.
The 3 Steps of the Emotional Rescue Method
Step 1, Mindful Gap
In countless studies, mindfulness has been shown to reduce stress and help transform negative habits. By creating the space between stimulus and response, practicing Mindful Gap opens new possibilities for responding to change with conscious intention rather than with unconscious reactivity.
Step 2, Clear Seeing
Once you create a Mindful Gap, there is a much greater possibility of seeing challenging situations with fresh eyes of creativity, rather than through the foggy lens of stress and reactive habits. The clarity of vision, Clear Seeing –– supports what is known in the emotions research as “cognitive reappraisal,” and leads to more effective decision-making, even amidst uncertainty.
Step 3, Letting Go
On the basis of the previous two steps, the body can complete its natural cycle of releasing stressful energy. As trauma research has demonstrated, when the stress cycle is frozen, there are countless negative impacts on physical and mental health. However, when stressful emotional energy is released physically and emotionally, the body’s innate resilience allows one to bounce back and even grow from adversity.
Learn more about how scientific research points to why the Emotional Rescue Method works so well.
As our team of Senior Instructors designs courses in the Emotional Rescue Method and trains instructors to teach it to others, we’re committed to embodying the Method’s three steps in our own organizational DNA as well as in each and every program we offer. We do that by:
- Commitment 1 — Cultivating an atmosphere of psychological safety
- Commitment 2 — Nourishing warm community connections
- Commitment 3 — Giving each other space and dignity to learn to apply the Method
The Emotional Rescue Method empowers us, as individuals and in community, to use this knowledge well in service of building emotional resilience.