1. Define the purpose of the resource:
Ask the client to identify the most distressing issue, feeling or challenge in current life. For example, “What issue in your life seems to be most distressing on a day-to-day basis? What part of this issue or situation is the most overwhelming for you?
2. Envision a resource that would help:
Ask the client to imagine the type of resource s/he would need to feel or respond differently: “What inner strength or resource or capacity would help you to not feel so overwhelmed or distressed?” “What feeling or belief would you need to have to be able to____________________?” “When you think about ____________, what comes to mind?”
3. Imaginatively develop the resource:
Ask the client to “imagine what it would feel like” or “what it would be like” to have that resource already inside their mind and body. Use evocative images and phrases to access the client’s intuition and imagination: “If you woke up every morning with that resource by your side, what would be different?
4. Elaborate the resource:
Layer and chain together the guided imagery provided by the client: “Yes, and if you felt more ________, what would happen?” Link these images to bodily sensations, feelings and cognitions: “As you imagine being able to feel _________ and do___________, notice what it feels like in the body, your feelings and your thinking”
5. Install the resource
Re-state and re-evoke the most significant images and phrases associated with the resource: “Once again, imagine yourself with this resource of _________________ in every cell of your body, allowing you to feel more ____________, ___________, and even ____________ . Notice the feeling in your body that goes with having ______________ within you.” Connect the word picture of the resource with body sensations.
Use short (4-12) sets of bilateral stimulation to install the resource
Then re-state and re-evoke the words and images before the next set: “Yes, with ______________ inside you, you feel calmer and more peaceful as well—go with that.” Continue installation process until a positive state is consistently reached.
6. Summarize and reinforce:
Re-state the client’s emotional and somatic experience of what it was like to imagine having the resource available to her. Ask the client to imagine “a symbol, an image, a word or a mantra that could help you evoke the resource whenever you needed it in the course of your day.”
Pair the resource images with the symbol or mantra and install using short sets of bilateral stimulation.
Encourage client to evoke the image or mantra frequently and to use visual or written cues in her environment to remind her to do so.