Embodiment · “Being Precedes Having”
Shapiro's Spiral Technique
To reduce mild-to-moderate distress by imagining the disturbing body sensation as a spinning energy spiral and gently reversing its direction, then keeping it spinning whichever way eases the feeling.
Spiral Technique in 5 lines: Bring up a mild upset and find where it sits in your body. Imagine that sensation as a spinning spiral; notice if it turns clockwise or counter-clockwise. Gently reverse the direction. If the feeling eases, keep it spinning that way until it settles; if not, try the original direction. If neither helps, let it go and use the Safe/Calm Place or Lightstream instead.
What it is
The Spiral Technique is a brief self-control exercise Francine Shapiro, originator of EMDR, offers in Getting Past Your Past (2012, p.
108) and in EMDR’s Phase 2 stress-management repertoire. You bring up a mildly upsetting situation, find where the disturbance sits in your body, imagine that sensation as a spinning energy spiral, notice which way it turns (clockwise or counter-clockwise), then mentally reverse the spin.
For many people, reversing the direction causes the uncomfortable feeling to dissipate. It’s offered as a quick alternative to the Lightstream — something to try, with the honest acknowledgement that it works for some people and not others.
The Method
Shapiro’s steps, for self-use:
- Bring up a mildly upsetting situation and form an image that represents it. (Use something mild — not a major trauma.)
- Find the disturbance in your body. Notice where you feel it physically.
- Imagine it as an energy spiral. Picture that body sensation as a spinning spiral of energy.
- Notice the direction. Sense whether the spiral is turning clockwise or counter-clockwise. (Whatever you sense is fine — there’s no “right” answer.)
- Gently reverse it. With your mind, change the direction of the spiral — if it was clockwise, let it turn counter-clockwise, and vice versa. Do this gently, without forcing.
- Notice what the sensation does. If reversing the spin makes the feeling better, keep imagining it spinning in that new direction until it settles. If it does not help, try moving it back to the original direction and see if that eases it.
- If neither helps, let it go and use another tool. Shapiro is explicit that the Spiral simply doesn’t work for everyone — if it doesn’t shift things, drop it and use the Safe/Calm Place or Lightstream instead. (Sourcing note: the mild-situation set-up, locate-in-body, imagine-as-spiral, notice-the-direction, gently-reverse, follow-whichever-eases-it, and “doesn’t work for everyone” instructions are Shapiro’s documented Spiral Technique (Getting Past Your Past, p. 108). Faithful paraphrase; no long quotation.)
Source & Lineage
Francine Shapiro (1948-2019), originator of EMDR. The Spiral is one of EMDR’s brief Phase 2 stress-reduction / self-control strategies, brought to the public in Getting Past Your Past (2012).
Like the Lightstream, it has clear roots in NLP submodality work — the idea that a feeling carries imagined spatial/kinaesthetic qualities (here, a direction of spin) that can be altered to change the feeling — combined with somatic focusing. It sits in her self-help triad with the Safe/Calm Place and Lightstream.
The Traditions' versions
NLP submodality / “spinning the feeling” (e.g. the kinaesthetic-spin pattern) — the most direct ancestor: locate a feeling’s imagined motion and reverse/alter it to discharge it.
- Shapiro’s Lightstream — its closest sibling: locate the body sensation, then transform it (by light instead of spin).
- Body scan / mindfulness of sensation — non-reactive attention to where feeling lives; shares the locating step.
- Imagery rescripting / distancing techniques — changing an inner representation to change its emotional charge.
Common refinements
Using it on major trauma. It’s for mild upsets; big material needs full EMDR with a clinician.
- Hunting for the “correct” spin direction. There isn’t one — whatever you sense is the starting point; just reverse it and observe.
- Forcing the reversal. Let the direction change gently; straining works against it.
- Insisting it must work. Shapiro says plainly it doesn’t suit everyone — if it doesn’t shift after a try or two, switch tools rather than grinding.
- Skipping the body-location step. The sensation must be located before it can be “spun.”