EMDR WITH DANI AND ALLY

Practical Grounding For EMDR Clinicians: Breathing, Walking, And Support

• Dani & Ally • Episode 4

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Therapists aren’t supposed to carry every story home, yet the body often tells on us—tight jaws, creeping headaches, short tempers after a stacked day of sessions. We open up about the small, repeatable habits that keep us steady while doing deep trauma work, and why modeling regulation is as therapeutic as any technique. From two‑minute breath resets to stepping outside for a quick hit of sun, we share the simple practices that restore presence between clients.

We dig into the science‑meets‑practice sweet spot: walking as natural bilateral stimulation that helps the brain file what’s heavy and surface adaptive associations. You’ll hear how a therapy dog can become a co‑regulator, why a warm cup of tea or a shoulder stretch matters more than it seems, and how a humble notepad keeps working memory clear when to‑dos flood in. We also talk candidly about red flags—nighttime teeth grinding, tension headaches, and emotional spillover at home—and how to respond before burnout sets in with movement, boundaries, and selective rest.

Community is the safety net. Supervision and peer consultation stop the echo chamber of self‑doubt and offer grounded strategies for stubborn EMDR targets. We make the case that vulnerability is a clinician’s superpower: name what isn’t working, get perspective, and protect your craft with scheduled consults that you don’t skip. Whether you’re new to EMDR or a seasoned therapist, you’ll leave with a clear pre‑session ritual, a reset plan between clients, and a shift from fixing to witnessing so you can stay effective without absorbing the load.

If this conversation helped, follow the show, share it with a colleague who needs a reset, and leave a quick review—your words help more clinicians find tools that keep them well.

To learn more about EMDR WITH DANI AND ALLY visit:
https://www.DaniandAlly.com
EMDR WITH DANI AND ALLY
254-230-4994

SPEAKER_02:

Hey there, I'm Danny from Ontario, Canada. And I'm Allie from Texas.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to EMDR with Danny and Allie, your go-to space for collaborative consultation that connects and grows one clinician at a time. I'm your voice guide, not Danny, not Allie, here to introduce your host, Danny in Ontario, Canada, and Allie in Texas. Together they train clinicians around the globe and offer EMDR therapy that's as supportive as a great pair of walking shoes. Steady, reliable, and just what you need to walk alongside your clients. Whether you're a seasoned therapist or just starting your EMDR journey, you're in the right place to connect, learn, and grow without having to log thousands of miles. Let's get started.

SPEAKER_01:

Therapists carry a lot. Danny and Allie share how they stay centered while supporting clients through deep emotional work. Welcome back, everyone. I am Millie M, co-host and producer back in the studio with the hosts of EMDR with Danny and Allie. Danny and Allie themselves. How are you?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, great. Glad it's Friday.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. So glad to be here with you both. Can you tell us how do clinicians stay grounded while holding space for trauma?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, for sure. So it's a really great, it's a really great question because I often find that I'm really needing to ground myself before sessions. So clinicians who do trauma work carry a lot of emotional weight. And staying grounded while holding space for our trauma isn't just about preventing burnout. It's also about modeling regulation for our clients. So here are some evidence-informed strategies that many trauma therapists use.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, one that uh is popular for everyone, clients and clinicians is breathing. But a lot of times we forget to actually do that and utilize that practice. So when we do utilize that practice, I mean it's really amazing. It really does work. It helps just to take it in. I know I love going outside, even getting a five-minute outside time is extremely helpful for me. Um, stretching, getting that extra cup of coffee or that uh extra flavored water or tea, whatever that is, that just allows you to reset before you enter back into that space where you're going to carry more trauma that you just carried the hour before. So um also I would say prayer is another one. Whatever your spiritual background is, for me, that would be prayer is a huge one. Um, and just being mindful, like breathing in and then letting go as I'm exhaling and like letting go of the things and who I was just really present with the session previously, or my own life that I am thinking about, right? Because we carry our own lives and we also carry others' trauma. So those things we have to set aside in our own little container, which is very EMDR-like. Set in our own little container, and we can come back to that later.

SPEAKER_01:

So, do you have any special techniques or all of those are are great things? I'm sure the sun helps, you know. Um, when they say go touch grass, I'm like literally go put your feet in some grass and get connected to earth. Um, but are there any specific techniques that you do to manage emotional residue from particularly intense cases, things that you feel like I'm still thinking about it or holding on to what I heard in that particular session?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. I I will often go for a walk if I have, if I have space, enough space before or after a session, I will often go for a walk. One of the reasons that that's especially helpful, and since this is an EMDR podcast, is because you're doing bilateral stimulation while you're walking. And so for any of you who have ever started off walking and you've got a lot of stuff in your brain that's not sitting well, you find that by the time that you end that walk, it's actually really hard to remember what was that thing I was thinking about when I started this walk because the brain is bringing in all kinds of adaptive material while you're while you're walking. And also another big part of me for the walk is my dog. And her name is Lily. And so sometimes she will come into sessions with me for people who like dogs. Um, she's there as much for the client as she is for me. So and I will go and pet her after a session and very helpful.

SPEAKER_04:

I would say that also uh really just noticing your own body as well, noticing, you know, my feet on the ground, my back in the chair, my noticing my breathing, um and getting myself acquainted with I'm about to start another session. Being fully present in every teaching. Yes, to be able to be fully present. So and reminding myself, okay, I am here to help, I'm here to support and witness, but I'm also not here to fix and absorb.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So definitely things to remember. And speaking of being in tune with your body, how do you recognize when you're becoming dysregulated? You know, you all have these coping mechanisms that you uh apply in the moment of taking walks and getting sun and and being in your bodies, but sometimes you might find yourself, I don't know, snapping at someone in your family or wanting to sleep a little bit more than usual. So, what are your telltale signs that maybe I'm holding on to someone's trauma more so than I should?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, for me it's headaches. I get I get headaches, and every practitioner who's ever worked with me says it's all in my shoulders and my neck and my jaw. So it's teeth clenching at night. It's yeah, and then that all leads to these just like tension headaches. And then I know, you know, you gotta take some space, like you know, maybe maybe you need to just sort of take a break, you know, take a day off, take more space. Maybe you're not exercising enough, maybe you're not, you know, maybe you're just holding on to too much.

SPEAKER_04:

For sure. Allison? Yeah, I would say exercise is a big one for me. If I'm not able to exercise, I definitely end up carrying more than I need to. So if I can go, if I can go a day or so, like for example, today it didn't work out for me to get a workout in. Well, I know that by tomorrow I definitely am gonna be either back in the gym, on a walk, um, being outside, something, because that really helps me regulate. So I know that if I don't do that, I tend to not be as regulated because it's a natural stress reliever for me. And we have a lot going on in this season, so it's a great time that I am practicing all of these things as best as I can because I can tend to get more short with my kids when I am feeling all of the stress. And so I have a handy dandy um notepad next to me at all times. So when all the to-dos are flooding my brain, I write them down. I can't get to it right now, but I'm gonna write it down so that I'm not afraid of forgetting it later, and that I, when I have the time and space, I will come back to it. So that's a huge one for me. But then I also, my faith is also really important to me. And so when I am getting ready for a session or even in the middle of a session, I may be praying to myself and I may be asking God to help me not carry the weight of the heavy that I'm hearing and that I'm listening to. And literally I visualize like imagining that I'm giving that to God, like I'm handing it over to Him and I'm putting it on Him, I'm putting it on the cross. And so that way I can be a burden bearer, but I don't have to carry the weight of it.

SPEAKER_01:

That's beautiful. It really is, and it just shows the importance of spirituality in all of this, what whatever you practice. Let me say, um, what role does supervision or peer consultation play in staying balanced?

SPEAKER_03:

That's a really great question. Because oftentimes I find that if you are really carrying a lot of stress, it's harder to talk to fellow clinicians, to kind of reach out to peers, things like that, and get support. And so because sometimes if you know there's a lot of stress, it's like, well, I don't have time. Or it can also be the piece about, you know, I don't want people to see the things that I'm struggling with. And so it's it's really important because your brain just becomes an echo chamber if you don't reach out and get the support. And it's really just it's a different perspective. It's knowing that other people are struggling with the same things. Um it might be validation around, you know, I've been working with an EMDR client on the same traumatic memory for the past six months and we just can't get it to clear. And somebody else says, Hey, me too. And so I just find it a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_01:

You never realize how much support you have or how many other people can relate to what you're going through until you start to open up and be vulnerable in that way. So Alison, do you have any advice for new clinicians who feel overwhelmed by the work that you all do? Trauma work specifically.

SPEAKER_04:

Vulnerable is your vulnerability is your superpower. So I I tell my clients that I tell my clinicians that vulnerability is your superpower. Don't carry it all yourself, don't stay isolated. I don't have time to do that, I don't have time to do that. Well, you do have time to do that because that's how you're going to survive doing trauma work is making that time, setting that time in the calendar. Like Danny and I, we have set out our calendar to have specific times where her and I are meeting together. Networking times where you're going and you're getting connected to other clinicians and seeing what they're doing, learning what they're doing and being connected, because a lot of times clinicians can be very isolated because you are working with one client at a time and then you're working with another client and then another client. And so, and and sometimes you can feel people out, but at the same time, you need people, other clinicians, to be able just to be in their presence because there's a level of understanding just being in the presence of other clinicians that you're going to get um that you wouldn't get otherwise.

SPEAKER_01:

What about you, Danny? Any advice to new clinicians?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it's it is it is the reaching out for support. And one of the things that I shared with a consultee very recently was just, you know, don't be afraid to tell me the hard stuff, the things that aren't going well. Because clinicians are very fearful of judgment. There's all of these, you know, licensing bodies and boards, whether you're in a Canada, you're in the US, wherever you are. Um, and so people are worried about, you know, somebody's gonna think I'm I'm not competent, I'm not doing it right. Yeah. So it's sort of like, you know, reaching out for support, being okay with sharing your struggle. And, you know, we're all learning from each other.

SPEAKER_01:

I often wonder who's my therapist therapist, because they definitely need some help after talking to me. Well, we really do appreciate you both for sharing those grounding strategies, and we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_02:

Hey there, I'm Danny from Ontario, Canada. And I'm Allie from Texas.

SPEAKER_00:

That wraps up another insightful episode of EMDR with Danny and Allie, where our slogan, collaborative consultation that connects and grows one clinician at a time, isn't just catchy. It's our mission. Want more tools, training, or just need to ask Danny or Ally a question? Visit Danny at Ally.com or call or text 254-230-4994. Thanks for tuning in. And remember, the best healing starts with connection.