Subconscious Imprinting Technique or S.I.T. is a modality that reprograms how the body perceives and reacts to memories and limiting thoughts and beliefs, thereby creating profound emotional and physical changes in the body. Sounds fun, right!?
Um, what the heck does that even mean?
Well first, let’s start with a bit of a science lesson about how the body reacts to stress. Most of us have heard of the “Fight or Flight” response, which is activated when your body is reacting to an immediate threat, such as being chased by a bear or a particularly grumpy goose. This response can also be triggered by modern stressors such as being yelled at, or being told you have a massive project deadline coming up. This “Fight or Flight” response is switched on by our body’s hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (or HPA axis, because that’s a mouthful!), which cranks up our cortisol, makes our hearts race, and causes a full array of physiological, and psychological reactions.
All of these reactions are usually great for helping us survive and navigate stressful situations (That goose didn’t stand a chance!). However, the ol’ Fight or Flight isn’t meant to be a long term state. When we are chronically stressed, our body’s tend to give us physical and emotional diseases. Isn’t that sweet?
What’s SUPER interesting, is our body can perceive memories in the same fashion as immediate stressors, and react accordingly.
When we hang on to the stress response of an event (a trauma), it can turn into a learned behaviour. A lot of the time, this is a really helpful mechanism in the brain. Touch a hot stove and burn the heck out of your hand? Let’s not do that again, that hurts!
These traumatic events don’t have to be car accidents or sudden deaths in the family either – a trauma is just an event that triggered our body’s HPA axis. So this can be something as simple as being told you sucked at a sport as a child, or not having support and comfort when we needed it most.
Our body can collect information from these traumatic events that can lead us to have a host of uncomfortable physical and psychological symptoms. We can get locked into the stress response state, and this can affect how we think and react to our current environments. It can even affect how our body functions neurally, hormonally, and physically!
We all have varying levels of trauma in our lives. Fortunately, our brains have a neat characteristic called neuroplasticity – which is a fancy way of saying our noodles are made of playdough and we can change them!
This is where S.I.T. comes in!
Through the S.I.T. process, we focus on getting to the root of what is causing the disease (either physical or emotional), which typically appears as either an event or environment that triggered our body’s stress response. There are typically several layers to most issues, but we tend to work with the most potent issues first and work our way down the line. Us humans tend to like being lovely layered onions… or cakes! Shrek reference? No?
So what does a S.I.T. session look like?
It starts similarly to an acupuncture appointment, where there is an in-depth interview process where the practitioner gets details on what is bothering you and what the root causes are.
You then get to lay on the table and get cozy, and we put your body into a Theta or “brain mouldable” state. This is a very similar state to when you meditate or you’re just about to fall asleep. This disarms your brain’s alarm bells and defenses of your conscious mind, and allows us to redesign and reprogram how your body is reacting to stressors! Neat, right?
The practitioner then takes you through a series of statements and breathwork. This can sometimes create really profound emotional releases, and other times it can be quite mellow – it really varies from case to case. It also combines really well with other modalities such as acupuncture, massage, and reiki, which also have profound effects on the body’s stress response!
What can S.I.T. help with?
The sky’s the limit with S.I.T., as you can reprogram just about anything (even disliking certain foods!). However, here are some of the more common things that get worked on with S.I.T. sessions:
- Chronic injury or pain
- Chronic physical conditions that you’ve “tried everything” for and can’t seem to find relief
- Limiting beliefs or negative self-talk (I.e. I suck at this, I’m worthless)
- Anxiety, depression
- Stress or feeling overwhelmed
- Trauma or abuse
- Feeling stuck
- Sport mindset and performance
If you’re curious about what S.I.T. can do for you, please Contact Us!
