Introduction: Feeling Before Words in EMDR

As EMDR therapists, we often meet clients who pause mid-session and say, “I don’t know what I’m feeling—I can’t put words to it.” It can be tempting to help them find language to describe their experience, but doing so too soon can actually disrupt the healing process.

In this post, I’ll break down why staying with sensation—not words—supports implicit memory processing in EMDR therapy. You’ll learn how the language and sensory systems of the brain interact during reprocessing, and why allowing clients to “just feel” keeps the train of activation moving.

This insight comes directly from a moment in my own clinical work, and it’s one that continues to deepen my EMDR Consultation conversations with other therapists.

When Clients Can’t Find the Words

Yesterday, this happened twice in session—once with a new client and once with someone I’ve been seeing for a while. Both told me they could feel what was happening in their body, but they couldn’t describe it.

Here’s what I said:

“That’s okay. You don’t need to put language to it. Just notice it. Feel it in your body, and let’s see where your mind goes next.”

I wanted to keep the train of activation moving rather than shifting them into the language part of their brain. What followed was powerful: both clients deepened their access to implicit material, and the words came naturally later—once the nervous system had integrated the sensory experience.

The Brain’s Two Systems: Implicit vs. Explicit Memory

To understand why this works, it helps to revisit the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model that underlies EMDR therapy.

Implicit Memory: The Body’s Story

Implicit memory holds our felt experiences—sensations, emotions, and movement impulses stored in the subcortical brain. These memories are nonverbal and automatic. When clients access implicit networks, they’re processing through the limbic and brainstem systems, where trauma is encoded in bodily states rather than words or narrative.

Explicit Memory: The Verbal Narrative

Explicit memory, on the other hand, involves the language-based, cortical systems. This is where clients form logical explanations and put words to experiences. It’s where meaning-making happens—but it’s not always where trauma healing begins.

When we prompt clients to label or explain too early, we shift their focus from the felt sense (implicit) to the thinking brain (explicit). That transition can prematurely deactivate the emotional networks we’re working to reprocess.

The Body Is the Last Car on the Train

One of my favorite metaphors for EMDR reprocessing is that the body is the last car on the train.

When we initiate bilateral stimulation, the train begins moving—activation builds, implicit material surfaces, and clients start to notice sensations, emotions, and images. If we pull them into language too soon, we risk stopping the train before the body has a chance to integrate.

By inviting them to “just feel it” or “notice what’s happening inside,” we help the implicit system complete its processing loop. Once that happens, the explicit mind—the words, the meaning, the insight—comes naturally.

In both client sessions, when I removed the pressure to explain, the body led the way. Eventually, each client found the words on their own, but by then the experience was integrated, grounded, and coherent.

Clinical Application for EMDR Therapists

If you notice your client struggling to verbalize sensations, consider these guidelines:

1. Stay Curious About Sensation

Instead of asking “What does that mean?”, try:

• “Can you stay with that feeling for a moment?”

• “Just notice what your body is telling you.”

• “Let’s see where your mind goes next.”

2. Trust the Implicit System

Remember: the subcortical brain doesn’t speak English. It speaks in images, sensations, and movements. Staying in sensory awareness allows the implicit networks to reorganize before higher-order cognition steps in.

3. Use This in Consultation

In EMDR Consultation or mentorship sessions,  as I like to call them, I often encourage therapists to pay attention to the subtle moments where they (or their clients) feel pressure to find words. Those moments reveal how our own need for coherence can interrupt the client’s implicit process.

Awareness of this pattern helps consultees refine their timing and confidence in trusting the process—an essential skill in developing relational attunement within EMDR.

Why This Matters in EMDR Mentorship

Learning to recognize and support implicit processing is a key developmental milestone in advanced EMDR practice. Many new clinicians feel uneasy when clients go quiet or can’t articulate what’s happening. Through EMDR Mentorship, we explore how to stay grounded in those silences, trusting the neurobiological wisdom of the body.

As you grow in your EMDR skillset, you’ll find that the most powerful transformations often happen before the client finds words. That’s the space where implicit memory becomes integrated—where the body finally gets to “step off the train.”

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