Can Moving Your Eyes Help You Lose Weight?

By Rose Ferguson, C. Ht.

When our weight reflects a healthy relationship with food, movement, sleep, and stress, we rarely think of it. The numbers displayed on the scale do not impact our behavior or how we view ourselves. But we quickly become preoccupied with those numbers whenever we lose that balanced relationship between our diet, our exercise and sleep habits, and our daily stressors.

Mental, emotional, and physical issues which compromise this balance may cause us to lose interest in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, feel lethargic or depressed, or judge ourselves harshly. In these situations, we might become obsessed with weight loss but make little progress because we focus on the scale rather than on the imbalance in our lives. Exercise, a healthy diet, plenty of sleep, and appropriate medical treatment will help us maintain a healthy body, but incorporating a therapeutic practice such as the Integral Eye Movement Technique (IEMT) will boost the effect of these habits by helping us understand and address the root cause of our imbalanced lifestyle.

Integral Eye Movement Technique (IEMT) is a therapeutic approach focused on processing the emotions associated with past experiences. During an IEMT session, a practitioner asks a client to recall an unhappy memory or unwanted emotion while moving their eyes. As the client continues with these eye movements, they may experience a shift in how they feel about the memory. This reprocessing can help alter the way the memory is stored and perceived, allowing the client to view the experience from a less emotionally charged perspective.

IEMT can also help us identify and process the emotions associated with our relationship with our body, including our weight. This technique allows us to explore our identity, or our knowledge about who we are, what we value, and how we view ourselves in society, by examining statements or beliefs such as “I hate my body,” “I should go to the gym every day,” or “I want to eat healthier, but it’s too hard.” Emotions related to past experiences with guilt, shame, or sadness can take a toll on our bodies and minds by triggering a cycle of uncomfortable emotions and unhealthy choices. IEMT empowers us to release these old emotions and break this cycle.

A tool like IEMT helps us maintain a nurturing relationship with our bodies and our weight by changing how we feel and think about ourselves. When we feel better, we make better choices.