What is Havening?
Havening is a revolutionary neuroscience-based technique that can:
- Release past trauma and unpleasant memories
- Alleviate phobias
- Relieve anxiety
- Change unhelpful thought patterns
- Create new positive ways of thinking
- Dissolve sadness
This exciting new therapy has three distinct applications:
- Emotional disturbances and encoded psychological trauma
- Wellness, stress management, and peak performance
- As a self-help tool
This psycho-sensory therapy is gentle and suitable for most clients to do themselves given the correct guidance from a certified practitioner.
Here’s a short video I made a while ago outlining Havening:
The Havening Techniques® are a new scientific method which can help with many issues, including distressing memories, trauma, fear and compulsions.
If you feel you’d benefit from a more supported, multi-day approach, you may want to explore the 3-Day Emotional Reset.
What happens in a Havening session?
We begin with a gentle conversation so I can understand what you’d like to change and whether Havening is the right approach for you.
From there, I guide you through the process using simple techniques and gentle touch to the hands, arms or face. You can apply the touch yourself if you prefer, or if the session is online.
You don’t need to go into every detail of your experience. We work in a way that feels safe and manageable, and most people find the process calm and surprisingly easy.
Many clients notice a shift in how they feel during the session itself, and I can also show you simple self-Havening techniques to use at home if helpful.
the science behind havening
Certain areas of the body – the face, shoulders and upper arms and palms of hands in particular – have skin receptors which when activated increase neurochemicals in the brain, such as serotonin and GABA – resulting in an increase in slow, low-frequency brain waves. They usually only occur during sleep.
These Delta waves (between 0.5 and 2 Hertz) can help ‘depotentiate’ activated AMPA receptors in post-synaptic neurons in the amygdala. This happens through dephosphorylation of those receptors due to the action of the enzyme calcineurin.
In this way, the trigger for a fight, flight, freeze or rage response is delinked from the stored memory of the traumatic event.
This means that although the memory itself remains, the previously unhelpful response when recalling the event, situation, phobia or thought does not occur any more.
common questions
What if I don’t know what to work on?
That’s completely fine.
You don’t need to have it all figured out.
We’ll start with a gentle conversation and work out together what feels most important to focus on.
Can Havening really work in one session?
For some issues, yes.
Havening is quite targeted, and many people notice a meaningful shift even after one session.
For more layered or long-standing things, a small number of sessions may be more helpful.
When Havening goes well, people find lasting change
“When an event or experience is perceived as traumatic or very stressful it becomes immutably encoded, often with life-altering consequences. However, recent research from the field of neuroscience has shown us how it’s possible to modify this encoding.”
Dr Ronald Ruden MD PhD (Creator of Havening)
Janie Whittemore is a certified practitioner of Havening Techniques.
Havening Techniques is a registered trademark of Ronald Ruden, 15 East 91st Street, New York.