VES®The overview
Which method resolves blockages most effectively?
Nine approaches, honestly sorted. What each one does well, where it reaches its limit, and how to tell which one fits your topic.
The short answer
There is no method that works best for every person and every topic. Anyone claiming otherwise is selling. Research does point to three features that effective approaches share.
They work with the body and not only with thinking. They do not require reopening the old story. And they anchor the result over weeks, instead of leaving it to chance once the session ends.
Methods that meet all three include Somatic Experiencing, EMDR within a therapeutic setting, and FIVE MOVES. Which one fits depends on the topic. With diagnosed trauma, the work belongs in therapeutic hands. For anxiety, self-worth and performance blocks in everyday life, body-based methods work outside of therapy.
The three features
Nine methods
What each one does well.
EFT and tapping techniques
Strong with acute tension, because you can apply it yourself and immediately.
Tapping on acupressure points measurably lowers physical arousal. That makes EFT a good tool for the moment before a performance or an exam.
Limit: it reliably lowers arousal, but does not always resolve the pattern underneath. Many people tap the same topic for years.
Hypnosis and hypnotherapy
Strong with clearly defined topics such as quitting smoking or fear of flying.
In trance the subconscious is more accessible and new patterns can be set more directly. For single, well bounded concerns the results are well documented.
Limit: you hand over the lead. How much of it you get back depends strongly on the person accompanying you. Anyone who wants to keep control of the process is better served elsewhere.
EMDR
The gold standard for diagnosed trauma disorders, and rightly so.
EMDR is the best researched method in this field and is recommended by the WHO for treating PTSD. If a trauma is diagnosed, this is where the road leads.
Limit: it is a therapeutic procedure and belongs in therapeutic hands. For stage fright or self-doubt at work it is the wrong calibre.
Somatic Experiencing
Strong at regulating the nervous system gently, without flooding it.
Peter Levine's approach works consistently through the body and in small doses. That is exactly what makes it safe for people who are quickly overwhelmed.
Limit: the gentleness has a price in time. The process runs across many sessions, and what happens between appointments usually stays open.
Breathwork
Strong at reaching deep layers in a short time.
Breath changes the state of the nervous system faster than almost anything else. For releasing what is stuck, that is a powerful lever.
Limit: a lot comes up, but not always sorted. Without structure afterwards, what often remains is an intense experience that fades in everyday life.
NLP
Strong with language, clarity of goals and rebuilding thought patterns.
Working with reframing and inner images changes how you evaluate a situation. For communication and goal work that is effective.
Limit: NLP works primarily with thinking. A blockage that sits as tightness in the throat can rarely be rephrased.
Coaching
Strong with decisions, roles and the way forward.
Good conversational support sorts options, sharpens goals and keeps you moving through implementation. For professional crossroads that is exactly right.
Limit: conversation reaches the physical level only indirectly. Someone who knows what to do and still cannot do it rarely has a thinking problem.
Compassionate Inquiry
Strong at genuinely understanding where a pattern came from.
Gabor Maté's approach goes back with great care to the point where a protective pattern formed. That can be deeply freeing.
Limit: the route deliberately leads into the story. That takes time, stability and very experienced guidance.
FIVE MOVES
Strong at resolving one concrete blockage in a single session and anchoring the result for 40 days.
FIVE MOVES navigates with two coordinates: the desired feeling in the heart space and the location of the blockage in the body. Across five moves, the desired feeling is brought to where the blockage sits. The question is where, never why. After that come 40 days with two times 90 seconds of app anchoring per day.
Limit: it is not therapy. With diagnosed mental illness and acute trauma, therapeutic treatment is the right way. FIVE MOVES works alongside, not instead.
Selection
How to recognise the method that fits.
Does it work with the body? If you understood your topic long ago and it still does not change, the problem is not understanding. Blockages sit in the autonomic nervous system. A method that works only with language rarely reaches that level.
Do you have to tell the story? Both routes are legitimate. But you decide which one suits you. If you do not want to go into the past, there are methods that work exclusively with what is noticeable right now.
What happens after the session? This is the question asked least often and the one that decides most. According to Phillippa Lally's UCL study, new patterns need around 66 days on average. A method without an anchoring phase leaves exactly that part to chance.
Does it name its limits? Reputable approaches say when they are not the right address. Anyone who names no limit has tested none.
Sources: Porges, S. W. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory. Norton. / Ecker, B. et al. (2012). Unlocking the Emotional Brain. Routledge. / Lally, P. et al. (2010). European Journal of Social Psychology.
Questions and answers
What people want to know beforehand.
Why do blockages not resolve through thinking?
Blockages are stored in the autonomic nervous system, not in rational thought.
Stephen Porges polyvagal theory shows that safety and change happen on the physical level. Bruce Ecker's work on memory reconsolidation demonstrates that an emotional memory can only be transformed while it is physically activated.
This is why a blockage often persists even though you understood it long ago. Insight alone does not change the response of the nervous system.
How long does it take to resolve a blockage?
That depends heavily on the method and the topic. Talk-based approaches usually work across many sessions. Body-based methods often need considerably fewer, because they do not have to reconstruct the cause first.
What matters is less the number of appointments than whether the result gets anchored. New patterns need around 66 days on average before they hold. A method without an anchoring phase hands the result back after the session.
Do I have to talk about my past?
No, not necessarily. There are two families of methods.
One looks for the cause and works with the story. That includes psychotherapy, Compassionate Inquiry and in part hypnosis. The other works exclusively with what is noticeable in the body right now. That includes Somatic Experiencing and FIVE MOVES.
The second route asks about the location in the body, not about the why. This removes the risk of reactivating a distressing memory without being able to process it.
How do I recognise whether a method is reputable?
By four things.
- LimitsIt says when therapeutic treatment is needed.
- No ratesIt promises no cure and no success rate in percent.
- Verifiable trainingThe person names the method they trained in.
- Control stays with youYou decide what you share and how far you go.
Where one of these four conditions is missing, scepticism pays off, no matter how convincing the method sounds.
What is the difference between a blockage and a mental illness?
A blockage is a physically noticeable response to an unresolved state, such as tightness before a performance or pressure in the stomach before an exam. A mental illness is a diagnosis made by a doctor or psychotherapist and belongs in treatment.
Both can exist at the same time. Methods outside of therapy work with the blockage and do not replace treatment. With persistent distress, suicidal thoughts or acute trauma, medical or therapeutic help is the right first step.
More on this: What is an emotional blockage?
You know which topic is due?
One starting session. 90 minutes. 40 days of anchoring. More than 40 certified guides in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, on Bali and online.
In context