The Boat and the Whale Metaphor: waiting to do EMDR. Neurofeedback can build a yacht at home.

Thomas Zimmerman has a well-known metaphor within the EMDR community. You cannot land a fish bigger than your boat. The fish is your trauma, and the boat is how much you can currently handle mentally, emotionally, and physically.

However, you can get a bigger boat by catching smaller fish. Thus, in EMDR, you have to go after the small t-trauma, the smaller fish, before you can go after the bigger fish, the bigger T-Traumas. By doing this, you build a bigger boat; you build more mental, emotional, and physical capabilities to handle your bigger fish– your big T-Traumas.

I love EMDR, and I utilize it in my practice; however, it can take years to build a bigger boat to go after the bigger fish. Utilizing this modality, you have to develop a therapeutic relationship, build resourcing, expand the window of tolerance, psychoeducation, and on and on…….

Neurofeedback: build a yacht at home

Did you know that you can do neurofeedback at home 3 days a week!  That is 3 days a week that you can build bigger boats, more capacity to handle anxiety. Yes, you heard me right- three days a week. Now, this is not a magic bullet, and you automatically feel well; the arch wasn’t built in a day, nor will your yacht. However, most do start recognizing that their boat is growing around 15 sessions.

Veterans with PTSD underwent 24 sessions of neurofeedback training. They found that it led to significant reductions in both PTSD and depressive symptoms. PTSD often leads to overactivity in the amygdala and underactivity in the prefrontal cortex. Neurofeedback works by targeting these regions and fostering a healthier balance between them.

It is important to note that those who do not run a full 40 sessions tend to backslide. It’s just like when you start cruising along feeling better and decide you are ready for a vacation in your new boat. But, when you are out at sea, you realize the boat wasn’t ready to set sail.  If you don’t run the whole gammit, your symptoms may coming back, you brain wasn’t done rebuilding networks.  You may feel like you can float, but your boat may not be ready to weather the bigger storms.  Stay on course.

Neurofeedback + EMDR: Building the Yacht Before You Sail

Think of neurofeedback as building your yacht before heading out to sea.

EMDR is an incredible therapy for helping the brain process traumatic memories, but it works best when your nervous system has enough capacity to stay present during the process. If anxiety is constantly running at full speed, even thinking about difficult memories can feel overwhelming. Instead of processing the trauma, your brain may shift into survival mode.

This is where neurofeedback can make a meaningful difference.

Neurofeedback helps train the brain to become more regulated over time. As the brain develops healthier patterns of activity, many people notice they feel calmer, sleep better, recover from stress more quickly, and become less emotionally reactive. They often describe having more “space” between a stressful event and their response to it.

That extra space is your bigger boat.

One of the greatest advantages is consistency. With home neurofeedback training, many people can train three times each week, allowing the brain repeated opportunities to practice healthier patterns. Like strengthening a muscle, the brain learns through repetition. The more consistently it practices, the stronger those new pathways can become.

When neurofeedback and EMDR are used together, they each play an important role. Neurofeedback helps calm and stabilize the nervous system, while EMDR helps the brain reprocess painful memories that may have been “stuck” for years. Rather than competing with one another, these approaches work hand in hand. Neurofeedback can help prepare the brain for EMDR, and EMDR can help resolve the experiences that contributed to the brain becoming dysregulated in the first place.

You don’t have to choose between building the boat or catching the fish. By combining neurofeedback with EMDR, you may be giving yourself the best opportunity to build a stronger, steadier yacht—one that’s ready not only to face the waves, but to confidently navigate beyond them.

ZIMMERMAN, THOMAS. EMDR With Complex Trauma. EMDR Training Collaborative, 2024.

van der Kolk et al., 2016

Build a Stronger Foundation for Lasting Healing

Healing from trauma is a journey, and having the right support can make all the difference. If you’re considering EMDR but feel that anxiety, stress, or emotional overwhelm may be making it difficult to move forward, neurofeedback may help you build the foundation your brain needs before beginning deeper trauma work. At Neurofeedback & Counseling Center of The Woodlands, we offer a free in-office evaluation (includes a brain map) to help determine whether neurofeedback is right for you. Learn more about qEEG brain mapping and how it can support a personalized treatment plan designed around your unique needs. Contact us today or call (936) 202-0628 to take the first step toward building a stronger, steadier nervous system—and a stronger foundation for lasting healing.