Learn to untrigger yourself with Emotional Updating.
Our Methodology
Emotional Updating is the prorietary unconscious mental technique developed by our founder, Dr. Hercules, M.D., that allows people to change outdated triggered post-traumatic emotional responses, eliminating the need to avoid, cope, or suffer from past trauma.
Unconscious Mind Engagement
Emotional Updating is a mental technique that works by accessing the unconscious mind, acknowledging that it is the storehouse of our deepest emotional responses and memories.
This access is crucial for achieving true change, as it addresses the root causes of emotional distress. This is important since many key traumas occur in early childhood before we form conscious memories.
Updating Out-of-Date Responses
Central to the Emotional Updating method is the process of identifying and updating “out-of-date” emotional responses that no longer serve the individual's present needs or circumstances.
The process enables people to replace their outdated reactions with more appropriate and beneficial responses, aligning their emotional reactions with their current reality.
Self-Empowerment Through Independence
Emotional Updating is designed to be a learnable skill. Once individuals are familiar with the process, they can apply it independently, using an app designed to guide them through the algorithm.
This self-practice aspect ensures that individuals can continue their healing journey independently, making the use of Emotional Updating a sustainable practice for life-long emotional resilience
View research on our method here
Barriers to Emotional Fitness
Understanding Triggered Responses
Our perspective at Vivir is that to experience emotional fitness it is essential to always confront reality and respond to it positively. However, many of us struggle to do so because of automatic emotional responses—deeply ingrained reactions shaped by past trauma. These responses act as mental software that gets triggered repeatedly, often without us realizing it.
Why do we have outdated responses?
Past trauma shapes our reactions. When we experience trauma, our brain develops automatic emotional responses to protect us. These responses become ingrained, turning on every time a similar trigger appears.
Our responses don’t evolve with us. Over time, we change—we gain experience, wisdom, and new resources. But our old emotional software remains stuck in the past, reacting as if we are still the same person we were when the trauma first occurred.
We don’t realize these responses are outdated. Because these reactions feel automatic, we assume they are permanent. Instead of changing them, we spend our lives suffering, avoiding, or coping.
Avoidance feels easier than confrontation. Since outdated responses often lead to discomfort, we unconsciously steer away from situations that trigger them—keeping us from fully facing reality.
Can we overcome our outdated responses?
Yes. Just like updating software on a computer, we can update our emotional software to reflect who we are today. At Vivir, we do that using our proprietary methodology, Emotional Updating.
Once we update, the old response is gone. Instead of managing or suppressing negative reactions, we simply stop having them.
We no longer need coping mechanisms. When we react naturally in an empowered way, we don’t have to work around old triggers.
Our new response feels effortless. We don’t have to consciously observe or analyze our reaction—it simply aligns with who we want to be.
Many of the barriers to confronting reality are not real obstacles but outdated emotional responses. By recognizing and updating them, we can free ourselves from automatic reactions that no longer serve us—allowing us to face reality with clarity and strength.
How The Emotional Updating Technique Works
Access the unconscious mind
A facilitator - either a trained practitioner or an app - guides individuals through the Emotional Updating process, helping them access their unconscious mind using relaxation techniques. Communication with the unconscious mind is established using ideomotor signals, like finger movements, allowing a non-verbal exchange of information.
The technique utilizes the concept of the 'Affect Bridge' to trace back the current emotional responses to their original traumatic events, reducing reliance on external support, even if these are not consciously remembered. This engagement allows for a direct and profound change at the root level of emotional responses.
Update the response
Once the unconscious mind is engaged, the Emotional Updating process involves individuals going through a standardized series of Yes/No questions. This algorithmic approach helps identify and update the outdated emotional responses. Through this process, the unconscious mind actively performs the following steps in real-time, directed by the responses to the Yes/No questions:
Identify the outdated emotional response that needs updating and trace the feelings associated with this response back to the original traumatic experience.
Understand the feelings and the reasons behind them by reviewing the traumatic experience.
Utilize your current resources and understanding to address these feelings and reasons.
Consult the unconscious mind to determine if the old feelings are still necessary for protection. If the old feelings are deemed unnecessary, find a way to let go of them.
Revisit the traumatic experience to ensure the feelings have been updated.
The updated response then becomes the new, automatic reaction to the trigger.
Applications of Emotional Updating
A versatile technique that can be used to support emotional fitness in a variety of ways:
Reactive Use
Individuals can apply the technique soon after encountering a trigger, updating their response in real-time.
Proactive Use
Before facing a known trigger, individuals can preemptively update their responses, preparing themselves for a healthier reaction.
Habitual Use
Regularly practicing Emotional Updating can help individuals continuously refine their emotional responses, maintaining emotional fitness and resilience.
Impacts of Emotional Distress
We all experience trauma throughout our lives, and in some instances the trauma and their associated triggers begin to negatively impact our well-being. In those instances, people often develop mental and physical challenges that significantly impact their quality of like. Common issues associated with emotional distress that the Emotional Updating technique can help address include:
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Anxiety/Panic Disorders
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Stress Disorders
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Depression
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Fears & Phobias
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Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders
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Performance Disorders
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Addictions
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Coping Mechanisms/Habits
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PTSD
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Abuse Related Disorders
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Low Self Worth
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Codependency
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Relationship/Relational Disorders
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Eating Disorders
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Body Image Disorders
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Psychosomatic Disorders
Benefits of Emotional Updating
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LEARNABLE SKILL
Emotional Updating is a learnable skill that can be practiced independently on our app once mastered, with no need for on-going sessions unless desired.
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HEALING, NOT COPING
The Emotional Updating technique addresses trauma at the root to permanently change triggered responses, removing the need to avoid, cope, or suffer from emotional distress.
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COMFORTABLE PROCESS
Emotional Updating does not typically involve intense reliving of past trauma, allowing for a more comfortable way of tackling challenging issues.
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ADDRESS ANY TRAUMA
Emotional Updating does not require you to be able to remember the root experience, making it highly effective for trauma from early-childhood.
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NON-CLINICAL
The Emotional Updating technique is non-medical and non-pharmacological, and can work alongside any clinical, therapeutic, or naturopathic treatments.
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UNIVERSAL TECHNIQUE
The Emotional Updating process uses a standardized algorithmic approach that is universal for updating any out of date response.
FAQs
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Using the Emotional Fitness technique you can improve and potentially eliminate the issues you wish to address by freeing yourself from the post-traumatic emotional discomfort causing or contributing to them.
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No. When doing the Emotional Updating process, you are typically in a daydream-like state during which you are able to better access the information and processes of your unconscious mind. Most clients report being more alert than they had expected.
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No. While doing the Emotional Updating process, although typically quite relaxed, you are always in control. The process in its entirety will be explained to you prior to doing anything to ensure that you are comfortable.
Apart from general suggestions to encourage relaxation, this approach does not involve suggestion (unlike what one might encounter with other unconscious techniques). Instead, we use a question and answer format to help clients achieve change.
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The Emotional Updating method focuses on helping people change learned limiting emotional responses from past traumatic experiences. These responses operate at an unconscious level within our minds. To most effectively change them, it is important to be able to directly access unconscious information and processes. Emotional Updating is a technique that does exactly that.
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Your will meet with you Emotional Fitness Coach and they will ask you to explain the nature of your issues so that we can set objectives together for your sessions.
They will provide you with a detailed explanation of the concepts behind and the process of the Emotional Updating method.
Once you understand and are comfortable with the process, we will begin doing the Emotional Updating technique to address the changes you’d like to make.
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While these other therapies can be helpful, our approach at Vivir has some definite advantages. The Emotional Updating technique addresses problems directly at an unconscious level which offers distinct benefits over more conscious options.
These other therapies typically involve learning to cope with and manage learned post-traumatic responses. Our method on the other hand, enables one to eliminate dysfunctional responses at their root. As a result, coping with and managing emotional challenges becomes unnecessary. Furthermore, our method enables one to address issues due to trauma that occurred at any time in one’s life, even early childhood and prenatal trauma.