What is Splankna?
Splankna Therapy is a holistic therapy put together by Sarah Thiessen. It is a combination of several protocols including EFT, TFT, NET, and EMDR and is the first therapy protocol to use energy psychology from a Christian perspective. Which brings up another question of…what is energy psychology?
What is Energy Psychology?
Energy psychology operates using the same meridian lines that chiropractic and acupuncture use.
The idea is that energy flows through our bodies along these meridian lines and when there is a disruption in this flow of energy we experience symptoms mentally, emotionally, or physically.
Energy psychology uses knowledge of these meridian lines to help restore the flow of energy to alleviate mental and emotional symptoms.
How does Splankna work?
I love the explanation that the Splankna Therapy institute gives for how this model of therapy works. Here is their answer:
“#1. The subconscious mind has all of one’s life experiences catalogued like a computer hard-drive.
Emotions from painful life experiences seem to be stored in the body like electrical charges, in different organ points along the Meridan System depending on the type of emotion.
The Meridian System of energy is what chiropractic and acupuncture are based on. It is theorized to be the path along which the body’s energy/electricity flows.
#2. “Symptoms” are understood to be the result of a current life experience “triggering” an older stored trauma and re-activating the old emotional content creating some form of overreaction.
The clearest example is a phobia. If I had a bad fall as a child, the memory and emotion of that experience are stored in the subconscious mind.
As an adult, my conscious mind says ,“This fear is irrational. I am perfectly safe to look out a four-story window.” But when I try that, it’s as if my computer system says, “What do we have stored on height?”
It double-clicks that old file and up to my screen comes all the stored emotion and my body has a panic attack, while my conscious mind disagrees that I’m in any danger.
#3. The body is capable of resolving or releasing these stored emotional charges so that the“fuel” behind a symptom is no longer present.
What the body needs to accomplish this is some style of “Circuitry + Intention”. (Intention being what the person is thinking of, focusing on, remembering etc.)
All mind-body treatments that are effective use some combination of physical circuitry + intention.
For instance, the client will think of feeling anger at 6 years old when one parent had an extra-marital affair, while touching the liver alarm point on the body where the anger is stored.
In just a few seconds, and usually with some spoken forgiveness, the body seems to resolve this stored charge of emotion, as if the “file” is cleaned out. When all the emotions fueling a symptom are resolved, the symptom tends to lift.”
What is a typical Splankna session like?
A Splankna therapy session begins with praying that all the work we do in the session be brought under Jesus’ authority and that God would search through the client and mark the places we are to work on during the session.
Next we use muscle testing to determine if we will begin the session working on a set of emotions or on a tapping algorithm. Muscle testing is used throughout the session to work through the emotions to be cleared. The muscle test is very simple and minimally invasive.
The client holds out their arm straight in front of them making a loose fist and holding their deltoid muscle strong, it helps to imagine a two pound weight sitting on your wrist to hold the muscle strong enough.
The practitioner then presses gently on the client’s wrist while asking yes/no questions of the client’s subconscious. Below is an explanation from the Splankna Therapy Institute about muscle testing:
“Muscle-testing is the tool used to access this stored emotional content. Any major muscle in the body (deltoid in this case) that is fairly well isolated, will respond to electrical/energetic shifts that go off in the body.
So, when the client’s [subconscious is asked something that is true, there is a small electrical/energetic shift created by the congruence].
This shift shows up in the muscle by causing it to momentarily de-activate. When a muscle is de-activated it will give when pressure is applied rather than bounce back. This simple body mechanism provides something similar to “yes/no” answers.
Since, the subconscious has all of the person’s life experiences catalogued, a practitioner can ascertain, for instance, how many emotions are fueling a particular symptom, when they occurred, where they are stored in the body, etc., by watching the muscle reactions to questions and statements.
Since the subconscious mind has all of the person’s life experiences catalogued, a practitioner can ascertain, for instance, how many emotions are fueling a particular symptom, when they occurred, where they are stored in the body, etc., by noting the muscle reactions to questions and statements.
It is important to mention that muscle-testing, though very useful, is also imperfect. There are many variables that affect a muscle-test and it must always be “taken with a grain of salt.
*NOTE: Muscle-Testing should never be used to ask judgment questions, future telling questions, or attempt to ask questions of God. It is NOT a crystal ball.”
After a set of emotions has been cleared the client and practitioner work together to try and identify the lie or the vow the client made agreement with to allow those emotions to take root in them.
Prayer is used to break these agreements and the session is then closed with an algorithm if it was not started with one.
A great explanation from the Splankna Therapy Institute of the spiritual aspects of breaking these agreements is below:
“Spiritual Aspects: We trust that God knows what we need better than we do. We invite Him to lead the entire process and to choose for us where to go in the client’s heart.
When traumas occur in our lives, our enemy seems to capitalize on our vulnerability by offering deals/bargains to the deep heart. Sometimes our hearts are deceived and we agree for coping strategies or with symptoms themselves.
In the Healing Protocol we ask God to reveal any agreements the client made in conjunction with the identified trauma and we assist the client in repenting of the agreement and breaking it, including all the enemy’s claim to the person and entities attached.
In this way, every effort is made to resolve the symptom from all angles, Physically, Emotionally and Spiritually.”
What can Splankna help with?
Energy psychology protocols in general have been shown to be helpful especially with trauma and anxiety. Splankna Therapy Institute explains what it can help with by saying that, “Splankna can help with an issue in as much as it is emotionally rooted.”
So will it help my lower back pain? Maybe, it depends on the degree to which your back pain is emotionally rooted. Will it help with my depression? Maybe, it depends on the degree to which your depression is emotionally rooted.
Try it Yourself
I hope today’s post helped to answer many of the questions you may have had about Splankna Therapy. More information about Splankna can be found at Splankna Therapy Institute’s website and in the book by Sarah Thiessen about how she put the therapy protocol together. Check out the Splankna directory to find a practitioner near you.