Therapist D asked Younger Boy to come up with a place he thought was relaxing.  We are going to work on getting him to go into "low alert" or stop being so hyper-vigilant.  To relax.

He picked the beach.  We talked about all of the things you would see, hear, smell, feel, and taste at the beach.

She had him lay down and taught him to do progressive relaxation with his body.  He started with his toes and went to his head and back to his feet.  He was fairly relaxed.

Then we did some EMDR with him "sitting by the ocean".  Therapist D talked him through it.  He was laying on the couch where I was sitting and I could see him tensing up and his body not willing to relax.  His fists were clenched, but he insisted he was completely relaxed.

He got progressively more relaxed, but every time he was about to be completely relaxed his arms would jerk and fists clench again.

Again...fascinating and sad all rolled into one.

He is going to practice progressive relaxation (or spaghetti body as they call it) every night at bedtime.