Most of the time our body and mind manages and sorts new information and experiences without us even noticing but when something happens to us which causes distress, something which is too much, too fast and too soon for our minds and bodies to cope with; for example a single traumatic incident or chronic repeated adverse experiences, our system can become overwhelmed and instead of the memory of the experience being stored in our minds in a verbal, kind of 'story mode', the memory can become stuck and frozen in its raw state within the emotional (limbic) part of our brain.   This unprocessed memory continues to disturb us in the present by firing up emotions and physical symptoms associated with the past event when we experience a similar event or when we perceive a similar threat in our environment.  Ongoing extreme emotions and intense physical sensations can prevent us from moving forward and living the lives we want to live.  EMDR  helps to create connections between our brain's memory networks and files our memories away in the correct place allowing our brains to process the traumatic memory in a natural way and allowing us to recall the memory without the same level of distress and or dysfunction.