Hey, what’s going on everyone. So just wanted to, uh, let you know that today we’re going to be talking about a approach called predictive processing and so predictive processing as a framework is very important for the rhythm and processing strategies. And in case you didn’t know where the men processing is an approach that’s designed to address the, uh, mental health consequences of complex racial trauma and dissociation, but the rap technique on its own is a self care technique that can be used by anybody.

I teach it to my clients. If they’re stressed at work, stressed in relationships, stress, because of, uh, this device that you might be using right now, social media, uh, life’s kind of stressful. So we got to find ways of being able to help with the regular everyday stresses, as well as the complex trauma, the difficulties that emerge from difficulties that have taken place in people’s lives, specifically their childhood and throughout their lives.

So, um, before I talk about what rhythm and processing is, it’s a good idea for today just to focus on what predictive processing is, or at least the four components that are going to be helpful to just know what this thing is all about. So what do we got? So, um, there’s a book called the experience machine by Andy Clark. I think it’s a great start.

There are some other books that are out there. Some of them read like you’re reading an algebra text. Some of them they read where it’s a little bit more like out there, but this one was pretty accessible for me.

And I think it’ll be helpful for you too, but I’ll just like to still, some of the things I felt were helpful for me as a therapist so that it can help you out, whether you’re interested in mental health, whether you’re a therapist yourself. So, um, in the appendix. A key part is that he is speaking about the predictive brain.

So let’s just think about it in this way is instead of us thinking about the importance of our senses, touch, taste, smell, and all of that, it’s actually our model of reality internally. That’s actually more important than what we perceive with our senses. Of course, we still need to use our eyes to see our ears to hear and all of that, but your brain is actually filling in the gaps a lot of the time and your brain’s assessment of what is important or what is salient is actually much more important than what you are seeing.
So if you think about it in terms of, you know, there’s the phantom phone vibration thing. Let’s say, for example, you’re chilling at home. Everything is all good.

All of a sudden you get a vibration. You check in your pocket, you take out your phone. You’re like, yo, who does new phone? Who does? Okay.

So same type of thing. You might then be like, okay, I’m going to swipe here. Don’t want to talk to that person.

Or you swipe in the other direction and then you talk to the person, right? But there’s sometimes where you might be at home and you feel, or you think you feel your phone vibrating, but actually your phone’s in the other room and it’s been there for the past few hours. Or you hear some birds outside of your window and you’re like, is that my ringtone? And it’s like, no, it’s not your ringtone. And you know, your phone is off and all these things.

In that case, your senses weren’t as important as what you thought it was that was actually taking place. And we use this to our advantage. When people are stressed out about things, they’re not usually stressed out about what’s happening in the moment.
They’re usually stressed out about what they thought happened, what they think is going to happen. They usually make pictures in their minds or they make sounds in their minds. They imagine, they read, they re-experience things.

The person who’s a trauma survivor, when they think about things from the past, they get drawn into it. So a lot of this stress is visualization. A lot of the stresses we go through is suffering, not just the pain of the experience, but the story around it, what it means about us, right? So it’s to know that we use this to our advantage.

So there are four key things to know about predictive brains. First is the generative model. So this is the internal reality, uh, call it kind of the knowledge base of the individual.

So this is storing all of our experiences, what we know about ourselves, what we predict about, or what we know about the world in general. Then for, uh, the second thing is the predictions. So again, we have the generative model.

So our knowledge based on what we accumulate in our lives, we then can make predictions about what’s going to happen if certain types of things takes place and on a moment by moment basis, we can have these predictions. And when I say predictions, I’m not talking about like, you know, tarot card reading, although that is kind of cool, I’m not talking about psychics. Although those things are kind of awesome as well.

I’m talking about like, if I move my hand, I’m going to touch this. Or if I see, if I hear a sound in the woods, that could be like a tiger or maybe not the woods, but a bear or something like that. So our brain is constantly predicting what’s going to take place for our continued survival, right? Next.

So we got generative model. We’ve got predictions, we’ve got prediction errors. So prediction errors, very important is that we learn across prediction errors.

We grow, we develop across prediction errors. It’s when we have a prediction and then it doesn’t quite fulfill what we think it is. And so then we learn from that.

So the, the child who’s trying to learn how to speak English through corrections, they think it’s that their mouth is going to produce this sound. It produces a different one. Eventually they learn that if they try to move in specific ways or try to speak in different ways, they’re able to pronounce like dada or mama.

Eventually they get to that point. The same with us as well. When we’re learning how to drive a car, first, it’s a little challenging.
You know, there’s a lot of mistakes that we might make, and there’s a lot of surprises that take place. And eventually it gets implemented into our internal model. That if we move the wheel this way, then this is what’s going to happen.

This is how it’s going to feel like in our body. If we move it this way, et cetera, et cetera, riding a bike, same type of deal. So the prediction error is when the brain gets surprised by something and then needs to maybe readjust and also update its model.
And then lastly is precision. So it’s to know that it’s not only just about, uh, the interpretations that we have about reality or our senses. It’s also what it is that we are choosing to focus on and the amount of precision that we have for it.
The precision waiting for these things. So precisions are going to alter the relative impact of both sensory, stim, uh, uh, sensory experiences and also predictions. Let’s say for example, okay.

If I hold my Afro pick up right in front of me, you’re probably not going to see it. Maybe if I put it close, I don’t know. Anyways, if I put it close to the camera, everything else is going to be a little blurred.
Okay. If I just look at it, everything around it is being blurred. It’s almost as if the brain is increasing the precision waiting of this and literally blurring out everything else.

Um, this is helpful for us. We need to pay attention when we’re holding something and when we don’t want it to fall. Um, that makes it so that our brain is actually focused on that specific thing and also reduces the salience of other things.

And that actually is part, all of these things are part of the key of how we help people to heal using rhythm and processing the generative model, the internal model they have of their trauma history is that the bad thing happened. The prediction is because the bad thing happened, if I think about it, I’m going to feel bad, or if something even resembles it like a trigger, I’m going to feel bad, the prediction error is actually, instead of you thinking about it and feeling bad, we got this hip hop music for you, or we got this bubbly hot pizza for you, or we have this animal, this cute animal, this good feeling. Those things are incompatible with the prediction that you have.

You might’ve thought that you’re going to feel stressed, but instead you’re now oriented to the present through the precision waiting we’re doing actions that make it so that the bubbly hot pizza is very important, or that the beach is very important for you in the present, or that looking at these things, having your pet around is very important. And then the brain needs to reconcile that. There’s a prediction error that takes place.

I thought I was going to feel bad, but instead I’m feeling my ancestors with me. I thought I was going to feel bad, but instead, you know, I’m feeling pretty joyful in this moment. And so that allows us to update the model.
That is the whole basis of rhythm and processing is that when we are able to have a prediction error that is adequate, and also that is able to help a person to disconfirm the expected prediction of what would take place if they access that memory, we can then reconsolidate the memory. We can then update the memory in a way that makes sense so that you, instead of you being back in 1996, you can be here with us in 2026 or whenever it is you’re seeing this video. Okay.

But those are the basic ideas that we just need to be introduced to the generative model, our internal model of reality, the predictions of based on our model, this is what’s going to happen. This is how I’m going to feel. This is what I need.
The prediction error, when things are not matching with what the prediction is, there’s a possibility of new learning. There’s a possibility of changing our circumstances and then the precisions, which is the key part. It’s what we are focusing on, how much we’re focusing on it.

And when we have all of these four elements together, we are able to create transformative change. We are able to use transformative trauma therapies. So whether or not you’re an EMDR therapist, come check out my EMDR therapy trainings, you can go on archer therapy.com slash training, uh, slash EMDR hyphen basic, and then you can find out when I’m doing my trainings.
If you’d be interested in attending a rhythm and processing workshop, two hours, two hours of your time, you don’t have to only be a therapist. You could be any medical professional, any health professional, if you’re interested in that, come through. I’m going to teach you for two hours, how to do the technique.

And then it’s kind of a try before you buy a thing. If you can’t afford it, don’t worry about it. I got you covered.
It’ll cost nothing for you. Just pay what you can. Okay.

But the basic idea is teach about it. We practice it as a group, reduce your stress for the week, and then you can use the technique for the rest of your life, not a bad deal, right? It’s good for you. We got to take care of ourselves.
We got to do it in community and we got to mobilize using the predictive processing framework, um, for good in this world. And I’m hoping that, um, by being able to share these videos, it’ll help a lot of people check out my website, add yourself to the mailing list and let’s keep this revolution going. All right.

Peace. Take good care.