Can you find an Emotion Code practitioner near Tryon?
Yes. Laura Bass is a certified Emotion Code practitioner, and since 2024 she has had a part-time office at The Healing Cottage in Columbus, the Polk County seat. From Tryon it is about five miles on NC 108. From Landrum it is about eight miles, and from Saluda about ten.
Laura is also a psychotherapist who works with adults, as individuals and as couples. That combination is unusual in a county of fewer than twenty thousand people. In her own description, her approach is holistic, humanistic and integrative, and she has found that working on all levels, mind, body, spirit and energy, can produce changes that last. She offers the possibilities; the client chooses what to include.
What is the Emotion Code?
The Emotion Code is an energy healing method developed by Dr. Bradley Nelson and taught by his company, Discover Healing. Its premise, in Discover Healing's own words, is that the energy of past emotions can become trapped in the body and affect physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health.
In a session, practitioners use muscle testing, a gentle test of muscle response, to ask yes-or-no questions and identify what they describe as trapped emotions. They then pass a magnet along the back or another point to release them, according to the method. Practitioners describe a related idea, the Heart-Wall, as a layer of trapped emotions that the method holds can form around the heart after painful experiences. The Emotion Code guide explains each step in detail.
It is important to be plain about the evidence. The idea that emotions are stored as energy that muscle testing can detect is not established by scientific evidence, and muscle testing has not held up well in blinded studies; see muscle testing explained. Discover Healing's own legal page calls the method experimental and says its effectiveness, risks and benefits are not fully known. The Emotion Code, The Body Code, The Belief Code and Heart-Wall are trademarks of Wellness Unmasked, Inc. (Discover Healing); this site is independent of that company.
What does spiritual healing mean here?
Spiritual healing is a broad phrase, and people in the foothills use it to mean very different things, from prayer and spiritual direction to energy work. In Laura's case it draws on specific trainings she has completed:
- Spiritual Direction studies at the Haden Institute, a training program in the Jungian and Christian contemplative tradition.
- Ordination as a minister through the Alliance of Divine Love.
- Three levels of Reiki attunement.
- Incan Peruvian energy work, and mentoring in chakra balancing.
- Certification as an Emotion Code practitioner.
How does it fit with counseling?
Laura appreciates the benefit of talk therapy. She also writes that simply understanding why you feel or act a certain way does not always change an ingrained pattern, which is why she offers other kinds of work as well. For some clients that means grounding, meditation or journaling alongside talk therapy. For others it means including energy work or the Emotion Code. For many, it means talk therapy alone.
Whatever you choose, a few things stay fixed. Energy work and the Emotion Code are not medical or psychiatric treatment. They are not a treatment for depression, anxiety, trauma, pain or any illness, and they are not crisis care. They are not a substitute for care from your doctor or for psychotherapy, and nobody should stop a medication or a treatment because of them. Including them is always your decision, and you can change your mind at any point.
If you are coming to counseling for a specific concern, such as grief after a death, strain in a marriage or anxiety that will not settle, the Tryon counseling guide and its pages on grief counseling and faith and counseling in the foothills describe what that work involves.
Who tends to ask about this work?
The State Library of North Carolina describes Polk County, with its mild Thermal Belt climate, as a popular tourist and retirement destination, and many people arrive here in later life. According to the 2020 Census, the median age in Tryon is 58.9, and nearly a third of Polk County residents are aged 65 and older. Some people who ask about the Emotion Code have read Dr. Nelson's book; some have tried Reiki elsewhere; some simply want a counselor who will not dismiss the spiritual side of their life.
Others are skeptical, and that is welcome too. A good first conversation about energy work includes your questions about the evidence. The questions from skeptics page and does the Emotion Code work? set out what research there is and is not.
Questions to ask before you begin
Whether you see Laura or another practitioner in the Thermal Belt, these questions help you decide with clear eyes.
- What training and certification do you hold, and from which organization?
- How do you describe what the method can and cannot do?
- How will this fit with any medical care or therapy I already have?
- What will it cost, and does my insurance cover any of it? Ask Laura directly; insurance plans generally cover psychotherapy, not energy work.
- Can I decide session by session whether to include it?
If you are struggling right now
Energy work is not for a crisis. If anyone is in immediate danger, call 911. For a mental health crisis, call or text 988 at any hour. In Polk County, Vaya Health's crisis line is 1-800-849-6127; in South Carolina, the state mobile crisis line is 833-364-2274. More local numbers are on the crisis and support resources page.
Common questions
Is there an Emotion Code practitioner in Tryon or Columbus?
Laura Bass is a certified Emotion Code practitioner with a part-time office at The Healing Cottage in Columbus, about five miles from Tryon. Because the office is part-time, ask which days she is there when you call 704-706-3264 or write through the contact page. She works with adults aged 18 and over.
Does the Emotion Code replace therapy or medical care?
No. The Emotion Code is a complementary energy practice. It is not medical or psychiatric treatment, not crisis care and not a substitute for care from a doctor or therapist. Its central idea, that trapped emotional energy can be found by muscle testing and released, is not established by scientific evidence. Keep up any treatment you already have.
Do I have to include energy work if I come for counseling?
No. Laura works with mind, body and spirit, and she offers the possibilities while the client chooses what to include. Many clients want talk therapy only. Others want to include grounding, meditation, faith, energy work or the Emotion Code. You can raise it, decline it or change your mind at any point.
Can people from Landrum or Campobello come to the Columbus office?
Yes. Laura is licensed in North Carolina and South Carolina, and Columbus is about eight miles from Landrum and about fourteen from Campobello by road. Ask in your first call whether video sessions are an option, since that is a question for Laura directly.