YOU may or may not have heard of EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique, so if not, let me introduce you.
It is an amazing emotional healing technique that is being used by thousands of people around the world. It uses a combination of ancient Chinese acupressure and modern psychology to heal a number of issues from severe pain, migraines, fear, phobias, guilt, anger, fatigue, negative beliefs and emotional upsets to Post Traumatic Stress disorder.
It works by tapping with your fingers on specific points on the body located along energy meridians. This achieves a balance in the meridian that has become disrupted, following a traumatic emotional experience. EFT has evolved from what was called Thought Field Therapy, a treatment created by US clinical psychologist Roger Callahan. Dr. Callahan discovered that stimulating an acupressure or energy point led to psychological relief for a client suffering from anxiety, and he continued to experiment to discover a series of useful points that not only helped anxiety but a whole range of other issues, including many chronic conditions.
Gary Craig, a scientist who studied with Dr. Callahan, identified further energy points that could be used to treat any emotional problem. He called this Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT and achieved excellent results with this approach on a wide range of both emotional and physical problems. You may be very skeptical about this, so let me explain Why it works.
EFT activates the body’s healing system, as tapping on specific acupuncture points increases the level of endorphins, our ‘feel good’ hormones. Researchers at Harvard Medical School have found that stimulation of these acupuncture points decreases activity in the Limbic system and other areas of the brain that deal with fear. Stimulation of these points decreases cortisol levels and our response to stress. They also directly influences the autonomic nervous system, balancing heart rate, blood pressure, the immune system, tissue repair and metabolism. Measurements of heart rate have shown a normalising of both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems with an immediate elimination of the stress response. Psychologists at Florida State University found rapid and lasting relief for patients suffering from a trauma or phobia. Further studies have shown the effectiveness of EFT to treat severe pain and chronic fatigue.
So How does it work? To get started, you need to concentrate on the issue that is distressing you the most. Think about the problem you are trying to resolve and feel the emotion attached to that issue, whether it be anger, grief, fear, stress or anxiety. Rate that emotion on a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 meaning you have no distress, to 10 meaning you are very, very upset, in a lot of pain, furious or very anxious. You then devise a statement about that emotion, but be really specific. For example, “Even though I have really severe pain shooting up and down my back, that is stopping me from working and is depressing me, I deeply and completely love and accept myself”, or “Even though I’m really stressed about work because my boss is unrealistic about deadlines and expects too much of me, I deeply and completely love and accept myself” and so on.
By saying that you accept yourself, you are not saying that the problem is okay, but you are showing compassion to yourself and your situation and this goes a long way towards clearing the issue.
You then begin to tap using two fingers (your index and middle finger), on what is called the karate chop point on your hand (see diagram below), saying the statement three times. Some people use what is called the Sore Spot on your chest instead. Tap firmly but gently. You then move on to tap a sequence of eight points, mainly on the face, while saying your statement. Tap about seven times on each point using either hand, and working on either side of the face.
Start with the inner corner of your eyebrow, then the side of the eye, then under the eye, under the nose, on the chin, the collarbone, under the arm near the bra line and on top of your head. Then tune in to yourself and assess how the problem feels. Is it still a 10 or has it shifted? If it is still there, do a few more rounds of tapping to help clear the issue. As you tap on an issue, other issues or emotions may come up. It’s often similar to peeling the layers of an onion. By peeling away, we may then come to the core issue so that we can deal with it.
This technique sounds very simple but don’t be surprised at how powerful it can be and how many emotions it might bring up. Be gentle with yourself. Give it a try and see how differently you feel. You might be pleasantly surprised. There are Youtube videos available online if you want to see the technique performed. Be aware that different people do slightly different variations of it . Two you might like to look up are Brad Yates and Nick Ortner who have a number of youtube videos.
Take care and give it a go and let me know how it works for you. I would love your feedback.
With love,
Judy xx
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References: Tapping the Healer Within by Dr. Roger Callahan, The Tapping Solution by Nick Ortner, www.eftdownunder.com
Disclaimer: Please note that all information in this article is the opinion of the author and obtained through her research and knowledge and the above references. It is not meant to replace medical advice and a medical opinion should always be obtained for any health condition.