What if there were a simple, easy technique that you could do in your own home to get rid of a behavior, a feeling or a craving? EFT could be that for you.
I was first introduced to Emotional Freedom Technique, EFT, or tapping when I was a student at Hypnosis Motivation Institute (HMI). The demonstrations were amazing! A woman who had craved chocolate her entire life suddenly was not interested in the least. I was curious – how to change, in a few minutes, how you viewed something you have loved your whole life.
Fast forward to last week. I continue to struggle with maintaining a healthy weight. I decided to try tapping on not eating carbs. Low and behold I went to a lunch networking event and looked at the rolls and potatoes like they were foreign objects and definitely not something I would ever eat. Dessert? Not a chance, I didn’t even check it out to see what it was. It can be an amazing tool and I was reminded to use it with my clients.
What is tapping?
Tapping works with the body’s energy system – the meridians that carry electrical impulses throughout the body. These meridians were first used (and are still used) in acupuncture and acupressure. We tap on the end-points of the meridians while repeating a problem statement (eg. My addiction to carbs). In acupuncture, you are needled on a specific point for a specific problem. In tapping, we just tap on all the upper body meridians and assume that one will be the correct meridian. Tapping is part of a group of therapies called ENERGY PSYCHOLOGY, because they are believed to affect the body’s electromagnetic energy fields.
Where does it come from?
A psychologist, Dr. Roger Callahan, discovered tapping by accident while working with a client with a water phobia. When she complained that her stomach hurt, he tapped under her eyes, the end point of the stomach meridian, and her stomach pain and water phobia went away. This discovery was used by Gary Craig to expand tapping and come up with a simple system that can be used by anyone. Gary has had great success with Vietnam Vets with PTSD. When they tell their stories while tapping the emotional intensity of the stories goes from 10 to 1 or zero.
How do you do it?
We begin by creating a setup statement: “Even though I have this addiction to carbs, I deeply and completely love and accepts myself.” At first, this negativity bothered me – shouldn’t we be focusing on the positive? I was listening to Nick Ortner’s broadcast during the 14th Annual Tapping World Summit. He runs Tapping World and is now a leader in the field. He had the same question about the setup statement and he asked Louise Hay why we start with a negative. We know Louise Hay was all about positive affirmations (as am I) and I was intrigued to hear her answer. She wisely said “If you want to clean the house, first you have to see the dirt.”
Tapping works on the theory that our unresolved negative emotions are major contributors to most physical pain, disease and anxiety. The cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body’s energy system.
We were trained to be negative from the earliest times. Those who survived were the ones who were watching the bushes for any suspicious activity, were there tigers in the bushes? – those blithely playing in the open did not survive.
I usually do a session with my clients and then give them the recipe so they can do it whenever they want. And when I say do a session with my clients, I tap along with them so they don’t feel silly – at first it can seem an odd thing to be doing.
Sound interesting? Give me a call 818-929-4944 to set up a session and I will teach you how to do EFT your way or join my free Hypnotherapy Q & A every Wednesday at 10 am PST.
You can register here.
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0lfu6trjIvGNZ8XkMGblRSB97cmXEKVT6p
Sincerely,
Cinda
HypnoNews and Resources
Here are some articles with more information about EFT-tapping:
From WEB MD, What is EFT tapping?
https://www.webmd.com/balance/what-is-eft-tapping
From Medical News Today, A Guide to EFT tapping,