Introduction To Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)

[Pat Robinson]

[Guest post from Janine Lattimore of  Vanilla Soul - naturally great living.]

Basic Introduction To Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or Meridian Tapping

 

One of the easiest and best techniques that I have found to help develop self-love and acceptance, ease fear and anxiety and boost physical wellbeing is Meridian Tapping (also known as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).

 

Meridian Tapping or Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is basically a combination of Asian acupressure and modern psychology.  It helps remove blocks and blockages in your body's energy system and can be used to shift negative emotions, destructive beliefs and physical pain.

 

"EFT enables positive cognitive shifts and its genius is that you can pretty much pull up anything that bothers you and turn it 'off' on purpose.  It also modifies the anxiety/stress response, fostering positive body awareness." (Gabriela Rosa - EFT Practitioner)

 

One of the greatest advantages of meridian tapping is that it is one of the easiest ways to identify and shift the programming in your subconscious.  Plain positive thinking and affirmations have minimal impact on the beliefs, perceptions and habitual behaviours programmed into your subconscious.  It is these subconscious programmes that control your behaviour about 95% of the time.  Unless you shift these then they will often work against the new conscious beliefs and behaviours you wish to adopt.  Meridian Tapping is one way that you can re-programme your subconscious and make the beliefs and behaviours you want to have the ones that operate habitually for you.

 

You can easily perform meridian tapping yourself on any issue that is bothering you.  I find the process itself helps you to identify deeper underlying sources to current issues.  These may be past experiences, memories or just realisations that arise as you tap.  However, if you are dealing with intense emotions or trauma or find you get 'stuck' it is advisable to see a professional EFT practitioner.

 

How To Video

I found that the easiest way to learn EFT/Tapping was to watch someone else doing it.  You can watch a ‘how to’ video where I show you the basic tapping sequence and points at www.vanillasoul.co.nz/Meridian-Tapping/

 

Tips

Here are some tips to enhance your Tapping experience:

Breathe

Breathe slowly and deeply throughout the tapping process.  Breathing also helps mobilise fluids and energy within your body and can aid with the release of the negative energies and toxins that are released by the tapping process.

 

Be as specific as possible

Describe the issue you are tapping on in as much detail as possible.  Often as you are tapping your understanding and description of the issue will evolve and become clearer.

 

If you are tapping for physical pain then focus on the pain as you are tapping.  Feel the pain as intensely and clearly as possible.  If you are tapping on physical pain do one or more rounds of tapping on the physical pain and also tap on any emotional issues rising around the pain (stress, anxiety, fear are often involved).

 

If you are tapping on an emotional issue, try and get the emotion as high in you as possible.  Feel it intently.  Imagine the situation that triggers the emotion vividly in your mind.

 

The Acceptance Statement

You can vary the acceptance statement (used at the end of the set-up) to one that you feel comfortable saying e.g

"I deeply and completely accept myself anyway"

"I choose to accept and forgive myself"

"I deeply and completely forgive and accept myself"

"I choose to feel calm and accepting"

"I choose to let go"

 

Key Phrases

When you are using tapping to programme positive beliefs into your subconscious then the following statement starters can be very powerful: "I choose" and "I am".

 

e.g. "I choose to be in acceptance", "I am powerful", "I choose to feel peaceful", "I am worthy of love"

 

Separate Negative and Positive

When tapping on negative issues of fear, pain, doubt, frustration etc just tap fully on the negative feelings first until they begin to lesson in intensity.  You can then begin to tap in positive affirmations.  When tapping in positive affirmations, keep it positive.  Avoid adding negative 'tail-enders'.  A tail-ender is a condition ( a ‘but’) that people put at the end of their affirmation which can effectively cancel the effect of the affirmation eg 'I believe, I can create my reality with the the law of attraction, but I doubt this law because I have no way to prove it to myself.'  In this case you would tap on the 'doubt' first and then just tap in the new desired positive belief.

 

Be Persistent

You may need to do two or three rounds of tapping to begin to feel a shift.  You may need to do two or three sessions of rounds of tapping.  It may take a little longer in the beginning until you become comfortable with the technique and more complex issues often take some time to work through.

 

I personally intuitively sense within myself when a limiting belief has been shifted or released.  However, if you are just starting out with Meridian Tapping it can be helpful to rate the intensity of your emotion/belief before tapping on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being incredibly strong and one being very low in intensity.  After a round or two of tapping rate the same emotion/belief again.  The idea is to keep tapping until the intensity of the issue your are working on is down below a 4.

 

Using Ready-Made Tapping Scripts

The other thing that I find very helpful, and especially so when I first started practicing Tapping, was following a script of statements as I worked through the process.

 

Here is an example script for you to try on the common issue of feeling overwhelmed.

 

Karate Chop: Even though I’m feeling overwhelmed with everything

that is going on at the moment, I deeply

and completely accept myself….

 

Karate Chop: Even though I’m stressed out because I have

way too much to do, and not enough time, I deeply

and completely accept myself…

 

Karate Chop: Even though I’m frustrated with the craziness

of the all the things I have to do and want to do, I chose to relax now.

 

Eyebrow: Way too stressed out…

Side of the Eye: Too much to do…

Under Eye: I’ve got way too much to do…

Under Nose: And not enough time…

Under Mouth: There’s just not enough time…

Collarbone: And it’s stressing me out….

Under Arm:  Too many things that need doing…

Top of the Head: Too many people to see….

 

(continuing though the points again)

 

Eyebrow: It never seems to end

Side of the Eye: there’s always something that needs doing

Under Eye: But I can choose to relax now…

Under Nose: I can choose to relax anytime….

Under Mouth: I can choose to let go….

Collarbone: I choose to enjoy this moment right now….

Under Arm:  I choose to notice the love, joy and peace

around me….

Top of the Head: I choose to create love, joy and peace

around me…

 

Take a deep breath….

 

And let it go….

 

When you have tapped through the script think about anything specific that came up for you – a particular task you don’t want to do or a memory or a physical sensation in your body.  You can now tap on any specific issues that you identified.  Remember, the more detailed you can get on your issue the better.

 

In Summary

The meridian tapping process may look and feel a little strange at first.  All I can say is give it a go and try it on everything.  You have nothing to lose except a small investment in time and possibly a whole new level of health and happiness to gain.

 

Wishing you health and happiness

Janine Lattimore

www.vanillasoul.co.nz