Emotional Freedom Techniques   

     A Universal Aid to Healing

 The doorway to a new healing high-rise

A Metaphor                        Each person's life can be likened to a river flowing downstream. The river can be fast and furious, or slow and steady.  Most people, when they are younger perhaps, have free flowing water in their river, but little by little, as life passes, rocks begin to be added.  The rocks can be any size; the rocks of school or work difficulties, to the bigger rocks of serious illness. These rocks can just be the little pebbles that we accumulate as life goes by. At first, the river flows over the rocks, but as they accumulate, it begins to struggle and has to change its course. The river can become muddy or cloudy because of the turbulence, and may even become out of control and threaten to burst its banks. EFT works to remove the rocks.  It may not happen instantly, and sometimes the biggest rocks may take time to be removed, but removed they are, allowing the river to flow as it was meant to be.   History                                     Over 25 years ago, Dr. Roger Callahan, a psychiatrist, developed ‘Thought field Therapy’ (TFT) in collaboration with Dr. John Diamond one of the first psychiatrist to use and write about subtle energies.   Dr. Diamond’s pioneering concepts and advanced ideas from ‘Applied Kinesiology, coupled with Dr Callahan’s discovery that gentle tapping on acupressure points corrected the imbalance in the Body’s energy system, created by negative emotions, gave birth to ‘TFT’ also known as the ‘Callahan Technique’   Dr. Callahan's first experience   In 1980 Dr. Roger Callahan was working with a patient, Mary, for an intense water phobia. She suffered from frequent headaches and terrifying nightmares, both of which were related to her fear of water. To seek help, she had been going from therapist to therapist for years....with no material improvement.  Dr. Callahan tried to help her by conventional means for a year and a half. He didn’t make much headway either. Then one day he stepped outside the normal “boundaries” of psychotherapy. Out of curiosity, he had been studying the body’s energy system and decided to tap with his fingertips under her eyes (an end point of the stomach meridian). This was prompted by her complaint of some stomach discomfort. To his astonishment, she announced immediately that her phobia was gone and she raced down to a nearby swimming pool and began throwing water in her face. No fear. No headaches. It all went away....including the nightmares. And it has never returned.       She is totally free of her water phobia. Results like that are rare in the field of psychotherapy...but commonplace with EFT.   Whilst conventional Therapies attempt to intervene at the chemical, neural or cognitive level TFT addressed the psychological problem at the energy level by working with the ‘Energy Meridian System’  This is the same Meridian System identified by the Chinese some 5000 years ago and in acupuncture for centuries.     Gary Craig, a Stanford engineer, received his initial training with Dr. Callahan . He subsequently simplified and streamlined the procedure, the result of his efforts gave birth to EFT, Emotional Freedom Techniques.     Christopher Hegarty, Ph. D., an alternative medicine researcher and  journalist,  declared  EFT    “An Alternative Moment in Science” in an article published by ‘Explore’ in Nov. 2003. (see Articles section of this web site for a summary of the article)To quote from his introductory remarks: -   “Imagine for a moment a healing modality that, in less than 10 years, has become a highly valued method of more than five thousand medical doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, chiropractors, acupuncturists, nurses and other members of the healing professions in dozens of countries. Imagine further that no surgery, drugs or equipment are needed.There is such a healing modality, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT).”   So, what is EFT?   One of the simplest ways to introduce EFT is: - “EFT is like acupuncture, however, without needles     Gentle tapping on specific meridian points, coupled with tuning into the problem in a non intrusive, gentle conversational manner, rebalances the body’s energy system. The procedure dissolves the emotional charge attached to the event, although not the memory, and in doing so, a state of calm, harmony and newfound confidence permeates our being.   The EFT Discovery Statement states: - The cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body's energy system." And because our physical pains and diseases are so obviously connected with our emotions the following statement has also proven to be true... "Our unresolved negative emotions are major contributors to most physical pains and diseases."   How does it work?   The simplest of answers is – extremely well! Often works when nothing else will Is usually rapid, long lasting and gentle Requires no drugs or equipment Is easily learned by anyone Can be self-applied A circuit breaker is an effective means to convey how EFT’s strategy works. When the circuit is overpowered itswitches off, the lights do not turn on, your appliances turn off.                                                        Once the circuit breaker is reset, power flow is restored, everything hums along effortlessly again. EFT restores normality by resetting the energy circuits in a person’s body and mind      My experience of EFT       Simply, EFT creates an amazingly synchronized integration of body mind and spirit and as a result a   wonderful inner calm is experienced. This in turn bestows a greater capacity for discrimination and a clearer awareness of the high and low tides that different emotions create in our lives. As a result our actions and re-actions towards people and events are controlled by us rather than haphazard emotions.     What can you use EFT for?  As Gary Craig says: “Try it on everything”   Please note that EFT is a tool and a technique whose efficacy is in removing the emotional aspects of a problem and sometimes this results in physical relief of some sort. It does not replace the need and value in seeking professional help from various medical professionals and specialists.   The following information was taken from Gary’s site; in Gary’s words:-      Using EFT on fears and phobias  About 10% of the population suffers from one or more phobias. They can cause intense fear and often severely limit the lives of those who have them. There are hundreds of possible phobias and EFT can be effective on all of them. I include below some of the more common ones:-   Public Speaking                                                     Heights                                                                    Water Snakes, Spiders, Insects                                            Speed Claustrophobia                                                         The telephone Dentists                                                                   Marriage Needles                                                                   Men Driving                                                                    Failure Elevators                                                                 Disease Flying                                                                      Dogs Bridges                                                                   Computers Rejection                                                                 Being Alone       Using EFT to Enhance Your Self Image       The cause of a poor self image The term “poor self image” refers to a generally negative feeling about one’s self. Authorities on the subject have not developed a precise definition for it nor have they pinpointed an exact cause. Accordingly, there is no agreed upon way to handle it. EFT, by contrast, is much more precise in its approach and pinpoints an exact cause. Here it is: The cause of a poor self image is an accumulation of negative emotions about one’s self. This is self evident and is stated here because, in these terms, EFT makes eminently good sense. If we eliminate the negative emotions then we eliminate the cause. And without the cause the poor self image fades away. Poor self image may be the world’s number one ailment. It is so prevalent that almost everyone carries around some degree of it. Our self image is often equated with our self confidence. We tend to “radiate” it through our mannerisms, posture, words and gestures and others “pick it up” whether we want them to or not.  Accordingly, it has a major effect on our business, social, and personal performance. Sometimes jobs, promotions and sales are won or lost depending on how we radiate our inner thoughts to others. Friendships and romantic encounters can flourish or die depending on how we project our feelings about ourselves. The lower our self image, the easier it is to get upset and the more intense become our anger, guilt, jealousy and other emotional responses.  When our self image is low we tend to stay stuck in one place. We don’t venture into that new business or get out of that abusive relationship or try something new.  Some parts of our lives can be very dull and depressing.  In short, our self image is the centerpiece of our emotional strength. The quality of our lives often depends on it.   Using EFT on Traumatic Memories     Including War, Accidents, Rape, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and all past abuses.   Traumatic memories generate a wide variety of emotional reactions when people recall them.Some become very intense. They get headaches or stomach aches. Their hearts pound. They sweat. They cry. They may have sexual dysfunction, nightmares, grief, anger, depression and any number of other emotional and physical problems.   Using EFT for Physical Healing   "In every culture and in every medical tradition before  ours, healing was  accomplished by moving energy"  Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, Nobel Laureate in Medicine                                                   Nowhere is there more obvious evidence for the existence of the mind-body connection than EFT Here is a beginning list of the physical ailments which have been addressed by EFT with either partial or complete success:   Headaches, back pain, stiff neck and shoulders, joint pains, cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, asthma, allergies, itching eyes, body sores, rashes, insomnia, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, eyesight, muscle tightness, bee stings, urination problems, morning sickness, PMS, sexual dysfunctions, sweating, poor coordination, carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis, numbness in the fingers, stomachaches, toothaches, trembling, multiple sclerosis.  There are many, many more. A complete list is several times as long.   Try it on everything.   I try EFT on every physical ailment presented to me and am repeatedly astonished at the results. I don’t have 100% success (who does?) but often EFT will give startling relief where nothing else seems to work.  There are thousands of physical ailments that befall human beings for which the healing sciences have developed a wide array of remedies. These remedies range from a laying on of hands to drugs & surgery to fasting to mental imagery. They all seem to show results for some of the people some of the time. But none of them work for all of the people all of the time. EFT, in my experience, works so well that it should be included in every healer’s tool bag.   Just as the proper flow of blood throughout the body is vital to one’s physical health, so is the proper flow of the body’s energy. Thus, balancing it with EFT is bound to promote physical healing.  It is undeniable that negative emotions contribute to physical ailments. To the extent that EFT neutralizes those negative emotions, the physical symptoms appear to subside.