EFT is a self-help method that combines gentle touch with mindful attention to thoughts and feelings.
The technique involves tapping with our fingertips on acupuncture/acupressure points on the face, hands and body while focusing on a problem or issue we wish to resolve.
EFT allows us to release and transform the way feelings like guilt, fear, or anger may be affecting our bodies and our health.
EFT can also be used to help transform the thoughts and beliefs behind our emotional experiences.
Successfully Using EFT
To increase our chances of getting great results with EFT, it is important that we are as specific as possible, whenever possible.
When we are working with a large or global issue, like “fear of public speaking” for example, we may be trying to focus on too many feelings at once and EFT may not have any noticeable effect. To tackle a global issue it is very important to zero-in on specific parts, or aspects, of the issue.
Three good ways to zero-in are to:
- break the issue down into specific past events
- work with the emotion as it is held in the body
- work with our own imagery.
It is usually very useful to use all three of these ways of zeroing-in as you work through any complicated issue.
Every issue we work on has many parts, many details, and many possible triggers. Recognizing aspects and tapping very specifically for different aspects is a skill required for effective EFT.
1. Specific Events
Working with specific events is highly recommended and often gets the most noticeable results.
Break your issue down by focusing in on specific events in your life that made you feel this same way before. These events can either be recent or from your childhood.
For instance, in the example of “fear of public speaking” you may be reminded of specific events like:
- “Even though I peed my pants in Kindergarten and it was really embarrassing, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”
- “Even though I stuttered in front of my entire fourth grade class while giving a presentation..”
- “Even though I blew it the audition for that play in high schooland everyone laughed at me…”
As you deal old specific events, you may start to feel emotional.
Thoroughly tap while you describe all the details of the memory that feels most upsetting to you. You will find that as you tap, you erase the discomfort that comes with the larger issue you initially chose to work on.
Address each detail of your specific memory with as many rounds of tapping as needed – until your emotional intensity is a 1 or 0.
Address each of your feelings, and each of the limiting beliefs you took on, with its very own series of tapping rounds.
2. Becoming Aware of Your Body
Where do you feel the feeling in your body. What is it like physically? How do you experience this emotion in your body?
For example:
- “Even though I feel the fear like a void in my chest…”
- “Even though my throat feels constricted because ever criticizing me…”
- “Even though I feel this awful nervousness in the pit of my stomach…”
Many times after tapping you will feel changes in the way the body is holding emotions.
The sensations may decrease, change in quality, or even move to a different place in or on your body. When emotional energy moves around the body, and you continuously tap while addressing the changing location of the sensation, you are “chasing the pain.”
3. Inner Imagery
Use an image to give your feeling more detail.
If you are good at visualizing, imagine what the energy of the fear looks like, or feels like for you, and tap on the details of that image. Imagery is great way to listen to our feelings.
As we tap the images that we visualize often begin to change as our energy shifts. For example:
- “Even though this anger is like a big, red ball in the pit of my stomach…”
- “Even though this fear is choking me like a snake wrapped around me tightly…
- “Even though I feel the sadness like a wave drowning me…”
After tapping, ask yourself: “Has the image changed in any way? How does it feel now?”
Going With the Flow
As you tap your feelings will probably begin to change.
You might begin to notice that certain details of your original problem don’t bother you as much anymore, or you might feel differently about the situation.
For instance, your nervousness may subside to a 3, but now embarrassment is coming up at a 10.
This is a different aspect of the issue.
As you move through different aspects, you will be addressing the complexity of the issue. Be sure and refer to your original intensity assessment and be sure to notice what has changed from that starting point. A thorough process may take you through many aspects, including changes in the way the emotion is showing up in your body.
Continue rating the intensity and tapping as you address each part that arises.
Stay focused on, or refocus your attention on, what is most intense, or most important, for you right now.
EFT pays off when you pay attention to specific aspects of your problems one by one and target each aspect with tapping.
Being specific gets great results.