Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or ‘Tapping’ as it’s commonly called is a relatively new therapy. It works on principles as old as time….the principles that alternative/complementary therapies work on – the goal, to rebalancing the energies with the body. It is sometimes referred to as Acupuncture without needles as it works on the meridian (energy lines) points that are used in Acupuncture. It’s a fast track therapy that system that can deal with physical, mental and emotional issues in a staggeringly short time – sometimes minutes! having done years of various different therapy work, I have been amazed by the results!
Our bodies have an energetic foundation which our physical (fleshed and bones) body forms around. This energetic system is made up of rivers or lines of energy, when these are clean and clear our energy flows easily and feely – we feel good and are healthy. If these rivers become blocked through toxins (from food, the environment or emotional stress) then the energy that feeds the surrounding tissues is limited and eventually we will feel the lack – through tiredness, pain, discomfort and disease.
Our consciousness is mad up of our conscious – what we ae aware of…our subconscious – what we are not aware of and our super conscious – which is commonly called our higher self or soul energy.
Our subconscious mind is a massive database for everything we have ever experienced in this lifetime (and in other lifetimes if you can embrace the concept of more than one lifetime). It doesn’t discriminate or question our experiences it just downloads them as a package – the ‘whole’ experience, our thoughts and our emotions around it.
If a similar set of circumstances happen in our lives today, our consciousness ‘matches’ the experience from our past – something about it has the same frequency – voila! …we are transported straight into the emotional state that we were all that time ago.
Now if the experience is a good one, for example, the smell of a beautiful rose that takes you back to the time you smelt a beautiful rose whilst being in a tranquil garden feeling peaceful and content with life in that moment – what a beautiful trigger to a feel good state.
However if the experience is uncomfortable or fearful, for instance, the sound of angry arguing voices that reminds you of your unhappy childhood and a family torn emotionally – then this trigger is not going to make you feel good. In this state the person has a problem detaching from the situation – they see and feel it on a personal level. The angry voices maybe nothing to do with them but as they are linked into the frequency of when it was their experience they have the same emotional reaction as before.
Our thoughts, beliefs (which are thoughts we keep thinking) and our emotions are held in our consciousness – the vast majority in our subconscious – we are not aware of them. I can liken this to my ‘Inbox’ – I have been aware of all my emails coming in when they did but today I can only consciously remember a fraction of them and more of the current ones….but like me, most people leave emails sitting in their inbox unaware of what is still there. If I search for someone’s name or information from the past my computer will bring up everything from my old emails that matches my search….in the same way our ‘feelings’ find the experiences that match from our inbox of experiences logged in our consciousness inbox.
There is a signal leap from the forebrain (where our conscious brain processes the experience) to the hindbrain (where are subconscious and instinctual brain) that produces a fight, flight or freeze response. Whether we do fight, flee or are rendered paralysed by the situation will depend on our beliefs, attitudes self-worth.
Back to those energy lines – those meridians that are our spiritual and physical blueprint – consciousness flows through these. Negative thoughts and feelings are heavy, sticky, sluggish and cause problems for us on every level.
EFT works on literally tapping the ‘dirt’ out of the lines; in the same way you would dislodge the mud from the bottom of your shoes but knocking them against each other. Tapping on the points where the energy lines come near to the surface of the skin ‘flat lines’ the negative frequency and allows the energy to return to its natural free-flowing state.
In stressful situations, there is a signal leap from the forebrain (where our conscious brain processes the experience) to the hindbrain (where are subconscious and instinctual brain) that produces a fight, flight or freeze response. Whether we do fight, flee or are rendered paralysed by the situation will depend on our beliefs, attitudes self-worth.
Tapping also messes up the transmission from the forebrain to the hindbrain and so the fear response is not triggered… clever.
In yoga, the postures work on freeing up the energy flow in the meridians again, in a beautiful book by …………………she talks about ‘tapping the pipes’ to allow the body to return to its natural state of flow.
So, what do we use EFT for and who is it suitable for…
Anything and everything and anyone at any age!
Too global to get your head around, so let’s name some things…
If you think about it, tapping is such a natural thing that we do to ourselves and to others. We rub and tap our bodies to relieve ourselves and others of pain.
If someone is upset, your instinct (maybe) is to console them – a cuddle and a reassuring tapping on their back, shoulder…
We have a great idea, we naturally tap our temple area on our heads several times as we exclaim our delight to someone – it’s how we are naturally anchoring in that idea. You see people thinking, waiting for inspiration – they again will tap their temple (often with their head on one side) in an unconscious attempt to clear the fog and facilitate receiving their creative thought.
So ‘Tapping’ is not just about clearing out the bad, it’s also about reinforcing the good stuff… you might wonder, how can it do both, if it taps out the bad, surely tapping may tap out the good as well!
The fact is that your natural state is clarity… positive, energised, harmonious, joyful – that’s who you are – EFT taps out anything that isn’t in your natural frequency. Tapping on the positive state amplifies it. To use the analogy of silver that has become dirty and tarnished – rubbing it with a silver duster (tapping) will initially clean off the tarnish/dirt so that you can see the silver underneath (which was always there) if you carry on rubbing the silver becomes even brighter and more radiant!
Contact me if you would like to talk about whether you think EFT would be good for you.
Geography is not an issue with EFT… I do face to face (in the flesh) sessions and also Skype or Zoom (online) and also on the phone.