A lady from Mumbai, Menaka (name changed) approached me to get help with her childhood sexual abuse memories. Previously, she had one EFT session with another practitioner and had severe abreactions after working on abuse. She told me that she howled after that and was very scared to deal with abuse again in the EFT sessions even though she felt that she needed to heal from abuse. Usually the “body memory” of the abuse makes a person feel unsafe and thereby they are afraid to work on it as it unleashes overwhelming emotions.

I consider it to be an important part of sexual trauma work and therefore the focus of this article is to show how the unsafe abuse memories can be dealt with EFT.

I told Menaka that we can deal with abuse only when she feels comfortable enough to do so. It is important not to introduce trauma work in the beginning of the session itself unless the client is ready. I started working with her on general family issues.

During one of the sessions while working on her anger at her mother, Menaka said that she hated reliving the traumatic incidents from the past. She said,“it shouldn’t have happened. I still feel ashamed and the rage is there. That fear lives in my body. If only I could close my eyes and escape. I try to shove it aside.”
She further revealed, when I probed her gently, that the abuse started at the age of 2 by her caretaker’s relative and continued till she started going to school. In her mind, some memories were fuzzy and some were crystal clear. She felt anxious as she spoke about it.

So we tapped on:

Even though I am anxious now as I speak about my past and it makes me feel unsafe, I deeply and completely love and accept myself. I am safe now as that was then and this is now.

Her anxiety went down but she was reluctant to go further. She said, “I don’t want to face this. I still don’t want to talk about it. I can already feel my heart pounding now.”

So we tapped on:

Even though my heart is pounding as I am about to say certain things that I haven’t spoken to anyone, I want to accept this pounding and feel calm.

Her anxiety decreased and she went on to recount the whole incident. I did the Movie Technique on her and asked her to put a pause to her narration whenever she felt anxiety or any other emotion. She said that the abuser had locked the door. He emotionally blackmailed her into obeying him and asked her not to tell anyone.

She started feeling a burning sensation in her solar plexus. This was a sign of anxiety so we tapped on:

Even though I’m anxious right now as I remember what happened when was 5 years old…

I introduced the following reframe to tackle the possible presence of guilt, as it is always present in such cases, even though she hadn’t voiced it.

Even though I’m angry with my caretaker’s relative because he asked me to touch him, and he took advantage of me, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

I was really too young to understand all this and I didn’t know how to prevent it, I love and accept myself despite what happened.

After this her burning sensation went down completely and we focused on tapping on the anger and releasing it. Tapping was also done on other details of this abuse memory.

In the next session, we dealt with another school memory that haunted her.

She narrated the incident and started feeling the same fear in her body as she had felt on the day that unforgettable school incident took place. This usually happens in trauma as the fear gets trapped in the body and any time the traumatic incident is remembered the same frozen response of fear comes back to the surface.

During this incident, she was told by her parents that the abuser would drop her to school. Her parents were not aware of the abuse. So we tapped on:

Even though I’m afraid right now as I can feel that fear when my parents said that he will drop me to school, I deeply and completely love and accept myself and I want to remind myself that I’m safe right now, and this happened in the past and it’s not happening right now.

Her fear went down from 8 to 3.

I asked her to continue with the narration. She said that he dropped her to the school. He said something that made her fearful that the abuse could happen to someone else too; he could hurt someone else too. She suddenly garnered her strength and told him to end the abuse. She told him that she would tell everyone about his vile behavior if he did not stop the abuse immediately. She felt a shiver in her body as she was narrating this.

We tapped on:

Even though I feel this shiver now as I felt at that time when he said that “______”, and I thought that it may happen to someone else too, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

I am glad that I decided to stand up against him and face him and told him to stop. I choose to appreciate the fact that I confronted him and asked him to back off.

After this round of tapping she had a thought that she will start feeling better soon. Shifting her perspective about that incident worked!

Now she felt anger at her parents that they were careless and they should have looked after her. We dealt with her parent anger and her particular belief that things would have been different had the abuse not happened:

Even though I believe that things would have been different had those things not happened in the past, I choose to accept the fact that it did happen and no matter how bad it was, I choose to overcome it and feel better.

Even though it impacted my life, it is over, and I can overcome the side effects.

After a few days in the next session she said that the past didn’t bother her at all. But she felt a little fear coming up again when I tested her response by narrating that first incident again:

Even though I still feel fear when he said that he will lock the door, I choose to release this fear and feel safe.

Even though it was unpleasant, I choose to release this memory.

This took away her fear completely.

She also blamed herself for being cute as a child and for spending time with the abuser, and so we tapped:

Even though I blame myself for being cute, I deeply and completely love and accept myself. I know that it wasn’t my fault.

Even though I blame myself because I spent time with him as I was lonely & I didn’t have any friends, and I blame myself for this, I love and forgive myself.

After this she has not re-experienced the trauma again. It has been 2 months.

EFT is a wonderful tool to help Adult survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). CSA survivors battle with the trauma throughout their lives. Traditional therapy doesn’t help much in these cases. EFT can release the trauma without re-traumatizing the individual. Lori Lorenz M.A, says, “We form our perceptions of ourselves and the world so early in life that the violation of sexual abuse can change the core assumptions of our lives.” This is precisely what EFT can help with – the assumptions formed due to abuse.

Every year, it happens. The usual grumbling about having no time, too much stress, and on top of it all, so much food everywhere that it is nearly inevitable that we gain weight. And increase our stress. How can we best use EFT and meditation to deal with both issues, and others, throughout the holidays?

Hanukah is over, but Solstice, Christmas, and New Year’s are ahead, and every day seems to bring another party or lack thereof, another family crisis or the reminder of loss. What is most important in navigating this geography of grit and grace is to remember to actually use the tools we have.

Meditation

I know, it seems crazy to even think of meditating now if you’ve never started. And even veteran meditators can sometimes feel that there isn’t time during these few days. But now is the best time to either just continue your daily practice, or, if you’ve never had one, to start. Give yourself the gift of meditation this year…start on a day that seems auspicious to you – perhaps Solstice, or Christmas, or New Year’s Day. Allow yourself just a few minutes of silence to start, and don’t worry about the “quality” of the meditation. Just allow yourself to be in silence, in stillness. For those who are practiced, you might even consider adding another sit to your day, even if it is just a teeny one – five or ten minutes.

The benefits will be enormous – meditation reduces blood pressure, stress, and a whole host of negatives, and improves, basically, all the positives in our physical systems. In so doing, it balances us emotionally, allowing stress to roll off and actually allowing a feeling of openness to unfold during the day. Reduced stress will help balance the impulsive eating you may be tempted to do as mounds of cookies and savories pass by you at work or at parties — it can directly help you slim down or maintain your weight, whichever you decide to do. And of course, volumes have been written about the physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits of meditation. It is one of the best gifts you can give yourself this year.

EFT for Stress

Again, I could write a book about EFT and stress – and so, probably, could you. The thing is, if you locate the reason for the stress, and tap on it, you’ll release the problem quickly and give yourself a much better holiday season. In traffic or long lines, tap on the collarbone point while breathing deeply, inhaling peace, exhaling the stress or problem. Do full rounds of EFT when you can, but when you can’t, find a favorite point and tap away. The more you tap, the better things get, so give yourself permission to tap more than usual during the holidays. It is interesting that clients of mine who have big, close families are driven nuts by them during the holidays, and clients who are alone during the holidays are just as stressed – using EFT to release the problem and allow in peace will make things much better. A caution here – the holidays can bring up great, deep feelings of sadness over losses in our lives. People we have loved who are not in our lives anymore, circumstances that are different or devastating, deaths of those we care about – all are somehow often magnified during the holidays. Use this time to tap and meditate, but if you are noticing that core trauma is arising, do find a highly skilled EFT practitioner to work with. The good news is that EFT really works — you’ll have a lighter new year once you resolve the deep trauma.

EFT for Overcoming Overeating, Under Eating, and for Emotional Food Balance

Surrounded by messages and images of food that key into our DNA (literally), it can be extremely difficult to shy away from overeating. When you throw in the emotional component (we’re under stress and it seems to feel good to eat, food growing up was always a sign of love and comfort, etc, etc… or if we are anorexic, food is the ultimate place of power — a way to show that we are in control.) What we gain from EFT is both an emotional balancer and a physical “off” switch. As with generalized stress, take time to tap for the overall problem — be as specific as possible, and tap a few rounds before going to a party, or going to a big family dinner. On the run, tap somewhere — anywhere — while briefly focusing on the situation, breathing, and releasing it. For example, while you are cooking and you are tempted by all of the food in front of you, find a place to tap that works for you — step away from the food for a minute and do some fingertip tapping, while you walk out of the kitchen. Remind yourself that you don’t’ need to eat right now. Stop and have a glass of water.

If you are a chronic “restrictor” or under eater, or are technically anorexic, the same idea applies. Check your stress and tap on it. Find out what is behind the compulsion to over-restrict. Give yourself a pass during the holidays to eat extra, if you are still at the stage in which you need to add some weight — it can be an easy time to allow it back on, while having fun. Know that you will not gain too much — it is just not in your nature. Allow this to be a time that helps you balance things out, physically and emotionally.

Major Feast Stress

Give yourself permission to take time well before the dinner or food event to quietly tap through the stress you are feeling. Family stress? “Being-single” stress? “Being-married” stress? Stress of losses? Remind yourself of what is important to you during this season and the upcoming dinner. “Frontload” your decisions by thinking ahead to what you’re going to choose — leaning heavily toward greens, veggies of all kinds, and fresh fruit.

Feasts and Alcohol

Remember that alcohol is not your best friend during the holidays, or any high-stress time. It not only adds a lot of sugar and calories, it is a depressant, and a mood-alteration vehicle that will do a number of things, reliably. It will act on your system to give you, eventually, feelings of depression. It will take away inhibitions, so all the resolve in the world won’t stand in the way of overeating, or saying and doing things you may really regret. Adding to your chemical imbalance may add to your stress levels, thus putting your whole system off-balance. Give yourself permission to have a lovely glass of wine (one for women, two for men) over the course of a night, but give yourself permission to be free of the extra calories and mind-alteration! If you find that it is pretty difficult to do this, do some EFT on what is going on, and give some thought to your levels of drinking. If you have problems with it, the best gift in the universe you could give to yourself will be sobriety and getting help.

Treats and Feasts

Feasts go back into our human history for tens of thousands of years. They can be wonderful, life-affirming, all that. So also remember to have fun. Find the one thing you absolutely love, and have some of it. Just don’t have the whole turkey, or lamb, or whatever. Enjoy a piece of chocolate, not the whole box—tap away the cravings or longings for the rest.

New Year’s Gift

Getting on the scale on the first of the year down pound or at your same weight will be another very nice gift you have given yourself — enjoy!

Give yourself permission, this year, to be free during the holidays — free of the strain of overeating and remorse, free of stress, free to open up to the gifts of the season. By using EFT and meditation regularly, you’ll be going a long way toward that freedom.

Lynne Shaner is an EFT Practitioner and Trainer, hypnotherapist, and mind-body medicine specialist living in Washington, DC, with a private practice there. She works with a variety of issues, and woks both locally and by phone and skype with clients all over the world. Visit her online at www.EFTPraxis.com.

I have a client, I will call her Megan, who had a very hard childhood with severe abuse and neglect. We have had many, many sessions focusing on different issues.

One of her main problems has been Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Especially “smelly” people, means people using ordinary soap, shower gel, deodorant, shampoo, or perfume plunged her into severe physical discomfort and instant panic attacks. When I started working with her, she was practically housebound and feeling hopeless.

After our work together, she now drives everywhere, goes to her daughter’s extremely “smelly” school, talks to her son’s baseball coach right after he took a shower, visits her “smelly” siblings’ homes – and feels o.k. She still doesn’t like the scents, but she does not go into a panic attack and can handle it.

How Did That Happen?

Well, it happened in one session, actually within minutes in that session. (I will get to the “however” later).

She had told me (and other practitioners), that when the smell hits her, it is like a switch in her brain that is being turned on. She feels the panic attack coming on, and then she is physically sick for hours or even days. We had tapped on, “Even though I have this switch in my brain,” repeatedly, but it didn’t have much effect.

One day, it came to me to ask her:

“How exactly does this switch look like?”

Megan said: “Like an ordinary light switch, light beige. It is flipped up when it is on.”

“Well,” I said. “Why don’t we just fixate on it in the ‘off’ position? How can we do that?”

She said: “Duct tape. I am taping it down with multiple layers of duct tape right now. There is no way it can go to the on position.”

From that day on, no panic attacks, only mild to moderate discomfort with those smells. I have checked in repeatedly, and the switch stays securely taped down.

Now, this begs the question: If I had come up earlier with that simple question (duh!), could we have achieved this profound release much earlier?

Actually, I don’t think so.

These were the main people in her childhood who were abusive – and “smelly” (In case you wonder: Her mother was not abusive but weak, sick, and “out of it”).

1. Her father, using lots of aftershave, often flew into a rage and beat his children severely. One of the painful memories was an incident, when Megan witnessed her father beating her 4 year old sister with a belt after she had eaten his jelly.

2. Her much older brother using Irish Spring soap who beat and tortured her for years.

3. Her “smelly” aunt who disliked her and let her know it in many ways. We tapped on one memory when the aunt took her daughter and Megan’s sister to the circus while Megan was not invited to go with them.

4. Cruel, “smelly” foster parents (she lived with several of those) who let her freeze in the cold outside for hours and punished her for things she did not do.

5. Rich “smelly” girls in junior high school who tortured her in the restroom because she was poor and didn’t belong.

We had tapped on these – and more – traumatic memories for many sessions. I do believe that all that work needed to be done before the switch was ready to be taped down.

What do you think?

Carna Zacharias-Miller assists her clients from her private practice in Tallahassee, Florida.

I had been struggling with weight issues and used and worked through umpteen programmes, Energy Psychology ones as well, but still there were theses extra 5 – 7 pounds that seemed to be jumping back onto my body as soon as they were gone – or simply did not want to leave.

With all the EFT et al I had no issues left on body size, protection etc., but still struggled with eating for a couple of specific emotional reasons.

From the newsletter of Gwyneth Moss I learned about the Anxiety Gremlin (www.emotional-health.co.uk/articles.htm) – it was just what I needed.

First step

I turned the Anxiety Gremlin into an Overeating Gremlin and personalised it, using:

My anxiety is like a ____________. She is (was) a sleek, slinky and manipulating temptress, looking quite like one of those beautiful members of Cirque du Soleil. She used to whisper into my ears as soon as one of mainly three different unpleasant feelings seemed to creep up.

And so, using Gwyneth‘s anxiety protocol, I tapped the Karate Chop three times:

“Even though my overeating is a temptress I accept myself anyway…”

Then I went around the tapping points and described the personification of temptress in specific detail as I went.

Eye brow: sleek
Outer eye: slinky
Under eye: smooth soft voice
Under nose: undulating
Chin point: staring hypnotising eyes
Collar bone: multicoloured silky
Under arm: sensual
Liver point: hypnotising voice
Top of head: so sensual

I pictured the gremlin again and notice what had changed; She now looked a lot less colourful and almost stiff. And I tapped another round with the new description, using, “still a little ________” as I pictured her again, she actually looked quite bland and stiff, so I moved to the second step.

Second step

I described to myself the body response to the Overeating Gremlin’s whispers:

My brain/mind gets stiff, my only focus is on food, I feel tenseness in my neck and in the lower jaw; I feel defiant, my eyes become tense, staring, my breath becomes tense and short, there is a knot in the stomach.

Third Step

The Gremlin gets that response in me by whispering to me:

“oh, come on, you deserve it, who cares how you look like, it is not so bad anyway, it’s the insides that are important, do not short change yourself, only this last time, oh, come on, just one more little bit – and another one… and anyway you can drink some digestive tea later.”

I realise that she is actually an ogre in the disguise of a temptress. Now I put the steps together and tapped the karate point three times with:

“Even though the Overeating Gremlin makes my mind/brain focus only on food, my neck, jaw and eyes tense, the knot in my stomach keeps me from breathing deeply, I love and accept myself anyway…”

Eye brow: the overeating gremlin makes me focus only on food
Outer eye: by telling me it‘s not so important how I look
Under eye: that I deserve a little bite and another one
Under nose: she making my neck tense
Chin point: my eyes narrow
Collar bone: the Overeating Gremlin makes me feel defiant
Under arm: makes my breathing short and tense
Liver point: she gives me a knot in my stomach
Top of head: and that‘s how the OG does it

After the second round of tapping my breathing around the midriff has become regular and deeper even than it normally is, my shoulders have relaxed and I hadn’t even noticed that they were tense… I have a feeling that I am in control of deciding, not the temptress, what and how much to eat; I do not feel to be in her grip anymore – all the while she was beguilingly talking to me she had my neck in a firm grip with one hand; interesting I only notice it now, that it is gone.

Step Four

I repeated out loud how the Overeating Gremlin does her tempting: she tells me that I deserve to satisfy my immediate wish to eat and that it does not really make any difference, and that I can always loose weight later on, as I have done before, and I am only slightly overweight. The real truth is that I feel really very well when I eat to nourish myself instead of stuffing myself in order to “follow her temptations,” and I know that it does make a difference to my over all well being, physically, emotionally and mentally, even socially; it makes a difference to how I feel about myself.

And so, tapping the Karate Chop point:

Even though the Overeating Gremlin, the Temptress, tells me that I deserve to fulfill my desire to eat, and makes me feel that this is my own thought, the real truth is that I love to feel light, and that I feel really good when enjoy food to nourish me in just the right amount.

I also used the meridian points with the same ideas until the temptress had morphed into a combination of St. Bernard dog and Golden Retriever.

The St. Golden is soft and caring, “feeding’” me with warmth and tenderness, gets me to drink water and to go outside for long or short walks and to go and meet other people, HE is loving and encouraging…

It really works! I do not own a scale so I do not know how much I have lost in the last 10 days, but my trousers fit easier and I have not binged at all. (I have also not starved myself.) So far, whenever a situation popped up when the Overeating Gremlin would have tempted me into eating or stuffing myself, I felt a tender warmth around my shoulders and neck whispering into my ears:

I love you, you do not need this food… the best about it is that it happens automatically, I do not have to think about it.

With gratitude to all involved, starting with Gary

Christina Hurst-Prager uses EFT in combination with Craniosacral Therapy in her practice near Zurich, Switzerland.

This account is not a success story. I offer it as an example of how EFT might inadvertently conflict with pharmaceutical treatment, and as a cautionary tale for taking responsibility to understand the medications your clients are taking.

Recently I began working with a client “Dave” on anxiety issues. Dave had been struggling with anxiety for forty years. All that time he had carefully structured and limited his life to manage his stress levels without using medication.

This all changed about a month ago when he decided, at the urging of his wife, to take on a rather stressful, full time job. Dave was very reluctant to take the job, fearing the stress would trigger his anxiety and cause panic attacks. He felt pressured into the decision, and was harboring some resentment against his wife, although he admitted she was right about their financial needs.

Dave had mentioned when we began that his doctor had prescribed an anti-anxiety medication. Dave wanted to eliminate the root causes of his anxiety so that he would no longer need the drug. I was supportive of that goal but stressed the fact that I am not a doctor or medically trained. In fact, I had very little knowledge of prescription drugs and made this clear. In hindsight I should have taken the responsibility to do some research.

All seemed well at first. Dave had a fairly clear idea of how his problems began and the tapping seemed to be working, however the results never seemed to last. After a session Dave might have a great day, but the next day would be really awful. Or we might collapse and clear a traumatic memory only to have intense free-floating anxiety show up a short time later.

After a few sessions it became clear that something was interfering with what I would expect to be normal progress. Something was “off” and it soon became clear it was the influence of the drug.

The medication Dave was taking is called Ativan. This is actually the brand name for a type of drug called benzodiazepine. It is very powerful and highly addictive and trying to get off of it cold turkey, as Dave was hoping to do, is actually dangerous.

Because Dave would feel so much better and hopeful after our sessions, he would stop taking his Ativan. This would lead to intense withdrawal symptoms, which just happened to include extreme anxiety.

I had given Dave “homework” to tap on the physical symptoms of his anxiety—cold, clammy hands, pressure in his forehead, fluttering heart and shortness of breath. Because he was fairly successful with this, he was able to forestall taking the Ativan even longer, which only ended up intensifying his withdrawal symptoms. Dave was caught in a terrible vicious circle.

I had assumed that Dave was receiving sound medical advice and actually following it. In reality, he often had to wait for days just to talk with a nurse, or get an email from a doctor, and the advice he was getting was incomplete and possibly contradictory. Despite telling his doctor that he wanted to stop taking it, he had no idea about the dangers of trying to quit Ativan “cold turkey”. He learned this from me, and I from Google.

At this point, for Dave the Ativan problem is eclipsing all else, as he feels the drug is “destroying his life”. I have encouraged him to do his own research and not rely entirely on any one doctor or nurse for his information. Dave was also beginning to look into drug rehab programs for support.

I believe that we succeeded in collapsing most of the traumatic memories contributing to his long standing anxiety problem, however at this point it’s very hard to say what real progress has been made and whether it will be permanent. Although I’m making myself available for support, we’ve decided to stop tapping for root causes until his drug problem has resolved.

This case has been a real education for me. I don’t know if powerful drugs qualify as “energy toxins” but from now on I’ll be paying more attention when a client is taking medications. I hope this helps.

Rob Nelson
www.TaprootsEnergyPsychology.com

It is important to recognize the changes after EFT application. I will explain with an example.

Suppose you are experiencing stress in your workplace. It could be your stressful interactions with your boss involving non-recognition of your efforts, frustration for not getting promotion, stress due to the immense workload, office politics… etc.

The following are some of the after-effects of tapping on the above-mentioned factors.

Frequency

After EFT application on the stress-causing events, you will feel calmer. You will notice that the the number of times you get angry or stressed will be less. What is important to recognize here is that if you are in an ongoing stressful situation in your office, there could be many stress-provoking instances. However, there will be a higher threshold for taking stress which means that your ability to handle stress calmly will increase manifold.

Positive side effects

EFT application on stress will have positive side effects even for the issues that you have not tapped on. Your ability to stay calm in other situations will increase. Your blood pressure may go down. Your skin problems may gradually fade out. In fact, in some cases, there have been improvements in the vision as well.

Recalling events

If you have tapped on any event from your past and you recall it later on, your reaction to that event would be much less. For example, if you tapped on your anger with your boss and the event revolving around “this feeling of anger,” and if you recall it later on, then that memory may appear hazy. You may even have difficulty in remembering it. In fact you may think that you are having a sort of long-term memory loss, but the fact is that since you have tapped away the anger or any other feelings related to it, that event now remains only as a memory. It has no impact on you, therefore it appears hazy. Some people think that they have repressed it with EFT. This is not true as EFT helps in diminishing the negative feelings associated with the memory, not in repressing it.

Re-experiencing emotions

One important thing to remember is that if you have another stressful incident with your boss, you may experience anger again. You may mistakenly feel that – “Oh! I tapped on anger, why is it coming back?” But this anger is for this new event and not for the old one. You have to apply EFT on this new event and tap it away.

Skepticism

I have seen in the EFT sessions that when clients are feeling positive after EFT, they feel that it may be temporary and the feelings of negativity may return. Yes, the feeling of negativity will come but the same negativity for the same event will not return — as these feelings of negativity are due to new occurrences in your life and not due to the old ones. (This applies only if the old events have been resolved properly. If not, then the negative emotions could be for another aspect of the same old event which is unresolved). Change is constant and new negative events will bother you but you can tap on them too, by yourself.

Apex Effect

Recognizing that the positive effects of tapping on the issues are due to EFT and not due to external factors, is very tough at times. In one of my sessions, my client was feeling much calmer about a certain past issue that she had tapped on. The intensity of that particular issue had been very high when we were tapping on it in an earlier session. In the next session, I asked her, how did she feel about that issue? She replied that it was not important as she had resolved it many months back by herself and it no longer bothered her! EFT results can be so miraculous at times that it is very difficult to accept that EFT has brought about the changes.

Recognizing the changes will make the road to emotional freedom less cumbersome!

I will be discussing more changes in part 2.

Puja Kanth Alfred
www.emofreetherapy.com

I specialise in working with people who suffer from chronic anxiety conditions arising from childhood trauma, known and unknown. This complex case highlights how a sensitive use of inner child work and parts work can help bring peace to a conflicted internal system.

My client V, contacted me from Goa because he had an issue with food and self image he would like to address. Three years previously he had totally burnt out whilst trying to lose weight and get fit and he had a pattern of sabotaging behaviour. He felt totally locked in a cycle of stress in every part of his life.

He felt consumed by burn out, acidity and negative emotions. He had an understanding that there were parts of him still feeling as they did during the traumas of the past and were influencing his behaviour now.

I asked him to be aware of what he wanted from this work together today.

He spoke of a real fear of moving on, fear of stepping out, fear of taking responsibility, failure means punishment and pain. He has to make a decision about what he wants to do with his life and it feels very, very difficult. So much stress involved and this had a negative impact on his health. He felt stuck in repeated patterns, still feeling the shock of the burnout. Every time he made the effort to go forward it took him back to the trauma. Even eating a meal is stressful, so every aspect of his life felt stress inducing.

He had a clear conflict between a part that wants to move on and a part that didn’t feel safe.

I decided to use an exercise I use with my clients to gauge the state of the nervous system I call “The Watcher on the Hill.”

Imagine the nervous system as an army. In a healthy nervous system our amygdala, the watchman, is in a state of relaxed expectation. I asked him to visualise his watchmen. He saw many watchers looking out for danger, more watchers than soldiers.

Even though there’s more watchers than soldiers, they are all looking out for danger, they expect danger, I don’t feel safe, there are parts of me that feel really unsafe and they can’t relax and they remember a time when I wasn’t safe, I want these parts to know, that right here, right now, its over, I am safe, we survived, we’re okay.

Even though parts of me remember the feeling of a time when we were unsafe, that was then, this is now, its a feeling, we remember the feeling and feelings can change, I allow these feelings to flow.

There were still some there but there was less energy running through his head, he had been experiencing adrenaline surges in his head. I asked him to be aware of his soldiers

Even though the soldiers look tired, they have been ready for danger, ready for action, expecting action for so long that they are just exhausted, they have been working so hard, they need a rest, there is no danger right now, they can rest right now, I give them permission to relax and have some time off.

I asked him what he sensed they needed to recuperate. He realised they needed to have some fun.

I allow them to have some fun, they can be there when I need them, with the appropriate rest and relaxation.

I explained that we do need our nervous system to be ready and gave him some examples of when we need a little surge of adrenaline.

I asked him to tune into when his nervous system felt like it had to fight all the time.

He felt there had been fighting ever since he got on that treadmill of dieting and overexercising, months and months of stress locked in.

I asked him to get in touch with the part of him that decided it was a good idea to push his body to the limit. He felt really angry with this part of him.

Even though I am so angry with this part of me, I don’t want to talk to him, I don’t accept him, I am open to the possibility of accepting that part of me was doing the best it could and I will try to understand him somehow, but right now I AM angry with him.

Even though I am angry with that part because….(just wait for answer)… it destroyed me, I am open to the possibility that the part of me who did that was doing the best he could. I am open to the possibility of understanding him somehow.

I asked him to tune into his feelings now, he felt not so angry but upset with the fact that so many years of his life have gone into managing this situation, going from one doctor to another, getting some success, falling back, constantly struggling. He wanted to be free and enjoy a good meal and laugh instead of having to micromanage his body.

I invited him to just acknowledge how hard this has been

Even though I have these problems with food, and I have had to try and manage things and manage these problems I love and accept myself with kindness and compassion.

I acknowledge how difficult this has been, it has been really hard for me, it has been hard, its really hurt, there’s been so much trauma, so much pain, I honour these young parts of me, the must have felt… (I asked how they might have felt)… so lonely, frightening alienated.

I acknowledge how hard I have been on myself, I choose to be kinder to myself, I hold myself in kindness and compassion.

He realised how hard he has been on himself.

Even though I have been hard on myself, I wanted results, I wanted my body to be fixed and to heal itself fast, I wanted it to be done fast and my body has been through alot, it needs time and space and kindness and compassion. Right now I am opening the doors for healing, its time for things to change, its time to bring healing to these parts. There are some parts that need healing with kindness, compassion and patience. I am ready to allow something to change, I give myself permission to take all the time it needs, I allow all parts of me the time and space to heal, I can let these feelings flow and let it go in the timing thats right for me.

I asked him to tune into this and his response to this and any possible conflict that might be present. He felt there was a part that was really keen to let go and shower himself with kindness but there was a part that was very stubborn, the punisher, like a taskmaster that said. “No, you can’t do this.”

I asked him now to take the part who was willing to be compassionate and to help him communicate with the taskmaster part. I told him that I need all these parts to know that I know they were doing the best they could, they were trying to protect themselves, and were stuck in a pattern and that I also understood they might not trust me right now but I was also doing the best I could to help my client and them.

He realised this came from being a child, his parents left from India and left him at home for 2 months at home with his grandmother. There were people around but his safety was gone, he felt threatened by this. Later his mother went through many operations and went missing from his life by being in hospital, so there was alot of stress and separation continually. It felt like there was no security or safety, thats why he has needed so many watchers. He would keep talking to himself to calm himself down. (Separation from the mother in early childhood is a common trigger for dissociation.)

I asked him to be aware if his baby self felt safe with his mother and he was initially, but when they left it broke his trust and he couldn’t express his anger, and also felt guilty for this. When his mother got sick the anger increased and also anger towards his father. He couldn’t handle these emotions he became rebellious and seemed self destructive. He had no remembrance of clarity of why he was so angry.

I asked him to get in touch with the little boy who was left at home when he was 3. He could picture himself in his parents room, very confused, what has happened, where have they gone? What have I done?

Even though my three year old feels confused bad and guilty, I love and accept my young self without judgement.

Even though I am three and feel so guilty and bad its time for this heal.

Even though you’re three and you feel so bad and guilty and confused, I want you to know its not your fault, there is nothing wrong with you, you’re just a little boy… it’s time for this to heal.

Tuning into his little boy now he still looked angry. I asked him to let this little boy know we wanted to help him. He was not happy we were there to help at all.

I know you don’t trust us, I know your feeling angry, I accept you, I take your feelings seriously, (he still doesn’t believe me)… I know you don’t believe me, I know you don’t trust me, I understand how angry you are feeling right now, and you don’t know who I am, I am willing to give you some time, what do you need to feel better, what do you need from me? I take you seriously, even though no one understood what you were going through, I do understand, and I am with you now. I know how painful it was for you, I take your feelings seriously. Someone should have helped you then, nobody did, but I am here to help you now.

V now felt there was a part of him that was resisting this experience. It was angry with him for doing this process and angry with me for leading him through this process. A part that doesn’t want change.

I asked that part to talk to me and tell me how it was feeling. He said it was a violent abusive part who is angry and doesn’t trust women and thinks women will inflict pain of some sort. He sensed it was all coming from this child.

I acknowledged that I as a woman might not be helping. I told him that I understood he would be angry, his mum left him, that wasn’t fair, every time she left, he didn’t know if she would come back, it made perfect sense to me.

My client was able to see this angry part that was angry, didn’t like me and was resisting this process. I asked him how he felt about this part. He felt he had made peace that he had a part but up until now was afraid of the power of it and what it could do. Now he realised it was just a part that has been through trauma, is begging for help, but can’t accept help when it comes.

I assured him I understood this. He said it all came from a sense of detachment and from this has come guilt, anger and rage. This part grew into becoming rebellious and mistrustful, but I mentioned that this was just like any other child trying to get his needs met.

The child wants the love, wants the acceptance but also wants to prove a point.

I explained that when a child is trying to get our needs met, and the parent is frightened and feels unsafe, this does not bring security to the child. Similarly for us if we are afraid of our own parts, this does not bring safety to us. If my client felt afraid of this part of himself the part would feel unsafe.

It felt a very big move forward for my client to accept this parts existence and influence with any kind of compassion.

I spoke directly to the part here. I told him that I had not been through his experience, had not been through what he had been through but I did know he was doing the best he could. We weren’t here to fight or judge or force, we were interested in understanding it.

My client asked me what did I think his part need, it was asking for something. He felt the child had a passion, his passion was to be creative and he felt trapped.

I suggested that he did what many of my clients do when they meet these parts, allow them to do something the child part would enjoy. Agree to do something the child part would enjoy.

He realised the child part would love to paint, bicycle.

I encouraged my client to be aware of his parts presence and fill its needs when possible.

He realised his part didn’t want to be here, in Goa, he hated his fathers business and had never wanted to work for his father.

Even though this part of me doesn’t want to be here, and hates working for my father, I want this part to know that I want to be get out of here too, I am not comfortable, but there are better ways to deal with these feelings.

Even though you’re angry because you don’t want to be here, I want you to know I do understand and I do want to make change, I want change too and if all my parts can work together, we can change things, we can all work for the same purpose.

He understood now his child self never wanted to work for his father. He realised he had taken on the role of victim and created this situation where he couldn’t leave and he ended up feeling secure with his father, becoming dependant, like an addiction. This part was angry because of this,

I encouraged him to communicate to this part and say, “I am sorry, you didn’t want to work with dad, and thats what I am doing now, I am sorry, forgive me”

His little boy self looked alot happier and more relaxed.

I encouraged him to let this part of himself communicate his feelings, to give him permission to express himself, to tap on whatever feelings come up. He realised he was now expressing things to himself that he never had done before. He realised that coming out of the office today his soldiers would be fighting and he was saying to himself, “I hate this, I hate working here.” He realised this was the part of him expressing itself. I encouraged him to tap on whatever feelings were coming up, as his parts express himself, “I hate working here etc.”

At this point he realised I understood his experience of dissociation, that he had parts of himself which felt and behaved seperately to the others and were in conflict with each other and also with him and his adult decisions, such as being married and working for his father and was grateful to talk with someone who understood this situation.

He realised he had come to a place of insight and he was learning to allow his parts to express themselves, he didn’t know what these parts were at first, he had felt possessed at one point, hearing voices, feeling like he was going insane. However he started looking for solutions, outside his comfort zone and realised he had dissociated parts through all his research. Only recently had he got to the place where he could face his parts or even admit to their existence but there were some he didn’t not want to meet. He realised there were just parts not the whole of him, but sometimes it feels like the whole of him when they took over.

He felt like something shattered and each part took a life of its own, and they all went on their own way, but all part of the same energy system. It works great as a survival system when you need it but was a disorder now, and it was backfiring. However he had found EFT to be of great benefit in reducing the overall feelings of stress and could now see how applying EFT in this way can ease the internal communication and be used to specifically heal the parts that were still hurting, who did not realise that the trauma was over.

I encouraged him to be patient with these parts and give them the time and space to express their hurt and pain.

Now he understood he has to be brave enough and courageous enough to hear what his parts need to say. I encouraged him to be aware of his own feelings about the fact that his parts need to communicate and use EFT for any fear or discomfort this brings, creating a safe place in his mind to meet these parts. We can acknowledge the feelings of our parts, sometimes they disagree with us so much and the decisions we make, and we can allow these parts to express their feelings WHILE we tap. However we can communicate with them and help them to see that we have more resources now and things can be done differently.

I got an email after this session:

“Just to let you know that I’m grateful for the session we had and the insights you gave me. I used the watcher and the soldiers and was able to see the internal structure that existed. That along with other things I coupled and the grace that I received led me to one of the most if not the most sacred moment in my life … the encountering of my self and the truth set me free.

For years I had been so ANGRY with my SELF and I hated myself for I had so many false beliefs about me. From that deep hatred for me came my deep hatred for my parents, my family, my world really and I used shame and blame. Gillian, it was such a truly blessed moment to come to, to see my “self” that I was avoiding and shift that final stone. I cannot explain it… I can only say what it felt like and even that is pale. I am a new person today. I feel different. Like I’ve never felt before. A certain freedom.

With much gratitude and love,
V”

Gillian Wightman
www.eastneuktherapies.co.uk

This is a lovely little protocol to use when stressed.

You see, when you are stressed it is no good trying to create an EFT opening statement to tap on, all you will get will be a jumble of illogical thoughts, feelings, and stressed ideas about what you need to be tapping on.

You cannot create an effective opening statement while you are stressed. Stressed, confused thinking will only produce a stressed, confused statement that will only further deepen your stress and confusion as you struggle to wonder why nothing is happening.

Instead reduce your stress right down to zero by using the following protocol, then go back and think about what the real problem is and you will find the right opening statements popping into your mind in no time which will give you supremely superfast results.

What Are Freedom Spells?

The Freedom Spells were created by Silvia Hartmann to correct faulty thinking and get the energy system moving when it had got stuck using the EmoTrance aphorism: soften and flow.

The statements are created with a rhythm and a rhyme, just like spells, and act like pulses from the conscious mind which the unconscious responds to very willingly.

Here I have combined them with EFT to create an amazing protocol that reduces stress in no time and gives you the clarity and confidence to create effective opening statements for a traditional EFT session.

The EFT Freedom Spells Protocol

Take slow, deep breaths throughout and take your time with each phrase.

Tap on the Eyebrow Point while taking a deep breath in and out and say:
All of my regret, I now let you go, soften and flow, soften and flow.

Next point, Side of the Eye:
All of my guilt, I now let you go, soften and flow, soften and flow.

Under Eye Point:
All of my fear, I now let you go, soften and flow, soften and flow.

Under Nose Point:
All of my doubt, I now let you go, soften and flow, soften and flow.

Chin Point:
All of my frustration, I now let you go, soften and flow, soften and flow.

Collarbone Point:
All of my anger, I now let you go, soften and flow, soften and flow.

Underarm Point:
All of my sadness, I now let you go, soften and flow, soften and flow.

Karate Chop Point:
All of my hate, I now let you go, soften and flow, soften and flow.

And that is all there is to it.

When To Use The EFT Freedom Spells Protocol

This is not only an effective little protocol to use when you are stressed and preparing to tap, it is also lovely to do first thing in the morning while still waking, sitting on the side of your bed.

I also like to use it if I am in a hurry or rushing to my meditation, and I do it to clear myself before I sit quietly. It’s a lovely bridge between a hectic day and the peace of meditation.

The protocol is also good to do before bed. We think we relax during sleep but this only happens if we are relaxed when we go off. This really does help to relieve stress and enable deep clear restful sleep.

You may also find yourself in the day saying the phrases to yourself as negative thoughts and emotions arrive which is an excellent time to do them rather than waiting for later.

This is one of the major benefits of all self help energy therapies to be able to use them on the spot, instantly releasing the situation to prevent further problems down the road.

Someone gets promoted above you at work:

All of my resentment, I now let you go, soften and flow, soften and flow.

A red bill freaks you out:

All of my worries, I now let you go, soften and flow, soften and flow.

Accompanied by a deep breath and a surreptitious tap or massage of the collarbone point will do wonders to release the stress of the situation and let you carry on with your day.

Breathing

When you are stressed you shallow breathe, always, if you were breathing correctly, from your abdomen, you would not be stressed.

The symptoms of anxiety and panic are exactly the same as hyperventilation, caused by overbreathing quickly from the chest, which unbalances the oxygen content of the blood and creates such unpleasant feelings throughout the body and which, for many, triggers panic attacks.

A deep breath from the abdomen, so you can really feel your hand being pushed away from your body, promotes deep relaxation, very quickly.

So, throughout the protocol it’s important to take deep breaths, from the abdomen, and not to rush.

Creating a Custom Made EFT Freedom Spells Protocol

You may create your own phrases for each point, though I recommend starting with these first as I have found they work universally and are at the root of a lot of stress.

Again, if you are going to create a custom list please do not do this when stressed! This is the whole point of the exercise, to have something to tap on to relieve the stress that is causing wrong thinking. So please resist changing the statements when you are already stressed and create a custom ritual for yourself AFTER using mine first.

The best way of doing it is to tap lightly on each point and see if a thought or negative emotion comes to mind and jot these down.

I do hope you gain as much benefit from the EFT Freedom Spells as I, and many of my clients, have already received. Do not be fooled by the protocol’s simplicity or brevity. This is a powerful method to reduce stress and promote clarity creating a perfect foundation for effective change work.

Nicola Quinn
www.nicolaquinn.org

Click here for Part I of “EFT at Work”

Relevance to Business—Building Bridges

Once we’re booked to give a workshop in a corporate environment, we find that bridge building is essential. When introducing EFT to this audience we have been deliberate to speak in language that the business market finds relevant. Most people in these roles work in a highly pressurized environment, both emotionally and mentally. Even if they have yet to accept the effect and importance of their emotional wellbeing on their physical health, by billing our workshops as Stress Management with EFT, or simply Stress Management Training, we immediately “speak to their pain.”

New techniques and alternative approaches are not necessarily welcomed by traditional corporations, or by the decision-makers within them. The use of Stress Management as a label puts the emphasis less on our employing a “weird technique” and more on adding a new tool to their various coping strategies. However, as seasoned users of EFT know, we so quickly can achieve lasting relief that management becomes a thing of the past. We deliberately use the term management rather than relief as people come to our corporate workshops not expecting to do away permanently with the root causes of their stress. So we start our presentation with language and concepts that are available and familiar to them. By meeting our audience from where they start we establish ready rapport and can progress to what can be compellingly possible with EFT.

A Typical Workshop

A typical workshop will last between one and three hours. First, we start with Stress Management, the effects of stress, and the problems stress can cause. Then we introduce EFT in a general way, to start gaining acceptance and to build trust. We briefly introduce ourselves as “one of them.” Both Lynne and Sejual have had careers in the corporate world. Lynne was publishing director at two of the Smithsonian’s museums and other large academic institutions for fifteen years in Washington, D.C. and Sejual was an antitrust law barrister for five years in London and Brussels. We explain how we came to EFT to help cope with our high levels of stress in our former careers and found it a compelling enough technique to change careers to work full time with it and bring it into other corporate environments.

We talk about areas that all can identify, explaining that EFT has a strong track record of helping with physical pain, emotional (or “stress”) upsets, and enhancing mindset and performance. Using language that notes the effect of the mind/body interaction we introduce the idea that we’re working with the body’s meridian system and stimulating it like an acupuncturist would do. It is important to be aware, however, that not everyone is comfortable with the idea of invisible paths of energy flow. So another approach we often employ is to talk about working with the body’s nervous system. We understand that each of the EFT points is centered on an accumulation of nerve endings more dense than at many other parts of the body. We explain this and note that by tapping on these points we’re stimulating the body’s central nervous system, and so are introducing beneficial electrical change while using the mind’s ability to focus.

At this point, we briefly introduce some of the health/mindset issues we’ve had success with in client work and personally. We have found, however, given the analytical nature of this audience that it is often more helpful to emphasize that we wish them to gather their own personal evidence of EFT at work, as that will be more meaningful to them.

The First Workshop

During the first workshop we have found that two exercises and one “instant” EFT suggestion provide plenty of content. We first get them to write down their intensity level around a stressful event that happened in the office a while back using the 0-10 intensity scale. It is helpful to suggest examples, which might include a computer crash, the loss of a document, or a photocopier jam. Most have experienced such a problem, and they will be able to experience the effectiveness of EFT without having to go into anything personal, which is too intrusive in a work environment. They then put this to one side to come back to.

Second, we take them through the constricted breathing exercise. This illustrates EFT’s efficacy with nearly everyone. And because it is not at all personal, and doesn’t highlight any weakness, people immediately start to relax. Given that this is the first time the group is tapping together, we bring humor into our wording. They usually feel silly and awkward tapping on themselves, and so we make a little joke of it. We’ve used wording like:

Even though I can’t believe I’m in the conference room, tapping on my hand and body, it’s a good thing that door is shut, I’m OK with this for now.

Even though I’m doing this silly tapping thing in front of my colleagues, I’m not sure it’s going to work, but maybe I can give it a go.

Even though this seems really out there, and I’m a logical person, I’m OK with giving it a shot right now.

We use reminder phrases like “this looks so odd,” “hope the cameras aren’t rolling,” ”I can’t believe I’m doing this”. It is always worth using transitional phrases like “I’m OK with this now,” or “I’m ready to give it a go,” instead of “I love and accept myself” as is traditionally taught in EFT. It is important to steer clear of language that feels out of place or too personal in the office. And we find when we bring humor into the equation, everyone laughs as we voice what is going through their minds. Laughter has the great benefit of easing their worries and releasing things quickly for them.

We then move on to the second exercise. We have them return to the incident they had picked at the beginning. We ask them to check their intensity scale, and allow them to switch to another incident if they prefer. By reassuring them that they will not need to voice their issue in front of the group, we provide more comfort. We choose a reminder phrase that will act as the vehicle, or umbrella term, for everyone, like “this stressful event” or “that time,” and emphasize the clear benefit of being able to maintain privacy even though we are in a group setting. Sometimes we’ll use a rambling style that’s broadly about feeling tense about the unknown issue, picking up on the general ways of feeling anxious that come up for all of us (e.g. using visual, kinesthetic, and auditory cues). We facilitate the rounds of tapping to make sure everybody achieves some form of relief with tapping, thus giving them a concrete, experiential way buy in to the possibility that there’s more to it than they might have thought.

There are normally a lot of questions once people start getting changes, so we allow time for questions and discussion. We provide them with a tapping chart handout, a generic script on “this stress,” and give them an ultra shortcut. We show them how to gently tap on the fingertip and hand points with hands in their lap so that no one can see what they’re doing. We call this “stealth tapping,” and everyone likes this notion and always wants to know about it.

Questions and Answers about EFT

Once we have our audience’s awareness of change, the questions often start coming in about how EFT works. It is important to remember that this is a highly logical audience. We’ve found that to maintain rapport it’s best to be honest and say that science is still trying to conclusively understand how exactly EFT delivers results. Nonetheless, we’ve found it helpful to draw on the work of Bruce Lipton, Candace Pert, and Dawson Church in referring to possible explanations. We’re also grateful to Carol Look for having brought the work of neurologist Dr Robert Scaer to the EFT community. Scaer’s discussion of the surge of adrenaline in “flight or fight” situations is a handle that most can accept with regards to the origins of high stress levels.

Having copies of these authors’ books with us allows members of the audience to page through them afterward if they are interested enough. They also demonstrate our commitment to finding out further answers as a practitioner of this stress management tool.

Turning the question of how EFT works back on them can also be revealing. It allows them to offer suggestions about what’s happening based on their outlook. When presenting a Stress Management with EFT workshop at Merck Pharmaceuticals, Sejual found that staff decided it was a method for calming the body’s stress response, which then helped them think more clearly and so logically. As a result her audience were more able to accept EFT as a tool they would like to explore further. This ongoing interest is important to helping them continue to grow in their EFT knowledge.

Private Concerns/Public Stress

In a work group environment, it is simply not appropriate or possible to cover private issues. Individuals are understandably loathe to admit to any of their weaknesses in front of colleagues. In normal EFT group shares within our private practices we’re not so restrained. People come from unrelated backgrounds and so feel comfortable sharing more intimate details of their lives. In an office environment we showcase EFT in relation to the group’s shared stresses. This helps indicate how EFT can be used to improve team performance leading onto peak performance.

Peak Performance

Here’s the fun part. When we introduce peak performance we’re also able to inject humor, and increase interest in and desire for more change. We do this by talking about how EFT accelerates sports performance—we’ve referred to golf handicaps, tennis serves, weight workouts, weight loss, stamina in running, and flexibility in yoga, so that we’re touching a broad range of interests. The group sees a “fun” benefit to the workshop. It’s not just about dissolving stress so that they can be better office drones. These associations are positive and upbeat and we tie in sports language with performance at work themes. By working on an area that’s personal but accessible in a work environment we are still able to clear limiting beliefs or old worries. This information can be introduced in a couple of places—during the question-and-answer segment, as people often ask about what else EFT can help with, or during the closing comments, as we open up even further possibilities with the people in the workshop.

What is perhaps most helpful about bringing in the performance improvement element is that it makes it permissible for staff to be seen talking with us and going to our workshops. This is because they are demonstrating their desire to do something concrete that will increase their abilities. By doing this we keep EFT in a positive space that encourages participation, ongoing interest, and pass-along value. Consequently this has led staff to also come to us for private sessions.

Given the extraordinary stress levels people are under in the current economic climate, now is the best time for corporations to integrate EFT into their approach for success and wellness. EFT has the potential to significantly reduce stress, increase effectiveness, improve morale, and reduce health care costs, as employees at all levels begin to use EFT routinely. Workshops are the simplest way for corporations to begin exploring the rewards of EFT because employees can personally experience the benefits on the spot. Companies find that by bringing in EFT, they gain a real competitive edge.

EFT is also sweeping the social media world, particularly on Facebook and Twitter, where business presence is growing. So it is simply a matter of time before EFT will be routinely used as a stress-management and peak performance tool in the workplace. Until then, however, forward-thinking firms that adopt EFT will reap the significant advantage of being early adopters of a profoundly effective technology that their competition may not yet have. And that could make all the difference to their success and leadership within their fields in a still-challenging global business environment.

Sejual Shah is an AAMET Trainer and Level 3 Practitioner of EFT in the UK. She helps execs with career growth and confidence issues. Since 2008 she has pioneered ways of delivering business EFT courses to large companies at home and abroad and loves coaching other practitioners to do this as well. She is the co-founder of Business Energetics. Her website is www.healthyinmind.com

Lynne Shaner is a Certified AAMET EFT Trainer, Advanced Practitioner and Co-Founder of EFTfree.net. She offers trainings in EFT and specializes in helping clients from her private practice in Washington, D.C. Visit her online at www.eftpraxis.com

This article is available in Spanish. Go to the Spanish translation.

Work and stress. The two go hand in hand for many. Having both come from the corporate workplace initially—Sejual from law, Lynne from institutional publishing – we knew that there was a great need for stress relief in workplaces, as well as other benefits that are so achievable with EFT.

In contrast to one-on-one therapy work, bringing EFT into the corporate environment requires a significantly different approach. We’d like to share our experiences in successfully doing this with three multinational companies: Merck & Co, Parker Hannifin, a large law firm headquartered in Washington DC., and a government body also headquartered in DC.

Primary Focus: Stress Management

As layoffs and tension increase in the current economic climate, stress levels for the remaining staff at all grades have risen to toxic levels. This regularly results in poor performance, absenteeism, increasing health-care costs, and even lost clients and business opportunities. Such blows hit both the owner and management, so continuing the cycle of harm. This is not novel—we all have personal experience of the cost of stress. But dealing effectively with stress is news and corporations need this information.

In our experience, the best way to create helpful change in the workplace is by bringing EFT into the situation, and positioned as part of a stress-management training. We know EFT is a healing technology that provides impressive results before our eyes. This is true in how it works on all the elements of stress that people experience: anxieties, worries, fears, and physical tension melt away when worked on with EFT. With this aim in mind, we’ve succeeded in introducing EFT into the workplace by billing the workshops as Stress Management Training.

In the business world it is culturally permissible to deal with stress. Rather than a sign of weakness, it can be seen as an advantage to the business and employees to deal with stress. It is now well-accepted that stress relief will help deliver performance-efficiencies and so improve profits.

We also speak directly about delivering “peak performance” techniques. This again carries the promise of the possibility of increased profits and fits with business motives and goals. Top achievers are always looking to “up their game.” We’ve avoided presenting ourselves as a therapist to the wounded. This would make them run away from EFT, given that they cannot allow themselves to be seen as weak in public. It is not as if they have no personal problems—we’ve found that these naturally come up. They can however easily be addressed in the privacy and natural safety of follow-on one-to one-sessions.

Typically, we’ve held introductory workshops for groups up to twenty; any more than this and it can be difficult to deliver meaningful results to. We are always paid well for these workshops.

Getting In—How to Open the Doors

Working with corporations sounds like a great idea, but how did we get in? The answer is pretty simple—by using EFT to align ourselves with the end outcome. We both employ the principles of attraction in our work. Given that we both had corporate backgrounds and wanted to serve that field, we worked with EFT and a positive mindset for our own benefits to allow opportunities to naturally arise in an easy way.

Lynne had ongoing friendships with people who were highly placed in firms and institutions on the one hand. She also had a client who had experienced such significant change during his one-on-one work with her that he wanted to bring it to his company. For Merck Pharmaceuticals, Sejual was invited to take part in a health fair in the workplace through networking locally and took it further by asking to run a paid workshop. She was able to work with Parker Hannifin after an impressed client championed her into her firm. The client even helped organize a meeting with the HR department at her company.

In each approach, there was no “formula” or set technique to “get in”—but rather being alive to the opportunities as they showed up in conversations. Sometimes the negotiation and presentation goes on for a long time—in one case a workshop began in discussions one January, was executed in July, and ongoing workshops are being negotiated for this new year. We don’t force conversations or outcomes. Instead we look for ways to engage in sincere and professional discussions that are focused on delivering maximum benefits. Our focus is on serving our clients’ needs.

Stay tuned for Part II – Building Bridges and the Nuts and Bolts of a Corporate Workshop…

Sejual Shah www.healthyinmind.com
Lynne Shaner www.eftpraxis.com