Photo by Gwyneth Moss

by Gwyneth Moss, EFT Master Trainer
reprinted with permission from www.emotional-health.co.uk

EFT Tapping effectively forms the bridge between talk therapies and body therapies. EFT is a simple and powerful therapeutic tool that uses words to tune into an emotional disturbance which is then balanced and cleared using acupressure tapping. It is often called “tapping” or “the tapping therapy.”

Try EFT For Yourself: Download the 1-Page “ABCs of EFT” (.pdf)

The results are surprisingly quick and generally lasting. Strong emotions such as fear, anger, shame and sadness dissolve into clear thinking, enabling a fresh view and the ability to move forwards and get on with life. EFT is a simple and empowering technique that can be used together with a therapist/coach or by yourself for self help. Try EFT for yourself (right) and to learn more about how to use EFT to help yourself or others, consider an EFT training course.

This simple tool for emotional self help was developed in the early nineties by Gary Craig, a personal performance coach with a fascination for the human potential, a clear spiritual calling, a background in business and a university education in engineering. Derived initially from Thought Field Therapy, EFT uses a unified approach that does not require diagnosis.

A Skeptic Changes Her Tune

Photo by Gwyneth Moss

If you are new to EFT you may be as skeptical as I was when I first heard about it: Tapping on acupressure points on your face and body to clear emotional problems seemed just too weird, too implausible and I almost dismissed it. I am so glad I listened because now, eight years later, I wouldn’t be without EFT both for myself and for those who come to me for help.

My first NLP teacher Wilf Proudfoot said “don’t give ‘em an explanation, give ‘em an experience” and if you are reading these pages having already had an EFT experience then what you read will not seem weird or far-fetched and you’ll know that emotions and tensions can dissolve in seconds. If you have not yet experienced EFT for yourself then I hope you’ll understand that no words I could say or write can be a substitute for that convincing experience of EFT.

You don’t have to believe in EFT or ‘Chi’ to tap and achieve change in your emotional state or a reduction in body tension, though it does help that you are not over invested in resisting, disbelieving or debunking this simple and easily learned technique. I am not asking you to believe in anything and I would like you to keep hold of your healthy skepticism and draw your own conclusions from the evidence of your senses. My experience of using EFT is now with over a thousand people and at least 90% get some sort of result. Its not a panacea or a magic trick – its a simple and helpful tool.

I cannot tell you how EFT works because I do not know. Modern science has not yet caught up with Chi balance tapping. There are differing schools of thought regarding possible explanations. One school offers the Energy Psychology meridian based explanation derived from the relationship of ‘Chi’ or ‘energy’ and emotions and the study of accupuncture and kinesiology. The other school dismisses “energy” as bunkum and offers a neuro-physiological explanation based on the mini-REM state that results from continual firing of the brain’s orientation response to the physical stimulus of tapping.

From my experience in practice (and my Cambridge Physics degree) I think that both explanations are valid and that the answer lies in a quantum mechanical (rather than Newtonian) understanding of what it is to be human. But for now all that is conjecture and I will wait for established science to catch up, so in my EFT Workshops and Trainings I don’t teach “how it works,” I teach “how to do it.”

EFT Examples:

Photo by Gwyneth Moss

Q: So, EFT is a therapeutic tool whereby someone taps on their face and body and repeats a form of words about their problem and the problem is no longer a problem?

A: Yes that’s about it, that’s what happens time and time again. Here are some stories:

Peter had such bad lower back pain that he often had to lie on the floor and his weekly visits to an osteopath were helping but not enough. After an hour of EFT with me the pain dissolved and has not returned.

June was terrified to drive on a motorway. She did 15 minutes of EFT with another beginner and two weeks later drove on the motorways from Yorkshire to Devon with confidence.

Susan had escaped a violent marriage but could not escape the memories and was unable to relax with her new partner. Afer two EFT sessions Susan feels like a new woman and describes her relationship as bliss.

John was angry and shouting at his elderly mother whenever she cried; it was an automatic and uncontrollable reaction that made John feel guilty and fearful. After an hour of EFT with me he is now as calm as any other carer of an elderly parent.

Liz was compelled to buy and guzzle chocolate every time she filled up the car. Since learning EFT at an introductory evening with a group she has not even noticed chocolate for 6 months.

Andy was consoling himself with drink to suppress the memories of separation from his daughter. After three sessions of EFT he enjoys an occasional glass of wine and no longer needs to finish the whole bottle.

from Carna Zacharias-Miller:

Ida was housebound with severe allergies, multiple chemical sensitivities and severe depression. When she came in contact with ordinary personal care products (like hair gel or shampoo), she would suffer panic attacks. After doing many sessions of EFT – clearing difficult memories of extreme childhood abuse – she is now going out with her children and leaving the house whenever she wants. She is actually taking on a job now and is generally in a good mood.

Karen, a telephone client from the UK, has had extraordinary difficulty being a mother and has had severe issues with perfectionism. She also found she had no authority with her children. After prolonged, sustained EFT treatment, she is still a work–in-progress, but has much better coping skills with the children and is not as reactive as she once was. In fact, she is feeling much more empowered on a day-to-day basis.