It’s a funny thing.

Most people who learn EFT want to use it to make their lives easier and more comfortable.

They’ve been to the workshop, seen the videos, read the books and manuals, they are filled with enthusiasm and high hopes for all the changes they are going to make in their lives….

And then they forget to use it!

Why?

It’s not as though EFT takes a long time to clear everyday difficulties, it’s not particularly complicated and you don’t need any special equipment apart from your fingertips, but many people just forget to tap.

Reasons We Forget to Tap

I think there are four reasons why people can’t quite adopt the tapping habit.

• Misunderstanding: With all the videos of dramatic life changing interventions using EFT it’s easy to forget that you don’t need to have experienced a massive trauma, prolonged abuse or life-threatening illnesses to benefit from EFT. You can just as easily use EFT regularly to undo the smaller stresses that add up during a lifetime, or work to prevent the big blow ups from ever happening.
• Habit: If you don’t have the tapping habit, it’s easier to do what you usually do. It takes a little time to establish a tapping habit so that EFT becomes the first response to everyday problems instead of the last.
• Lack of know-how: Learning the mechanics of tapping is very straightforward; learning how to apply this to your unique experience takes a little time and experimentation. If you don’t feel confident in your abilities it’s easier to leave the tapping to one side and use whatever you normally use to calm yourself.
• Resistance: This is where a part of you blocks you ever using these techniques to change. Resistance shows up as procrastination and self sabotage working hard to maintain the status quo.

Tips and Strategies

If you are someone who “forgets to tap” this article will give you 10 tips and strategies to remind you to use EFT in everyday life and get the many benefits it has to offer:

1. Set Your Intention: Decide to tap on a regular basis, then make a public commitment. Tell your partner, family or friends. Ask them to check on a regular basis that you are living up to your commitment (choose someone who won’t let you off the hook). If you have difficulty deciding to set your intention, you might like to investigate the resistance you have to making that decision.

2. Think Mosqui: If you have ever been bitten by a mosquito you will know that it is very difficult to resist slapping at them. It’s an unpleasant experience and we want it to stop. You might think that people would want to resolve a problem just as quickly, but human beings have a tremendous capacity to just put up with problems and adjust to difficulties. Decide to treat minor daily problems as mosquitoes that are biting you. If you have lots of daily problems, work with them only one at a time, choose your mosquito carefully so that you are not overwhelmed by a “swarm of problem mosquitoes” (see #4, Pick Your Targets).

3. The Snag List: Make a list of any difficulties during your day, just after they happened or at the end of the day. Choose one of them, and work on it with EFT. If you want to take care of some more items on the list then tap on those as well. When you have finished tapping (or run out of things to tap on) file the list away. Start a new snag list everyday so that the list of difficulties doesn’t mount up and become overwhelming.

4. Pick Your Targets: Decide in advance what you are going to tap on and what you are going to ignore, so that you are not overwhelmed by too many things to tap on at once. If you have something specific in mind it’s much easier to notice when it happens and do something about it. Decide what is most important to you on a daily basis, what you are going to put up with for the moment and what you want to change. Write it down and get tapping.

5. Create A Habit: Set aside a regular time and place that you can use to process issues. Book an appointment with yourself in your diary and make sure you won’t be interrupted. Treat these appointments as you would a lunch date or a trip to the gym.

6. Tap In Company: If you live with or have access to fellow tappers enlist their help. Make a tapping date or go to a tapping support group. The encouragement, support and social commitment of tapping with others can make it a lot easier to develop the tapping habit.

7. Forgive Yourself When You Stumble: At the end of a day where you have not tapped acknowledge to yourself that you decided not to tap and forgive yourself; then recommit to starting again the next day. It’s not the end of the world to miss tapping for a day but it is worth bringing it into your awareness that you’ve missed the opportunity and want to take the next one, rather than just let the omission slide.

8. Notice Recurring Problems: Many of our daily difficulties are repetitive; they have an “Oh, no! Here we go again” quality. We tend to let minor difficulties slip if tapping seems like too much effort, but if you were to add up all that suffering, you might decide that it is well worth resolving for your long term peace and happiness. If you have a regular difficulty that you just tend to ride out and wait for it to pass make a mark in your calendar or journal (a red dot) every time it happens. At the end of each month, count up the number of red dots and the suffering it represents, then decide whether that much suffering is worth dealing with once and for all.

9. Notice The Solution: Make a note of one problem, do the tapping to neutralise the problem, and then make a note of the difference in how you feel and act, both at the time of the tapping and the next time the problem situations arise. If you spend time noticing the difference EFT makes in these day-to-day problems it will help you to develop motivation for using it more often.

10. Link A Good Habit To A Bad Habit: A very common approach to self soothing is to indulge in distractions. At the end of the day you might flop down in your sofa and watch some junk TV or read a trashy magazine. You might like to try linking some of your usual distractions for tapping. For example: If your usual approach to a tough day is to watch one hour of junk TV when you get home, trade 30 minutes of junk TV for 30 minutes of tapping (or if that is too much to ask, add 10 minutes tapping to the hour of junk TV). This is one way to turn an existing habit to your advantage.

Pick one of the suggestions that appeals to you and commit to it for one week. Notice what happens.

Why not give yourself the chance to find out how much better things can be when you remember to tap.

Andy Hunt is an EFT & NLP Trainer and Practitioner living in the North East of England. He works with people who give themselves a hard time and get in their own way. He is the author of the book “Getting Out Of Your Own Way – Finding and Releasing Unconscious Blocks with EFT” and the creator of the free e-class “The Tapping Habit”. Visit him online at www.practicalwellbeing.co.uk
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A few weeks ago my husband and I faced one of the hardest things pet owners encounter: the decision to euthanize our elderly dog, Chloe, our companion of 15 years.

For me, the emotional turmoil of finally coming to the decision proved to be nothing compared to the agony I experienced after we set the date. Five days before the date, I was beside myself with anticipatory grief, and more, a sense of terrible betrayal. I felt as if we were heartlessly doing away with this dog who’d placed her faith, her trust and her life in our hands so many years earlier.

From years of using EFT I knew something else was going on, and I tapped for it. It turned out to be about my own family of origin issues, feelings of betrayal as a child, and feelings of not being protected at a vulnerable time. Clearing this also allowed me to realize that far from betraying my faithful pet, I had the privilege to assist her in a normal life passage, spare her further suffering and disability, and make her transition as easy as possible.

Setting Intention

The next day, I sat with my husband to discuss setting our intention for how we hoped the day of the euthanasia would go. First we tapped to clear our emotions at the need for this decision, at imagining life without our pet, and our interpretation of how our beautiful dog might be feeling.

After we cleared our own emotions and felt more relaxed, I suggested we consider what we would like to be thinking and feeling after the euthanasia was over.

We agreed we’d like to be feeling peace, and to be thinking about the happiness we had with Chloe. We also wanted to be as centered as possible in support of our dog

We tapped on

“Even though I’m worried about how this will go, I deeply and completely accept myself, and I allow the possibility that we can leave the vet’s office feeling at peace with the outcome.”

“Even though I’m already grieving the loss of Chloe, I deeply and completely accept myself, and I allow the possibility that we can leave the vet’s office with our happy memories of her life.”

“Even though I have so much anxiety, I can’t imagine a euthanasia feeling peaceful, I deeply and completely accept myself, and I allow the possibility that we can leave the vet’s office feeling that Chloe’s passing was peaceful and timely.”

We also used language such as, I’m setting my intention, I would like, I’m open to the possibility, and we continued to tap for all the things we were still feeling as well as all the things we hoped for at the vet’s.

We did this again the night before the euthanasia appointment. This time, I voiced my anxiety about Chloe and the vet. Chloe had a nervous personality, and although she’d been going to the vet’s for many years for both boarding and healthcare, she usually trembled visibly and paced when we went into the treatment room. It had always been hard to calm her or to restrain her.

So for our Friday intention-setting, I concentrated on my fears about how Chloe would react at the vet’s; about her being anxious, shaking, and being afraid of what was in store.

We tapped on phrases such as,

“Even though I’m afraid that Chloe will be afraid, and I’m anticipating all of us being afraid and tense, I deeply and completely accept myself, and I allow the possibility that this time at the vet’s office can go peacefully, tranquilly, and easily for Chloe.”

Chloe Tuned In

On Saturday, we took a last trip with our dog to a park she particularly loved. All week, any time we had taken her in the car, one of us held her firmly in our lap as she wasn’t physically able to run back and forth on the back seat as she’d loved to do her whole life. Although frail, she still struggled against being held in the front, wanting to be free to move around as she’d always done. The final trip to and from the park was no different, as Chloe tried to see out the passenger window, turn to my husband who was driving, and so forth.

When it came time to take her to the vet, my husband carried her in his arms to the car, and I chose to be the one to hold her on the way. I was particularly worried about feeling her trying to move around in my lap, knowing I would anthropomorphize it as anxiety about what was coming.

Chloe, however, was in on the plan. She relaxed in my arms for the short ride to the vet, and I gratefully held and petted her.

Once in the office, they showed us into the treatment room where we’d always had exams. Chloe was trembling a little bit, and walking quickly around the room as usual. As the receptionist left, I picked her up onto my lap, thinking she’d probably wiggle to get down, but giving it a try nonetheless. She relaxed, and I couldn’t feel any trembling either. After about a minute, she turned to my husband in the next seat and moved into his lap, where she stayed until the vet came in to prepare us for the procedure. We felt as if she were giving us both the last chance to hold her, and not once did she try to get down.

When the vet came in, he first gave her a shot of a sedative and told us he’d give it a few minutes to work. For the shot, we lifted her onto the exam table, a place she hated to be placed and restrained for normal procedures. But this day, she stayed on the table quietly.

We held Chloe in our laps as the sedative took effect, then placed her back on the table. We had brought a beloved blanket for her to lie on, and her favorite toy as well. We stroked her and reminded each other of the funniest and happiest things we could remember from her life, as we waited for the vet.

From that point, the euthanasia procedure went quickly. Just as we had hoped, planned for and intended, it felt peaceful too. The vet and the tech were kind, compassionate, speaking quietly and saying lovely things about our beloved dog as we stood at her head, stroking her. We were both able to remain centered and calm and very present with her as she passed away. Then the tears came as the staff allowed us to spend time with her alone, as much as we needed.

As we left the office, we checked in with ourselves. Of course we were terribly sad, but we also were grateful for the peacefulness of those last moments, and for being able to be fully present with our dog and support her. We could feel comforted in our sorrow, because we had taken steps to make the day as intentional and mindful as possible.

Lessons Learned

My lessons from the experience were these:

1. It’s ok to plan for painful events. We’re taught by example to recoil at the very painful times of life, and assume that we have very little control over them or over how we experience the pain. However, we can always make a plan for how we hope a future event will go, and for how we hope and want our own part in it to go. We don’t have control over every element, but we can think mindfully about what we wish for in the future just as we do about where we are in the present.

2. Is this about now, or is this about the past? When I realized that the intensity I was feeling several days before the euthanasia date didn’t seem to relate to the reality of the situation, EFT helped me release what was old, and work on what was in the now. I believe it helped me be more present for my dog in those last days instead of dreading and grieving the future.

3. Work on the negative emotion first. As is the guiding principle in EFT, we cleared the negative emotion before trying to work on intention or choices. We needed to acknowledge what we were sad about and afraid of, and tap down the intensity, before we could go on.

4. Intentions are not re-frames. I perceive a separation between setting intention, and “re-framing” or choosing a positive feeling state in a situation. We did not try to put a happy face on a very emotionally difficult situation, but we did find comfort in thinking through our anxiety and using EFT about what could happen and how we preferred for it to unfold. In this process, two things happen: if there are hidden emotions, you have a chance to acknowledge and clear them; and, you can envision the future result you’re seeking to align your energies for that result.

We have the normal moments of grief as we miss and remember our dog, but we also continue to be comforted when we think of her and all the ways she enriched our family.

Ange Dickson Finn is an AAMET-certified Level 2 EFT Practitioner. She is based in Houston, Texas, USA, and works with clients over the phone and via Skype. Ange has helped clients with issues including physical pain, health and well-being, work-related stress, equestrian sports and relationships. Visit her on the web at www.TapIntoYourself.com or www.RideWithoutFear.com. Contact her via email at ange [at] tapintoyourself.com.

In this article I will be addressing an important aspect of the cognitive model, automatic thoughts: their significance, identification and how to handle them with EFT. I have found that combining EFT with the cognitive model (Dr. Aaron beck) really helps.

What Are Automatic Thoughts?

Let me begin with a few examples.

Sandra got upset in a meeting when her manager disagreed with her views. She thought, “He doesn’t like me.” Bharath does not speak much in meetings as he thinks, “They will not appreciate what I have to say.” Anjana got very anxious before her exam, “I will not be able to do it, what if it is too hard?” Radha became anxious in the evening when her husband was late. She thought, “He may have met with an accident.”

In all these examples, along with the emotions you will find that the thoughts play a crucial role.

Judith Beck in her book, Cognitive Therapy (1995), describes automatic thoughts as being closest to the conscious awareness. They are common to all of us. They are very brief and we are more aware of the emotions than the thoughts. These automatic thoughts can be in verbal form, visual or both.

Using the cognitive model, I often help clients to understand how our interpretations of situations make us feel and act in a certain way. Often you will not be aware of the thoughts because they are so quick and automatic but these thoughts are nonetheless there. And I have observed that along with tapping on the feelings, people benefit a lot by tapping on the automatic thoughts.

This approach helps the clients to understand their reactions and answers their questions such as the following: “I don’t know why I became so upset?” “I don’t know why I felt that way?”

Automatic thoughts indicate the core beliefs that we have. Thoughts such as, “He is better than me. He is more deserving”, etc may reflect underlying core beliefs like, “I’m inadequate. I’m unworthy.”

How Automatic Thoughts Link to Emotions and Beliefs

I’m taking Sandra’s example to explain automatic thoughts and the link with emotions and beliefs.

Due to her childhood negative experiences, Sandra felt unworthy and her automatic thoughts mirrored that unworthiness. If someone disagreed with her she thought that they did not like her.

Situation – Someone disagrees with her.
Automatic thought – “He doesn’t like me”.
Emotion – Upset.
Belief – “I’m inadequate”.

How Do You Identify an Automatic Thought?

When you feel triggered about something, go back to what you ‘thought’ just before that ‘feeling’ was triggered. You can ask yourself, “What does this mean to me?” “What was going on through my mind at that time?”

Slowly with practice you will be able to identify your automatic thoughts, change them and in turn change the feelings as well.

One client who has been suffering from generalized anxiety told me that she does not have any thoughts when she is anxious but when I gently probed she said that before speaking to people she thought, “Everyone is counting my mistakes.” And this made her anxious.

Clearing Automatic Thoughts with EFT

Addressing automatic thoughts will also gradually release the limiting core beliefs. Here, instead of addressing the core beliefs directly, we address the automatic thoughts first. (Note: We also work on the feelings and the specific negative events with EFT.)

Using Sandra’s example:

1. Addressing the Thought as It is: Addressing the content of the thought as it is.

Even though I think that if a person disagrees with me, he does not like me, I still love and accept myself.

2. Addressing the Inaccuracy of the Thought: Automatic thoughts are often not accurate (“If he is late he may have met with an accident”). Sometimes they can be fairly accurate but maladaptive. (“It will take so much time to get over this relationship”). Sometimes they are accurate but the conclusion a person draws from them is distorted. (“I did not get high marks in high school. I disappointed my teacher. Therefore I’m unworthy”). These thoughts can be assumptions, generalizations, labels, filters for only negative information, catastrophic predictions about the future etc; all indications of dysfunctional automatic thoughts that need to be worked upon.

EFT for the inaccurate thought:

Even though I think that if a person disagrees with me, he does not like me and even though this seems to be an assumption, I still love and accept myself.

Another round with, “I choose to release/change/work on this assumption”, will also help.

I have found that along with the focus on emotions, we do need to pay attention to automatic thoughts to bring about a long term emotional and behavioral change. This will reduce the daily reactivity and also empower people with information about why they feel and behave in a certain way. Our behaviors do not occur in a vacuum: thoughts and emotions play a significant role.

Reference: Beck, J. S. (1995) Cognitive Therapy: Basics and Beyond. New York: Guilford Press.

Puja Kanth is a Counseling Psychologist, Certified EFT Practitioner and Emotional Trauma Expert. She uses a unique approach called Geo-specific EFT, a cross cultural approach, to work with clients around the globe.

Witnessing a murder is a specific traumatic event. It produces post-traumatic stress, yet oftentimes it’s much faster to achieve resolution with EFT because it is one specific event. In contrast, soldiers in combat generally experience more than one traumatic event, which takes more time to deconstruct and diffuse.

Because EFT collapses specific traumatic events so thoroughly, I customarily have my clients fill out a standard questionnaire form for PTSD as a tracking device for areas and levels of distress. As a follow-up, I have them fill out the same form within a few months after our session for comparison, and check for any lingering aspects. Showing the client the contrast between the two leaves little room for the Apex Affect to be manifest.

Freemont, a 51-year-old man, witnessed an attempted armed robbery and murder at a local restaurant in El Paso, Texas 18 years ago. Freemont had attended one of my introductory lectures about EFT months before he actually presented to my office for help. He sat down in the chair in my office and said, “I witnessed a murder, and I’m ready to let this go now. It was a random act of violence, and I just happened to be there.”

The levels of distress from 0-5 on the PTSD checklist form revealed that he had a 2 level of repeated, disturbing memories, 3 level disturbing dreams, 2 level at reliving it, moderate physical reactions with subtle reminders of the event, 4 level at thinking or talking about it, 2 level avoiding activities that remind him of the event, no trouble at all remembering the details of the event, a moderate loss of interest in things he used to enjoy, and felt distant from other people. Irritability and angry outbursts, difficulty concentrating, feeling on guard, and being easily startled were all at a 2 level.

This was Freemont’s first experience with EFT, so I gave him tapping instructions, asked him to be aware of any body sensations during the tapping sequence, and told him how to recognize physical energy releases, such as yawning, sighing, belching, etc. I offered Freemont a round of tapping beforehand to defuse the intensity of the memory and make it easier for him, but he assured me that we didn’t need to sidestep because it happened a long time ago, and didn’t feel as intense as it used to be.

Men in general tend to play down their reactions and emotions, so as a precaution, I decided to initiate the session with “The Tearless Trauma Technique,” I instructed him not to step into the event yet, just give the event a title along with the current intensity if he could guess, which, according to him, was about a 1 or a 2. He called it “The Day of Change” and we proceeded.

“I can accept myself, even though I had this Day of Change.”

Immediately, I noticed facial flushing, more rapid breathing, and a light sweat across his face. We kept tapping until that subsided. He then felt a heaviness-type feeling in his chest, so we tapped long enough to ease off “this feeling in my chest.”

With that accomplished, I proceeded to the “The Movie Technique,” where there is a prelude leading up to the beginning (the safest place to start), the crescendo (the worst part) and an end. In all, Freemont said the movie took about a minute to run through. When he felt comfortable enough, I had him narrate the movie, clip by clip, stopping for any intensity, however minute.

In order, we started with the cast of characters of the movie, and any intensity just thinking about them, then the drive to the restaurant, with the imminent result looming in the distance, the actual dinner, and finally, along with the people he had dinner with, going to the register to pay his friend, who worked in his family’s restaurant. Stopping right there, I asked him to give this part a title to bring down the intensity before the actual narration. He called it “pandemonium.” Just the word pandemonium triggered an extreme highly-charged emotional response, and with his hands covering his face, I gently took one hand and tapped on his fingers, gamut point, and any other available meridian end-point other than his face until he calmed down – calm enough to narrate, and tell exactly what “pandemonium” meant.

In his words:

“The doors flew open and two men with guns came charging in; instinctively, we all held our hands up. I heard gunshots, and heard a bullet fly past my ear, and saw my friend, Tommy, fall to the floor. Everyone scattered and people were overturning tables, screaming, and ducking for cover. I was the only one who stayed with Tommy. I laid him across my lap and tried to find where he was bleeding. I found a bullet hole under his armpit, and put my fingers inside the wound to try to stop the bleeding. Do you know what blood smells like? I can still smell the blood. I still remember the shock of seeing that much blood. I can still feel the blood flowing through my fingers. I can still feel his pulse weakening; I felt his life slipping away. I was helpless to stop it because the wound was so severe. My friend died in my lap.”

The words “my friend died in my lap” brought about another highly-charged emotional response. Again, I tapped until the wave subsided.

With regard to the length of this article, more than one crescendo was deconstructed and diffused, bit by bit, piece by piece, addressing the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures until each had a zero intensity.

What was left behind all of this was the anger at the situation since, according to Freemont, it was a random act of violence. What really made him angry was that his friend’s own family, who was working there that night, stayed hidden and didn’t go to his aid.

Prematurely, and on purpose, I offered a reframe just to see where we were at. I said, “You know, it’s a place of honor to be there at the time to comfort someone who’s dying, especially a friend.” He said, “No, it was awful. I don’t know why it happened to me.” My extended setup phrase was:

“Even though it was awful, I don’t know why it happened to me, what’s true is, if not for me, Tommy could have bled to death alone, and even though I risked my life to be there for him, I was a friend to him to the end.”

The cognitive shift was immediate, we never got past the karate chop point with the setup, when he said, “That’s true! I’m glad I was there to comfort him. Maybe it wasn’t such a random act after all, it was his time to die, and his way to exit. I was supposed to be there for him, because it set off a major change of events in my life for the better. I stopped doing what other people expected of me and followed my own dreams. At least he went quickly; that’s the best anyone can hope for.” The physical and emotional relief on his face and in his affect was obvious, and when he left the session, he said he was going to go home and take a nap.

In all, this session was under one hour’s time, but the reverberations afterward were nothing short of miraculous for Freemont. In previous conversations with Freemont prior to our session, he had admitted to specific “blockages” in both right and left-brain activities. His musical abilities, for example, and certain math equations (he’s a mathematician) that he just didn’t feel like “tackling.” In a one-month follow-up, he was joyfully working on advanced math equations that he couldn’t “tackle” before, and more avenues involving his music, both playing, writing, and learning traditional songs were becoming more fluid. He told me he felt so much lighter, more energetic than he can remember when, and didn’t dream “old clips” about the event anymore. “Is that unusual?” I asked, and he said, “Absolutely!”

Eight weeks later, his PTSD questionnaire is outstanding. Only two questions “Trouble falling or stay asleep” and “Feeling irritable or having angry outbursts” were answered with a number 2, meaning; “A little bit.” The remainder of the questions were answered “none at all.”

If we live consciously, we should all call ourselves a work in process. Since Freemont’s first and only EFT session was behind him, eight weeks prior, it’s entirely possible the questionnaire reflects the remnants of other emotional issues not yet addressed. Nevertheless, Freemont’s EFT experience was one of visual and physical acuity. It cleared his head after eighteen years, and simultaneously relaxed his body in the process. In his words “It’s like letting go of your suitcase after a very long trek. You fall into complete relaxation and relief.”

Dr. Rossanna Massey’s practice focuses exclusively now on the applications of EFT, especially the emotional underpinnings of serious diseases. She is available for private sessions, in-person or by phone (worldwide), lectures and workshops. Visit her at www.efthelp.com

I have discovered that working with people who suffer from extreme anxiety (OCD, voice hearing, DID) conditions needs a slightly different approach to that which we first learn in EFT (namely find the core cause of the condition).

Why A Different Approach?

Approaching the extreme symptom’s core issue head-on (like in conventional EFT or therapy) just never seems to work. It will only make clients even more frightened or angry, or they will disappear (or dissociate even more, if they are dissociative)!

I am going to present you some of the techniques and strategies that at the beginning of sessions with clients suffering extreme conditions proved helpful in ensuring a good working relationship and ongoing results.

Validate The Protective Function of the Nervous System’s Extreme Symptoms

Extreme condition (heavy OCD or anxiety or dissociation) sufferers often feel a lot of negative emotions about the extremeness of their symptoms in the first place. They will come to see you with a lot of inner conflict over this. What they most need in the beginning is you helping them to work along with their symptoms (instead of fighting them) by being able to see the symptoms having a valid and positive function, and by allowing the appreciation and validation for this to develop in them, as well.

Reminder Phrase: “Our symptoms always have a positive intention for us, trying to keep us safe.”

An Exercise: The Watcher on the Hill

Invite the client to imagine: nervous system is like an army, or a bodyguard team – ideally at rest, until the ‘Watcher on the Hill’ sounds the warning! See the Watcher on the Hill article for an example case study.

Ask the client:

What are the soldiers doing? Are they at rest? Armed and ready for action? Already fighting?

For dissociation (DID) clients a metaphor can be a divided army,
aviation not trusting the navy backing them up, and navy not trusting the soldiers
on the ground backing them up, either.

The Watcher on the Hill, what is his condition? Is there more than one? Is he tired?

There will be many, many variations of this. The idea at this point is to tune in to the state of the nervous system. This can then be done at any chosen time thereafter to give the client an idea of where they are.

Positive Intention of Anxiety

Invite the client to guess:

What is the state of the client’s nervous system (bodyguard team/army)?
Is it on duty 24 hours a day?
Is it divided (like in dissociation)
(in order to make sure at least one branch of army is not defeated?)

Once this exercise has been completed the client has often had a cognitive change and is now feeling appreciation for their nervous system and are now open to considering when this decision was made.

Reminder: “What is the state of the army?”

Be Aware That Conscious Agreement Does Not Mean Subconscious Agreement

The client may feel comfortable with the chosen therapist but upon accessing this part we find that the inner child does not trust the adult self (or anyone else that the adult self chooses to trust without consulting the inner child first). Its vital to establish a trust between the adult self and inner child self at this point. Inner child visualization can be very helpful at this time. The idea being to establish communication with this damaged and frightened “part” of us.

Protocols I have found invaluable for this work are Betty Moore Hafter’s Inner Child protocol, which is truly beautiful. I have spoken to Betty about making this protocol publicly available as it has proved to be so powerful and this will be available from: http://creativeeft.com/.

Karl Dawson’s Matrix Reimprinting technique is also useful here for this, and Tania Prince has also written about this in an excellent article on Soul Retrieval. Both articles can be found at http://www.eftmastersworldwide.com/articles.html

Reminder: “What is the state of the communication between adult self and inner child?”

Safety Protocols

Most extreme anxiety (or a dissociation or OCD) symptom sufferers can be re-traumatized every day by their symptoms, especially if this includes “hearing voices” (like in schizophrenia) or “being voices” (like in dissociation – DID / DDNOS). We have to address this as well as considering the events that causes this and give the client tools they can use to calm themselves.

This is always much easier for them to do when they understand that their nervous system is trying to protect them from a memory of a past experience, which may still not be consciously known to them.

Gwyneth Moss has an excellent anxiety protocol which is a very helpful tool at this point. Again this can be found at http://www.eftmastersworldwide.com/articles.html

Reminder: “Is everyone safe, inside and outside?”

Specific Tapping Statements for People who Experience “Hearing Voices” or “Being Voices”

Even though I feel terrified of me “hearing voices” (or “being voices”), (there’s still deep down in me a part that is able to) deeply love and completely accept myself and all my parts, and I am choosing to feel safe knowing that (they are only a partial reflection of how I’m feeling about myself right now).

Even though I have no control over these voices (or parts of my divided bodyguard-team), and they are running my life, (there’s still deep down in me a part that is able to) deeply love and completely accept myself and all my parts, and I’m choosing to feel safe because I know they are just trying to protect me.

Even though I experience “hearing voices” (or “being voices”), I still deeply love and completely accept myself and I choose to find the deeper meaning to these voices (or/and parts of me).

Even though it’s very hard for me to find the event(s) in my past that caused me to experience “hearing voices” (or/and “being voices”), (there’s still a part of me deep down that is able to) deeply love and completely accept myself and we are choosing to find the event(s) when we feel safe enough to do it.

Even though the experience of “hearing voices” (or/and “being voices”) has been keeping me safe, I still deeply love and completely accept myself.

Even though I feel like a bad mother (/father/sibling/child) because I hear (or am) these voices (parts), (there’s still a part deep down in me that is able to) deeply love and completely accept myself (and all my parts) and I am choosing to know that I am a wonderful and caring mother(/father/sibling/child) and this experience will only help me become a better one still.

By taking the first steps outlined, it is much easier for you to introduce the reframe to the client(s) that the voices (or the parts) are not saying things (or/and being things/persons) literally, which additionally takes the fear out of experiencing or re-experiencing them.

Homework For The Clients

Whenever they hear the voices/experience parts:

Even though I don’t feel safe at the moment, I still deeply love and completely accept myself and I am choosing to know that I am safe

Later, whenever they hear the voices/experience parts:

The client can be taught to tap on the exact words that the voices (parts) happen to be saying/experiencing when the therapist feels the client fully understands that the voices/parts are “only” a symptom that the client is not feeling safe at the moment.

Now We Can Get Specific

Now that all this preparation is done, we can begin to work with specific events and traumas that precluded the onset of symptoms. This often includes birth trauma, and pre- and perinatal trauma as well as specific traumatic events. The client may have also been severely and systematically abused (this will also include the trauma of any previous psychiatric intervention which will have compounded the original trauma).

If you are comfortable working with sexual trauma and PSTD, and have a good understanding of the function of the nervous system, and have tapped on all your own issues about doing this kind of work, then you can safely help people with these issues.

Clients find Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine invaluable in helping them to understand the function of their own nervous system.

Conclusion and Reminder:

Experiencing extreme symptoms such as heavy OCD, “hearing voices”, or “being voices” (dissociation such as DID or DDNOS) are all valid modes of surviving profound traumatisations.

Since EFT is such a wonderful method to work from aches to zits on everything, we sometimes forget its awesome spiritual context. Gary Craig who developed EFT, has stated clearly:

The main purpose of EFT is to pave the way towards love’s Presence (i.e. Grace). Our physical and emotional wounds tend to distract us from this spiritual birthright.

If we have chronic severe back pain, are angry with our boss every day, or feel generally unworthy of love, we struggle for our physical and emotional survival instead of living gracefully. So doing EFT on whatever keeps us from relaxing into our center, is spiritual work. However, skillful Art of Delivery (done on your own or with a practitioner) can take this much further.

I will never forget a powerful spiritual break-through I experienced with one of my clients. “Claire” grew up in a family with several abusive members. The worst offender was a brother who was ten years older than she was. He tortured and beat his little sisters so severely that they often feared for their lives (the father was abusive himself, and the mother too weak to take any action).

One night, the parents were gone and 5 year old Claire and her 3 year old sister “Kim” were alone at home with this brother. He started attacking Kim viciously and beat her until she was lying motionless on the floor. At that point, Claire threw herself into the scene, pulled her sister up and dragged her out of the house to neighbors. She yelled: “Help! Help!” until the neighbors opened the door.

The neighbors looked at the two little girls, told them coldly that they did not want to have anything to do with this and shut the door.

It was dark, Claire did not know what else to do and went back home with her sister. In the meantime, the brother had calmed down, and the rest of the night was peaceful.

First, we tapped for a long time on the shocking behavior of the neighbors (I had to borrow benefits since this upset me too). After that Claire switched to intense anger at God: How could he allow such a situation, how could he be so cruel?

Then a powerful shift happened: Like lightening strike, Claire had an insight that came from an entirely different realm. She understood, from a spiritual perspective, what this event was truly about: It was not about preventing the abuse or getting rescued by others (who then would have been given the credit, be it God or the neighbors). It was about being a hero and taking her sister out of a very dangerous situation until their home was safe again. If God or the neighbors had rescued them, Claire would not have had that crucial experience. It was about showing her how compassionate, courageous, and resourceful she was, even as a 5 year old. Today, 40 years later, Claire is a strong, happy woman.

Viewing a situation from a higher level of consciousness or what I call the Soul Perspective, is a hallmark of “spiritual EFT”. All of a sudden, the whole truth of a situation is revealed, it is like switching from flatscreen to 3D. Sometimes you look from above down on the scene as if it was a drama played out on a stage, and it is only from that viewpoint that you can see the whole picture. When that happens, you understand that there are no victims, only spiritual lessons, eternal love, and expansion of consciousness.

Learning to love and accept ourselves is fundamental for a spiritual life – and that aspiration is built into EFT not only as a default (I deeply and completely…) but into all reframing phrases. I choose to be at peace. I treat myself with kindness and compassion. I listen to the wiser part of me. I am willing to forgive myself. This is not “pounding in” positive affirmations, it is gently stimulating personal evolution which is always evolution of the whole.

There are many ways to do spiritual work. Some of them are entirely uplifting and joyful. What we do is Shadow work, in the Jungian sense: Enlightenment is not imagining figures of light but making the darkness conscious. Not that popular in our fun-driven world but deeply purposeful for those who dare.

People who do EFT in a committed way learn to be brutally honest with themselves, stay in the Now (“what am I feeling right now?”), are willing to let go of projections which is blaming others for their problems, and strive to be of service to their fellow travelers. If humility wasn’t such a primary spiritual virtue, we could have a bragging party.

This evening my husband and I went to see The Hunger Games. Being one of the few people on Earth who hadn’t read the books, I was unprepared for the dark tone of the story, only enhanced by the incredibly detailed and realistic special effects. After finding my fingernails buried deep in my husband’s arm (just kidding … they weren’t buried that deeply) I found a way to make it easier for me to be in the theater.

First, I rubbed my fingertips into the karate chop point on the side of my hand. As I was kneading the karate chop point I said to myself,

Even though this seems like real life, I know that it is a movie, and I love and accept myself. Even though this movie seems almost as real as life, it is only a movie, and I accept myself. Even though my adrenaline is pumping really hard, this is only a movie, and I accept myself.

Anytime during the movie I started to feel so anxious that I thought I might explode, I remembered to rub the karate chop point and remind myself that it was only a movie, and it was ok that I was feeling scared.

So, you can use this for any movie (or anything else, from sitting in the dentist’s chair to taking an exam) in which you are feeling scared. Tap or rub the karate chop point on the side of your hand, and say:

Even though I’m feeling ____ (scared, anxious, terrified – or whatever you are feeling), I’m OK.

Repeat the rubbing and owning your feelings three times or so or for around 30 seconds.

You can repeat it anytime you need to.

After the movie, if you are still feeling agitated, you can do more tapping.

Start off by assessing the intensity of your emotions, with 10 being the highest, and 0 the lowest. You would start with the same (or similar) set-up phrase:

Even though I’m feeling ____ (scared, anxious, terrified — or whatever you are feeling) I’m OK.

Repeat the rubbing and owning your feelings three times or so or for around 30 seconds.

Next, narrate what is bothering you while tapping on your body points. Here’s a link to the tapping points I like to use: http://wayhealthy.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/tappingpoints2.jpg.

I usually start inside the eyebrow and say what I’m feeling. It could be something like:

I get really excited at a suspenseful movie like this.
The tension was so thick, it was hard to breathe.
It felt so real.
I didn’t feel comfortable with _____________.
Part of me felt like getting up and leaving…
But I was caught up in the drama.
It is a movie.
It is not real.
I enjoyed certain parts of the movie more than others.
I release the parts that I don’t want to carry around in my mind and body
I easily let it go…
No I don’t.
I choose to let go of any parts of the movie that were really scary.
I choose to remember the parts I liked and let the other images go.
I am free.
I feel relaxed.
I am safe.

This a script you can adjust to suit your situation.

My experience with a group of women suffering from Fibromyalgia/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is very helpful to understand how insidious and debilitating this illness can be. EFT is valuable because of its simplicity, its gentle and universal use and creative applications.

Many of us work with additional healing modalities; EFT can be the “work horse that pulls the cart forward” in difficult situations.

They Had “No Life Left”
In 2000 I started working with FMS/CFS (Fibromyalgia/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) clients in weekly group therapy sessions. The first motivation for starting the group was my personal battle with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). IBS is a common symptom of Fibromyalgia. The group sessions were two hours long and included up to six clients in one session. The majority of my clients came to join what I called “Relaxation Therapy” because they had “no more ways to go”, “had no life left”, or “just HAD to get help”.

When I started the group I believed it would work well for overall symptom management. I had just started using basic EFT applications in my office and had noticed how much it increased success rates. Never did I expect that it would become the solution for the core issues of their illness for most of my clients. Since 2001 I’ve been in contact with many former group members; all of them are still symptom free. I believe EFT had the greatest impact on the improvements all participants experienced.

Painful Symptoms
My clients were either on disability, not able to work any longer or not able to move around without help, or all of the above when they first came to me. Symptoms typically included widespread pain and fatigue. Very often FMS comes along with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). Symptoms include pain in soft tissues, skin, organs throughout the body, muscle spasm, pain in neck, shoulders, feet, back, facial pain, headaches, sleep disturbances, flu-like symptoms, environmental hypersensitivity, gastrointestinal problems (IBS), irritable bladder, depression and anxiety. The pain is unpredictable and more generalized than it is in arthritis or regional pain disorders; there is also a chronic dysfunction, decreased attention span and often impaired short memory noticeable in clients who suffer from FMS/CFS.

EFT as Gentle Motivator
Besides being depressed and anxious, FMS sufferers did not want to invest any time, energy or money, and needed to be motivated constantly during the first time of their therapy. Motivation to exercise, to be patient, understanding and loving with THEMSELVES was a crucial part of therapy. There was rarely any knowledge of body-mind connection. I had to work hard to achieve overall body relaxation, motivating them to especially let go of much pain-causing tension. I had them follow me into guided imagery, never forcing or pushing them into actually doing something. EFT was the most gentle help and motivator during those times and could cover everything that needed to be addressed.

No Commitments
The typical FMS/CFS client shied away from ANY type of commitment, since she never knew what her next day would be like, if she could function at all. The typical FMS/CFS client I worked with could not plan anything in advance. I worked with a 79-year old lady with severe CFS. Her only trip out of the house was the Sunday morning church visit. Every second Sunday or so she would faint and fall to the floor, unconscious, the whole congregation watching her. Another client, a woman in her forties, could never make it through her weekly grocery shopping; she became always paralyzed by pain in the midst of it.

EFT Heals the Effects of Trauma
I learned then that Fibromyalgia really “explodes” as an illness when when clients have accumulated enough traumas in their lives – in their bodies. This can be emotional and physical trauma of any kind. All those car accidents, when nothing “really” happened; all those sad and hurtful times; losses of friends and family members, jobs and identity; parents that had to leave early in life; abuse of all kinds; divorces; suicide of friends, and other traumas. Apparently trauma is stored in our bodies, maybe to different degrees for different people. We HAVE to deal with the things that happen to us in order not to get sick, if we like that or not. In the healing field we have known for a long time that the body does not forget anything that ever happened to it, nor does the mind. EFT definitely came to the rescue here.

Creating “Relaxation Therapy”
I created “Relaxation Therapy” because it is a gentle but determined approach and works beautifully well. It’s a technique any therapist can adopt, follow and even create more and more of as they go. It consists of EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), group hypnosis, guided imagery, metaphors and suggestions for physical and emotional well-being, some coaching techniques. It provided tools for re-empowerment of the client, re-gaining self-confidence and self-love, explorations of how trauma manifests in body and mind, establishing awareness of the body-mind connection, and artistic expression to explore and communicate with Self. EFT here is especially important for stress management; it is easy to apply once clients are motivated to use it.

Relaxation Treatment Results
After having talked to approximately 80 FMS sufferers and working intensely with more than 30 acutely ill FMS clients, I had some women who were completely symptom-free after 6 weeks of weekly group sessions, and still remain symptom-free after 12 years. Most of the others at that time were able to reduce their very severe symptoms to as little as 10% to 30%, with symptom-free times in between sessions. Flare-ups appeared only in extreme stress situations, or when the client did not stick to the relaxation routine she learned during group sessions.

EFT was an important part and applied regularly each time in the most basic form. Clients would tap the Karate Chop (KC), face points and collarbone (CB) only for two or three rounds, addressing silently in their minds anything that felt disturbing or painful at that time. Before and after tapping, FMS symptom charts were filled out with numbers between 1 and 10, to rate the typical symptoms. Filling out the charts was a potent psychological motivator since the pain numbers dropped drastically low after using EFT. In the beginning of the group sessions I often had individual participants address their concerns and pains which the group then tapped on. Everyone to some extent shared the concerns and later the healing. Tap for one; get six free, I used to think to myself.

Included in this therapy were the audiotapes (yes, it was such a long time ago!) that I customized for my FMS clients. There is a basic procedure and sequence of tapes clients listened to daily. Here EFT was used to tap along while listening to the hypnosis tape. I greatly encouraged that and of course, I still do. Tapping along with positive messages for healing works powerfully well to quickly establish physical and emotional wellbeing.

When we start using EFT on our own to address the traumas from our past, often by tapping along with scripts or videos, we sometimes have a tapping session that leaves us unsettled.

We may feel anxious, edgy, or even fearful. In some way, our body is telling us things aren’t right. This can be frustrating when we’re working alone. We may think EFT isn’t “working right” or question if we’re “doing it right”.

In reality, when that happens we can pat ourselves on the back, because we’re on track to getting some real work done. In the process, it’s just that we have activated our Sentinel and our Protector. If we recognize this, we can keep using EFT to help retrain our Sentinel and our Protector.

Who are the Sentinel and the Protector and why are they pestering us like this?

If we have experienced trauma we naturally develop coping mechanisms. It can be useful to think of these mechanisms as characters in our own personal story. We can imagine a Sentinel character and a Protector character.

The Sentinel’s job is to warn us of danger. If we’ve been traumatized our Sentinel is often on overdrive all the time. Anything that feels remotely like the traumatic situation will get the Sentinel agitated. If we begin to move toward that territory deliberately through EFT, our Sentinel feels very threatened and does all it can to get our attention.

If we ignore our Sentinel and continue to move toward the dangerous feelings, our Protector may swing into action. When we’re in balance our Protector will help us protect ourselves in healthy ways. When we’re not, our Protector can sometimes choose unhealthy behaviors like overindulgence, addiction, avoidance, and even dissociation. This is not a failing on our part; it’s a result of not having had the opportunity to learn, strengthen and exercise healthy coping skills.

We know our Protector is kicking in if we start to seek out, or revert to, behaviors that aren’t good for us but provide temporary relief. This can also be accompanied by a sense of futility, helplessness or self-blame.

Fortunately, we can enlist EFT to help us recognize our Sentinel and our Protector, and stay present with our discomfort long enough for EFT to help us reduce the unpleasant emotions.

First, meet yourself where you are.

Put a name to your feelings and create a set-up phrase—but don’t tap it yet, we’re going to flesh it out.

Even though I feel edgy and anxious, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Now, invite your Sentinel to the party.

Even though I feel edgy and anxious, I deeply and completely accept myself, and I recognize that this may be my Sentinel trying to warn me.

Go a step further and express gratitude to your Sentinel.

Even though I feel edgy and anxious, I deeply and completely accept myself, and I recognize that this may be my Sentinel trying to warn me. I thank my Sentinel for warning me of danger.

Tap this phrase until you get your SUDS level (the measurement of your distress) down to 2 or less. If thanking the Sentinel at this point results in self-judgment, leave the thanks off and tap simply on the recognition. When you have gotten your SUDS down, tap a second round including the gratitude phrase.

Next, if you’ve already started to do things that aren’t in your best interests in order to calm and distract yourself, invite your Protector to the party as well.

Start out with the set-up phrase that describes your behavior:

Even though I’ve started eating too much candy again, I deeply and completely….

And finish it with recognizing your Protector:

Even though I’ve started eating too much candy again, I deeply and completely accept myself, and I recognize that this may be my Protector trying to protect me. I thank my Protector for protecting me the best it knows how.

If you can’t quite thank your Protector for making you gorge on candy, you might add, “I thank my Protector for trying to protect me, even if that doesn’t seem good for me.”

Again, tap your SUDS level down as low as you can get it, always tapping down the tailenders or “yeah buts” that you have toward your Protector if they come up.

You can even finish off by inviting your Sentinel and Protector to join you in learning better ways to do their jobs. Masha Bennett’s excellent article Getting All Our “Parts” Working Together, in EFTFree.net’s article archives, will give you great ideas for doing so.

Ange Dickson Finn is an AAMET-certified Level 2 EFT Practitioner. She is based in the Houston, Texas, USA, and works with clients over the phone and via Skype. Ange has helped clients with issues including physical pain, health and well-being, work-related stress, equestrian sports and relationships. Visit her on the web at www.TapIntoYourself.com or www.RideWithoutFear.com. Contact her via email at ange [at] tapintoyourself.com.

The Personal Peace Procedure is an excellent tool introduced by Gary Craig that requires you to list every negative event in your life that you can remember and tap on it until there is no charge left.  It essentially works on your episodic memory, which is described below. However, the Personal Peace Procedure can be overwhelming for the uninitiated.  Here, I’d like to suggest different ways of working on your Episodic Memory as alternatives to the Personal Peace Procedure.

Episodic memory, as the name suggests, is about episodes: personal and autobiographical specific experiences, events and situations. Episodic memory is part of long term memory. Long term memory is where information is stored relatively permanently in your brain, on the basis of meaning and repetition.

EFT works very well on episodic memory. Tapping on episodic memory provides long term relief by reducing the intensity of emotions attached to these memories.

Episodic Memory Tapping Vs. Personal Peace Procedure

The Personal Peace Procedure may present the following difficulties when you tap without any guidance.

1. The list of negative events can be very long.
2. The long list of events may de-motivate you as you may not know where to start.
3. The re-surfacing emotions after tapping may be overwhelming and difficult to handle.
4. Each event could be tied to another one and it can lead to tapping in circles without much-needed relief.

Here I offer two alternatives to the Personal Peace Procedure for those who become overwhelmed and daunted by it. This is to help those who are tapping on their own without any guidance from a practitioner.

1. Problem-Specific Tapping

Negative events are usually remembered far more than the positive ones as they are repetitive and carry negative meaning.

Instead of taking on all the negative events from your past, you can take only the events that bother you in the light of your current pressing problems (the problems that require priority). You can make a list only of issue- or problem-specific events and tap on them to cut down the overwhelming list of negative events.
For example, if you are undergoing relationship problems, you can list only the events surrounding your relationship. If you have social anxiety, you can list events related to self-consciousness in the past. If you have alcohol addiction, then you can concentrate on the specific time periods when you drank due to loneliness or anxiety. If you have any kind of phobia, list specific incidents related to that fear.

2. Recall-Specific Tapping

There are two ways in which we remember past experiences: recollection and familiarity. According to Daniel L. Schacter, “recollection involves calling to mind specific details of past experiences.” For example, remembering exactly what you wore on your eighth birthday. Familiarity is a “more primitive sense of knowing that something has happened previously without dredging up particular details.” (The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers, 2001, p.44)

It is important to distinguish between the two when you are tapping. Many times, we have familiarity with some past experiences rather than total recollection. I believe it is best to stick with what you remember rather than forcing yourself to go into the specifics of that event.

In the recall-specific tapping, you can tap ‘only’ when you are reminded of an event from your past.

For example, a gentleman who was unable to talk assertively to his colleague recalled a similar event from his past. He tapped only on the experience he remembered.

This is different from the first alternative (problem specific tapping), as it requires only working with recall-specific events; whenever you ‘remember’ anything negative, immediately address it with EFT. Usually some issues from your present will trigger some related negative events. If the present context is similar to the past experience then it will often act as a trigger and generate similar recollections. Here, recall-specific tapping will come in handy.

Comparing The Three Approaches

Personal Peace Procedure
List: ALL negative events from your past
Priority: Take the events that have highest intensity or tap chronologically
When to tap: Usually Daily
Example
List: Events with highest intensity
Car accident : suds 10
Fight in the shop: suds  9
Abuse at age 12: suds  9
Divorce of parents :suds  9
Comparison with cousin in high school: suds  7

Problem-Specific Tapping
List: Listing ONLY events related to the most pressing present problem
Prioritizing: Prioritizing problems is important; taking events based on most pressing/urgent current problems
When to tap: Setting up time daily to tap
Example
Problem: Social Anxiety
List:
Event: Anxiety in the market
Event: Anxiety in the Office
Event: Anxiety at the Party

Recall-Specific Tapping

List: No listing required
Priority: Prioritizing is not required; taking events as and when you recall them without forcing yourself to sit and remember
When to tap: Tapping only when you recall something related to the problem
Example
While going to market you slip and recall a similar specific past incident
Tap only on the recalled Event: Fall in the shop

Please note, these two alternatives are not a replacement for the unique Personal Peace Procedure.

Ed. Note: If you are not familiar with the Personal Peace Procedure, you can read more about it here and download a pdf of the process.

Reference: Schacter, D. L., (2001) The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers  USA: Houghton Mifflin

Puja Kanth is a Counseling Psychologist, Certified EFT Practitioner and Emotional Trauma Expert. She uses a unique approach called Geo-specific EFT, a cross cultural approach, to work with clients around the globe. Visit her online at www.emofreetherapy.com