When I talk to people about EFT Tapping, I sometiems wonder if I’m coming across like an old-time traveling patent remedy salesman.
(EFT is shorthand for Emotional Freedom Technique.)
I can understand their skepticism. After all, how can such a very uncomplicated (and very odd!) technique yield so many powerful results?
In my practice, I find that this extremely simple remedy can help relieve acute anxiety, negative habits, sleeplessness, pain, and a host of other ills.
The simple EFT method works by tapping the body’s acupuncture meridians while you verbally focus on the problem or emotion at hand, until you feel the negative energy clearing away.
EFT is energy medicine – it addresses the blocked energies that can affect us physically, emotionally, or both.
The difficult events in our lives, including our physical and emotional traumas, almost always generate negative emotions of rejection, resentment, fear, and so on.
These feelings can be very difficult to process in the moment, so we often cope by “stuffing” them – we pretend they aren’t there, or that we can slide right by them, or that we’ll save them for a time when we’re feeling more balanced.
This is what happens when people have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The memory of the trauma gets stuffed away in their subconscious, and the pain can emerge at any time, in all its original force.
And here’s the thing. It isn’t only the “Big-T” traumas that can haunt us. The “Small-t” issues can have significant after-effects as well.
I remember a Small-t trauma that happened on my first day of primary school. The teachers mistakenly put me in the second-grade line. It was a big issue for me, and the teachers didn’t notice their mistake until they saw me crying because I couldn’t keep up with the other kids.
The moral of the story is that I’m quite sure this small, seemingly insignificant trauma contributed to my lifelong tendency to be an overachiever and perfectionist. I suffered for years from the need to overcompensate for feelings of inadequacy, until I was able to come to grips with those feelings with EFT Tapping.
EFT helps us acknowledge our negative feelings, push through them, and re-establish a free flow of energy. During a tapping session, we notice the feelings growing weaker and subtly changing, as it gradually becomes clear that we’re no longer under the control of the underlying emotions. So it becomes much easier to let them go.
Here’s an amazing fact about EFT: a session takes just a few minutes and nearly always provides relief.
We all know that our self-talk can be destructive, needlessly cruel, and very self-limiting. And if bad-mouthing yourself is your particular issue, it’s exactly what you’ll want to tap on. Just “tap it down,” move it out, and move on! You’ll find yourself realizing that those negative inner statements really aren’t true – and why cling to them?
On average, EFT newcomers have a 50 percent success rate, and it gets much better with practice. Once you learn EFT, it’s as easy as riding a bicycle or playing the piano, except that it doesn’t take as long to master.
Millions of people now use EFT Tapping, and there’s no reason you can’t enjoy the benefits, too.
For more information about Jane and her work, click here.