Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is a powerful method that uses 'tapping' to relieve emotional trauma.
It is a simple and effective form of meridian energy therapy.
It is like emotional acupuncture but without the needles.
We tap points on the face and upper body with our fingertips while focusing on an issue we have.
The points we tap are acupuncture points.
There are many acupuncture points, but using EFT we focus on just ten of these points.
Studies have shown that EFT is able to reduce painful emotional memories.
EFT tapping induces a mini REM state in the brain which re-organises how we store and process information.
This balances electricity in the meridians of the body by sending healing pulses.
The presence of such meridians is assumed in traditional Chinese medical theories.
It can be shown with an EEG machine that brainwave patterns respond well to tapping.
EFT was founded by NLP Master and Practitioner Gary Craig who states 'The cause of all negative emotion is a disruption in the body's energy system, and our unresolved emotions are major contributors to most physical pains and diseases.
EFT will remove these disruptions in more than 80% of the cases in one or two sessions, sometimes within minutes' Generally we start by deciding what we want to use EFT for.
We then assess our pain on a scale of 1 to 10.
1 would be minimal pain while 10 would be very painful.
Also, the pain we describe need not be physical.
In EFT we regard emotional problems to be the cause or root of medical and physical problems.
Using all four fingers of one hand, we tap on the karate chop point of our other hand saying to ourselves 'even though I have this pain (and you get specific about it) I accept myself totally' This would be repeated three times before changing hands.
We then move onto the 'Eyebrow point' which is where the bridge of the nose meets the eyebrow.
When trying to find the tapping points it is a good idea to start gently.
You should be able to feel when you have successfully located each point as it will feel a bit tender.
We tap this point seven times using just one or two fingers stating the issue we are concentrating on, for example 'This headache'.
This brings awareness to our feelings and emotions while the tapping helps to clear them.
Some EFT systems tap both left and right points on either side of the face or body at the same time, while others just tap one side.
This is worth playing with.
If you want to tap both eyebrow points at the same time this is fine.
If you would rather tap the left eyebrow point or the right eyebrow point this is also fine.
It is the same for all the other points we will be tapping.
The next point to tap is the side of the eye.
This point is where the top eyelid meets the bottom eyelid on the outside of the face, not the side where the nose meets the eye.
Once again we would tap this point seven times stating our issue, for example 'This headache'.
The next point to tap is the 'Under eye point'.
This point is on the bone under the eye.
If we were to stare forward our tapping finger would be under the eye in line with our pupil.
We would tap this point seven times bringing vocal awareness to the issue we are using EFT to resolve, for example 'This headache'.
You can see there is a pattern forming here so rather than repeating the same 'tap seven times' technique I will point out the other tapping points.
We have the 'Under Nose point' which is between the top lip and the nose.
We have the 'Chin tapping point' which is between the bottom lip and the bottom of the chin.
If we were to draw a line down the centre of our face the 'Under Nose point' and the 'Chin tapping point' would be on this line.
Having tapped these points seven times we would then move onto the Collar bone tapping point.
This can be tapped using one or more fingers and the point to tap is about an inch in from where the Collar bone starts.
We then move onto the 'Under Arm tapping point' which is under the arm and level with your nipple.
This point is halfway between the front and back of the body.
We then move onto the 'Top of Head'.
This is known as the Crown Chakra in many traditions.
The final tapping point is the wrist.
This point is best tapped using 3 fingers and its location is the inside of the forearm about an inch away from your hand joint.
In many EFT traditions, having tapped these points seven times stating our issue, we would return to the 'Eyebrow tapping point' and start again by re-assessing our pain level.
We would adjust the 'this headache' to 'this remaining headache' for example.
This cycle would be completed 3 times.
Eventually, the pain gets down to where it is gone, or is at least satisfactorily manageable.
It is good to sit quietly for a few moments, relaxing and being aware of our body, thoughts and feelings.
This is a basic introduction to what EFT is and how you can use it.
It is amazing how effective EFT can be and it is even more effective when used regularly to keep ones self in good emotional health.