What is EFT
by
Joe Sinclair
This
introduction is an over-simplification that, hopefully, will whet your appetite
for a more detailed and specific explanation, directions to which will be
provided at the end of this article.
Emotional
Freedom Techniques (EFT) is to acupressure what acupressure is to acupuncture;
each shares theory and techniques with the others to provide a means of dealing
with negativity and disruption in the human body. Acupuncture uses needles at significant points in the body
(the “meridians”) in order to activate and speed up the healing process.
Acupressure is based on the same theory, but uses the pressure of finger
and thumb, or tapping, rather than puncturing with a needle.
EFT
similarly uses the meridian points and adopts the acupressure method of tapping
(sometimes rubbing), but primarily to effect cures of emotional rather than
physical problems, although inasmuch as physical ailments are frequently
emotion-based, it will also cure physical disruptions.
In
EFT the “client” is encouraged to concentrate on the specific problem and
focus on a positive phrase that represents the antithesis of the disabling
emotion. While the client repeats
this phrase silently or aloud, the “therapist” will tap with fingertips on
various spots on the client’s body or head.
This tapping balances the energy meridians that have been affected by the
client’s emotional disruption.
The
consequence of this treatment is that the emotional disturbance becomes removed,
even though the memory of the disturbance is not lost.
Cognition has changed and even if the client tries to relive the
experience that caused the emotional disruption, it is no longer disturbing.
A
major advantage of EFT over other forms of treatment is that ultimately it can
be practised by anyone on their own, without the need of a therapist or
overseer. Once the technique has
been mastered, and a very simple technique it is, it can be used whenever the
need arises. It can also be used in
conjunction with other disciplines, such as NLP, to go beyond mere recovery to
empowerment.
Indeed
it can be a valuable tool for nurturing the potential that has become
immobilized by emotional disruption.
EFT
is of fairly recent origin, no more than five years and developed from Roger
Callahan’s Thought Field
Silvia
Hartmann, a protege of Gary Craig’s and the author of Adventures in EFT*
has written about her own experience after “dipping into” the study course:
“An
hour later, I had accessed a severely repressed traumatic time - the death of my
father. I had touched the intense pain I had been carrying for a long seven
years, I had been absolutely horrified by the realisation that time had not even
begun to heal this at all, and I had released the pain through the tapping,
reaching a state of brilliance and clarity; a state of awareness; a release so
profound that I cannot convey what this was like or how it subsequently affected
me to you in mere words.
“I
knew then that all I had heard about these techniques was true. It was as
profound and powerful as they had said it was. This really, truly worked. Since
that moment, my life has not been the same again.
“As
a therapist, since then I have been able [in effect] to make the lame walk and
the blind see.
“As
a teacher, I have been able to allow my students to learn at a level they never
thought possible.
“As
an individual, I have gained a profoundly new elegance of life. I have
discovered new skills and abilities I never thought I possessed, and those I
already used, have become super-charged.
“As
a mother, I have been able to calm my children, to support them in a way that
was previously unimaginable, and to help them permanently overcome perceived
limitations and moments of loss of faith.
“What
more can I say?”
* You can find out more from Silvia Hartmann's website at http://1-eft.com/