No matter how long-standing your suffering has been, clearing the energy system can release its effects. This is because emotions are timeless. All emotions are felt in the present, even when the event is yet to happen. Because of this, EFT can be applied to past memories that are still distressing, future events that produce anxiety and trepidation, as well as current emotional difficulties.
The Simple Therapy
EFT is extremely simple to learn and apply. This means that, as well as working with a therapist, it can be used effectively for self-help. Everyone can learn the basics in less than half an hour. It is an uncomplicated and straightforward approach that even children find simple to apply. Once learnt, the technique remains the same whatever the issue. Because of its very simplicity, the potency and potential of EFT is often underestimated.
Sometimes our feelings derive from early childhood experiences, before we are able to communicate our needs. This can make it hard to pinpoint or verbalize the original cause of our pain. The source may also lie within the unconscious mind, beyond our conscious awareness. This can be very frustrating, as the reason behind our feelings can be elusive and difficult to explain. When using an energetic approach to healing, it is not essential to know where your feelings stem from, nor is it necessary to identify the incident that causes each emotion. The fact that they exist is enough to elicit a healing response.
Rapid Healing
If the energetic disruption caused by turbulent emotions is removed, change can be easy, swift and painless. Once the residue of emotional energy has been cleared, we are able to reach a quick resolution of our original problem. We find it hard to accept that deep inner healing can take place so rapidly. Believing that change takes a long time to come about and only occurs after a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Yet we make changes every day; as soon as we change our mind about something our reality soon follows. Changing can really be that simple. Once the emotional attachment to a problem is cleared, a solution can be quickly found and radical adjustments can take place.
Quite often people feel that by rapidly losing an emotional response to a situation, they will automatically miss out on the lesson to be learnt. This is understandable, but if you have already experienced the emotions once, why do you want to again? EFT does not remove the ‘gold’ that exists within our emotional struggles. None of the ‘lessons’ or ‘realizations’ are lost during the process. Lessons continue to be learnt, insight into a problem is still gained and understanding is reached. The arrival is just quicker, more of an ‘Aha!’ experience than a drawn-out process.
Expressing NOT Suppressing
Unlike using medication, EFT does not seek to suppress unwanted emotional reactions, but to release and resolve them. This technique is not about denying, repressing or disassociating from your feelings. This would be unhealthy and only leads to the creation of more problems. Unexpressed emotions can vent themselves in other ways, producing physical health problems or deeper emotional problems, such as depression. Denied emotions find other ways to express themselves, as neuroses, anxiety or obsessions.
To be emotionally healed of our past, it is necessary to access, assimilate and resolve our original emotional issues. Often, this process occurs naturally over time. However, some people find it impossible to overcome their anguish and, as a result, remain trapped in emotional pain. EFT enables true healing to take place, allowing a person to pass through all the vital healing stages.
Holistic Healing
The energy that circulates through us all is connected to every aspect of our being. Each time you apply EFT, not only do you rid yourself of problems, you also give your energy system a complete overhaul, improving your general health, happiness and well-being. Because EFT uses your own energy system to create changes, the treatment is tailor-made for you as an individual. What one person needs to accomplish from healing will differ from the next. Whatever you need to resolve will be stored in your energy system.
In keeping with holistic principles, EFT focuses on the root cause of an emotional issue as well as the symptoms of distress. Frequently, it will uncover the deeper origins of fears, phobias and addictive cravings. Wendy’s case illustrates how the underlying reasons for a problem can be discovered through EFT. Wendy had a severe phobia of cotton wool, but she had no idea where it stemmed from. While receiving treatment, a traumatic memory from her childhood was revealed. Here is her story:
wendy’s story – cotton wool phobia ‘Ever since I can remember, I have had an intense aversion to cotton wool. Even the words “cotton wool” were unpleasant to me. The feel of the stuff, the touch of it, even the sound of it being pulled apart set my nerves jangling and on edge.
‘As I addressed the issue with EFT, my thoughts went back to my first childhood stay in hospital, for a tonsillectomy, when I was two and a half. It was a horrific experience for me -I was left all alone, full of grief for three days without seeing my mum. I felt deserted and cried continuously. I remember cotton wool swabs being used daily to clean my wounds. This experience left me with a dreadful stutter which took a year or more to disappear. And this was where my problems with cotton wool began.
‘Before the treatment, I couldn’t bear to hold cotton wool and would back off if anyone approached me with it. After the session I sat for a couple of hours holding a lump of the stuff with no problems at all. So EFT worked for me. It is strange how something as inoffensive as cotton wool could be the focus of all my bad experiences, trauma and frightened emotions.’
THE APPLICATIONS OF EFT
As practitioners, it took us a long time to fully appreciate the scope and far-reaching effects of re-aligning the energy system. The scope of EFT applications is as broad as the most fertile imagination. The versatility is amazing. Some of the most common uses of EFT include:
addictions
agoraphobia
anger
anxiety
bitterness
claustrophobia
compulsions
depression
fears
grief
guilt
habits
insomnia
limiting beliefs
low self esteem
migraines
nightmares
obsessions
pain management
panic attacks
phobias
physical aches and pains
post-traumatic stress
resentment
sadness
shame
slimming
sports performance
stopping smoking
stress
traumatic memories
It is not essential to have a ‘problem’ to benefit from this technique. The method works exceedingly well for issues that never reach a therapist’s office, issues that in some way you have just learnt to live with. EFT can be incorporated into your daily life and applied