Emotional Healing in Minutes: Simple Acupressure Techniques For Your Emotions
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Simple Acupressure Techniques for Your Emotions
Valerie Lynch and Paul Lynch
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Part 1 Introducing Emotional Healing
1 The story of EFT
2 EFT – How It Works
3 The Friendly Therapy
Part 2 The Emotional Freedom Technique
4 The Formula to Freedom
5 Energetic Shifts
6 Multiple Aspects
7 Psychological Reversal
8 The Self-help Approach
Part 3 Emotional Healing in Practice
9 Phobias
10 Addictions
11 Physical Complaints
12 Beliefs
13 Weight Loss
14 Relationships
15 Troubleshooting
16 Working with a Therapist
Acknowledgments
Afterword
Glossary
Resources
Index
About the Authors
Copyright
About the Publisher
Foreword
Gratitude to Paul and Val Lynch for this highly useful version of EFT. They have combined the power of the EFT procedure with their own innovations to creatively portray an easy-to-apply technique that is useful to almost everyone. Please study this loving work carefully as many of its concepts are life changing. Use it, practise it and pass it on to others. The world will be a better place for your efforts.
Gary Craig, Founder, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)
Preface
Emotions are beautiful and creative energies and without them life would be extremely dull. We would function as nothing more than robots, devoid of all feeling. Depression is often described in the same way, as a condition in which everything feels flat and emotionless.
A healthy emotional life leads to a fulfilling and meaningful existence, rich with colour and experience. Our emotions make us aware that we are alive; they represent a pure expression of our deepest self. Emotions by their very nature cannot lie. They continually communicate with us, inspiring us and filling us with passion. From the moment of our conception to the time of our death we experience emotions. They are essential to our psychological growth and play an essential role in our well-being.
Feelings attract our attention, indicating the desirable and non-desirable elements in our lives. They illustrate the things we find pleasurable, rewarding and that make us happy, as well as the circumstances that do not. When we feel joy and happiness we are encouraged to move towards those people, situations or environments that produce these feelings. When we experience emotional pain, it signifies the need to remove ourselves or stop whatever it is that makes us so miserable. By listening to the message our emotions send, we are guided in the direction that needs to be taken.
Emotions are our true teachers, healers and guides. For instance, appropriate anger alerts us to the possibility that our boundaries have been broken. We may need to assert our needs more visibly or defend our position. Fear is designed to protect us and guide us away from threatening situations. Through grief we begin the process of adjusting to our painful loss and so allow healing to take place. It is through our emotions that we evolve, change and mature.
Emotions are fluid, moving energies that encourage us to be transformed – e-motion = energy in motion. When we express our emotions naturally, we continue to grow, expand and develop into more of our own inner potential. By staying in touch with our true selves, we become balanced and healthy individuals with the ability to function and cope with the demands that life places upon us.
Not all emotional experiences are pleasant. Some people feel very uncomfortable with the torrent of emotion that flows through them, preferring instead to take solace in the ‘safety’ of logic and reason. But suppressing or denying our feelings prevents change; we remain ‘stuck’ and rigid. Unexpressed emotions never disappear of their own accord. We may try to put them behind us, but eventually this will only lead to more problems. Repressed emotions often express themselves physically. Many illnesses have an emotional component that has become locked within the body. Physical pain can be just another form of emotional expression that we are not acknowledging.
In our attempts to escape emotional pain, we shut out the feelings that make living such a wonderful experience – the ability to love and feel loved, spontaneity and creativity suffer as a consequence. We lose the opportunity to know ourselves and discover the unique qualities that make us who we are, giving way to a dry and monotonous existence that lacks any meaning.
Sometimes we feel emotions that are scary and overwhelming. When this happens we try anything we can to avoid facing them. Once an emotion becomes stuck, it ceases to hold any purpose other than to keep a person frozen in time. At worst this can be totally devastating, especially after an intense trauma, and the person becomes trapped within the experience, unable to move forward.
Many of us do not have to contend with this level of emotional distress, but at some time in our lives most of us will come across an emotional stumbling block that we find difficult to overcome. Perhaps we are held back by our own fear, consumed with anger or locked into resentment and blame, or plagued with feelings of low self-esteem, intense grief or a sense of guilt. None of us are immune to any of these feelings.
It is these emotions that The Emotional Freedom Technique addresses. The purpose of this book is to introduce you to a technique that will enhance your life. We invite you to discover for yourself the versatility and freedom that EFT can offer you.
Introduction
There is a subtle transformation occurring within the field of medicine and emotional healing. Alternative therapies and the theories that support them are attracting widespread interest and research as public demand increases. This has led to the introduction of new and exciting methods that complement the current models of healing. Alternative approaches are gathering momentum. A new awareness is growing that aspires to a more natural and non-invasive approach to healing the body and the mind.
Medical science has made enormous progress in the treatment of disease and life threatening illness. Yet, for all the technology and scientific research, it lacks a basic understanding of the true essence of an individual as a whole. How our thoughts, feelings, beliefs and attitudes influence our health has been largely ignored. However, within a holistic framework, the relationship between the mind, body and spirit is seen as fundamental in the role of producing health.
Many people are now familiar with the concept that the body can be healed through the mind, yet few people realize that you can also heal the mind through the body. At the cutting edge of this new paradigm is a technique known as The Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) – a form of Energy Psychology that shares the same principles as the ancient art of acupuncture, which recognizes the existence of an inherent energy factor within all of us that is responsible for our overall health. This is the electrical/energetic blueprint of the body known as the meridian system.
The meridians are energetic pathways within the body that relay information to the entire system, as well as channelling vital energy to the organs and tissues of the physical body. It has been acknowledged that blockages within the meridian system can cause internal disruption and eventually lead to the onset of illness and disease.
Perhaps more subtle and less known is that the energy within each meridian also registers emotions, feelings and sensations. Every time we experience an emotion the body’s energy system is influenced to a certain degree. The meridian system and our psychology are intricately linked. Acknowledging this, EFT has been designed to directly interact with the energy system, rebalancing and stabilizing the disruption that occurs when a distressing emotion is experienced. This enables our energies to flow freely again, leaving us relaxed and at peace.
An EFT session involves gently tapping a sequence of meridian points on the body, with the fingertips. This simple yet powerful technique re-balances the energies of the body, releasing unwanted emotions, allowing an inner sense of calm to return. Perhaps one of the most miraculous effects of this treatment is the speed with which emotional distress can be resolved – sometimes in little more than minutes – creating freedom from emotional problems or issues that may have troubled you for years. In itself, EFT appears to hold the answer to many modern day emotional difficulties such as stress, phobias, insecurities, and depression.
To some extent each and every one of us is held back by our emotional responses, either through an inability to express our true feelings, or through emotional reactions we have little control over. Attaining freedom from unwanted emotions is the desire of all of us. To be able to quickly release fears, worries and negative emotions is an incredible ability.
EFT can be applied in any circumstance regardless of the emotion or situation. This is because we all have ‘feelings’ or reactions to every problem that affects us, regardless of whether it is a work-related problem, financial worries, an issue of self-esteem or the frustrations of dealing with a difficult teenager. EFT can address all situations that provoke an emotional reaction or contain an emotional component. In fact, EFT can be used to treat problems from the past as well as the present and future.
Past events, such as severe shocks or intense feelings of grief that still have an influence upon us, can be released. Future events that provoke anxious anticipation – job interviews or plane journeys, for example – can be resolved. Many people have also gained relief and experienced dramatic changes when applying EFT to physical ailments such as jet lag, tension, addictive cravings, as well as a wide range of physical disorders.
Part I of Emotional Healing in Minutes looks at the historical development of the Emotional Freedom Technique, and the theory behind it, discovering the wide range of applications that EFT can offer.
Part II will guide you step-by-step through the technique itself, enabling you to use it as a self-help approach to resolving many of the emotional and physical problems you may encounter in life.
Part III contains strategies to deal with a host of specific problems, from Phobias, Beliefs and Addictions, Physical complaints and Weight Loss, to issues connected with Relationships. Often people will wish to visit an EFT practitioner.
Finally, Part IV gives you the information you need to find the right practitioner and what to expect when you get there. Also contained in this section are invaluable trouble-shooting tips for those learning to use the technique.
The current applications of EFT have barely scratched the surface of future possibilities. It is a simple, safe and extremely powerful technique that enables every individual to access his or her own inner healing ability. Adults and children alike can benefit. EFT can be applied via a therapist (when dealing with deep trauma) or used for personal self-help. It is very easy to learn and, once grasped, it should take no more than a few minutes to carry out, wherever you are, offering you complete freedom at your fingertips. It really is a remarkable self-help approach that offers an entirely new way in which to resolve emotional distress and attain rapid relief from all manner of psychological limitations. We wish you every success and happiness.
Chapter 1
The Story of EFT
There are many valuable therapeutic approaches being re-discovered today that all have one thing in common, namely recognition of an energetic component responsible for optimum health and well-being. Energy therapies are on the increase, offering new and alternative ways in which to achieve emotional harmony and physical health. The diverse range of energy therapies currently available includes:
Acupressure
Acupuncture
Cranio-sacral Therapy
Flower Essences
Homeopathy
Kinesiology
Metamorphic Technique
Reflexology
Reiki (and other forms of hands-on healing)
Shiatsu
Tai Chi
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Yoga
One of the main qualities that energy therapies possess is the ability to address the psychological as well as the physical aspects of a person, enabling positive changes within the thoughts, attitudes and feelings of an individual. For this reason energy therapies can achieve much more than just symptom management.
Although each particular system has its own characteristics, there are common threads that link each and every one. Together, they acknowledge that the energies of the body are vital to attaining health and well-being. The treatment is focused at the energetic level and by releasing disturbances within the energy system, physical and emotional imbalances can be corrected.
If we maintain a healthy and harmonious energy system, physical health and emotional well-being are easily achieved. When out of balance, disorder and disruption are likely to occur. EFT has drawn upon the knowledge of the body’s energy system and taken it one step further, by devising a way to intervene directly with the disruption caused by distressing thoughts and feelings. EFT focuses directly on our negative responses and works quickly to neutralize the discomfort, bringing rapid relief.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF EFT
EFT was developed by American engineer Gary Craig. He had a life-long interest in helping other people overcome their emotional limitations and devoted much of his time to investigating various psychological treatments of one form or another. For many years he worked with Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), until he discovered a revolutionary technique developed by clinical psychologist Dr Roger Callahan Ph.D.
Roger Callahan had devised a complete system of psychological healing, based on the meridians, known as Thought Field Therapy (TFT). It was a completely natural and non-invasive technique which has the capacity to eliminate negative emotions, beliefs and traumatic memories rapidly and often permanently. The inspiration for his method came from Acupuncture combined with the modern day practice of Kinesiology.
In his capacity as a clinical psychologist, Callahan had been treating a client, Mary, for over a year and a half. The following story describes how Callahan happened on TFT.
mary’s story – phobia of water For as long as Mary could remember she had suffered from an intense phobia of water. This included rain, puddles and even seeing water on television! She could only tolerate bathing in a few centimetres of water and could not leave her house if it was raining. Large bodies of water such as the sea terrified her. Since childhood, Mary had also experienced horrendous nightmares about water and her life was a misery. No one within her family knew how this phobia had developed or if there had been any form of trigger.
In an attempt to alleviate her suffering, Roger Callahan tried every form of conventional psychotherapy known to him, including desensitization and hypnotherapy. Marginal progress had been made and she could now sit by his swimming pool during their sessions, as long as she didn’t look at the water.
One particular afternoon she described ‘an awful feeling in her stomach’ which occurred whenever she even thought about water. Desperate to help, and feeling that he had nothing to lose, he suggested that she tapped under her eye. Callahan knew that according to the meridian map of the body, the stomach meridian began just below the eye. No one could have predicted what happened next. Not only did Mary lose the awful feeling in her stomach, but also her fear of water completely vanished and within an instant her life-long phobia had disappeared. Mary immediately rushed over to the swimming pool and started splashing her face with water. Callahan was startled as he watched Mary move towards the deep end of the swimming pool. Anxious, because he knew she could not swim, he shouted to her to be careful. Mary, filled with delight, replied that although her fear had miraculously vanished she had not lost her reason; she knew she could not swim. Mary’s phobia and nightmares have never returned.
Callahan went on to develop his discovery and nearly two decades later the method has been refined to incorporate tapping points on the body relating to all the major meridians, thus enabling all manner of psychological problems and limitations to be addressed. He established certain ‘tapping’ points that related to specific problems and discovered precise sequences that needed to be performed.
Callahan identified precise tapping combinations for a wide range of problems, including such conditions as anxiety, addictions and phobias. He also created a system of diagnosis that indicated which particular meridians needed to be addressed within each individual and the correct order in which they needed to be treated. Callahan went on to author several books including The Five Minute Phobia Cure, Why You Eat When You’re Not Hungry and The Rapid Treatment of Panic, Agoraphobia and Anxiety.
Gary Craig trained under Callahan and became proficient in using TFT. He went on to develop a system of his own – The Emotional Freedom Technique – which he felt simplified the process and made it easily accessible to everyone to use and apply. Knowing that each meridian was interlinked with the others in a continuing energy loop meant that by removing a blockage from one meridian, the entire circuit would automatically clear. He felt that there was no longer any need to locate which specific meridians were disrupted or their precise treatment order. Additionally, as there were only 14 points in total, Craig suggested that if they were all used, the same results could be produced as well as giving the entire energy system a complete overhaul at the same time. He produced a revised treatment plan that could be used for all problems – physical, emotional and psychological. It was easy to learn and perform and, in his opinion, it was just as effective.
Gary Craig teamed up with Adrienne Fowlie to develop EFT further and was invited to put his system to the test. The opportunity arose to work with traumatized Vietnam Veterans. This is what Gary has to say about that experience:
‘They had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which is among the most severe form of emotional disorders known. Every day these men relive the catastrophes of war … like being forced to shoot innocent civilians (including young children) … burying people in trenches … and watching their own dear friends die or be dismembered. The sounds of gunfire, bombs and screams ricochet in their heads day and night. Sometimes only drugs ease the ever-present aches of war.
‘They sweat. They cry. They have headaches and anxiety attacks. They are depressed and in pain. They have fears and phobias and are afraid to go to sleep at night because of their nightmares. Many have been in therapy for 20 years … with very little relief.
‘I still remember how thrilled I was when the Veterans Administration invited Adrienne and me to bring EFT to our soldiers. They gave us free rein to counsel with these men in any way we wanted. This would be the ultimate test regarding the power of EFT. If all it did was make a modest, but noticeable, difference in the lives of these severely disabled men, most people would have considered it successful. In fact, it did much more. One of the video cases was about Rich, who had been in therapy for 17 years for his PTSD. He had:
‘After using EFT with him, every trace of those problems vanished. Like most people, Rich had a hard time believing that those rather strange-seeming procedures would work. But he was willing to give them a try. We started with his height phobia and after about 15 minutes with EFT it had gone. He tested it by going several storeys up in a building and looking down over a fire escape. To his amazement, he had no phobic reaction whatsoever. We then applied EFT to several of his most intense war memories and neutralized all of them within an hour. He still remembers them, of course, but they no longer have any emotional charge. We taught the techniques to Rich so he could work on the rest of his war memories by himself. Within a few days they were all neutralized. They no longer bothered him. As a result, his insomnia went away. Two months later I spoke with Rich on the phone. He was still free of the problems. That’s real emotional freedom. It’s the end of years of torment. It’s like walking out of a prison. And I had the privilege of handing him the keys! This is the promise of EFT.’
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