In short, EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) is a way of quickly & simply healing yourself. Perhaps surprisingly, it can also be used to change habits, beliefs & behaviours.

Where did it come from?
EFT was discovered by an engineer called Gary Craig, who had been working with something called TFT (Thought Field Therapy). TFT is quite fiddly & specific, & Gary's big breakthrough was to notice that you could pretty much do one simple pattern of tapping around the body for any issue you had. It was crude, but much simpler than TFT & just as (if not more) effective.

How do you do it?
Simply focus on your issue - using a simple, summary phrase helps. Tap (just like tapping a keyboard) around the upper body with a couple of fingers, 5-10 times on each meridian point. Do a few loops and see how you feel.

Here, here's my photogenic assistant to demonstrate:

See? How easy is that? It's a doddle. That's how easy. It's basically the most idiot proof healing technique I've ever found (& I've checked a LOT of them).

If you'd like a picture of the points to tap on, I have one here. Don't panic if the points I'm suggesting are a little different from those suggested in other EFT resources. The only difference is that I'm tapping on ALL the suggested points, & both sides of the body at once. It's not actually any different, just more thorough & faster. Gary initially discovered EFT more than 20 years ago, & a lot of improvements have been found since then.

So how does it work?
There's a couple of basic things that combine to explain why EFT works.

The first is the points that you tap. Meridian points are used in acupuncture also - so EFT is very similar to acupuncture, but without needles. Meridian points also happen to be points of lower electrical resistance on the surface of the skin.

The key here is that a big part of how our systems (emotional + physical + spiritual/energetic) work is based on energy, electricity. This is why we have EKG (which measures electricity in the heart), EEG (for the brain) & so on. Our entire nervous system is electrochemical. So, much as we have pathways for blood (veins, arteries), lymph (the lymphatic system), control & feedback (the nervous system), we also have energetic pathways. These aren't mapped so closely to the physical (although some large lymph centres are also meridians), but they're definitely there, & their behaviour intersects the emotional & physical aspects of our overall systems.

Meridian points then, are merely the joins between those energetic pipes. Tapping the meridians is just like whacking a plumbing joint with a wrench. It shakes loose any blockages inside, then everything flows normally again, allowing you to naturally heal.

The second point is - why do these energetic blockages occur? Well, they occur as the result of emotional traumas.

So, by focusing on (eg by talking, or even just thinking about) the trauma that caused the blockage, & tapping all the points in turn, we shake the blockage loose & our energy starts flowing again. As the energy flows, so we heal the trauma - plus, as a benefit, any related side effects. It's very common that physical ailments have an emotional cause.

What is it good for?
Well the 'E' bit of EFT is a big give away. Tapping can heal anything that has a strong emotional reaction in you, for a start.

So, that includes any negative event in your past. Anything that bothers you right now. Anything you're worried or fearful about in the future.

It can also be used to change habits or behaviours. It's also great for changing negative or limiting beliefs - just start with "Even though I believe [...] I love & accept myself", then on each point "I believe [...]."

Anytime you get upset by something, a few quick rounds of tapping will take the sting right out of it, if not heal it completely.

Personally, I've used it, or helped it work on: PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) from being in a war zone (& having to kill children), PTSD from surviving a mass murder (the largest in Australian history), anorexia, someone being repeatedly raped by her brothers, as well as a host of much more mundane things (eg, I got my first black belt in Aikido by methodically tapping out all my bad Aikido habits/behaviours). All of these worked very quickly (less than half an hour, often only minutes). Of course, that doesn't mean there aren't things to clean up after (eg body image issues, once the anorexia was gone), but each of these disappears similarly quickly. Yes, EFT is very powerful.

How will I know if it's helping?
A good way is to measure before you start, from 0-10, how much something bothers you. Then you can reassess again after a few rounds & see the progress.

Some times while tapping you'll yawn deeply, burp, get bad breath (as toxins leave) or even cry. This is all normal.

Often the issue will just start to seem really ridiculous, like "How could I EVER have been worried about that?!?" Umm, yeah, that's coz you healed it.

Some times things will flare up a little while you're tapping, as you reach below the level of consciousness & pull up things that your ego had been protecting you from. This is all normal too. Whatever happens, just keep tapping. Typically these emotions fade away as quickly as they came up & you'll be feeling relief in no time.

Some key tips

• Be very specific (not just "my life sucks")
• Drink water (your system needs it to shove energy around)
• Be persistent (sometimes things take a bit of effort to clear. It's still working, don't give up!)
• Try it on everything

While EFT still works if you're not specific, it can be hard to see progress. It's like taking an inch off the top every tree in the forest, vs chopping down a single tree. So, being specific just helps you focus right in on one issue, & see that it's working.

Drinking water is just super useful any time you're doing any energy work. Plus, you know, every organ in your body needs it, so how could this be a bad thing?

Persistence is important for several reasons. Firstly, when you start, it's often hard to think clearly on any subject. Our minds jump around all over the place. So you'll start on one subject, then veer off here there & everywhere. Now, the tapping will still be helping, but it'll be trying to help 10 subjects at once. Persistence will help clear out that noise too.

The other issue with persistence is this. A lot of times there can be several strong emotions attached to a specific event, so it's helpful to tap out each of those emotions in turn. If you don't, you'll need to perservere to get through them all. There can also be several similar events with similar traumas (eg, every time you were rejected by a girl). Tapping out each event in turn helps you see progress ("Ok, don't care about that girl anymore, on to the next!"). The good news is, you typically only need to tap a few similar events before all of them disappear.

EFT works on a surprising range of things. It only takes a minute or two to apply, so there's nothing lost by trying it on everything.

Where to from here?
As you may be gathering, there can be a bit of an art to applying EFT successfully. It's estimated though that 60-80% of things can be easily dealt with by a beginner (& usually in only a few minutes), so go right ahead and give it a shot.

I've got a (totally free) website up with a ton of tips & suggestions at AnyFutureYouWant.com, along with a quick start guide with a super fast intro & diagram.

The official EFT site is up at emofree.com. Here you can search for specific problems you may be having, and see how different therapists have applied EFT to your case. It contains a wealth of information (in fact, it can be quite daunting just how much is there).

Tapping.com is also a great site with a ton of information, videos, ebooks, articles & forums with lots of helpful people.

I'll also be talking more about applying EFT to specific issues right here on LovingRaw in the future, so stayed tuned.

In Love

Si Dawson

sidawson.org
@sidawson