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Thursday 19 September 2013

What Is The Best Way To Learn EFT?

By Marie M. Clarke


(EFT) Emotional Freedom Technique is an alternative healing method invented by Gary Craig in the 1990s. Based on the teachings of his one time mentor Roger Callahan, it has been hailed as miraculous by many holistic healers and doctors, equally disparaged by critics who call it pseudo science, and in spite of, or perhaps because of the controversy is wildly popular. It is available for purchase on DVD on the internet, is taught in workshops in conjunction with the DVD and has been glowingly endorsed by celebrities such as Deepak Chopra. The basic theory of EFT is simple, heal the mind and good health will follow. EFT is The Power of Positive Thinking taken to a whole new post modernist level.

Started by Gary Craig in the nineteen nineties as a revision of Roger Callahan's (TFT) Thought Field Therapy, EFT is based on the belief that disturbances in the body's energy field cause negative emotions and that by utilizing its techniques ailments ranging from cancer to the common cold can be cured. In its original incarnation as TFT it utilized meridians, i.e. tapping points on the body. The ailing person was supposed to think of a negative emotion while tapping in a specific sequence on a specified series of points or meridians (which correspond to the meridians used in Chinese medicine) thus restoring balance to the body's energy field. Gary Craig discovered that the sequence of tapping points was irrelevant so he simplified Callahan's procedure while maintaining its core belief in meridians and EFT was born.

As you are tapping, you say a reminder phrase that helps you to stay focused on the specific issue or feeling that you are looking to treat. The default phrase is "Even though I have this ...... (name the problem), I completely love and accept myself". Advanced EFT practitioners will vary this phrasing considerably to approach problems in a variety of ways.

For beginners of EFT, sometime finding the right words is a stumbling block to getting started. However, sometimes you can't put words around the feeling. For example, you come home from a long day at work and just feel tired and run down. In this case, do a couple of rounds of tapping (3-5 rounds, or more) tapping 5-7 times on each tapping point without saying any words and just allow your system to unload whatever disruptions are there. I call this Anonymous Tapping.

I also find that Anonymous Tapping is very beneficial just before going to bed. Again, it helps release all the tension built up over the day and improve the quality of your sleep.Remember, saying something specific to focus on an an issue will always be more effective. Only use anonymous tapping to settle yourself down in general.Most people in the West think of Emotional Freedom Technique as a disciplined practice of tapping acupuncture points and set-up phrases intermixed with western energy psychology and are not aware of its deeper Classical Chinese medical aspects which this article will hopefully elaborate.

Gary Craig himself has said placebo controlled studies of EFT are unreliable if not impossible because energy meridians are influenced and manipulated by tapping anywhere on the body. Thus EFT is really unable to be tested through scientific means and this has caused its opponents to label it as pseudo science. Its reliance on anecdotal evidence and aggressive promotion on the internet have also damaged its plausibility. It has been speculated in an article of the Guardian that perhaps the act of rhythmically tapping the body while in distress simply serves as a distraction from the ailment, making it seem as if EFT is effective.

According to Huang Di Neijing, "In the human body located on each channel are a set of points identified with each of the five elements. On the yang channels they are represented by jing/well-metal, rong/spring-water, shu/stream-wood, jing/river-fire, and he/sea-earth. On the yin channels they are represented by jing/well-wood, rong/spring-fire, shu/stream-earth, jing/river-metal, and he/sea-water. By acupuncturing the corresponding elemental point of the organ system that is the most susceptible, that organ system will become balanced and thus avert any potential disorder."

Again, if you are not able to get it to work for you, you will come unstuck and your DVDs will get put back on the shelf. Lastly, if you wished to go on and take a more advanced level of EFT training, the pre-requisite of formal workshop training means DVD training will not be sufficient and you will need to attend an EFT course in person anyway.

Tapping of the acupuncture points with intention, and loving and accepting oneself work in EFT therapy because according to the three theories of Classical Chinese Medicine, "Qi follows intention," "the heart is the supreme master of the organs and is the home of shen, the spirit. If the master is brilliant, his subjects are peaceful. If the master is disturbed, his twelve officials [the body's organ systems] are endangered," and "when the Qi obstruction or stagnation in the energy meridians is normalized through acupuncture," balancing of yin and yang, and emotional and physical healing naturally take place.

The reason why EFT therapy works:By reinforcing the Qi, opening one's heart to shen's unconditional love, and clearing the Qi stagnation or obstruction through acupuncture (acupressure) along the 3 extra meridians (Du Mu, Ren Mu and Chong Mai) and the yin and yang meridians of the heart, pericardium, triple warmer, spleen, stomach, small intestine, lung, large intestine, bladder, kidney, gall bladder and liver, the charge or intensity behind unwanted negative emotions such as stress, anxiety, guilt, fear, pain, anger, sadness, trauma, etc. can be intentionally neutralized during EFT therapy. Furthermore, the leakage of the Three Treasures - Jing (essence), Qi (vitality), and Shen (Spirit) - due to negative emotions is plugged restoring the normal functions of the five major organs.




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