About EFT

It is only natural to view new innovations with skepticism, particularly those that relate to our health and which promise rapid results. The Emotional Freedom Technique is based on sound scientific principles and the process launches off the EFT Discovery Statement which says...

The cause of all your negative emotions is a disruption in your body's energy system

Albert Einstein told us back in the 1920's that everything (including our bodies) is composed of energy and Eastern medical experts have know this for over 5,000 years. These ideas have been largely ignored by Western Healing Practices and that is why EFT often works "where nothing else will".

As the founder of the process, Gary Craig says on his emofree website, "it's not that EFT is so stunning, rather, it is because conventional healing methods have simply overlooked the obvious". So or though the emotional Freedom Techniques are an ultra-modern complementary therapy EFT still has its origins in ancient Chinese medicine.

This is why we say that the Emotional Freedom Techniques are an emotional version of acupuncture, but instead of using needles, we stimulate the well established energy meridian points on the energy body by tapping them with the fingertips. It is an incredibly gentle technique and you remain relaxed and fully clothed at all times.

Electrical messages are constantly sent through your body to keep it informed of what's going on. Without this energy flow you would not be able to see, hear, taste, smell or touch. It has been proven that disruptions or blockages in these electrical pathways can cause limiting thoughts and emotions and lead to ill-health.

For those of you who have spent weeks, months, or even years trying various drugs, counselling and alternative therapies in a desperate search for relief from your emotional problems, EFT may come as a welcome change.

Tapping often gets results "when nothing else works". Psychologists, therapists and medical doctors from all over the world have found EFT to be rapid and profoundly powerful. Deepak Chopra, MD has been quoted in saying "EFT offers great healing benefits." EFT Tapping helps to create an environment that encourages positive results for all kinds of emotional problems.

True mastery of this new tapping technique comes with experience and persistence and yes you may get a one minute wonder when sharing this amazing process with others but getting great results most of the time needs a little more dedication and application.

There are two parts to the set-up.
Repeat a set-up statement three times while:
Continuously rubbing the sore spot or tapping the karate chop point.

To find the sore spot point, place two fingertips in the hollow of your neck. Then go straight down the chest about 5 inches, then over to either side about an inch. This spot may be a little sore. If it is really sore, rub the other side of the chest or tap the karate chop point.

THE KARATE CHOP

The karate chop point (small intestine) is the fleshy part of the hand below the outside of the little finger, the area that is contacted when you make a karate chop motion on the side of a table.

Tap on that spot with two fingers of your dominant hand, while repeating the set-up statement three times. Roger Callahan was the first to discover what is now called psychological reversal (PR), and that by either tapping the karate chop point or rubbing the sore spot whilst saying the set-up statement you can disperse this problem.

To start the process we have what we call the set-up statement and it follows the format of acknowledging that you have a problem and then affirming self acceptance. The default set-up statement is formatted like this:

"Even though I have this anger, I deeply and completely love and accept myself."

"Even though I have this sadness, I deeply and completely love and accept myself."

"Even though I have this grief, I deeply and completely love and accept myself."

"Even though I have this pain, I deeply and completely love and accept myself."

It doesn't matter whether you believe the affirmation or not, just say it. It is more effective if you emphasize the words "deeply and completely love."

Before you begin tapping for any subject or problem, take the time to take a SUDS rating and make a mental note of it. Then, when you have completed an EFT sequence, ask the question again to find how much it has changed. It is a good way to be able to assess how well the treatment has worked and if you need to repeat the treatment.

Sometimes, the problem can go from as high as 10 to as low as zero in a single treatment. More often though, you start with eight or nine, and after a round of tapping, the severity is reduced to a four or a five. This means that the treatment is beginning to work but there is more to be done.

Perform the tapping sequence by tapping with the index and middle fingers of your dominant hand about five or seven times on each of the following points listed (see chart on page 14) while repeating a reminder phrase such as "this anger" and focusing on the problem. The best reminder phrase is a short description about the emotion or problem named in the set-up statement. We create the set-up statement by using the words that make us feel uncomfortable. What I mean by this is that if you are talking about a time when you were attacked in some way, the word you would use may be the word "attacked" or you may even say "hurt feeling" etc. So you would have a set-up statement that looks like this:

"Even though I was hurt when I was four, I deeply and completely love and accept myself".

The PR point is located in the middle of the fleshy part on the outside of the hand between the top of the wrist bone and the base of the baby finger. It is also called the karate chop point and you tap on this spot or rub the sore spot for psychological reversal (PR).

Remember to start tapping the karate chop or rub the sore spot as you say the setup statement that you have created, something like:

"Even though I have this hurt feeling, I deeply and completely love and accept myself"

and then shorten it to a reminder phrase such as "this hurt feeling", as you tap the rest of the points on the head, body and fingers.

1. At the beginning of the eyebrow, just above and to one side of the nose
2. On the bone bordering the outside corner of the eye
3. On the bone under an eye about one inch below your pupil
4. On the small area between the bottom of your nose and the top of your upper lip
5. Midway between the point of your chin and the bottom of your lower lip
6. The junction where the sternum (breastbone), collarbone and first rib meet. To locate it, first place your forefinger on the U-shaped notch at the top of the breastbone (about where a man would knot his tie). From the bottom of the U, move your forefinger down towards the navel one inch and then go to the left (or right) one inch.
7. On the side of the body, at a point even with the nipple (for men) or in the middle of the bra strap (for women). It is about four inches below the armpit.
8. On the right hand side of the nail as it joins the skin on your thumb, index, middle and lastly little finger.
9. On the back of either hand half an inch behind the midpoint between the knuckles at the base of the ring finger and the little finger. If you draw an imaginary line between the knuckles at the base of the ring finger and little finger and consider that line to be the base of an equilateral triangle whose other sides converge to a point (apex) in the direction of the wrist, then the point would be located at the apex of the triangle.

The liver point is just under the breast and is not generally used due to social awkwardness. As we tap we are tapping with two fingers: the index and middle fingers. The index finger is on the large intestine meridian, when blocked this may lead to someone dwelling on the past or having guilt feelings. The middle finger is on the circulation/sex meridian, and is connected with low self esteem, jealousy, regret, sexual problems and unhappiness.

You can tap on points on either side of the body. You can even change sides during the sequence. Tap just enough to stimulate the energy, but not hard enough to hurt yourself. Once a full round of EFT is complete, take a deep breath and focus on the emotion or physical problem you are addressing.

The type of EFT process that we use here is the original or traditional way of doing EFT. You will find that, as you progress, some aspects may be discarded to aid efficiency. So, this is not the only way to do it, but one way to do it. I have described the traditional EFT so that you have an in-depth knowledge. In our level three training we use a short-cut version which reduces the number of tapping points and particularly omits the nine gamut process. This makes the method more efficient and short cuts the process, but I would like to encourage you to learn the long form of EFT as this can be used to fall back on when and if the method seems to falter.

The gamut point is used in the middle of two sets of tapping; if you think of a sandwich, the top part of the bread would be the first part of the tapping, the filling would be the gamut procedure, and then another round of tapping without the set-up (but just starting with the eyebrow again and working your way down the points on the fingers) would make the other slice of bread.

So we put the gamut or the meat into the sandwich between two rounds of tapping. The gamut point is on the back of the hand (see 9 above): you can find it by making a fist and drawing a triangle back from the knuckles at the base of the baby finger and ring finger.

The depression in the middle of this triangle is known as the gamut point. The 9 gamut point covers the start of the thyroid triple warmer meridian. The procedure is a brain-balancing exercise that involves eye movements, humming and counting. Always follow the 9 gamut with another round of tapping as this adds efficiency to EFT and hastens progress. As a rule you use the 9 gamut once only in the process, so in other words, as you do the next lot of tapping you are taking out the meat from the sandwich, as two lots of tapping back to back should be enough to do the job. However, if you do not get relief, then you may try placing the 9 gamut back into the tapping.

This describes how to do the 9 gamut procedure. Keep your mind tuned in to the problem, tap on the gamut point continuously, and look straight ahead and then:

1. Close eyes
2. Open eyes
3. Look down to the floor to the right keeping head steady
4. Look down to the floor to the left keeping head steady
5. Roll you eyes around in a circle
6. Roll eyes in the opposite direction
7. Hum five seconds of a song such as happy birthday
8. Count from one to five
9. Hum five seconds of a song again

After you have done the "sandwich" sequence, rate the intensity of the original problem or issue on the scale of zero to 10. Compare this number with the original rating before you began tapping. You would expect to find either complete relief, partial relief or no relief.

If you have complete relief, you have experienced, in a few moments, the power of EFT! On the conservative side, a few more rounds of tapping may help the effectiveness of the process and ensure that the original problem won't return. In the subsequent rounds, it is important to adjust the set-up statement and the reminder phrase to address the rest of the emotion or feeling. Use wording similar to:

"Even though I still have some of this problem, I deeply and completely love and accept myself" during the set-up statement.

Then repeat:
"This remaining problem," during the tapping sequence.

Do as many rounds of EFT as necessary until the intensity of your problem is at a zero. If you are working on others and you get down to a two or a one, you can finish neatly the process by tapping the gamut point and having them watch your index finger as you point it to the floor in front of them, and slowly raise it to the ceiling as they tap and watch the finger.

This normally clears out the remainder of the issue. You may also try this for yourself by raising your eyes from the floor to the ceiling in about six seconds, whilst tapping the gamut point. If you get down to a zero, check this out by asking them how much out of ten they believe the statement 10 being I do and one being I'm not sure. If you experience no relief after a few rounds of tapping, you may not be doing it correctly.

The basic recipe of EFT is a powerful device, about 80% effective, but a higher success rate is possible when you know how to handle impediments. When EFT doesn't work, it is usually not that it isn't working; rather the real reason for not seeing results is because EFT has not been correctly applied.