Tap4Health EFT Practice

When we stumble across the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) for the first time it seems to explode into our world and we apply it with gusto to every issue we have and evangelistically promote it to everyone we know. Yet it can be easy to dismiss EFT as just another new age fad that has come and will go. Yet the origins of EFT date back to the early 1970s giving it a strong foundation of nearly 40 years!

Dr. Patricia Carrington recently outlined the foundations of EFT in her Meridian Tapping Times newsletter:

“The history of meridian tapping began with Dr. George Goodheart, a leading chiropractor who found he could use acupuncture points beneficially for physical conditions by just “tapping” on them (no needles were needed!)

An Australian psychiatrist, John Diamond, M.D., then took this discovery a step further. He began using verbal affirmations as the patient was stimulating the acupuncture points. This was a major step forward as it introduced a psychological tool into the process. But still the treatment method lacked a cohesive “engine” to drive it forward with real effectiveness. That engine was supplied by Dr. Roger Callahan, an American psychologist specializing in anxiety disorders.

Dr. Callahan’s contribution was immense and has been well documented. Through his interest in acupuncture and his awareness of the use of the value of tapping on acupoints, he made a key discovery upon which all later meridian tapping methods are based. Callahan found that if a person is focusing on a specific fear at the time they tap, that fear can be removed, often permanently. He developed his discovery into a complete system and concluded that there was a correct tapping sequence for every emotional issue, and that this could be determined for each individual through the use of muscle testing. He called these tapping sequences “algorithms” and his treatment later became known as Thought Field Therapy, or TFT.

Dr. Callahan’s work, although brilliant and groundbreaking, was however quite complex and difficult to master because different algorithms were required for each one of the numerous disorders studied.

The next step was the creation of simplified versions of Callahan’s technique. These were known as “single algorithm techniques” (i.e. they did not require diagnosis or muscle testing). My own early method, Acutap, was one of the very first single algorithm methods, predating EFT by about seven years and there may have been others who devised similar adaptations of Callahan’s method.

Then, in the 1990’s, quite independently arrived at and without his knowledge of any former single-algorithm method, one of Roger Callahan’s star pupils, Gary Craig, unveiled a major development of the meridian tapping techniques which he called Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT). Today his single algorithm method, EFT, leads the world in the development and teaching of the meridian tapping approach to healing.

It is interesting to note that the meridian tapping techniques are now moving beyond EFT as highly skilled experts create tapping approaches that are beginning to differ from Official EFT in many respects. This is an exciting development that promises to grow in a spirit of friendly cooperation between all these methods, as they become better known throughout the world.”

So EFT has evolved by standing on the shoulders of giants – and, continues to evolve. Gary Craig always says that, “we are on the ground floor of the healing high rise” so it’s an exciting time to be involved in the field.

What about you? Even if you’re not a practitioner, have you come up with some new approaches, new shortcuts, or new ways of using EFT on yourself? Let me know in the comments.

One of the most popular articles I have written is “What’s wrong with you?” While many of us have asked that question of ourselves and have been asked it by others, how many of us focus on what works for us?

What works for you is a solutions-focused question that moves you into a different way of thinking. It helps you focus on and notice what your own unique solutions are. Your own unique solutions may not be the same as everyone else’s and they may not be same as touted by such-and-such an expert. Figuring out what works for you requires you to become an expert on your own life. And this requires paying attention.

For example, there are thousands of diets out there each claiming that they will produce miraculous results. Yet most of these diets work well for a percentage of people but not everyone. That’s because we each have a unique metabolic type that determines the balance of carbohydrates and proteins that we need to eat, how fast our bodies metabolise sugar, and how often we need to eat. You metabolic type also determines the type of exercise and what time of day to exercise will work best for you.

If you pay attention to how you feel 1 hour after a meal (e.g. are you alert or unfocused, are you hungry again or not, are you emotionally stable or experiencing mood swings) and you experiment with different combinations of foods, size of portions, time between feeds, then over time you can figure out the way to eat and what to eat that best suits you.

This does require attention and careful observation which sometimes seems too much trouble so we search for a quick answer from the latest magazine diet, book, TV expert, or Google.

But this post is not just about your diet.

What about what works for you in terms of being creative or getting your best work done? Are you most creative in the mornings or the evenings? Again this requires attention and experimentation. I know from experience that I’m much better at writing things in the morning, like I’m doing right now, than later in the afternoon or at night. After lunch, I know that I’m better at tasks that don’t require creativity or focus and concentration. Are there some times of day which suit you better for writing and others that suit you for making phone calls?

What about relationships? You know there are ways to broach subjects with those you care about that can lead to useful discussions and there are ways to pick a fight. Become conscious of what happens when you say things in a certain way, with a certain tone of voice, using certain words. Is this being manipulative? That depends on the intention with which you enter into the conversation. If you intention is to ‘get your own way’ then yes it is manipulative (think children) but if you intention is to enjoy the relationship in the best way possible then it is more about love.

What stops us from paying attention?

Western lifestyles, in general, are full of noise and distractions. From the moment we wake up in the morning to the time we close our eyes at night we are immersed in a sea of noise and distraction. The radio wakes us up, the TV is on in the background, the kids are screaming the back yard, the radio is on the car going to work, there are phones calls and emails to answer, meals to cook, errands and shopping to be done, etc (feel exhausted, yet? Sorry.) Tibetan Buddhism actual calls this “Western busyness”.

So how can we use EFT to help increase our ability to pay attention within the noisiness of everyday life?

Identify an area of your life that you want to focus and pay attention to. Maybe it’s your eating habits, your creativity, or your relationship with someone. Most likely it is something that is weaved throughout your day.

When you have identified a specific area, use this EFT tapping guide and tap along as follows:

Continue for another round.

After tapping the above sequence, you may have come up with your own ideas that will help you notice what works. It could be things like keeping a diary, making notes in your mobile phone or sending yourself emails. Let me know how paying attention has helped you in the comments.

In a lot of online communities I use the moniker “the tapping man” as all one word, “thetappingman”. Recently, I searched the internet for “Melbourne Tapping Man” and came across a Melbourne icon.

Melbourne's Original Tapping Man

This original Melbourne Tapping Man greeted children and shoppers from the 1930’s to the 1970’s at L.P. Alexander’s on busy Swanston Street (where I have run my practice for the last 3 years!). He disappeared for a while and was found years later very dirty and broken. Mr. J. B. Reid, then Chairman of James Hardie Industries, cared for, restored, and clothed the Tapping Man and donated him to the National Trust of Australia.

Now days, the Tapping Man resides in the window of Haigh’s Chocolates in the Block Arcade and continues to greet Melburnians and tourists alike.

The original EFT as taught in Gary Craig’s manual and on the DVDs shows tapping only with one hand, I tap with two hands when applying EFT for the following reasons:

• Your energy pathways (meridians) run on both sides of the body so why not top on both.
• Your energy system is all about horizontal figure of eights that cross over from one side of the body to the other (or should if you’re healthy) so tapping with both hands and alternating with each hand at each set of points (left, right, left, right) helps the energy cross backwards and forwards.
• It’s good for helping both hemispheres of the brain connect up through the corpus callosum, improving coordination, and maybe why I don’t have to use the 9-Gamut procedure much.

I find that when I tap with both hands that I do a lot less rounds and instead spend more time at each set of points. I can usually reassess the intensity of a memory after one or two rounds as opposed to five or six rounds. Watch this video to have me guide you through the EFT Tapping Points. Give two-handed alternative sides tapping a try and let me know what’s different in the comments.

Many of us who know and use EFT have a desire to help others. But how do we balance this calling with our responsibilities and duties as adults? Here’s an extract from an email I received from a recent newsletter subscriber:

I have a really strong desire, calling if you wish, to help others and not in the ‘conventional’ sense – and I believe this is what has drawn me to EFT as well as many other alternative modalities. I feel constantly torn between wanting to make a difference and thinking I should get a ‘real’ job. I’m always battling against myself and my wish to move forward. I know I can make a difference I just have to convince myself I can do it!

I’m an unemployed, single parent – I feel very limited as to what I’m able to achieve with very limited income and feel discriminated against because of this – my choices and opportunities are thus very limited accordingly. I feel a burden on society and feel pressured by family and social security to just ‘get a job’ – so I’m torn between my ‘duty’ & ‘expectations’ and my soul’s desire.

Here was my response, “I can very much relate to what you are going through with the conflict of wanting to help people versus getting a ‘real job’. Regardless of appearances, for the last 3 years that since I started Tap4Health, I have been scratching, scraping, negotiating, and sometimes failing to make ends meet each month. This has put a horrendous stress on my mind and body. If it were not for energy techniques such as EFT I would have given up long ago. Even this week, I went for an interview for a full time IT contract so that I can have some consistent income and catch up on debts that are backing up. I’m not giving up on Tap4Health! No way! I’m finding a way to support myself financially and hence mentally, emotionally, and physically while I continue to build my practice. Yes I’ll have to do even more work in the short term but I know my purpose for working.

What I’m saying is that being self-employed and building a business is very hard. There is a reason that 95% of business fail within the first 2 years and 98% within 5 years. And here’s something that makes it even clearer: “It’s not how good you are at something (e.g. EFT); it’s how good you are at marketing what you do that determines your success.”

I know this may not be what you want to hear. There is a lot of stuff out there about “Do what you love, and the money will follow.” That has not been my experience. Nor the experience of the people I know who are very successful. I know of only handful of EFTers who make a living solely from EFT. One of them worked a full time job for the first 5 years of building his practice and then part time for another 2 years before finally going full time.

You might also think, “Well, Rod must still have some limiting beliefs about his income or he’s not doing that law of attraction thing right.” Maybe. The landlord, banks and credit card companies don’t care about those things and won’t wait while you sort them out. They just care about whether you pay your bills or not.

Having a ‘day job’ while you continue to build your EFT and business skills(!) is being a responsible adult (more on this in a minute). You can enjoy any job if you are doing it for a purpose. I don’t like the idea of doing the type of IT work I used to do but I know that I’m doing it to help me build my business even faster. By clearing debts and having the income to do more marketing means that I can build my practice even faster. Try to build the practice and live off the income at the same time is a really hard way to do it.

Further, on being a responsible adult who fulfils their duties and expectations, it’s worth using EFT to tap on the resistance to taking responsibility. Anything we had too much of as a child we tend to resist as an adult. If you took on or felt you had lots of responsibility as a child then you may resist being a responsible adult. Find some specific events from your childhood when you felt like you had to be responsible and tap around those events. Also, tap on the conflict you feel at getting a job versus doing your calling. Remember that you are doing your day job with a purpose to meet your needs and support yourself and your family while you build your practice. It’s great if you can get a job that will help you learn the business skills you need to be successful in your own business. Again, focus on working with a purpose.

The world needs people like you who have such an open heart and desire to help others. And, taking care of yourself is not being selfish! You cannot help others if you are not taking good care of yourself. We all have the capacity to give but if we ourselves are not taken care of then we have a very limited capacity to help others. The more we help ourselves the more we can help others. Would you rather write a cheque to your favourite charity for $10 or for $1,000? Only the person who has taken good care of themselves can do the later.

It will take hard work to move from where you are now to where you want to be. If that feels overwhelming or tiring then tap on that. Focus on making some small progress towards your dreams every day while taking care of yourself on every level and your life WILL TRANSFORM. It all takes time so take care of yourself as you continue on your journey.”

I’m curious about your experience. How do you react to the above? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

I like to introduce a guest article by Gene Monterastelli a Baltimore based EFT Practitioner who writes the EFT Q and A website which has nearly 100 answers to frequently asked and not so frequently asked questions about EFT.

Here, Gene answers the question about how to investigate why an 11 year old girl has developed a fear of going to school. The girl has previously been very happy at school, and has no reason to feel like this. She really wants to go but feels she can’t, and doesn’t know why? Even though this example is for a young girl, the questions that Gene suggested could be applied to any of us at any age.

Gene answers, “Obviously, with such a little amount of information, there is no real way to answer this question. There are a whole host of reasons that could be contributing to this fear. It could be associated with the classroom, something on the play ground, or something with the other students.

What the situation does do is give us a good backdrop to talk about how we approach an emotional response when we have no idea of where the emotions are coming from.

There are two basic tacks that we can take. I would recommend taking both of them at the same time. They are to deal with the emotions in the moment and to investigate to find the root of the emotions. By doing this we are able to help the fear in the short term and by trying to find the roots of the fear so there won’t be the same response in the future.

The Emotion Right Now
One of the blessings of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is the fact that we are able to use it right now for the emotions we are feeling in this moment. In this case I would recommend two things.

First, I would recommend spending some time before going to bed tapping on the fear about going to school the next day. If the fear is large enough it is not going to happen just as she is walking out the door for school, but more than likely is going to be present the night before. It is good to deal with this at bedtime because this fear is going to affect her quality of sleep.

Second, I would recommend spending some time tapping in the morning before heading out the door to school or even on the ride to school.

In both cases the tapping is very simple. I would have her explain to me how the fear feels, how her body feels, and what she is worried about. I wouldn’t use any complicated tapping phrases. I would have her tell me the story of what is going on in her body and her head while she is tapping.

Investigating the Roots
Now that we have gotten the fear in the moment under a little more control we can start to look around for what the root cause is. When working with a client I would use all the information about them and their history as a start. In this case I know nothing more than she it 11 years old. With that in mind I would start to investigate by asking questions around the common reasons an 11 year old wouldn’t want to go to school.

My questions would be something like this:

1) Why does she feel like she can’t go?
It sounds like the questions has been asked but it is a good place to start every time. Often people, not just kids, have a hard time admitting why they are afraid. By asking again they might give an answer they didn’t before.

2) What could go wrong if she does go to school?
When dealing with fear it is usually rooted in not wanting to experience a bad outcome. They might be able to name the outcome they fear and not associate that with the fear itself.

3) The feeling of not wanting to go, what does it remind her of?
This is a classic EFT investigation question. When you don’t know the root, see what it reminds you of. Lots of information can be found here.

4) If she could change one thing about school what would it be?
Sometime we don’t want to say what we fear, but we are willing to say what we would like to see different. Fear is often associated with weakness. We don’t like share why we are fearful. This question lets us answer without looking weak.

5) If she could go to a new school how would the new school be different from her old school?
This is very much like the last questions. By giving them a chance to say what they want, we are giving them an out of not having to say what they don’t want or fear.

6) If she could go to school tomorrow and know one person was not going to be there, who would she want that person to be?
No one likes to be a tattletale. Also for kids there might be fear of retaliation for turning a bully in. This way they don’t have to tell on someone else and still be able to state their needs.

7) When she is not at school, what does she think the other students say about her?
People, not just kids, can be ruthless. We don’t like to be place where we are being picked on, but again we don’t like to be tattletales. By asking the question in this fashion we are not asking her to tell on anyone. Instead, she is pretending what they might say. This is a safe way to share what she fears.

Obviously this is just a start, but I think it is a good start. It will give us more information to finding our way to the roots.

It is important to remember that with EFT we always have two plans of attack. We can deal with what we are feeling right now and we can deal with the roots of the emotions. If we can find our way in with both tacks, then we should use them. Just because we don’t know the root, doesn’t mean we are helpless. We can always go after what is going on right now until we get to the root of the issue.”

Getting to the core issues of an emotion is one of the key skills in developing the artistry of delivering EFT. Stay on the lookout for an upcoming product on getting to core issues around money.

Visit Gene’s EFT Q and A website for many more examples like this one.

This is a wonderfully heart warming video to start the New Year. It tells the story of a man who goes way beyond just validating parking tickets and how his life unfolds. It has won numerous short film awards around the world. I particularly like the way that the star is always giving and giving yet learns to receive as well.

Is there someone in your life that could use this type of validation? Maybe even yourself?

Please enjoy (running time 16 minutes):

I posted recently about TappyBear and am now happy to tell you about the TappyBear Foundation which is a great way to help disadvantaged children and adults who the assistance of EFT and TappyBear.

The TappyBear Foundation, established by TappyBear creator Till Schilling, has been established with the Mission Statement:

“To disseminate information on a highly effective stress management and emotional support method known as EFT, with the help of a therapeutic stuffed toy known as “TappyBear,” to disadvantaged children and their families worldwide; to foster controlled research into the effectiveness of this acupressure-derived technique to reduce stress (and promote health and well being) in schools, hospitals, disaster areas and other settings where high stress is present.”

There is already some great evidence of what a difference TappyBear can make with work done in a Mexican hospital with children suffering from serious diseases such as leukemia and cancer as featured in this short video:

Since the TappyBear Foundation has been established as a Public Charity in the USA all donations are 100% tax deductible. When you donate to the TappyBear Foundation the money will be used in several ways:

• to purchase a charitable TappyBear for one of a carefully selected group of children or needy adults that have been selected as displaying a strong need for “the bear’s” therapeutic assistance
• to make sure that the Volunteers who assist these people receive adequate compensation for the valuable time they spend administering EFT and disseminating information about it to needful groups
• to help support research efforts which will assist EFT in being accepted as a main stream treatment for emotional and physical problems of the disadvantaged

By making a Tax deductible contribution to the TappyBear Foundation, you will have the satisfaction of bringing the comfort, help, and loving presence of TappyBear to children and adults worldwide who can from his gentle form of healing.

Make a donation by going to the TappyBear Foundation or via Facebook at the TappyBear Foundation Cause.

I was recently walking in my nearby park when I decided to take off my shoes and walk on the grass bare foot. At first, I tried to walk at my usual pace striding forward to get around the park in the time I had allocated and get back to work. But what I found was that I had to slow down, place each foot gently, and bring all of my awareness into the present moment. After just 5 minutes of this bare foot pace, I found that not only had my body slowed but also my thoughts and breathing.

I thought the idea of slowing down to a bare foot pace was especially important given how easily we get caught up in the rush and busyness of the holiday season. There is presents to buy, food to prepare, guests to take care of, but where in all that is there time to slow down, savour the moment, and take the break we’ve been looking forward to all year.

I notice that when I walk wearing business shoes that I stride forward with a purpose yet little awareness of what my feet are doing. One of the earliest self-help books I ever read, The Magic of Thinking Big, suggested walking 10% faster than everyone else to both give yourself the feeling of purposefully moving forward and the let others know you had a purpose as well. I adopted that habit when I read the book yet the same book did not suggest how to change gears and slow back down when it was time to take a break. And this is just when I’m wearing business shoes, when I’m wearing work or hiking boots, I clomp along even more indiscriminately with a kind of terminator unstoppableness.

Do you remember the last time you walked bare foot in nature? It’s very hard to rush when you have to take care where you place each foot and be aware of where you’re stepping and what you’re stepping on. Try walking bare foot in nature at least once during the holiday season and see how quickly it will slow you down from the striving rush and into a gentle appreciative moment.

Here’s a tapping video that might help you in slowing down to a barefoot pace this holiday season.