Let's start the year by clearing out Emotional Baggage! An introduction to E.F.T.

In my last post I spoke about the fact that we all have the power to choose, every moment of every day, and all those little choices add up to our life as it is now and as it will be.  We also spoke about the need to replace any negative self-destructive thought patterns with positive affirmations and CHOOSE to stop yourself when you have negative thoughts and replace them with the positive ones.  Just remember, the voice we listen to most in a day is most likely to be our own.  Don't let it be a constant critical voice putting ourselves down! It's time to create new habits and re-programme our sub-conscious.

Also controlled by the sub-conscious is your "emotional baggage".   These are the unexpressed emotions that you simply don't want to "feel" so you deny them expression and usually distract yourself with whatever your favourite diversion is ... it could be food, alcohol, drugs or gambling, or for some people it could be compulsive shopping or exercising to the extreme. I mention the word "compulsive" for a reason.  That is usually what your diversion of choice becomes.  In order to stop "feeling" whatever the emotion is you don't want to face, you become compulsive about something else .... you need to be obsessive about it or it won't make the thoughts and feelings go away.  The trouble is these unexpressed emotions block up your energy channels in your body and also your sub-conscious just keeps re-presenting these things for you to process and release.

The more you keep pushing them down the more you will be needing your "diversion" because the sub-conscious keeps bringing up your emotional baggage until you deal with it and let it go.  Hence your diversion becomes a compulsion and can begin to be very self-destructive.  Anyone who has ever suffered from compulsive eating or alcoholism or drug addiction may well be nodding their heads by now .... they know how it feels to be caught in a never-ending cycle of self-destructive behaviour. So what can be done about it?  

I would like to introduce you to Emotional Freedom Technique.  In clinical practice I have found this to be the most effective tool I have ever used for releasing blocked emotions.  Once your energy is flowing freely again you will be much more likely to sustain your new habits and bring about the changes you want in your life. Extra benefits from EFT, or Meridian Tapping as it is also known, are that it provides relief from chronic pain, addictions, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder and physical diseases.  Remember, the mind, body and soul are one entity and this entity is fully capable of self-healing. 

Like acupuncture and acupressure, Meridian Tapping consists of a set of techniques that utilise the body's energy meridian points.  Energy circulates through your body along a specific network of channels (meridians).  You can tap into this energy at any point along the system and you can stimilate these meridian points by tapping on them with your fingertips - literally tapping into your body's own energy and healing power.

The History of Meridian Tapping and EFT


In the latter part of the 20th century, western scientists began taking a serious look at Chinese medicine and the benefits of acupuncture.  One of these scientists was George Goodheart, Jr., a chiropractor.  Goodheart explored the connection between the meridians associated with certain body parts and illness in the body, and became aware that the emotional state of a patient affected the response and strength of muscles.  He went on to develop what is today known as muscle testing or Applied Kinesiology, a widely used tecnique. 

John Diamond, a psyciatrist, became one of Goodheart's students in the early 70's.  He began using muscle testing as part of his practice and found he could identify core psychological issues more quickly.  He would use affirmations while stimulating certain meridians to help his patients get emotional relief, and was able to work out, through testing with clients, which particular emotional state was associated with each acupuncture meridian.

A real break-through came in 1979 when a psychologist by the name of Roger Callahan (who had studied with Diamond and Goodheart) was treating a patient named Mary who had a severe phobia of water. Mary's fear of water was so great that she was unable to take her children to the beach, she was anxious when it rained and could not even stand to see water on television.  Mary tried many forms of anxiety reduction therapies, and although they helped, nothing cured her phobia.

One day during a psychology session, Mary complained of feeling stomach pains (gut reaction) every time she thought about water.  Dr Callahan knew that there is an acupuncture point directly beneath the eye, on the cheekbone, that is linked to the stomach meridian according to traditional Chinese Medicine.  He asked her to tap there, thinking it might lessen her stomach pains.

What happened next was seemingly miraculous to both Mary and Dr Callahan.  Not only did Mary's stomach pains disappear but her phobia of water disappeared as well.  She ran down to a pool and began splashing herself with water.  This of course set Dr Callahan on a course of further study in this field and he developed his own technique called Thought Field Technique.  Some years later, students of Dr Callahan developed their own techniques based on his work and in the mid 1990s Gary Craig (also a student of Dr Callahan) developed EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) which is a simplied, improved version of Dr Callahan's Thought Field Technique.  Today all techniques and their variations come together loosely under the banner of "Meridian Tapping".

Many thousands of people around the world use Meridian Tapping to resolve a variety of issues and there have been many many wonderful stories of how it has completely changed people's lives. In my next post I will get into the nuts and bolts of EFT so that you can give it a try.  If you have issues that you haven't been able to overcome or even face, if you are caught in a vicious cycle that has led to obesity or addictive behaviour, if you've tried to squash your symptoms with prescription drugs but still nothing works ..... give EFT a try.  I've personally seen how it can support people through very difficult circumstances and help them make positive changes in their lives and perhaps it could do the same for you. Whether it works or not will be up to you ..... your choice!