Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)

Energy Psychology

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is an “Energy Psychology” based on the theory that emotional problems are caused by disruptions in the energy system of the body. Tapping on particular energy points (acupuncture points) usually creates rapid, long-lasting relief.

Effective for a wide range of applications

EFT is completely safe. It is non-invasive, gentle and often works when nothing else has. EFT can be used on any emotional or physical issue. It has been used successfully on everything from a minor emotional irritation to major traumas such as sexual abuse, war memories and childhood abuse. It is around 95% effective for emotional issues and around 70-80% effective on physical issues. Once all aspects of an issue are “collapsed,” healing is permanent.

Superb Core Belief Healing

EFT is unsurpassed at healing negative core beliefs and installing positive beliefs. The technique quickly eliminates emotions that hold negative beliefs in place, and then collapses the belief itself. A derivative of EFT called “The Choices Method” is ideal for installing new, life-enhancing beliefs. Marelon is remarkably adept at this work, bringing her lively imagination and irreverent sense of humor into play to create delightful new beliefs. EFT can be used to quickly release any unwanted memory, trauma or simple phobia. EFT is equally effective on simple issues or complex issues with many elements, emotions and layers.

Exciting advance in emotional healing

EFT is called an “energy psychology” because it addresses emotional issues through the energy systems of the body. If certain acupuncture points are tapped while the problem is being held in awareness, the result is amazing relief from troublesome emotions, and/or the collapse of negative beliefs which may be associated with those emotions.. Any single feeling or life assumption can be “tapped down” in minutes, when done with a skilled practitioner.

Works on anything

If you want something changed, EFT can help. It has worked on phobias, painful flashback memories, PTSD, panic attacks and anxiety. It has been used successfully for depression, chronic anger, grief, guilt and shame. It has completely eliminated suffering caused by childhood abuse, sexual abuse and marital abuse. EFT clients report rapid, trauma-free and permanent relief for nearly every problem which disrupts or upsets their lives.

Works rapidly to reduce emotional distress

An emotion can usually be tapped down in minutes, even emotions connected to highly emotionally charged memories or issues. If a situation is recent or ongoing, it may take several rounds of tapping, but if the tapping is done with an experienced practitioner, relief will arrive! Complex issues that have many different feelings and layers of feelings, will naturally take time, but each part, once isolated correctly, will collapse within minutes.

No traumatic re-living of the upsetting event

Issues can be and usually are, healed with a minimum of pain. We don’t WANT you to get angry, fearful or tearful! These emotional states will actually slow down the healing process, and we employ a variety of methods to bring healing in the most gentle way possible.

Superior Core Belief Healing

EFT and a derivative method of EFT called “Choices” are exceptionally effective techniques for eliminating negative, life-disruptive core beliefs and installing healthy life-enhancing core beliefs that stay! If a person has conflicting core beliefs that are keeping them stuck, frustrated or procrastinating, EFT can quickly remove the negative beliefs, leaving the positive ones intact, which enables a person to act with clarity. Many people suffer from conflicting core beliefs, which manifest In life as chronic procrastination, frustration, positive goals being thwarted or never reaching fruition, or positive goals reaching fruition then falling apart. Conflicting core beliefs constantly sabotage an individual and render affirmations and visualizations ineffective. What is referred to vaguely as “blocks” is often a set of conflicting core beliefs creating stuck energy which cannot attract desired outcomes. EFT is a wonderful tool for eliminating the negative parts of core beliefs and freeing up the positive ones to work clearly and powerfully.

Complex issues yield to EFT

Complex issues are ones that contain many feelings and layers of meaning and usually are associated with very negative core beliefs. A life issue such as “I always attract men who are unavailable.” Is one such very complex issue. If a client is willing to explore each aspect or element of this issue, to have each aspect collapsed as it rises into awareness, then eventually the whole issue will collapse – it cannot survive if all of its foundations have been removed! Patience is called for in these cases: the mind yields up relevant aspects one at a time and they may appear over months. Even so, EFT is still faster and more effective than traditional talk therapy at helping a client shift out of emotional confusion and into emotional clarity and understanding.

EFT “Aspects” and “Switching Aspects”

Basic EFT is a simple technique

EFT has many appealing qualities but one of the most appealing is it’s simplicity: the same 14 point sequence of tapping can be used for everything. Granted, the art of EFT is in knowing how to use a client’s own words to create an effective focus for what is being tapped down, but the basic “recipe” of EFT is always the same. However there are two elements of EFT that may cause confusion for clients unless the concept of “aspects” is clearly explained as soon as possible in the healing process.

Simple Issues and Complex Issues

“Aspects” refers to the separate elements that make up a complex issue. Simple issues are issues which present a single emotion, with no complications from repeated trauma, ongoing trauma, or underlying negative beliefs. For example, one client came with a problem that had never occurred previously – she was in a musical play and was required to dance on stage for the first time. She had been unable to remember the sequence of steps. There was no history involved, and the problem did not represent the tip of a psychological iceberg. It was simply an isolated incidence of performance anxiety in an otherwise self-confident woman. A single session was all that was required to get her past her lack of familiarity with dancing in a play, and she has remained able to dance on stage ever since, over two years.

The Tip of the Iceberg

Complex issues, on the other hand, are the tip of a psychological iceberg. The client is usually only concerned with healing the tip, because that is what is disrupting her life in an obvious way. The astute EFT practitioner will soon realize that the issue which the client believes is the only problem, is covering up the real problems which lie well-hidden underneath. “Real” problems may be a forgotten trauma, core beliefs that are so negative they are toxic, a repeating life pattern that is unproductive or even destructive, or habits of thinking which lead to dysfunctional choices.

Many Elements

Complex problems usually have many contributing factors such as negative experiences, a toxic family situation, repeated patterns of betrayal, loss, abandonment, shame, and so on, as well as resultant negative beliefs that this is the way reality is: and it usually sucks on some deep level. Each of the factors tends to give rise to a morass of emotions. It may be helpful to think of a complex problem as a multi-layered stack of interrelated elements. Each layer has its own tangle of emotions, beliefs and consequences. Each of these constitutes a specific EFT “aspect” and each must be dealt with until it collapses. When enough aspects of a single layer has been healed, that layer will collapse. When enough layers have been collapsed, the whole stack will cave in and be eliminated.

“Aspects” a New Concept

There are several points about aspects which need to be made. The first and most important is that clients cannot distinguish aspects unless they are clearly explained. The client is experiencing their problem as a whole event – they know they have many different emotions but they do not identify these as “aspects.” Further, they do not have any experience at separating out each upsetting element – again, they see the whole movie rather than one frame at a time. This approach prevents a client from noticing as aspect after aspect is collapsed; instead of feeling relief, she is still feeling turmoil because the whole issue, which is what she is looking at, has not yet been resolved.

Switching Aspects

The second point about EFT aspects is that a client may experience an aspect collapsing before the full round of tapping is finished, and switch immediately into another aspect without realizing she has done so. Many times, when an aspect loses it’s emotional charge, it is a gradual process. The first round of tapping may reduce an emotional charge from “huge” to “medium.” The next round of tapping could reduce it further, to “minor.” A third round of tapping might take it all the way to zero – but in this case the client is aware of the process and is well aware when she cannot feel the offending emotion any longer.

Switching Often Unnoticed

It often happens, however, that an emotion collapses all the way to zero without any warning or “stages.” In this case, the client usually doesn’t even notice the collapse, but the next strongest feeling or issue becomes her point of focus. This is called “switching aspects,” for obvious reasons. Switching aspects can fool a client into believing that a round of tapping did not work, when it actually worked so well she cannot even remember that particular aspect!

Awareness Helps Clients

Clients need this information – how to break down a situation into specific emotions or specific stages, each of which then becomes a separate “aspect” – so that they can make a much more accurate assessment of how EFT is working for them. It is only when they can feel the relief as each aspect in turn loses it’s emotional charge, that they can understand that progress is really being made. They also need to know that they might switch aspects without noticing – then when the practitioner mentions the occurrence, they will be able to understand what has happened. In both cases, awareness not only helps clients make a more accurate assessment of their progress, but also makes a session considerably more interactive for clients. This has great value because nearly all clients find interactive sessions are empowering. EFT is powerful. EFT done with an aware and knowledgeable client is … simply awesome!

Author: Gary Craig