Posted by Jlx on October 21, 2006, at 12:58:29
In reply to Re: Kava and EFT, posted by Snowbunnie on October 21, 2006, at 4:05:56
> I've never heard of the EFT thing and when I went to the website I had to laugh - tapping your problems away, lol! Has it actually worked for you or anyone you know? Seems like it'd be the placebo effect..
I highly recommend EFT. The link nolvas gave you has a good visual representation http://www.mercola.com/forms/eftcourse3.htm of most of the tapping points, but I would recommend downloading (free) the EFT manual on the EFT founder's site: http://www.emofree.com/ To get the manual, you have to provide your e-mail address, but it's quick and I have not been spammed as a result.
I had a book about a similar technique several years ago that someone recommended and I thought it was effective for anxiety especially, but wasn't too enthusiastic about the whole idea because that book had different formulas for different purposes. I tried EFT specifically again when someone on this board mentioned it recently and was very glad she did.
I found EFT is easier because you use the same tapping points all the time, which are based on acupuncture meridian points. When I mentioned I was using EFT on another board, someone who thought meridians were nonsense, suggested it may work through a combination of "mindfulness" and self-hypnosis. EFT is considered part of "energy psychology" but even the founder acknowledges he can't really explain how it works. I don't really care why it works, only that it does, and it does for me. And if it's the placebo effect, I don't mind that either as I'm not putting anything foreign into my body or potentially harming myself in any way. (And recent research has demonstrated that something real is actually going on in the brain during the placebo effect.)
At any rate, it's free and all you're out is the little time it takes to learn and try the technique.
A few important things I've gleaned from reading many of the pages on the website are to drink water before an EFT session (and sometimes during), to be specific in the set-up phrase and to listen to the self-talk about what else an issue may be about.
Instead of the phrase "Even though I have this fear of public speaking..." or "Even though I'm nervous about giving this upcoming speech...." to say instead, "Even though I'm afraid my mind will go blank when I give this speech on Tuesday and..." or whatever *specifically* feels most nervewracking. I sometimes just stay with a tapping point until I can hear my mind say something opposite -- such as "I'm just so afraid that such and such will happen, blah, blah, blah....oh, it's ok". Usually there's a progression from when I start to when I finish. I may start out all emotional and before I'm done tapping even a round, my mind is wandering and I'm forgetting my reminder phrase. The first time this happens it seems really weird. ;)Sometimes I will just naturally finish a round or rounds of tapping with a positive affirmation that actually feels true and possible, because I've already tapped through the negativities.
For instance, I was really dreading an upcoming discussion with my boss at work the next day, anxious about the topic at hand and anticipating not being happy with the outcome. As I tapped I realized that one reason why I had so much emotion tied up into the issue was because I was projecting onto him the kind of judgment I received from my dad. Once I heard that going on in my head I tapped on that specifically..."Even though I'm anxious about this meeting tomorrow with Ron because it feels like he judges me just like Dad does which infuriates me, etc...." By the time I was done I was saying, "Oh, so what?", no longer feeling anxious and like I didn't want to go to work the next day. The next day at work I forgot we were to have the discussion until it was almost time to leave! Then as it turned out my boss didn't have time and it was all postponed until the following week when I didn't even bother to get nervous. :)
I think there's something about the paradoxical nature of the set-up phrase that releases things, such as unspecified fears and negativities. That's what EFT feels like to me -- that it gets things unstuck and onto a conscious level that would ordinarily be percolating in my subconscious manifesting in my behavior with anxieties, grief, other forms of pain and self-defeating behavior.
My first therapist when I was 18, clueless and having panic attacks, used to encourage me to ask myself, "What's the worst thing that can happen?" when I was anxious about something, and then to think in terms of consequences and choices. That's all EFT is doing too, only in a shortcut format that for me feels like it bridges the mind/body connection so that those feelings are actually let go from my body.
I've used EFT in conjunction with other things I've learned in therapy and elsewhere through the years such as tapping on accepting where I am, or giving myself permission "not" to do the "shoulds" I plague myself with.
Sorry, that was long-winded, but I'm still experimenting with EFT and find it just fascinating.
JL
poster:Jlx
thread:696393
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20061013/msgs/696538.html