Add & Subtract - Emotional Freedom Technique

ADD TAPPING

Since the early 80s, mental-health practitioners have been developing the field of energy psychology, drawing on the best of Eastern and Western wisdom. At the centre of this new science is Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), which uses a combination of acupressure (tapping on points on the body) and conventional psychotherapy.

The technique is simple to learn, but highly effective. While Chinese acupuncture and modern psychology are individually both powerful tools for healing, the application of both at the same time has an effectiveness larger than the sum of its parts.

Pioneers David Feinstein, Donna Eden, Gary Craig:

“Stimulating energy points on the skin, paired with specific mental activities, can instantly shift your brain’s electrochemistry to:

Help overcome unwanted emotions such as fear, guilt, shame, jealousy, or anger
Help change unwanted habits and behaviour
Enhance your abilities to love, succeed, and enjoy life
The procedure allows virtually anyone who learns how to use it greater emotional control, inner peace, and effectiveness in the world”

Source: The Promise of Energy Psychology: Revolutionary Tools for Dramatic Personal Change

SUBTRACT STRESS

Some physical pain is purely pain in our body, as it deals with some problem and alerts our attention to the fact. By treating the physical issue, pain may be reduced or eliminated. The broken bone is set, the cut skin is rejoined, the intrusive object or substance is removed.

However, pain in the body is often caused by emotional stress. The stuck energies of our unresolved feelings can cause blockages in our field, the chemicals of emotions jamming up the cell receptors and stopping healthy functioning. Body-mind science has determined that stress is involved in 95% of illness, and illness often has an emotional basis.

By clearing stress in the energy body - through acupuncture, acupressure, shiatsu, or any of the various energy healing techniques - we can relieve physical pain. The cause may be more subtle than a broken bone, mental or emotional in origin, but pain is pain. It has alerted us to the problem. We just need a more open, holistic approach to get to the cause and address it.

EFT teacher and author Dawson Church:

“Why is EFT able to affect so many problems, both psychological and physical? The reason for its effectiveness is that it reduces stress, and stress is a component of many problems. In EFT research on pain, for instance, we find that pain decreases by an average of 68 percent with EFT. That’s a two-thirds drop, and seems very impressive. Now ask yourself, if EFT can produce a two-thirds drop in pain, why can’t it produce a 100 percent drop? I pondered this question myself, and I asked many therapists and doctors for their theories as to why this might be so.

The consensus is that the two-thirds of pain reduced by EFT is due largely to emotional causes, while the remaining one-third of the pain has a physical derivation”

Source: The EFT mini-manual