Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)

What is EFT?

Emotional Freedom Technique is method of clearing emotional, mental and physical issues based on the understanding that many issues have emotional origins underlying them. It is an emotional version of acupunture except no needles are used. The release points are stimulated by tapping on them. The holy grail of EFT is statement: "The cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body's energy system".

How effective is EFT?

It is relatively painless and works quickly for most people, most of the time. However, for some people or issues, it can take a lot of persistence work. Typically, belief changes and cognitive shifts are recognizable after emotional charge. Results are in most cases long lasting, nevertheless, new aspects can arise which might need another treatment. The best results are obtained when EFT is used on specific events.

The Evolution of EFT

The founder of EFT is Gary Craig, who trained with Dr Roger Callahan, the creator of Thought Field Therapy (TFT). Dr Callahan had been studying body's energy systems and discovered, that tapping certain points on the body can releave emotional stress and can help with healing headaches, nighmares and phobias. Gary realised, that all the points can be tapped regardless of the issue and made the method available to everybody and usable by anyone even children.

What issues can EFT help with?

EFT can be used to help treat a wide range of issues such as:
• Problem with Self-image
• Fears and Phobias
• Behavioural Problems
• Stress and Anxiety
• Physical Conditions
• Bad Habits
• Depresion
• Insomnia

How do EFT results differ from a "quick fix"?

The label "quick fix" is used to negatively rate the questionable healing techniques that are suspicious. EFT offers rapid relief from numerous emotional and physical ailments and certainly does no deserve this pejorative label. This is obvious from many succesfull aplications of this technique since it's discovery. I personally experienced the positive result of EFT treatment on my clients every single session. Throughout history healing techniques of various kinds have usually been slow and inefficient until somebody found better technique, the fact that the technique is fast doesn't mean that it is not effective.

Does it last?

Some people think, that lasting results must take time to produce. This ist not case of EFT. Results of EFT are usually permanent. This is the matter of addressing the true cause of the problem. Otherwise, the remedy would not be so long lasting. However, EFT doesn't do everything for everyone. Some problems seems to reappear and that is usually caused by different aspect of the original problem showing at the later time. The solution is to reapply the technique to the new aspect. For client, it is important to be honest with the practitioner, so he can break the problem down into specific events and apply EFT to those underlying causes. In time, after all aspects and specific events have been addressed, the problem usually goes away completely and does not return.

How does EFT handle emotional problems that are very intense or have been with a person for a very long time?

To EFT, the intensity of a problem or how long it has been around is immaterial. The cause is always a disrupted energy system and the technique of dealing with it is always the same. This question usually comes about because of the belief that intense or long resistent problems are more "deeply ingrained" than other problems and therefore it should take more effort to relieve them. This conventional approach doesn't directly address the true cause, it tends to take aim at one's memories or mental processes and ignore the energy system, where the true cause lies. When EFT requires persistence it is not because of the intensity or resident lenght of a problem, but usually because of a problem's compexicity. That means the existence of several aspects to a problem each of which must be relieved before total relief is felt.

How does EFT deal with one's need to understand their problem?

This is one of the most astonishing features of EFT. A shift in person's understanding of their problem. After EFT, people talk about their peoblem differently. They put it in a healthy perspective. For example, the typical rape victim no longer carries a deep fear and disgust of men. Rather, she considers her assailant to have the problem and in need of help.

How does EFT deal with stress and anxiety?

In EFT, stress and anxiety have the same cause as all other negative emotions - a disruption in body's energy system and are adressed with the same basic technique as any other emotional issue. Stress and anxiety tend to be ongoing problems because the cicumstances that create them are ongoing. An abusive family situation or a stressful job enviroment are but two of a long list of possibilities. EFT does not do away with the circumstances, rather reduces your anxious responses. In most cases, EFT will need to be used persistently (most likely daily) because the stressful circumstances tend to show up every day. After a while, your response to difficult events should be much calmer.

How does EFT help with sports performance?

The mental set is critical to performance of an athlete. The difference between good and bad days is almost always due to emotional causes. Everyone has their share of negative thoughts and self doubt. Those negative states of mind disrupt the body's energy system. These negative emotions show up in the body in a variety of ways including some tension in the muscles. The timing, for athlete, is everything that affects his performance and the tension in muscles affects the timing. Athletes are well aware of this problem and many hire sports psychologists to help them cope with negative emotions and improve their performance. EFT provides remarkably effective solution to this problem. After EFT, people feel relaxed, that means their muscles are relaxed without tension and resistance.

Why does EFT give surprisingly good relief from physical problems?

This is easy to understand in light of connection between mind and body. Applying EFT for emotional issues often brings on the cessation of physical problems: breathing problems, hedaches, joint pains, multiple sclerosis, the list is endless.

Future of EFT

EFT is still evolving. People are learning new things all the time, thus there are still emerging new ways of use of EFT.