Practice Thriving: EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)

To put it simply, EFT is combining energy work with cognitive therapy. It is wonderful because you can do this in the privacy of your own home and don't have to schedule appointments to have the work done on you. I have seen many variations of this work done with different names of the practice.

I personally have been amazed and impressed with how quickly I'm able to work through an emotional issue. This method can apply to pretty much anything that is effecting you (addictions, weight loss goals, overcome trauma, emotional baggage, etc...).

As I have mentioned before, having caesarians was very traumatizing for me emotionally. The hippie that I am, in my ideal world, I would loved to have had all my babies at home. I sigh just thinking about how wonderful that would have been. For a long time, when people would share with me there natural birth stories, I would ache. I was mad at my body for failing me and not allowing me this mortal experience. There were many layers of sadness. One day while reading a dear friend's blog post on her home birth, I started to cry and I couldn't stop. So, I went in my room and sat on the floor and proceeded to do EFT tapping.

When you begin with an emotional issue, you first check in and see on a scale of 0-10, how strongly are you feeling this emotion. At that moment, it felt like a 10 for me. So, I began tapping. I started on the side of my hand on the karate chop point (if you were to karate chop, think of that spot you'd make contact. That is the point) and I started tapping and said out loud something like, "Even though I feel like my body has failed me and I won't be able to ever have a baby naturally, I still profoundly love and accept myself." I repeat that phrase three times.

Then I would tap along the points that you see in the image above saying "my body failed me" three times at each point while tapping. I would start with the point on the inside of the eyebrow, then go to the outside, then under the eye, then above the lip, below the lip, collar bone, and under arm (if you were to sing "I'm a little tea pot", the point is where you fingers touch when you do the "handle" position) and finally finish off with the top of my head.

After completely this sequence, I would recheck in with myself and see where I'm at on the scale. So, if I was at an 8. I would continue the whole process until I was at a 0. On this particular occasion, it took 10 minutes of tapping before I was able to feel no emotional connection to the situation. Now I'm able to sincerely feel joy for people who are able to have natural birth and not internalize it and beat myself up for not being able to. I have released the frustration I felt with my body and have forgiven myself (not that I needed forgiving but I was able to accept the situation and love myself anyway).

Now some people think the process sounds negative to say something like "my body failed me" over and over and over again. Well, what I'm doing is saying out loud what my mind is already saying to my body. The difference is while, tapping different energy points, you're able to get to the core of it in your body and release it.

Another note to point out is that I didn't do every sequence saying the exact same thing. Sometimes I would tap about my hips not being able to open up or that I felt like I was less than a woman or whatever it was and work through it. I like to finish with a affirmation and say something like, "I'm so grateful that I live in a time where me and my children are able to survive childbirth and be healthy and happy." Repeat three times.

If you go to amazon, you can find tons of books on the subject. EFT for weight loss, EFT for Procrastination, EFT for positive living, EFT for back pain, etc....

Here's a website that has some good videos... http://www.thetappingsolution.com/. And youtube has tons of videos.