Boosting Performance in Dancing with Positive EFT

I am a EFT Master Practitioner and I have been using classic, original EFT for many years, including tapping on myself for peak performance in dancing.

When Silvia Hartmann's book ‘Positive EFT’ was published last year, I was eager to test that interesting approach.

In order to get a clear idea of the effectiveness, I decided at that time to use Positive EFT only for myself, and specifically to help improve my dancing.

It was late in life when I got around to doing something about my longstanding desire to be able to dance. I always had the limiting belief that I, unlike other people, could never, ever do this.

So one day, I bravely crossed the threshold of a studio and started taking lessons. I loved it from the first day on and, within two years, have become a dedicated Ballroom/Latin dancer who now regularly participates in competitions.

This is great fun, but stressful too!

About a month before my first national competition in Phoenix, USA, (the others had been local), I started using Positive EFT exclusively every day.

I was very nervous, since I had to perform a brand new Tango solo with my teacher and pro partner, Joe Hack, along with several freestyle dances. In addition, I was fighting a terrible cough.

These were the main phrases I used:

• Brilliant Dance!
• Perfect Frame!
• Gorgeous Top line!
• Great Footwork!
• Total Recall (of steps and patterns)!
• Awesome Performance!
• I'm a Winner!

Every time I stepped on the dance floor, I said silently to myself: Brilliant Dance!

What can I say. I got "First Place with Honours" for the solo, and "First Place" for all three freestyle dances (it's a scoring system). Of course, I had practiced a lot, but Positive EFT took me to the top.

Several weeks ago, I went to another local competition and performed four freestyle dances (Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, and Rumba). I had tapped for that event several weeks in advance, having added the phrases:

• Strong feet!
• Confidence!
• Power and Joy!
• Connection!

A week before the competition, I started wondering why I seemed to have no performance anxiety at all - until it hit me three days before the event when I had my dress rehearsal.

In the past, I had tapped on that very uncomfortable feeling in the classic EFT way; even though I have this performance anxiety and my heart is pounding...

This time, I used exclusively Positive EFT.

I asked myself; what would be the antidote word for this? First I came up with ‘Relax’.

I did several rounds with this, but it didn't change a thing. So I discarded it as the wrong word. You don't really want to relax at a competition.

Actually, you have to put out high energy at the drop of a hat during these short bursts of dancing that the adjudicators see and then judge.

What would be an effective antidote? I came up with ‘Excitement’.

Yes, to transform the high, but negative energy of anxiety into the equally high, but positive energy of excitement, that sounded right!

I did feel better after I tapped on that, but the real proof came when my teacher said after the competition; "I have never seen you that calm and confident in the ready line. What did you do?" (The ready line being the place where the couples wait to be called on the floor to perform, like race horses shooting out of a starting gate - usually a point of high anxiety.)

However, what pleased me the most was that my teacher told me that one of the adjudicators had approached him praising my "Outstanding" top line! (top line in ballroom dancing is the posture of head and upper body - very important for balance, connection with the partner, and the lady's "look".)

Incidentally (ahem), that is exactly what I have been tapping on; Gorgeous top line!

Did I mention that I got "First Place" for all four dances?

Of course other dancers get there without EFT or other energy therapies, and effective instruction plus regular practice is still paramount when it comes to achieving excellence in the performing arts or sports.

However I find that Positive EFT is such a valuable tool for me pursuing my passion of dance and I cannot imagine doing what I do without it.

* This article was first published in the Summer 2014 (Vol.1 No.1) edition of The Energist. 

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