Finding The River by Sally Topham

Chapter 13

Energy Psychology and Emotional Freedom

Energy Medicine and the related field of Energy Psychology have both evolved as a result of blending Western therapies with Eastern understandings of the subtle energy system. It was the East that discovered the knowledge about the energy anatomy all those thousands of years ago; however, it’s now the turn of the West to lead the way, and it’s doing so by developing the groundbreaking energy techniques which are set to become the cutting edge therapies of the future.

The term “Energy Psychology” describes a wide range of psychological techniques which combine different ways of working with aspects of the subtle energy system; e.g., the Chakras (the energy centres), the Aura (the systems of energy which surround the physical body), and the Meridians (the energy pathways and their related acupoints.)

The groundwork was laid for the evolution of this new field of Energy Medicine back in the early 1970s. At this time there was a growing interest amongst key people in the therapeutic world about Chinese Medicine and the workings of the meridian system.

This paved the way for the exploration and development of new energy-based therapies which began to appear. Notable amongst those was the system of Applied Kinesiology (AK). This was a diagnostic system developed by the American Chiropractor, Dr George Goodheart, which treated energy and body function through a combination of muscle testing and understandings of Chinese Medicine.

Another chiropractor, called Dr John Thie (who worked closely with Goodheart for a number of years), developed a system called Touch For Health, which was a blend of acupressure, touch and massage designed to improve posture and restore natural energy.

In due course, the work of Goodheart and Thie began attracting the interest of various people in the world of Psychology. Amongst these was Dr John Diamond, an Australian Clinical Psychiatrist, who had also studied AK and discovered the link between the meridians and the emotions. He started using a combination of psychiatry with AK and went on to develop a new field of psychotherapy that he called Behavioural Kinesiology (BK).

Another key player who came on the scene at this time was Dr Roger Callahan, a cognitive psychologist, who had studied BK briefly with John Diamond. Callahan later went on to discover an incredible technique that was to change the traditional face of psychology forever.

Dr Callahan’s discovery came through his work with one of his patients, Mary, who was terrified of water. Her problem was long-standing and although Callahan had been working with her for some time, he’d made little headway. In one of her sessions, she happened to mention that the very thought of water made her feel sick in the pit of her stomach. Having recently been studying the meridian system, Callahan suddenly thought of asking her to tap on the point on her face that connected with the stomach meridian whilst holding on to the feelings she described. Almost immediately, her expression cleared and she declared that her problem had gone! To his complete astonishment, she then ran out of the room and into the garden towards his swimming pool, where she began dipping her hands into the water and splashing her face.

Inspired and enthused, Callahan continued working with Mary along these lines. This resulted in him developing an extraordinary technique that blended psychology with tapping on acupressure points which he called Thought Field Therapy (TFT).

Over a period of time he created a series of precise tapping combinations to deal with conditions like anxiety and addictions. He also created other individually tailored tapping sequences, depending on a person’s particular problem. By utilising the link the meridians provided between body, mind and emotions, he had found a way of reaching into the energetic core of many people’s emotional difficulties. In so doing, he bypassed the traditional requirement of lengthy therapy, and instead gave people the possibility of finding much quicker relief from their problems.

Energy Psychology was born!

TFT is one of the meridian-based Energy Psychology therapies and has since spawned the development of many other similar methods such as Be Set Free Fast (BSFF), Neuro Emotional Technique (NET), and Tapas Acupressure Technique (TAT), to name but a few. However the most well known “cousin” of TFT is Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), and it is this system on which I will focus in this chapter.

EFT was developed from TFT by Gary Craig, one of Roger Callahan’s students. Craig devised a simplified method of tapping that eliminated the complexities of TFT and created one short, easy sequence that could be used across the board on all kinds of different problems.

Now, you may be wondering why I’m telling you about a psychological technique when this is supposed to be a self-help book! Well, you see, Energy Psychology techniques, including EFT, can be used as therapeutic methods in their own right, or in tandem with other therapies, or as a self-help tool for managing one’s emotions!

Dealing with our emotional problems can sometimes be quite difficult, as I’m sure you’re aware! It often entails making changes in lifestyle, environment and relationships, or the need to find a new attitude, or the desire to let go of a limiting belief. And this can feel daunting, if not downright impossible at times! Making changes of any sort in our lives feels scary for many of us, because change can be frightening. Sometimes we’ll do anything rather than jump in and take whatever action is required. Often we know exactly what we need to do but are scared rigid of doing it! How can we find a way to get past that fear?

There are the times when we feel completely stuck and we can’t see the wood for the trees. Occasionally, we reach a state of complete overwhelm when we don’t know where we are or how to begin to find a way through a problem. How can we help ourselves when we feel that way?

What do we do when we feel anger, hurt or resentment towards someone and it’s eating us up? How do we manage when everything seems such a struggle and exhaustion and hopelessness set in? What can we do when worry or fear about the past, the present or the future rises up in our waking hours and disturbs our sleep at night? How can we cope with all the blips and crunches of everyday life when the pressure and stress get too much?

We all go through these times, usually with gritted teeth, frequently needing help but not knowing where to go for it or even wanting to admit that we might need help! Often we try to soldier on in ways which have long since proved ineffective but we repeat the patterns anyway because we don’t know what else to do. Sometimes we find ourselves trying to cope by resorting to drugs, alcohol or food to bolster up our sagging self esteem, our exhaustion and our anxieties.

The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way!

EFT is a quick, easy and often permanent way of finding relief from emotional problems. You can help yourself deal with all sorts of mega, major or minor wobbles. It’s a bit like a form of emotional clutter-clearing! EFT allows us to clear the channels of energy within us, dissolve the problems, lighten up and start seeing a way forward! Sometimes, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have the ultimate solution to your problem, just changing your attitude and seeing things in a different light can often herald the beginning of finding a way out of the jungle.

EFT can help you to move through problems like: anxiety, phobias, anger, jealousy, sadness and depression, low self-esteem, limiting beliefs, relationship difficulties, and performance issues. It‘s also been found to be very effective in dealing with some physical problems as well.

I’m going to show you how to work with it because I think it’s an incredibly useful and effective method of helping oneself out of all kinds of emotional turbulence. Don’t be put off by the lengthy explanations. Just take your time to read through the directions and then, once you get the hang of it, you can zoom through a sequence in a matter of minutes and really start making a difference to your life.

Let’s start taking a look at what it’s all about:

“Emotional Freedom Technique is like a form of emotional acupuncture, except we don’t use needles” (Gary Craig). By tapping a short sequence of acupressure points on the skin whilst at the same time focussing on a remembrance that brings up an unwanted or negative emotional response, we can, believe it or not, actually shift the brain’s reaction to a particular issue. It’s as though a kind of re-wiring takes place that can completely remove the original emotional intensity associated with the problem. In other words, you can still remember the cause of the problem but it no longer triggers hurt or discomfort. A lot of research is currently being conducted into exactly how this happens, but there’s massive and overwhelming anecdotal evidence from therapists and those who have tried it on themselves that EFT actually does what it says on the tin!

Gary Craig’s “discovery statement” is that, “All negative emotions are a direct result of disturbances within the energy system.”

Previously, the traditional therapeutic view was that the actual thought or memory was the “fuse” that set off the negative emotion. However, it’s now understood that between the thought or memory comes the disturbance, that then triggers the emotional response. It’s a bit like what would happen if you took the back off your TV and poked around inside with a screwdriver. There’d be a disruption to the wiring and the result would be a distortion of the screen images. The same thing happens between the memory and the negative emotional response. Your energy system is “screwdrivered” when a disturbance pops up and disrupts it. This can trigger just about any negative emotion there is.

So, what we’re doing with EFT is working with the emotion and not the memory. By cutting to the core of how you feel, rather than focussing on all the history surround the issue, the time required for dealing with the problem automatically becomes a great deal shorter!

Although with this technique, we’re working on the meridians (we looked briefly at this subject in Figure 3: Daily Meridian Tracing Routine, it’s not necessary for you to have an in-depth understanding of the system in order to do EFT. So don’t worry, you don’t have to take a foundation course in Acupuncture before you start! There are books listed in the Further Information and Suggested Reading section at the back of the book that will give you much more detailed information about all aspects of EFT than I can provide here. I thoroughly recommend that you read the book co-authored by Donna Eden, David Feinstein and Gary Craig—because it’s not only very informative but also gives an overview of how Energy Psychology and Energy Medicine both relate to and complement each other—and also Silvia Hartmann’s books on EFT for innovative ways to work.

EFT Tapping Sequence

There are two sequences of tapping used in EFT. One is called the “Long Form” and was the first sequence developed by Gary Craig. This is still used by some people and is often particularly effective for dealing with traumatic events. However, the other sequence, or “Short Form’, was developed within the last few years and is now more widely used. I’ve found it to be equally effective and more user-friendly than the longer version, and it’s this form that I’m going to teach you.

However, before I explain the sequence of tapping positions, I just want to give you a few pointers about tapping:

• Most people prefer to tap with their dominant hand, but you can use the non-dominant one if you prefer

• Tap firmly, but never so hard that you’ll bruise or hurt yourself

• Tap each point between 5 to 7 times before moving on to the next position in the sequence

• It doesn’t matter which side of your body you tap. You can even switch sides half way through if you like!

You’ll find all the tapping points illustrated in Figure 4, and, incidentally, these points cover all the meridian endings. You might like to refer to this as you go through the list below:

Karate Chop

The KC is the fleshy bit on the outside edge of the hand that you’d use to hit someone or something with a karate chop. Bring the index, middle and fourth fingers of one hand together to form a small broad pad and tap on the KC area of the other hand (this way you can be sure of covering the meridian.) Most people prefer to do the tapping with their dominant hand. For example, if you’re right handed, you’d use your right hand to tap against the KC position on the left hand.

Top of the Head

The TH is the area in the centre of the crown of the head directly in line with your ears. Use all the fingers of one hand to tap this point. Many meridians pass through this area and if you use all your fingers to tap here you can be sure of covering every one of them!

From now on, all the points are tapped using just the index
and middle fingers of your hand. Using two fingers
rather than one ensures you’re going to hit the right area!

Beginning of the Eyebrow

At the beginning of the eyebrow just above the nose.

Side of the Eye

On the bone of the eye socket around the outside of the eye.

Under the Eye

On the bone of the eye socket just under the eye

Under the Nose)

On the area just under your nose and above your top lip.

Chin

Midway between the point of the chin and underneath your bottom lip.

Collar Bone

Just underneath your collar bone and above the first rib (find the U-shaped hollow between your collarbones, move down about an inch and slightly to the side).

Under the Arm

About 4 inches under the arm on a level with the nipple (for men) or the seam of your garment or bra (for women). Some people find this area feels quite tender.

If you’ve been using your right hand to tap from your head downwards on the right hand side of your body, you’ll find that you’ll need to tap underneath the left arm when you get to the UA point.

Figure 4: Quick Guide to Using EFT

Once you’ve decided what problem to tap on—calibrate (i.e., score the intensity of your emotions on a scale of 0–10 with zero meaning there is no intensity and 10 meaning the emotion is at the highest intensity). If it’s fairly high it might be anything from 8–9; and if it’s moderate it might be around 5–7. Low intensity would be around 3–4, and minimal intensity would be anything from 0.25–2.

Create a Set Up Statement: This could be something such as, “Even though I’m really angry with my boss, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”

Repeat the Set Up Statement: Repeat the statement three times whilst continuously tapping the Karate Chop (KC).

Formulate a Reminder Phrase: This is a shortened version of the Set Up Statement, e.g., “Angry with my boss.”

Repeat the Reminder Phrase: Say it out loud as you tap through each position of the Sequence (or Round), remembering to tap between 5 to 7 times on each point as follows:

Top of the Head: Angry with my boss.

Eyebrow: Angry with my boss.

Side of the Eye: Angry with my boss.

Under Eye: Angry with my boss.

Under Nose: Angry with my boss.

Chin: Angry with my boss.

Collar Bone: Angry with my boss.

Under Arm: Angry with my boss.

This example shows one Round (i.e., one round of the sequence of tapping points).

You need to do two Rounds (i.e., one following immediately after the other).

Then: Take a big breath. Calibrate. Check what’s changed for you intensity-wise and note the score. The intensity should reduce with each round you tap

When you get down to a score of four or lower, make a slight alteration to the wording of the Set Up Statement to reflect the changes in your emotional intensity; e.g., “Even though I’m still a bit angry, I deeply, etc…”

You’ll also need to change the Reminder Phrase accordingly; e.g., “Still a bit angry.”

When the intensity gets to two or lower, change the Set Up Statement again to reflect this; e.g., “Even though I’m a tiny bit angry, I deeply, etc…”

Also change the Reminder Phrase again; e.g., “Tiny bit angry.”

Keep repeating the whole thing with a Set Up Statement followed by two rounds of the Sequence whilst noting the changes in calibration. Keep doing this till you reach an emotional calibration of zero intensity

Don’t be tempted to stop working simply because the intensity has gone down very low and you’re feeling better. You need to get the intensity on a problem down to a zero before moving on to something else, otherwise it’ll show up again at some point.

Most problems have more than one aspect to them. For instance, in the above example, once you’ve dealt with your feelings of anger against your boss, you may recognise another aspect arising which is around your anger towards yourself for allowing your boss to upset you so much. If this is the case, then you need to tap on feeling angry with yourself; i.e., calibrating the intensity of your feelings, choosing a Set Up statement, tapping on this three times, beginning on the KC, and then going on to do two rounds of the Sequence. Once again, the whole exercise needs to be repeated from top to bottom until you’ve got the feelings down to zero.

In some situations, even further aspects may arise. This is when you find out how good EFT is at dissolving layers of emotions very quickly and revealing the root causes of various problems. This is very clarifying and helpful. Without a technique like EFT, we often find it very hard to see these subconscious issues and, as a result, we don’t manage to heal and overcome our difficulties.

If further aspects arise, treat each one individually in exactly the same way and continue to tap till you get it down to zero.

You might like to practise tapping through this sequence a few times starting with the Top of the Head and finishing at the Under Arm (leave the Karate Chop for the time being). This will help you to familiarise yourself with what’s known as “The Sequence”. (I know the tapping may seem a bit of a whacky thing to do, but remember, you’ll be doing this in the privacy of your own home and not out in public!) It’s not difficult to do and it’s really very easy to remember as you simply start at the top of the head and just move on down.

Once you’ve gone through the tapping sequence a few times, just leave it for the moment and read on while I explain more about how to work on a problem using EFT.

1. You need to identify and name your problem; e.g., this anger towards my boss, this fear of public speaking, this worry about my exams, this lack of work, this headache, this fear of birds, this dislike of my body, etc. Write down the problem you’ve decided to work on.

2. You need to calibrate (measure) the intensity around this emotion on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 equal to no intensity at all and 10 equal to the highest intensity you could feel. Write the intensity score down beside the name of your problem.

3. Remember, we’re only interested in the emotions and feelings you have about this. Logic and rationality don’t come into it! Emotions are mostly not logical!

4. Let’s use the example of being angry with your boss to help you get started. And let’s suppose the intensity of this feeling is measured at a 10.

5. You need to formulate a “Set Up” statement, which should always be made in the negative because problems involve negative thinking. Basically, this statement describes the problem and how it makes you feel and always starts with the words “Even though…” This is standard procedure for any problem no matter what the issue is.

The Set Up statement in our example would therefore be: “Even though I’m really angry with my boss…”

The purpose of the Set Up Statement is to help deal with any unconscious negative thinking and limiting beliefs getting in the way of letting go of the problem at hand. The official name for this kind of thing happening is “Psychological Reversal” (PR).

PR is a problem that most of us have encountered from time to time; e.g., we want to lose weight, but instead we either stay the same size or pile on more pounds! Or we say we want to de-clutter our home but somehow never really seem to get started.

This happens because somewhere in the subconscious there’s a deep-seated (and often completely hidden) emotional reason for not following through on your desired action. In the case of the weight-loss example, it might be because deep down you’re worried that by becoming slimmer and fitter, you’ll provoke envy in others, or that you’ll feel deprived at the thought of having to give up certain favourite foods. In the case of the clutter-clearing, the inability to de-clutter might be about an underlying fear of having to throw out objects to which emotional and sentimental value is attached, or to do with the fact that on a subconscious level you may be finding some emotional safety and security in the clutter itself.

PR is almost always present in most physical complaints, and is frequently the root cause of self sabotage. You can see this happening to yourself or others when repeated efforts to make changes in some area of life always seem to be thwarted for no apparent reason. Many people try to overcome it with the use of will power and don’t understand why they keep failing. Now you know it’s to do with being psychologically reversed about the issue! As one of my astrology teachers used to say, “The unconscious always wins!” Thankfully, EFT can help to get you past this problem.

6. You have to correct any possible PR by neutralising it in the Set Up statement. We do this by adding a positive affirmation to the Set Up statement about the negative emotion. It needs to state that despite these negative feelings, we can accept that this is how we feel and that we still love ourselves nevertheless.

The positive affirmation you say is always the same and the standard phrase used by Gary Craig is: “I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”

Please note, if you don’t feel comfortable saying “I deeply and completely love and accept myself,” try saying, “I love and accept myself” instead. Or even “I accept that I’m feeling this way.” The most important thing is that you state that you can accept your feelings—whatever they are—at this moment in time.

The Set Up statement for our example might therefore go like this: “Even though I’m really angry with my boss, I deeply and completely love and accept myself” (or use one of the alternative affirmations suggested above).

7. You need to say the Set Up Statement out loud three times all the while tapping on the KC point

8. You need to decide on a short “Reminder Phrase”. This is usually a shortened version of the Set Up Statement. This phrase is necessary to help you stay focussed on the problem, otherwise you might just tap and let your mind wander off onto other things!

9. In the case of our example, the reminder phrase could be: “Angry with my boss.” Remember, it’s important to stay focussed on the negative aspects of the problem. After all, if you weren’t feeling negative about it, you wouldn’t have a problem!

10. You need to tap through The Sequence (like you did earlier) only this time you’re going to repeat the Reminder Phrase as you tap on each point. Going through this sequence of tapping is called a “Round” and you do two Rounds of the sequence every time.

11. When you’ve tapped through two Rounds, take a deep breath in, followed by a deep breath out. This gives you a chance to pause and take stock

12. Now, re-calibrate. Check whether the intensity on this issue has gone down. The objective is to get it down to a zero. Let’s suppose it’s gone down to a 7. (Always make a note of where the new calibration stands.) In this case, you’d repeat the whole process again from saying the Set Up statement three times (whilst tapping on the KC) and then going through two Rounds of the Reminder Phrase again. Don’t forget, tap all the points in the sequence and say the same reminder phrase at each one just like you did before.

Pause, breathe and score again. The intensity should have moved down even further.

13. Keep working in this way, prefacing every round by tapping on the KC and saying the Set Up statement three times followed by two Rounds of the reminder phrase. You should find the intensity of the problem comes down each time.

When the intensity is down to a score of 4 or below, you need to change the Reminder Phrase to reflect the change. In the case of our example, you’d now say: “Still a bit angry.”

Take a big breath, and score again. If the intensity has gone down to a 2 or a 1, you need to change the reminder phrase again to reflect the lessening intensity and say instead: “Tiny bit angry.”

Once it’s down to a zero, you then need to check your overall intensity to make sure it’s really gone. Ask yourself: “When I think about how angry I feel about my boss, what’s the intensity of my problem now?” Tap on any intensity still remaining to ensure that everything’s subsided.

If another aspect of the problem comes up (e.g., having dissolved the anger with your boss, you may find that you’re actually pretty angry with yourself), then work on it in exactly the same way.

For a complete recap on all this information and guidance through the whole EFT tapping process (or Basic Recipe as it’s known), turn back to Figure 4: Quick Guide to Using EFT.

When you decide what issue you want to work on, you might like to keep this guide open in front of you to help you work your way through your problem.

Be persistent. Don’t stop half way through because you’re feeling better. If you do this, you run the risk of sweeping stuff under the carpet. Always aim to get it down to zero.

The EFT tapping process might sound very long-winded, but actually, you can work through a couple of rounds in just a few minutes. In many cases, it may not take you very long at all to completely dissolve an anxiety, a fear, a physical feeling, or whatever.

Troubleshooting

If the intensity doesn’t come down, it’s a good idea to ask yourself the following question and note down the answer: “What would happen if this problem wasn’t there any more?” If you don’t know the answer outright, just take a guess at what it might be.

Tap on what comes up and see if you can get the score down to zero. When you’ve done so, check to see how you’re feeling. Then see if anything has shifted around your original Set Up Statement. Calibrate again and go back to tapping on that. You should find the intensity dissolves this time.

What you’ve learnt in this chapter is just a taster for what can be achieved with EFT. With practise, you can bring about many liberating changes and transformations in your life. It doesn’t matter whether your emotional problems are linked to events long past, to present challenges or to anxiety about the future, they can all be helped with EFT. Please remember, however, that with more complicated issues it’s always advisable to work with a therapist. And please consult your doctor for all medical or physical problems before using EFT (see Further Information and Suggested Reading at the back of the book for where to find a practitioner).

Some people worry that being released from the emotional intensity of a problem might somehow prevent them from benefiting from the “lessons” they could be learning from the situation. Don’t worry about this! You’ll still have the memory of the event that caused the problem. The difference is that it no longer causes any disabling emotion. EFT doesn’t suppress unwanted emotional reactions. It simply releases them. This still allows room for understandings to take place and those all-important lessons of life to be learnt. EFT is a wonderfully self-empowering technique that is easily learnt and can be applied to many problems without any difficulty. Try it on everything! Once you’ve got the hang of it, I’m sure you’ll find it’s a totally indispensable tool to have in your self-help box!

This chapter on EFT is provided as a good faith effort to expand the use of EFT in the world. It represents the ideas of Sally Topham and does not necessarily represent those of Gary Craig or EFT. Complete understanding of EFT and EFT training videos are available at www.emofree.com.