About EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)
by Anni Casey
This article is part of our 'About' series where we asked practitioners of various healing modalities and therapies the same set of questions to give you some background information, features of the healing modality, health benefits and what you might expect from a session with this type of practitioner.
1. What type of healing modality or therapy do you practice and how would you summarize it?
Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT. EFT is a therapeutic mind-body approach which discharges excess emotional distress and assists in freeing one's natural growth process. In doing so, it is also capable of dramatically relieving many physical symptoms. The basic theory is that the cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body's energy system. By correcting the disturbance on an energy level, we simultaneously correct it on a psychological and physiological level. We correct the disturbance by tapping on various meridian points on the body.
2. Why did you decide to become a practitioner in this field and what do you enjoy most about it?
I am an aromatherapist and natural therapies practitioner and my clients would often vent their fears and worries whilst on the massage table. Whilst I could do a lot to alleviate their muscular aches and pains, I felt that I needed a way to address their emotional needs as well, thereby offering a more holistic service. This is what led me to learn EFT.
3. What is the history or foundation of this therapy/healing modality?
EFT actually has its origins in Traditional Chinese Medicine. It is an offshoot of Thought Field Therapy (TFT) another energy/meridian technique, which I have studied as well. The ancient Chinese, and many other ancient cultures, believed that we all have an energy body and that energy flows through this body along lines called 'meridians'. They believed that blockages in the meridians caused illness. EFT works on releasing these blockages.
4. What are the key features and components of this form of therapy/healing modality?
- Tapping on key meridian points to discharge energy.
- Easy to demonstrate, easy to perform.
- Works on removing the negative emotional component from a memory, event, circumstance or situation.
- Results are fairly rapid.
- Can be used for a wide range of emotions, eg. fears, phobias, traumatic memories.
- Can be used for physical ailments that have been caused by negative emotions, eg. headaches, joint pains, rashes.
- Suitable for people of all ages - children respond very quickly to EFT as they usually don't have as many layers to work through.
5. Does this therapy/healing modality cater to the physical body, mind, emotions, spirit, or a combination of these?
This modality addresses the energy disturbances brought about by emotional distress caused by an event that could have occurred on any of the above levels.
6. When should someone visit this type of practitioner?
EFT can address a wide variety of fields: fears, phobias, stressors of any kind. Habits and addictions. If anything is not working in your life, eg. in a work or relationship rut, over/under eating. Enhancing work or sports performance.
7. What can someone expect from a session?
Usual length is 1 hour. The client sits comfortably in a chair and we begin by finding the underlying cause of the emotional disturbance. This is often like peeling back the layers of an onion. Quite often, what we end up tapping on is not what the client first thought the problem was caused by. The reason for this is that one's reason for reacting to a situation very often goes beyond the obvious. Once the underlying reasons are found, the clearing process becomes very fast.
8. What are the most common outcomes for clients?
The outcomes are very positive. Because we settle the energy disturbance, you feel very peaceful and calm in mind and body. Clients feel a sense of freedom and confidence. They are able to achieve things that they were held back from doing their life becomes more aligned with their true purpose.
9. Can you share some success stories from this form of therapy/healing modality?
a) A 26yr old lady wanted to apply for a job up the ladder in her workplace, but this involved giving weekly presentations to the department heads (approx 12 people). She really wanted the job, knew she could do the work, however she was terrified of speaking in front of a group of people.
By asking various questions, we arrived at the true cause of her distress her father had been a very critical man. Any time she tried to make conversation around the dinner table, the father would criticize and humiliate her. Therefore in the future, any time she thought about speaking in front of anyone, the rush of chemicals was produced again resulting in the energy disturbance in the meridians.
The successful outcome after only 2 sessions was that she took the job and she commented that she feels calm and confident whilst waiting for her turn to speak. Freeing herself to do what she dreamt of has made her extremely happy and fulfilled.
b) A 35yr old married mother of 2 wanted to stop binge eating and lose weight. Again, we worked through to find the root cause of this behaviour. Her husband was always keeping a watchful eye on what she ate so she took to binge eating in the bathroom for revenge (in her words). Through her life she resented people telling her what to do but didn't have the courage to stand up and tell people her needs. She therefore found ways to get back at them behind their backs which gave her a temporary rush.
It took 3 sessions to clear the contributing underlying causes of this behaviour. She stopped binge eating in the bathroom after the 1st session. She has since lost weight but more importantly, she can now confidently say what her needs and wants are and is not led to doing something that doesn't fit with her new found self worth.
c) A 9yr old boy was terrified of spiders. The fear of spiders was stifling his life he wouldn't go to the park with friends in case 'a spider jumps out of a tree'. He was fearful of being in the backyard because spiders lived there.
We couldn't pinpoint where the fear had originated, but nevertheless, we tapped for the spider phobia, which cleared by the end of the session. However, the true test came when he was confronted by a huntsman spider. His mother rang to let me know that upon arriving home from school one afternoon, she asked him to clear the mailbox something he wouldn't do before the EFT in case there was a spider in there (so this was an improvement in itself). As fate would have it, as he pulled the mail out there was a spider on it. Prior to EFT this incident would have made him hysterical. However, he now calmly watched as the spider went up his arm and rested under his shirt collar, he managed to brush the spider off and watched it go into the garden.
It's always so rewarding to free kids from irrational fears and phobias so that they aren't burdened by the baggage in adult life.
10. Is there anything else that stands out to you about this form of therapy/healing modality that you'd like to share?
EFT and TFT are in a genre called energy psychology. The applications are vast. In my work with my clients I have seen very deep and lasting results with people being freed to live the life they want to live. There are so many powerful applications for these modalities and my wish is that in the near future doctors would work alongside us to assist people in dealing with illnesses such as depression, anxiety and lack of self esteem in a healthy way rather than through harmful drugs that only prolong the illness by not addressing it.
Thank you to Anni Casey of Beacon Hill, Australia for answering Peaceful Willow's questions about EFT. Anni is a fully qualified and accredited natural therapist offering not only EFT sessions but aromatherapy, massage, reiki, reflexology and much more for body, mind and spirit. For more information about Anni please visit her website: www.annishealinggarden.com.au.