All Entries in the "Energy Healing" Category

EFT For Pets (Or How To Save On Vet Bills)

Did you know that you can use EFT to help your pets? It’s very effective and fast and can bring great relief to your animals AND your checkbook.

Essential: First Calm Yourself

Unless it’s such an emergency that there’s no time to do this, take a minute to use EFT on yourself first. Clear (or at least reduce) your issues about your pet’s problem. These might include:

• Worry or anxiety about your pet’s injury or condition
• Anger at a person or circumstance contributing to the problem
• Guilt that you contributed to it or didn’t notice it sooner
• Doubt that tapping can help

In my experience, if you’re too upset, that negative energy can block the success of EFT healing for your pet.

NOTE: If there’s no time to do EFT on yourself, at least take a deep breath and visualize setting your own concerns on a shelf until later. It works!

If Your Pet Lets You Tap

Some animals have no resistance to your tapping on them. If that’s the case, do it! Some people tap on points equivalent to our own points. That’s not always possible, however. Most pets respond to gentle tapping up and down their spine, so you can try that. The top of the head is another place that’s generally easy to get to and is effective.

When You Can’t Tap On Them

There are reasons why it won’t work to tap on your pet. For example:

• You can’t dive into the fish tank.
• Your pet is too upset (or stuck in a tree).
• You’re already at the vet and can’t physically tap on your pet.

Now What?

Now you can tap on yourself on behalf of your pet. It’s called surrogate tapping or proxy tapping. You just pretend you’re the animal and tap on yourself, saying what the animal might say.

Here’s a sample of how I helped my cat who was hiding in a corner with a large cactus thorn in his mouth, and a piece of cactus stuck to his inner thigh. I skipped the setup.
Then I just tapped around the points on my own face and body, saying:

This really hurts and I don’t know what’s going on. Mom loves me and she’s helping me now. I can trust Mom to help me. I’m feeling calm now and my breathing is slowing down. It’s safe for me to let Mom help me. I know she loves me. I can feel all the love right now. It’s OK for me to let Mom come close [he can be very stand-offish}. I can relax now and let Mom help me. It’s OK for Mom to tap on my head. It will feel really good to let Mom tap on my back.

He calmed down and let me remove the cactus without resisting — amazing for his personality! And he allowed me to tap a little bit up and down his spine. Then he walked away, breathing much more slowly than before and appearing normal.

I went back to tapping on myself as if I were him, saying:
I ask my body to heal itself quickly. I don’t need any reaction, so I let go of any swelling. I ask my body to easily let go of any thorns that might be left. I feel like my old self, and I’m ready to enjoy life again. I love being tapped on and I love Mom to help me if I’m hurt. I’ll remember this next time I get myself into trouble.

Who knows? Maybe he will!

Other Animal Examples

Some other ways I’ve used it are:

• To help a cat heal from a coyote bite wound on his leg
• To calm an old dog who freaks out when her owner leaves the house
• To clear some unknown obstruction in the throat of a coughing cat
• To calm a lizard down so I could catch it to put it outside
• To get a yellow jacket to leave our picnic table!

Animal EFT Experts

There are tapping practitioners that specialize in working with animals, who go far beyond these simple guidelines. You can easily find them online through Google or at emofree.com.

In the meantime, this is a great way to help your pets when they’re in trouble — and to enjoy your picnics more. Just trust yourself, knowing you have the animal’s best interest at heart. Say whatever comes to mind. Give it a try and let us know how it goes by posting a comment below.

To read about surrogate tapping for other people, check out Tapping For Others - What’s The Deal?

Untangle The Knot Of Feeling And Facts

Sometimes tapping issues can be a little tricky to sort out. There are the feelings you have and the plain old truthful facts about it. If your emotions on the topic are strong, the separation between facts and feelings can be hard to find. Or you may think it’s ALL feelings, or even ALL facts.

Maybe you’re thinking, “So what? I’ll just start tapping and it will all sort itself out.” That is one approach, and it may be successful. But it can help to at least be aware of the facts versus feelings components of your issue.

In The Beginning

Tangling up facts and feelings can cause resistance to tapping on the issue in the first place. Let me give you an example. A client (“Ben”) was extremely uncomfortable at networking events. He mumbled, avoided people and felt nauseous. He felt ashamed that he didn’t know how to clearly describe his coaching practice.

Ben saw no point to tapping on this issue because he was sure he just needed to come up with his perfect 30-second intro speech. But the fact was that his dread of networking came up any time he thought of writing his speech. And that fear stifled his ability to think creatively to write a good intro speech. With this tangled knot, there was no way out of his dilemma.

What’s The Answer?

Here’s what we did: We acknowledged that it is a fact that he could benefit from writing a good intro speech. We acknowledged that he had strong feelings of fear and shame when networking.

We tapped away the fears and shame and limiting beliefs and here’s what happened: He went to a networking event the next day and had fun! He still didn’t have a good intro speech, but he wasn’t concerned about it. He was able to connect with people anyway, which is the whole point of networking.

So the fact that he needed a good speech didn’t change. But we untangled it from the feelings. Now Ben has the confidence that with some focused effort, he can craft a good speech. And it’s still a fact that when he does, his networking will probably produce better results.

Don’t Forget To Check

Self-blame about an issue can be easily overlooked. But it can anchor other emotions so that they’re hard to clear. So when you untangle your own knots of facts and feelings, be sure to check for that. In Ben’s case, the self-blame was strong related to his unwritten intro speech. We cleared the other feelings and beliefs more quickly by starting off with eliminating that blame.

Keeping Balance With EFT

EFT is all about balance. It’s a method to bring your system back to the naturally healthy and peaceful emotional state that is true balance. Essentially, EFT clears the excesses, bringing you back to the center.

Keep Your Own Tapping In Balance

Tapping is a terrific way to clear unwanted, negative feelings, events and physical problems. And that’s great. It’s so fast and so effective; what more could you ask for?

But if you use EFT a lot, it’s possible to get your point of view a little lopsided – focused mainly on problems. Even if you’re steadily eliminating those problems, you may be missing out.

You need to have some focus on the good stuff, too. Not just the absence of the negative. If this seems like splitting hairs, think about it a little more.

Musical Variety

What if that unwanted issue were a kind of music that you really dislike? It’s too loud or too sad or too annoying. So the EFT clears out that crummy tune and brings you to silence. Silence is a wonderful thing, and sure beats listening to that music you can’t stand.

Now here’s another issue you’re going to tap on (more crummy music). Then the blessed relief of silence (clearing with tapping). And again. And once more. And another time. Back to silence.

So what’s wrong with this picture? Silence is not the only option other than lousy music. What about some good music? Let’s get a little balance in here!

It’s possible to use EFT to make your own good “music” – some really positive focus. Here are some ways to create that balance.

On Your Own

Before you start tapping on a problem, take a minute to back off from the issue. Imagine what will be different when it’s no longer bothering you. Get a clear picture of the best possible outcome. Imagine how you’ll feel when you’re there. Yum!

Then come back to your issue and tap it away. You may find you’ll release it more quickly this way as your body-mind has a clear target for where it’s headed. This can lower your resistance to releasing the problem.

For the final few rounds of your tapping, tap in the positive. Use Pat Carrington’s Choices methods, or just make up your own positive statements. Include words of gratitude for being done with the problem. Add a round about how much you’re looking forward to new possibilities, going into detail about what those possibilities are.

Tap In Affirmations

Regularly tapping in affirmations is a great way to keep your balance. Click here to read a separate post about that.

How do YOU keep your balance with EFT? Let us hear how it goes for you and leave a comment below.

Allow Pop-ups? Side Issues Showing Up During EFT

Once you’re into a tapping session, it’s not unusual for another issue to show up — something a little different from what you started with.

Always A Good Thing

It may not feel pleasant (unwanted emotions seldom do). But the way I look at it, any issue showing up always give you more information about yourself and what you’d be better off without. Right? So the appearance of a new issue during an EFT session is always good news.

Temporary Issues

One version of pop-up issues are temporary ones. They show up by seeming to pile on to what your’e already tapping on. The key word here is “seeming.” It’s an illusion that they’re really a part of your original issue.

Suddenly your intensity number can seem to go up, even when it’s been steadily dropping. These are just temporary issues. Let me explain what I mean by giving a few examples.

New Fear

A new business owner was tapping away concerns about marketing staff who were doing initial website, logo and startup work. His concerns were that they might mess everything up. The business would never get off the ground. We were tapping and his intensity number was steadily dropping.

Suddenly his emotional intensity went up. With a little questioning, we found the cause was fear about supervising future office staff. This was a brand new fear. It clearly wasn’t the original issue we were tapping on. So the intensity number didn’t apply to our original issue.

And this new fear only appeared because of new possibilities opening up — possibilities he could now see because his marketing startup fears were disappearing. So we acknowledged that he was definitely moving forward. Progress can wear some uncomfortable disguises, can’t it? A part of him was already down the road, visualizing the business and up and running with office staff on board. Excellent!

We wrote down the new fear so we could check back on it later. Then we continued to tap down the original issue to zero. When we checked back on the office staff fear, it was gone! Strictly a temporary issue.

Hindsight Sadness

Another pop-up issue I see frequently is sudden sadness. Again, this usually shows up when the intensity on the original issue has dropped quite a bit. Here’s an example of how this works:

A musician was tapping on concerns about an upcoming performance. We were using EFT to release fears, lack of confidence and self-blame about not preparing well enough.

We’d made a lot of progress, when suddenly her emotional intensity number went up. This was another case of a new emotion showing up, but this time it was sorrow. Just showed up out of the blue. She was feeling really sad that she’d been blaming herself and thought of all the times in the past when she’d done the same thing.

So we did the same routine: Acknowledge that this shows progress — right? If she hadn’t let go of the self-blame, she couldn’t be looking back in hindsight at it. And there wouldn’t be room to have that compassion for herself. Guilt and shame and scolding herself would still be crowding it out.

So once again we stopped to realize she’s seriously moving towards being completely clear of the original issue. Great!

Next we wrote down that sadness, so we could come back to it. Then we continued tapping on the original concerns and feelings about the performance — down to zero. When we checked back on that sadness, it was gone, too. Another temporary issue.

Other Types of Side Issues

There are definitely pop-up issues that are NOT temporary. But that’s another story….. Stay tuned for another post on that.

In the meantime, what’s your experience? How do you deal with these extra issues that show up during EFT? Let’s hear your side of the story, too — in the comments area below.

Tapping For Others -What’s The Deal?

“Do I need permission to tap for someone else?”
“I can’t stand her. Can I tap for her to change?”
“Does EFT work for remote healing?”
“Do they need to know when I’m tapping for it to work?”

These are some of the questions you’ve been asking about surrogate EFT, or tapping for someone else. The answers are a little more involved than a simple “yes” or “no.” So let’s take a look at them.

The Right And Wrong Of It

Some people are adamant that any treatment (including EFT) must be done with the permission of the recipient — like informed consent for a medical procedure.

Others say the permission thing only applies to those who CAN say yes. So that rules out unconscious people, pre-verbal babies, people with dementia, etc.

I look at it this way: If I think a good thought about someone, or meditate on goodness for them, or do my version of praying for them, I don’t ask permission. I just do it! I figure that since my intention is good, I can’t possibly harm them, so why not?

And on the flip side, do you ask permission before you think a crummy thought about someone or gossip about them? If thoughts and words have energy (which I think they do), then where’s the consent of the receiver of your negativity?

Kinda makes you go hmmmmmmm….., doesn’t it?

Tapping To Change Someone Else

Hey - good luck with that! That works about as well as any other way you try to change another person. Unless you’re a plastic surgeon, it’s not really going to happen.

A better approach is to tap on your own feelings about the person and how you respond to them. Once you clear your own unwanted emotions, think about that person again.

There’s almost always some kind of fear at the bottom of unpleasant behavior. Maybe you could surrogate tap for them on their fear, intending some healing for them.

Distance EFT

Whether remote EFT works or not is another great question to ponder. There are many testimonials to its effective use long distance on the website of EFT founder Gary Craig at www.emofree.com. Some amazing results have been reported.

In my experience, whether it works or not depends on a variety of things. And each factor carries a different weight in each circumstance. Here are some considerations:

• How strong a connection is there between the tapper and tappee (person being tapped for)?
• How skilled is the tapper?
• Is there more than one person tapping?
• How resistant to healing (consciously or subconsciously) is the tappee?

Do They Need To Know For It To Work?

There are a couple of ways to look at this question. If the tappee DOES know there’s surrogate tapping going on, maybe their added intention of healing could help it be more effective. Some would argue that their knowledge of it happening is what’s making it work.

On the other hand, maybe knowing that someone’s tapping for you could raise more subconscious resistance to healing (AKA “reversals” in EFT jargon). Possibly that could actually prevent the EFT from working.

Not a simple answer….but I warned you about that.

What Do You Think?

Have you done any surrogate tapping? Are you for it or against it? Let us all know about it and leave a comment here.

EFT For Great Medication Results

Healing comes from many sources, and they all have something to offer. Options range from herbal remedies to penicillin. From complex surgery to reflexology. From distant prayer healing to psychiatry. And of course, there’s EFT.

It’s Not An Either-Or Situation

You don’t have to choose just one thing to help yourself heal. Tapping works beautifully on its own for emotional and physical problems. But it can also help boost the effectiveness of other things.

It’s your body-mind and you’re in charge, so you can choose any combination of tools you want. Your active participation in your own healing process can’t help but speed it up.

Help Your Medications Work Better

There are different ways you can use EFT to improve the effectiveness of meds. Here are some steps you can take:

1. Start by tapping away any negative feelings about the medication. Examples: I hate to take pills. They cost so much. I should have done _____ and then I wouldn’t have to take this. I hate how it makes my mouth dry.
2. Then use EFT to reduce unwanted side effects. Tap away the belief that it has to be happen that way. Examples: a belief that your mouth must be dry when you take these pills, that your ears must ring, that you must be drowsy, etc.
3. Next, use EFT to amp up the good effects of the medication. Tap in affirmations about the great results you always get from taking your medication. Focus on the intended outcome for taking it in the first place. Example: This antibiotic is working so quickly to eliminate the infection.
4. Use EFT to get your body to partner perfectly with the medication. Tap in affirmations that this is happening. The phrase “I ask my (body part) to…” is one that gets great results. Example: I ask my immune system to work perfectly with this antibiotic to release this infection.

Don’t Forget To Say Thanks

Finish off with some gratitude and appreciation affirmations. Appreciate yourself, your body, the medication, the healthcare providers who help you, your spiritual source — express your gratitude for the healing that’s happening.

This last step feels really good. Even hardcore scientists agree that it will flood your body with beneficial biochemicals.

Keep Us Posted

Give this a try and let us know about your experience with it. Come back and leave a comment.

EFT For Allergy Relief

A reader asked the other day if EFT can be used for gluten intolerance that celiacs experience. That inspired me to pass on this great tapping technique to deal with any kind of sensitivity to substances. There’s really no need to resign yourself to a lifetime of bad reactions.

EFT is the perfect tool to eliminate sensitivities and allergies. This includes reactions to foods, pets, plants, fumes — any substance that your body reacts to in a negative way. No matter what the trouble-causing substance, the approach is pretty much the same.

Where To Begin

First, ask yourself when the allergy or sensitivity first appeared. Then ask if anything traumatic occurred in your life around that time — or within the few months beforehand.

If not, ask yourself if you experienced any trauma directly connected to the substance you’re sensitive to (cat scratch, choked on milk, etc.). Then use EFT to clear that trauma — either on your own, or with a practitioner. Eliminating the effects of that related event often results in the end of the allergy.

If There’s No Remembered Trauma

If nothing occurs to you in answer to those two trauma questions, try the following:

1. Place the substance or food in a container of glass, metal or pottery (not plastic or paper). For airborne allergies, place a bowl of water outside for a few hours, or wave a damp towel around in the air to collect particles. Then pour the water into a jar or put the towel in a bowl. For dust, pet hair, carpet, etc., gather a little and put it in a jar with a lid on it (or have somebody else do that for you).
2. Then hold the container in your lap (for tapping with both hands) or simply touch the container with one hand while tapping with the other. Please note: When tapping, you can refer to “the substances in this jar”, or the “stuff on this towel” – You don’t have to know what it is causing the problem to be able to clear it.

Start Using EFT

Your body responds really well to the phrase, “I ask my body to…”. So after doing your EFT set-up, tap using that phrase. For more about exactly how to do this, read more here.

EFT - Clearing Clusters - A Tapping Shortcut

Tapping in its standard form is a remarkably fast way to release old issues — much faster than other types of therapy. And EFT works really quickly to eliminate fears and unhelpful beliefs, too. You can work with these issues and obstacles one at a time and get great, lasting results.

But did you know there are times when it works just as well to cluster issues together? You can tap on several things at the same time and get rid of all of them at once.

When To Cluster

It’s important to use this Clearing Clusters technique with care. It’s not always appropriate. That means you won’t get good results with EFT if you choose this shortcut at the wrong time. Here are some successful times to use this.

Repeated Events

If you experienced similar repeated episodes of the same unwanted or traumatic events, you can cluster them together and tap on the whole cluster.

Note that the events must be closely related — all the times you got yelled at by your high school coach. Or all the times your brother beat you up. It won’t work to try to cluster all the times ANYBODY hollered at you when you were little. Stick to repeated interactions with one person (or one group).

Lists of Fears

You can use Clearing Clusters on any list of related fears or anxieties. For instance, if you’re dreading your presentation tomorrow, write down all your fears or worries that come up when you think about it. Or if you find yourself putting off doing a particular thing, ask yourself what you might be concerned about that has you stalling. Then tap away that whole list.

Again, the concerns must be naturally connected in order for this to work. And their common thread must be specific. So it won’t work to try to list every fear you can think of that keeps you habitually procrastinating on everything.

But Clearing Clusters WILL work if you choose a single project you’re putting off, and identify your fears connected to that.

Unwanted Beliefs

Old beliefs that no longer serve you often come in clusters. So this is a speedy way to eliminate them. There are two different ways you can group beliefs to tap them away.

Group By Topic: An example of a topic would be getting hired for a job. Just write down the list of interfering beliefs that bog you down — whatever that unhelpful gremlin in your head says: They’ll never hire me. Everyone else is more qualified. I never get the job I want. – You get the idea.

Group By Origin: Here’s where you cluster beliefs that originated from one person or group. So if you hear someone’s voice in your head all the time telling you things that don’t help, write down that list. Maybe it’s a parent, an influential teacher or religious figure; maybe a list of cultural beliefs.

How You Clear Those Clusters - Getting Started

For instructions on exactly how to do this, click here to read more.

Spiritual Beliefs and EFT

It doesn’t matter what your spiritual and/or religious beliefs are — EFT can work with them. In fact, it doesn’t matter WHAT you believe. Tapping works, even if you don’t believe it can.

Complete Compatibility

Tappers around the world use EFT, regardless of their faith or the principles they believe in. Although its effects can be felt in body, mind and spirit, tapping is a physiological process. In the body. That’s why it works for nearly everyone - whether people think it will or not.

Incorporating Your Beliefs

You might enjoy your EFT experience more, or even get more from it, by tapping into your beliefs (no pun intended) during your sessions. Whether you’re Wiccan, Muslim, Jewish, Pagan, Christian, Sufi — or have your own special brand of spirituality, this can work for you. Whether your philosophy and orientation involve metaphysical principles or esoteric beliefs — or not. Everyone’s included.

If you’re a practitioner, listen for clues from your clients about their belief systems.

How You Do It

You have several options to combine spirituality with EFT.

1. Before you tap, say a prayer or invoke your guides, ancestors, or highest self to join you as you tap. Or simply hold an intention to be aligned with your spiritual source.
2. During your session, request or acknowledge spiritual help in releasing your issue.
3. At the end of your session, give thanks for making it so easy.

Be creative! Come up with your own ways. Why not use all your resources to help in your healing?

What’s your experience with this? Let us all know by leaving a comment.

EFT - Eliminate Your Resistance to Using It

So you’ve tried EFT and it works really well for you. But you’re not using it. You intend to. You want to. But somehow you’re not getting around to it. Sound familiar?

Use EFT to Use EFT More Often

You can tap on your resistance to using EFT. You don’t have to analyze it to make use of it. You don’t have to know why. If you do, that’s great — you can tap on that issue, too. But you can just get started in a really easy way.

Keep It Simple

Just follow the usual steps for EFT, focusing on that resistance as your issue.

When Tapping Doesn’t Occur To You

Sometimes you don’t even think of EFT as a solution to feeling crummy. You just get caught up in the worry, the anger, the sadness — whatever negative emotion. Tapping hasn’t become a habit yet. It’s only in hindsight that you think, “I could have tapped on that!”

There Is A Solution
There are two ways you can help yourself to have EFT pop up as an option to feeling bad:

1. Tap in a daily affirmation at a regular time each day.
2. End every EFT session you do with positive statements about using EFT.

To get the whole scoop on how to do this, read more …