What is EFT and Does It Work?

When I first heard about EFT (The Emotional Freedom Technique) a few years ago, I was a little skeptical. The idea of being able to “tap-out” negative energy seemed a little too far fetched even to me, who is pretty much open to trying any spiritual practice at least once.

But not wanting to dismiss anything out of hand, I decided to give it a try. Six years later I am still using the technique for everything from a headache to any kind of fear that might occasionally arise.

It is an amazingly simple process that works wonders on anything from physical pain to fears and phobias to simply helping one to break a bad habit. It can even help you with weight loss, feelings about lack of money, sports performance or relationship issues.

The founder of the technique, Gary Craig, explains the process of EFT as based on “a new discovery regarding the body's subtle energies. Simply stated, it is an emotional version of acupuncture, except needles aren't necessary. Instead, you stimulate well established energy meridian points on your body by tapping on them with your fingertips. The process is easy to memorize and is portable so you can do it anywhere.”

In a typical session there are 8 different meridian points on your body that need to be tapped while you mentally address whatever your issue might be.

So a typical session would go something like this.

Say your issue is a fear of driving over bridges. You have had this fear for awhile. Every time you have ever gone over a bridge you can feel yourself tense up, you hold your breath, your heart feels like it leaps into your throat. So this is the issue you will obviously want to be healing.

So the first question you ask yourself is on a scale of 1 to 10 how much negative energy do I feel around this subject? Say your answer is 8. So now you create a statement for yourself such as “Even though I have this intense fear of driving over bridges, I completely love and accept myself.” (There are different end phrases you can use but I have found “I completely love and accept myself” at the end of statements work surprisingly well regardless of what you are trying to fix.)

As you keep repeating your sentence again and again you will tap on the 8 places described on the EFT video or website (more information on that later). You will do these series of taps through 2 cycles.

Then you are to re-ask yourself the original question. On a scale of 1 to 10 how much fear do I feel around this subject? You will be absolutely amazed at how much your fear level will have decreased. And I am not talking about a “Yeah, well maybe there is a little difference,” I am talking about a major “Holy Canoli! I cannot believe that this worked!” kind of feeling.

The only trick (if you want to call it that) is finding exactly what the “blockage” is.

For instance when I first heard about this technique my biggest problem at the time was creating money. So I ran through a whole bunch of statements regarding money. Such as:

Even though I don’t have a lot of money right now, I love and accept myself completely. (I felt a little better.)
Even though I haven’t done as well financially as I expected to yet, I love and accept myself completely ( I felt a little more relief)

I went through a bunch more. But then I hit on the big one.

“Even though I don’t think I am deserving of a lot of money, I love and accept myself completely.” All of a sudden, I felt like a 20 pound weight had been lifted off my chest! As in physically lifted off of me! I was stunned because I hadn‘t expected a feeling like that at all. It suddenly felt as if my chest has opened up and expanded!

You see, I didn’t even know that feeling “deserving” was one of the things holding me back from making money. I was just following advice I had found at the EFT website.

In looking back now, I can see many ways I might have unconsciously picked up that vibration in my lifetime and how somehow that idea had gotten trapped up inside of me.

By tapping on those physical release points I hit it dead on and the feeling was let go immediately.

It was my first experience of going from an 8 in anxiety down to a 0 in a matter of seconds.

I was so excited I started immediately tapping out other things. My fear of driving at the time, anxiety about unpaid bills, lack of self esteem, a constant nagging stomach pain, that I had. And I was able to bring relief to all those areas (though admittedly not as quickly or as dramatically as the money one) but with another round or two of tapping was able to eliminate them.

The greatest things about this exercise is:

1. You can do it yourself so you do not need help from others (though there are trained people who can help you take it to a deeper level if you desire)
2. It is free and easy to learn! You can be doing it for yourself in as little as 10 minutes
3. You can do it anywhere - because it even works if you do it mentally. (Because of coarse there may be times when tapping yourself in public would look a little strange)
4. You can even use it to help others. My young son was amazed when I did it on him to get rid of a headache. He thought it was like "magic". (The downside is he now asks me to do it in lieu of taking medicine for the bigger things. Sorry buddy - but nice try!)
5. It also works in ways and on issues you have never even considered.

The following video is one is one of many that can be found on YouTube. This first one explains EFT in more detail and the different ways you can use it and why.


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Or if you would just like to jump right to the technique see this video:

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Also be sure to visit this site. It is a link to the original EFT site that has tons of different ways you can use it and even gives you the different sentences you should try when applying the process.

Again, if you look around a little you will see ways to deal with:

Quitting Smoking (or other bad habits)
Fear of bills or Lack of Money
Anger at Loved Ones
Physical Pains
Major Fears or Traumas

So many people contribute to this site with excellent ideas they have tried.

So give it a shot today! You might find like I did that you will end up using it all the time for instant relief!

Happy Creating!