Heal Your Emotions with Emotional Acupuncture
In my quest to learn about new Anti-Aging and alternative health-healing techniques, I sometimes run across unconventional, or unusual, practices to see what they might offer my clients. That’s how I found this particular healing practice that I’d like to tell you about. It’s called EFT – short for Emotional Freedom Techniques – which I actually first heard of a few years ago. It may have some emotional/physical health benefits for you. Let me tell you about it and you can decide for yourself if you’d like to try it.
EFT: Heal Yourself with Tapping
Emotional Freedom Techniques, or EFT, were founded by Gary Craig about 10 years ago. Some have referred to it as “emotional or psychological acupuncture” as its implementation borrows from the Chinese acupuncture system of accessing specific energy meridians in your body. Yet, it doesn’t use needles like traditional acupuncture does in treating physical ailments. Instead, it uses “tapping” – lightly hitting these meridians with your fingertips. In addition, it activates the specific energy meridians in the tips of your fingers.
Proponents of EFT say that it, when properly done, it rebalances disturbances in your body’s energy meridians which, in turn, can realign your emotional well-being in minutes to hours versus weeks to months of psychotherapy. The basic method is easily to learn by everyone, according to practitioners; even children can learn to do it. It can help you replace negative thought patterns with positive ones, thereby helping you to feel calm and relaxed. It can be used to fight depression, anxiety, food or substance addictions, weight loss and more.
It works on the principle – much like acupuncture and acupressure do – that your body carries electrical energy within it. When your flow of electrical energy is blocked, or diminished, certain emotional and/or physical ailments can occur, practitioners believe.
EFT works on the simple principle, “the cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body’s energy system”. This is quite different from the basis of traditional psychotherapy which has patients reliving painful past experiences to treat problem emotions. EFT practitioners believe that you don’t have to relive painful memories in order to heal yourself emotionally – you simply need to rebalance your energy meridians. As a result, there is little, to no, emotional suffering associated with using EFT to heal yourself.
Learning EFT yourself, or working with an EFT practitioner, requires you to briefly recall whatever emotionally traumatic experience is causing you pain. Then, EFT deals with the intermediate result that occurred between the event and your suffering, which is the energy disconnect. Reconnecting the energy is done by tapping specific meridians in your body.
The Meridians for Tapping
First, recite the problem you want to relieve, in the manner that EFT practitioners recommend. For example, “Even though I feel anxious, I deeply and completely accept myself”. Then, using the tips of either your index or middle finger (either hand), or your four fingers (index through little finger), whichever is more comfortable for you, you will tap several times on each meridian. The following is a basic chart which shows you where the meridians are.
1. Position TH, top of your head, tap several times.
2. Position EB, (eyebrow) tap several times.
3. Position SE (side eye) tap several times.
4. Position UE, under eye, tap several times.
5. Position UN, under nose, tap several times, and then move to
6. Position CH, chin, tap several times.
7. Position CB, collarbone, tap several times.
8. Position UA, under arm, tap several times.
9. Position WR, wrists, tap several times.
It may take some getting used to, but EFT may help you get rid of some negative self-talk and habits. EFT practitioners recommend doing the tapping exercises a few times a day. Shift your “mind talk” to more positive words. Replace negative phrases like “I can’t” to the more positive, future oriented, “I don’t yet know how to do that but I’m going to learn”. Remember, consistent words/thoughts become reality in a mind over matter result.
