How does EFT work to release negative emotions?
Written by Theodore Herazy | 
How Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) functions as well and dependably as it does is explained within the discovery statement or fundamental premise of EFT. This concept is the starting point of understanding how EFT reduces emotional stress:
"The cause of all negative emotions and beliefs is a disturbance in the body's energy system."
Emotional Freedom Technique approaches the problem of emotional stress from the vastly different standpoint of Energy Psychology, certainly not the way the psychologists or psychiatrists consider these problems. For this reason the mechanics and outcomes of EFT are unlike what people expect.
This energy system referred to above is the same animating and vitalizing energy system associated with the ancient healing art of acupuncture, called chi. Chi energy travels within and over the body in 14 clearly described channels, pathways or meridians. Another principle of acupuncture that applies to EFT is that any disease, pain or disturbance of the body is caused by a disruption of chi energy. As such, negative emotions like anxiety, fear, anger, a phobia of any kind, and so on, are also caused by a disturbance in one or more chi energy meridians.
It was Gary Craig's genius, developer of Emotional Freedom Technique, to theorize and determine that when the person with a stressful memory or event thinks of it, the linked or associated energy disturbance that was created because of it becomes activated, causing the person to experience the negative emotional and physical response connected to that memory or event.
"The cause of all negative emotions and beliefs is a disturbance in the body's energy system."
Emotional Freedom Technique approaches the problem of emotional stress from the vastly different standpoint of Energy Psychology, certainly not the way the psychologists or psychiatrists consider these problems. For this reason the mechanics and outcomes of EFT are unlike what people expect.
This energy system referred to above is the same animating and vitalizing energy system associated with the ancient healing art of acupuncture, called chi. Chi energy travels within and over the body in 14 clearly described channels, pathways or meridians. Another principle of acupuncture that applies to EFT is that any disease, pain or disturbance of the body is caused by a disruption of chi energy. As such, negative emotions like anxiety, fear, anger, a phobia of any kind, and so on, are also caused by a disturbance in one or more chi energy meridians.
It was Gary Craig's genius, developer of Emotional Freedom Technique, to theorize and determine that when the person with a stressful memory or event thinks of it, the linked or associated energy disturbance that was created because of it becomes activated, causing the person to experience the negative emotional and physical response connected to that memory or event.
Emotional Freedom Technique reduces the emotional and the physical reaction associated with the distressing memory or event by neutralizing the connection between the memory or event and the disturbed energy response. This is done by the person being treated by EFT who deliberately and methodically experiences the reaction of the energy disturbance, while holding the thought of the negative or stressful memory and tapping with the fingertips on a few acupuncture points on the face and chest.
With this tapping action, additional energy is brought into the body to neutralize, normalize or reduce the energy disruption in all affected meridian pathways. Energy flow is normalized, and as a consequence the body functions better in all physical, emotional and mental dimensions.
With this tapping action, additional energy is brought into the body to neutralize, normalize or reduce the energy disruption in all affected meridian pathways. Energy flow is normalized, and as a consequence the body functions better in all physical, emotional and mental dimensions.
Getting Into the Holiday SpiritWritten by Margaret Paul, Ph.D. |
What comes to mind when you think about the holidays?
Do you groan, feeling burdened by all you have to do? Do you dread going shopping for gifts or cleaning up after a Christmas or Chanukah celebration? Or, do you feel a sense of fun, of delight, of joy in the celebrating, giving and receiving? Which part of you is in charge of the holidays – your judgmental self or your loving self? Think for a moment about the little child in you – the child that loved the holidays. What delighted you about Christmas or Chanukah? Most kids are really excited about receiving gifts, but many children also feel equally excited about giving gifts. Did you enjoy decorating your house? Or, were the holidays a sad time, a time of heartbreak due to not having enough money? Or a time of loneliness due to the loss of a loved one? Were they a time of stress in your family? Was there abuse around the holiday time? Whatever the situation of the past, you have an opportunity now, as an adult, to give your own inner child the Christmas or Chanukah he or she wants and deserves. You have an opportunity to move into gratitude for what you have rather than anxiety for all you have to do. Instead of choosing to dread or resist the holiday spirit, why not open to it, embrace it, feel the grace of it? Let the child in you do the shopping for gifts. Let the child in you receive the delight of picking out just the right gift for a friend or loved one. Or let the child in you find some way to give, some way to share your love. Even if you are alone or poor, instead of feeling sorry for yourself, find a way to give your caring to someone who has less than you. The Temptation of the Critical VoiceWritten by Margaret Paul, Ph.D. |
Each of us has an inner critic. There is no way to grow up in our society without having developed this inner critical voice which comes from parents, teachers, peers, the media, and from our own conclusions.
The problem is that this inner critic sounds like a voice of authority when in reality it doesn't know what it is talking about. It is a voice based on beliefs that have been handed down through generations but that have no basis in fact. How often has this voice said to you: You can't do it. You are inadequate. You are stupid and ugly. If he (or she) rejects you, it is because you are not okay. You had better do it right. If you don't, everyone will know that you are a fraud. It is NOT okay to make a mistake. and so on. This inner critic speaks with such authority that it is tempting to believe what it says. Yet is knows only lies. It knows nothing of who you really are. When this voice is criticizing you, it is criticizing the you that it thinks you are your ego wounded self. The critic, having come into being to help you survive and protect you from rejection, long ago decided that who you really are is not good enough. When you experienced judgment or rejection from the important people in your life, you likely concluded that you were being rejected because you weren't good enough or lovable enough or worthy enough or smart enough or attractive enough and so on. You may have had no idea when you were being judged or rejected, rather than loved and accepted, that it actually had nothing to do with you. You probably had no idea that you cannot CAUSE another person to be judgmental or rejecting, or loving and accepting. You likely had no idea that others' behavior is not under your control. If you believed that you were causing others to judge or reject you, you may have decided that who you really are is not good enough. So you started to judge and reject yourself as you attempted to create a self that would be loved and accepted. The inner critic your ego wounded self is the self you created. You came to believe that if you judged yourself enough, you would make yourself into an acceptable person. |