Interested in learning how to use the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) to help manage chronic pelvic pain?
Audrey Sourroubille, AADP, CHHC, is a health and wellness coach teaching busy women how to befriend their hormones naturally so that they can enjoy their lives and live to their fullest, pain-free, and feel like their real selves. She’s going to share with us how she used The Emotional Freedom Technique (also known as EFT) to help to reduce her endometriosis pain.
She knows that not one approach fits all and, through her coaching program, teaches her clients how to take control of their health, and reconnect with their inner wisdom and feminine power. Audrey is based in Europe (Switzerland). https://lotuspowerhealth.com/
Take it away Audrey…
Introduction:
I knew about the Emotional Freedom Technique in 2009 but started only to look further into it in early 2013. I was at the time burned out and my endometriosis pain was at its highest. I was not completely convinced that EFT could help me, but I decided there was no harm in trying.
Within a few weeks of practicing it daily, I was profoundly changed and astounded by how fast my pain decreased. But this was only one of the benefits of using EFT. Thanks to it, I reconnected with my inner wisdom and my body, finally listening and understanding those signals my body had been sending me for years.
For those of you who do not know EFT yet, you can use it for physical and emotional ailments, such as stress management, pain management, and anxiety. This list is not complete but after reading the below explanation on how to use EFT, you will see which benefits it can hold for you.
How the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) can help you daily
I recently discovered how efficient the emotional freedom technique, or EFT, can be. I got interested in the subject back in 2009, downloaded an eBook but never got around to reading it. Starting on this healing path a couple of months ago, I had the chance to rediscover this technique while attending the online Tapping World Summit 2013.
I was very skeptical when I first tried tapping, but as I felt better after a couple of rounds, I could see for myself that it really works. I don’t say it can cure any severe disease – though some people reported miracle healing using EFT, however, it can surely help you improve your quality of life, and that’s already something!
This is why I thought I would dedicate an article to this technique, hoping it can bring you the relief you are looking for.
What is the Emotional Freedom Technique?
Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT, is a healing technique part of the energy healing therapies, such as acupuncture, acupressure, shiatsu, and kinesiology. It also draws on other various alternative medicines such as neuro-linguistic programming and thought field therapy.
During an EFT session, you focus on a specific issue by tapping on “end points of the body’s energy meridians”. The idea behind this technique is to heal the body through re-balancing emotional and physical health. A
s David Feinstein writes in “The healing power of EFT and energy psychology”: “stimulating energy points on the skin, paired with specific mental activities, can instantly shift your brain’s electrochemistry to (i) help overcome unwanted emotions such as fear, guilt, shame, jealousy, or anger, (ii) help change unwanted habits and behavior, and (iii) enhance your abilities to love, succeed, and enjoy life”.
For your information, EFT was developed by Gary Craig and was built upon the work of Dr. Roger Callahan called Thought Field Therapy.
How does EFT work?
1. The setup
Before starting on an EFT tapping round, you need to know what problem it is that you want to work on. This will be very useful to set up the “tapping dialogue”. You can either write down the problem you have or think about it for a couple of minutes.
The goal is to be able to provide a precise description of how you feel. Please also evaluate on a scale of 0 to 10 the extent of the problem.
Once you have done that, you can create your affirmation sentence. Your affirmation sentence is built as follows: “Even though I have this problem, I completely and deeply accept myself”. The affirmation sentence should be repeated 3 times, with emphasis and concentration, while tapping either on the Collarbone Point or the Karate Chop Point (side of the hand).
It has been found more effective to use the collarbone point, but you can use either of those two points. Also, note that the sentence does not have to be said out loud, you can also say it to yourself while tapping – which is good news if you’d like to practice EFT while at work or at a restaurant.
Note: I personally like better to start with the karate chop point as it allows me to start further out from the heart, letting my body dig into the issue may be more gentle. But this is something personal.
2. The tapping points
The tapping session involves tapping on the endpoints of the major energy meridians in the body. Each energy meridian has two endpoints, but you only need to use one of those while tappings. It is recommended to use your dominant hand while tapping on those points. You can also tap using both hands if you prefer.
The different tapping points are located as explained below:
- eyebrow point (EB): at the beginning of the eyebrow, just above and to one side of the nose
- side of the eye point (SE): on the bone bordering the outside corner of the eye
- under the eye point (UE): on the bone under an eye, about 1.5 cm below your pupil
- under the nose point (UN): on the small area between the bottom of your nose and the top of your upper lip
- chin point (CP): midway between the point of your chin and the bottom of your lower lip
- collarbone point (CB): the junction where the sternum collarbone and the first rib meet
- under the arm point (UA): on the side of the body, at a point even with the nipple (for men) or in the middle of the bra strap (for women)
- top of the head (TH)
- karate chop point: in the middle of the fleshy part on the outside of the hand between the top of the wrist bone and the base of the baby finger
For a visual aid of the different tapping points, I would like to recommend you to watch a video that Jessica Ortner, host of the Tapping World Summit 2013, published on YouTube – watch this great video.
3. The tapping session
The tapping session starts with your affirmation sentence, repeated three times while tapping either on the collarbone point or the karate chop point. You can then proceed by repeating how you feel on the other energy points. One sentence, one point.
References:
* The Healing Power of EFT and Energy Psychology, David Feinstein
* Emotional Freedom Technique for Dummies, Helena Fone
