Editor’s note: Wellness Word is an informational column which is not meant to replace a health care professional’s diagnosis, treatment or medication.
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The Power of Tapping
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Using Hypnosis with EFT, for Health and Emotional Issues, Negative Conditioning and Self-Sabotage
I became interested in Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) a few years ago when one of my clients developed lower back pain, which he believed was due to stress and incorrect posture.
He had difficulty moving and even though the discomfort decreased after seeing a chiropractor, it would return the next day. He had also tried natural herbs, different alternative approaches, and painkillers, but nothing worked.
A colleague, who had been using EFT for some time, suggested I try it in this case. After only one full EFT routine with my client his back pain disappeared completely. Through EFT we also discovered the real cause of this pain, which was an emotional issue.
He had been feeling guilty, for not being able to visit his mother, on the East Coast, who had broken her ankle and needed extra assistance. I was impressed that besides relieving the physical pain, his guilty feelings vanished as well. After this healing experience with EFT, I started to do in-depth research to find out exactly how this method works, learn how to apply it in the most effective way, and possibly find a scientific and logical validation behind it.
Emotional Freedom Technique (EMT), developed by Stanford-trained engineer Gary Craig, says the emotions have huge influence on the body’s energy field, impacting our mental and physical health. These emotional issues or traumas, from the past, which we might have even forgotten, create imbalances in the physical body.
According to the EFT Discovery Statement, “The cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body’s energy system.” In other words, experiencing a traumatic event, feeling negative emotions related to a negative event, creates a short in the body’s electromagnetic energy field, disturbing the natural energy flow.
EFT is applied by tapping Acupuncture meridian end-points on your body, while thinking about the problem or stressful emotion that you want heal. When you tap, the energy blockage is released, allowing the emotion to lose its negative charge, therefore the disruption is reduced or removed, and the flow of the energy field in the body is restored.
It seems to be especially helpful in healing PTSD and emotional disorders. When a stressful episode originally occurs, a neural impulse is sent to the limbic system in the brain, triggering an autonomic stress response (fight or flight). Bypassing the rational and logical process of the brain, it reaches the Hippocampus.
As this happens, a new memory is created, which links every sensory part of the negative experience, such as sight of a dark room, smell of smoke, sound of thunder with fear, danger and threat.
According to modern Neuroscience, and specifically to Hebbs Law, “Two neurons that fire together, wire together”. The new neural network, linking fear and danger to the smell of smoke, sound of thunder, etc , gets rewired, each time one sees, hears, or smells something which evoke those experienced during the stressful occurrence.
By using EFT, it is possible to neutralize and break this negative neural pathway completely, removing the original emotional problem. It seems that, while touching and tapping on the body’s acupuncture energy-points, neurotransmitters send a signal to the limbic brain, decreasing stress response.
When tapping and focusing on the stressful problem, on one side, the brain is still receiving the neural information of the traumatic memory, and is preparing to go into a panic state, on the other side, the brain, simultaneously is also receiving the opposite signal, which decreases the panic response saying everything is safe.
The old neural, conditional reflex loop is permanently interrupted. A brand new, stress-free neural network is established. As this happens, the hippocampus can integrate the new memory of being in “that threatening situation”, but being safe at the same time, so there is no more panic response.
EFT not only works well on psychological and emotional traumas, it helps to alleviate physical discomforts as well by healing the core emotional issue related to the physical problem. I think all levels of being (the energy, the emotional, the mental and physical), are connected, and affected all at once.
I believe EFT intervention goes beyond neuroscience or the ordinary laws of physics, accessing Quantum Physics Magnetic Information Wave energy level, as shown by modern quantum physicists. I consider EFT to be, beside Hypnosis, one of the most powerful holistic healing methods available.
The practice of EFT is simple. However, to apply it correctly, it requires a deep understanding of how it works, and the assistance of a trained practitioner, considering the source of most physical and emotional problems to tap on, is most likely connected to negative cellular memories that can go as far back as childhood. EFT can complement hypnosis, if used in conjunction.
Annalena Gulliksson-Cavallo. M.A.(Neurolinguistic Science), Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist (C.H.t.), Certified NLP, Intuitive Counselor, Law of Attraction Coach, Medical Intuitive, REIKI Energy Healer. Contact: hypnosis-portland@live.com .  www.trulypsychic.com/hypnotherapy