Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)

The Basics

Have you ever had the experience of completing a relaxation exercise, or a long bath, or a massage, feeling exquiste inside and out - only to be "knocked back down" within the hour by the same thoughts and feelings that you have had over and over and over before?

Do you feel like you are struggling with the same emotions or thoughts, habits, or life circumstances and have been for longer than you'd like to admit, even to yourself?

Do you find yourself dealing with more and more anxiety, sadness or depression, frustration, insomnia, and physical illnesses than you have before?

Do you find that the strategies that you used before to pull yourself out of these situations just don't work anymore?

Do you find yourself wanting to live with more joy and ease as you work towards meeting your life's goals?

Do you want a tool that you can use over and over again yourself?

Then EFT is a tool for you.

What is EFT?

EFT has been referred to as "Emotional Acupuncture". EFT melts away all unwanted emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and patterns. The basic premise of EFT is this:

The cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body's energy system

Said another way: When you are dealing with difficult emotions or thoughts, it is easy to think that they are the problem. From an EFT perspective, however, they are simply symptoms that your body is out of balance. Somewhere along the line, you had an experience that placed a block in your system - remove the block , your body comes back into balance, and the unwanted emotion or thought goes away.

EFT works by stimulating the same points used in acupuncture by using your fingers to tap on specific points on the body. When you combine tapping on these specific points with focusing on the issue that you want to let go of, you release the disruption in your body's energy system and with it goes the unwanted emotion.

Keep reading to learn about the technique of doing EFT. Or, if you are ready to learn more than just the basics - to learn how to apply it to your life and get help directly from Jennifer doing it, click here to learn about Jennifer's EFT for Stress Relief: 30 days to lasting freedom from stress e-course.

The Technique

EFT is much more powerful when you experience than when you just read about it. So, I am going to give you the process to try. If you are new to any type of meridian work, it may be difficult to understand just how powerful it is just by reading through it. At the end of this article there are specific examples you can use to try out the tapping.

1. Decide what emotion or thought you want to work on. It is best to be as specific as you can.
2. Close your eyes and allow yourself to think of the thought or feel the emotion. Rate how you are feeling from 0 - 10. 0 meaning this thought or emotion holds no charge, doesn't affect you at all. 10 meaning that it affects you in the most intense way you could ever imagine.
3. Begin tapping, with two or three fingers of either hand on the Karate Chop point (see diagram below).
4. As you are tapping, say out loud, "Even though I have (name your thought or emotion here)...I deeply and completely love and accept myself. Repeat 3 times, while still tapping. This is called the Set-Up statement. Ex: Even though I am so deeply hurt by what Jane said to me at work, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.
5. Then, tap on each of the next points, 7-10 times, tapping with enough pressure to feel the tapping, but not so hard that it hurts. While you are tapping you will say a reminder phrase that comes from the Set Up Statement. Ex: Deeply Hurt. Repeat the reminder phrase at each tapping point (See diagram below. The only point not illustrated is the Top of the Head. Simply tap in a gentle circle at the crown of your head):
   1. Karate Chop Point (KC)
   2. End of Eyebrow (EB)
   3. Side of Eye (SE)
   4. Under Eye (UE)
   5. Under Nose (UN)
   6. Under Lip, on the Chin (Ch)
   7. Collarbone (CB, make a fist)
   8. Under Arm (UA, about 4 inches down from the armpit)
   9. Top of the Head
6. Take a deep breath and tune back into your issue. Give it another rating - did it drop? Some people will drop significantly with their first round, others just 1 point.
7. Start again with the same Set-Up statement, but this time say, "Even though I still have some of (your issue here) remaining, I deeply and completely love and accept myself. Ex: Even though I still have some feelings of being deeply hurt by what Jane said to me at work, I deeply and completely love and accept myself."
8. Tap on each of the next tapping points saying your reminder phrase with "remaining" in front. Ex: "Remaining deeply hurt feelings"
9. Take another deep breath and re-rate how you are feeling. You can get your rating down to zero.
10. If you find that your issue isn't changing in rating, look for another issue that may be underlying it. For example, even though you feel deeply hurt by your co-workers comment, perhaps the negative emotion is really about feeling like nobody understands your situation, or that it made you feel incompetent.
11. EFT may require some detective work, but when used specifically, it can be extremely powerful. There are many more ways to use EFT - this is simply the beginning. EFT can be used to pump up the emotions and thoughts that you would like to have as well as getting rid of the ones you don't want. Continue reading to see some suggestions for how to use it for your emotional and physical health.

The Tapping Points

EFT For Fertility / Infertility / Loss

Dealing with infertility for any length of time creates plenty of situations that create difficult emotions. Use EFT for emotions and thoughts regarding:

Fear

Fear that you won't become a Mother
Even though I am petrified with fear that I will never get to experience pregnancy, I deeply and completely love and accept myself

Even though I am terrified that this life dream of mine won't come true, I deeply and completely love and accept myself

Even though I am scared because I have done all I know how to do and I am still not pregnant, I deeply and completely love and accept myself

Fear that you are going to lose all your money and still not have a baby
Even though I am afraid that we will have a mountain of debt and STILL not be parents, I deeply and completely love and accept myself

Anger

Anger at your body
Even though I am angry at my body for failing me, I deeply and completely love and accept myself

Anger at the doctors for not having a specific answer
Even though the doctors wasted the best years of my fertility because they didn't know what they were doing, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

Anger at your friends and family because they don't understand
Even though my family ridicules me because I won't go to the baby shower, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

Other Emotions

Even though I feel completely isolated and alone, I deeply and completely love and accept myself

Even though I don't feel like I fit in with my friends anymore, I deeply and completely love and accept myself

Even though I've lived life by all the "rules" and I am angry that I can't get what I want, I deeply and completely love and accept myself

Even though I am feeling guilty that I should have started my family earlier, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

**If you would like some easy, cost-effective help using EFT for fertility, check out my Relief NOW audio series: click here**

These are simply some suggestions for where to begin. Start by identifying your own thoughts and feelings about your fertility struggles. What carries the most intensity? The goal of using EFT for fertility is to bring yourself back to a place of peace and control. Of course you will still have emotions around your efforts to build a family - it is an important goal - but EFT allows you to get rid of the intense panic, fear, and anxiety that grow if left unchecked. If you would like some help, click here. If you are ready to learn more, click here

EFT For Pregnancy After Infertility

Even though you have passed one critical hurdle, you know all too well that there are many more hurdles to cross before your baby is safely in your arms. This only intensifies if you have had pregnancy losses in addition to your fertility struggles. Use EFT to diffuse the worry and anxiety about your past history, or to stop the anxiety about your current pregnancy.

Past History

Fear that you won't be successful at pregnancy because you had such a hard time getting pregnant
Even though I am scared that my body won't be able to maintain this pregnancy because I had such a hard time getting pregnant, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

Current Pregnancy

Fear that something is going to happen to this baby
Even though I can't stop worrying that something is wrong with this baby, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

Other emotions

Even though I am angry that I can't just enjoy this pregnancy like a 'normal' pregnant woman, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

Even though I just don't feel like I can connect with this baby, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

Even though I feel like I am losing touch with my partner because of my worries and anxiety, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

Use these statements to begin thinking about your own worries or fears. EFT will help to dissolve the constant worry. It will help you to manage your anxiety so that you don't end up feeling completely scared and helpless during your pregnancy. If you would like some help, click here.

EFT For Women's Emotional Health

There are many ways that EFT can help with emotional health. It can specifically address feelings of sadness or depression, fatigue, frustration, self-esteem, and many more. These can be complicated issues with many thoughts and emotions underlying them. But, one of the really amazing side-benefits of EFT is that as you start tapping, you will find that issues you need to pay attention to begin to "bubble up" and help you see what you need to work on. Here are a few to try:

Even though I am feeling extremely bad about myself right now, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

Even though I feel exhausted all the time and just can't figure out how to feel better, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

Even though I am holding onto a lot of anger, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

Even though I have an incredibly short fuse these days and I can't stand it, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

Even though I am really tired but can't get to sleep, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

Even though I feel like something is wrong but I can't figure out what, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

Use the above statements to brainstorm about what your emotions and feelings are that you are ready to let go of. To learn how to get lasting relief from stress (and get help directly from Jennifer), learn about EFT for Stress Relief: 30 days to lasting freedom from stress by clicking here. If you would like some help, click here.