About that strange tapping thing...

7 presenters at the EFT York masterclass

Year ago I came across a tapping technique that was supposed to be good for phobias.

At the time I was trying to deal with my fear of public speaking, or technically I was trying to find a way to enjoy it, to stop the physiological, mental, emotional and spiritual discomfort I felt every time I had to formally speak to people or any time “all eyes were on me”.

TFT sounded good, even though it seemed a bit “out there”, involving rolling your eyes, while singing “happy birthday to me” and tapping on particular points in your body, and yet the DVD’s I saw showed people with previously high levels of fear around swimming or insects or various other stimuli completely cured after one or a few short sessions of this tapping thing.

At the back of my mind I thought there was something to it, something that made sense about interrupting the physiological and chemical state of arousal that accompanies fear and it also fitted with my understanding about blockages in the energy system or meridians in the body leading to illness and imbalance, assumptions which underpin the now mainstream practice of acupuncture.

But the technique seemed cumbersome to learn and implement, involving complex algorithms, so I just stored the information away for future reference.

Over time I came across other references to TFT and its development. It slowly morphed into a simpler technique called EFT and eventually practitioners (most students of the original EFT teacher Gary Craig) were taking the basics and making it into a much more accessible and intuitive practice, some like Patricia Carrington changing the set up statement –“Even though I have this problem, I deeply and completely love and accept myself’–into much more palatable “choices” statements like “Even though I have this problem, I choose to remain calm and confident.”

At various times I have “played” with the tapping myself and occasionally even used aspects of it with clients mainly because at worse it would not harm and at best it would help to tap into the subconscious blockages that often get in the way of us feeling happy and balanced.

Recently I have become more interested in using this kind of technique in trauma work where people have become ‘stuck’ after experiencing a physical or emotional shock.

I am aware of its use and research about its efficacy in dealing with some of the symptoms of PTSD often seen in Vietnam vets, its effect on pain and fears often associated with being a cancer patient, and with torture-trauma survivors and survivors of natural and other emotional trauma.

During the last two years I have explored it further, tapping at times I have felt emotional and physical pain, on present frustration and future fear and although there has been no immediate resolution of the “big” issues to date, I have started to notice some subtle shifts. In combination with my mindfulness and qigong practice, tapping has helped to bring me back to equilibrium, to my centre when I have felt out of kilter or overwhelmed.

Before I left Australia I decided to look for a course I could do while I was away that would further my knowledge of this practice and its practical applications and in particular would expose me to the latest developments which I hoped would be a simpler more intuitive practice than the earlier techniques. In my search for an accredited centre overseas, I came across a Perth Psychologist called Steve Wells, who with his partner Dr David Lake had developed other EFT based practices called SET and PET. I called Steve who referred me to a centre in London but when I looked at the course I was ambivalent for some reason although I signed up for a workshop in York with 7 practitioners instead. For some reason I decided to look at www.eftdownunder.com Steve and David’s website once more and saw that they were running a workshop in Venice. There was no thinking necessary!  I immediately signed up.

When I took the 2 hour train from London to York I didn’t really have any expectations but I was so impressed by the atmosphere of safety and respect that was evident when the 100 odd people gathered at the Royal York Hotel to attend the Master Class organised and run by 7 EFT Masters.

The women are all intelligent, intuitive and skilled individuals who compassionately and uniquely presented and dealt with the emotional responses evoked by the tapping sessions.

There was an absence of ego which was refreshing and encouraging and I enjoyed chatting to the few men who were brave enough to be in a roomful of oestrogen!

Two, who were holding up the bar in typical pub stance while sipping on their tea, were working with war veterans and obese people respectively. They were both amazed at the positive impact EFT was having personally and professionally.

The sessions were interesting and relevant. The one that least appealed to me was working with animals. It did feel just a bit strange doing “surrogate” tapping for a rabbit who had not quite been himself after having undergone what was delicately called a “gooliectomy” but it was obviously not the placebo effect at work when after 3 months of odd behaviour, hiding under the couch and refusing to play with his girlfriend (a stuffed toy), he was happily “coupling” and following his relieved owner again! 

More engaging for me was a session on working with “stuff” we are carrying around from our past, the conscious and unconscious fears, beliefs and moral code of our parents, teachers and even ancestors.

It was amazing seeing how present decisions can be influenced by things we are not even aware of.

I met a number of inspiring women there; Jackie Sawasy, a down to earth retired nurse and cancer survivor who used EFT as part of her healing strategy, (Google You Tube, A Second Chance -Triumph over breast cancer) Fiona, a musician and teacher who uses EFT to help unblock the fears of young children playing musical instruments, Hila, a gutsy Israeli single Mum and dentist with a PHD who is now studying Chinese medicine and Shiatsu and incorporates this in her EFT work and Saffron Byass, a former medical practitioner who made the courageous decision to fellow her heart and entertained us with her beautiful voice and musical ability.

The sessions were healing, intense and humorous and many of us had moments of vulnerability that were dealt with compassion and respect.

It was interesting that there were similar themes and fears underlying the issues of most of the strong, capable people that allowed repressed emotions to be released and universally they all felt lightness, love and relief when they did.

Each presenter had their own style and even though they all studied with the same teacher they had each developed their own unique practice.

Below are their names and the titles of their presentations.

Tania Price -Patterns of the soul

Ann Ross -Our struggle for control

Sue Beer -Living from the heart

Emma Roberts- The wisdom of the body

Gwyneth Moss -We are all connected

Jaqui Crooks -Presence without past

Judy Byrne -Even though that happened

I am leaving York and the EFT Masterclass with a deeper understanding of how and why EFT works and a respect for the pioneers who made this seemingly wacky technique into the almost mainstream practice that it is today.