Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)
by Peter Delves

Have you ever wished yourself away? I am not referring to leaving your precious life on Earth but rather, just wished you weren’t the way you are or did not have some particular qualities or mannerisms that you believe let you down in certain circumstances. I know I have.

Emotional Freedom Technique - commonly abbreviated to EFT - is a modern form of personal development and therapy that is growing rapidly. EFT is one of a number of recent 'energy' techniques increasingly used for effecting personal change.

EFT can be effective for a huge variety  of purposes, including self help and personal development, attitude and behaviour modification, resolution of personal problems, reduction of stress, and restoring life balance.  EFT is about returning the mind, body and feelings to a state of balance and harmony, so you are not limited by negative emotions. Even though we are 'designed' to recover from unpleasant experiences or thought patterns, nevertheless we can continue to be affected by recurring emotions resulting from past events such as relationship problems, trauma or loss. We can also be affected by ongoing or future events such as work-related stress, interpersonal problems, depression and various kinds of anxiety.

Emotions can become 'stuck' rather than dispersed. Even if we try to ignore them, they still affect our lives in a negative way. People trying to do something about their negative feelings or behaviour patterns may try counseling or go to their doctor, or they may attempt to compensate for their feelings in some way. These approaches have their merits, but do not get the the heart of the matter. Because many people will not have heard of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) they may not be aware of this option for resolving their problems.

EFT is a very effective yet gentle method of directly balancing the body's energy system for the particular behaviour or feelings that you want to change. It's a bit like removing a log that is blocking a stream, where the log represents a 'stuck' emotion that is interfering with your stream of energy. The interesting thing is that you don't have to believe in the theory, just as you don't need to know how a car works under the bonnet in order to drive one. Although some people prefer to find out more about the theory, many others are happy simply to have their problem resolved so quickly and effectively.

Using EFT involves 'tuning into' the issue at hand and then tapping with your fingers on specific acupressure points. For example if you still carry anger or resentment towards someone who has hurt you in the past, you would be asked to think about them, and notice how you feel. But you do not have to relive past events - you just have to be aware that the negative feeling is there and how strong it is. Having 'tuned in' to it, you are shown which acupressure points to tap, and what words to say as you do so (saying these words also helps to disperse the emotion from the system).

When you have done this, you are then asked to think about the person or situation again and check how strongly you feel. Typically you will notice a significant reduction in the intensity of the feeling. If it has not completely gone, then the EFT practitioner repeats the process, bringing the intensity down each time until full balance is restored and the blocking emotion is fully dispersed.

After EFT do feelings return?

Following an EFT session, the dispelled feelings will very rarely return. If they do, this implies that there is a bit more work that needs to be done than the practitioner initially thought. Of course you can still feel angry, fearful or guilty about other issues, but if you have thoroughly used EFT for a specific issue the negative feelings concerning this will not return. Once you have sent the problem 'downstream', it cannot come back up.

You will still retain the memory of the event you were working on, but it will no longer have the emotional charge that it previously had. However, there may be more than one emotion that needs to cleared, like more than one log jamming the stream. So using our example, there might be the anger towards the person which has been resolved, but there could also be anger towards yourself or other emotions involved such as guilt or sadness remaining. All of these connected issues can be addressed separately, and often when you start to disperse one emotion, the intensity of others can begin to reduce straight away.

EFT original development

EFT was developed in the US in the 1990’ s by Gary Craig, and has its roots in acupuncture, kinesiology and psychology. EFT is now spreading very rapidly in the US and in the UK, where the concept is now used in some specialist areas of the National Health Service.

About the author

This free article about EFT is contributed by Peter Delves, a leading UK Emotional Freedom Techniques trainer and practitioner, which is gratefully acknowledged.

Personal consultations in EFT and training for practitioners in Emotional Freedom Techniques are available in the UK from Peter Delves Associates. For more information about EFT visit www.delves.co.uk. On his web site, Peter also shows how EFT can be integrated with other modern development concepts to provide an effective alternative to traditional counseling and training methods.

The use this material is free provided copyright (Peter Delves content, Alan Chapman code and design 2004) is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the www.businessballs.com web site. This material may not be sold, or published in any form.
 

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