Today, I thought I’d write on something different. I’m going to tell you about a popular technique that we teach our participants in our stress management training sessions. It’s called the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).
What is the Emotional Freedom Technique?
The EFT technique has its roots in Acupuncture and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). It also has a familiarity with another popular stress management training technique called Positive Affirmations.
EFT is commonly used to manage stressful emotions and physical pain. And can also help in managing the negative thoughts that cause these.
Important Components of EFT
EFT has two major aspects:
The Energy Meridians
This is where it draws upon from acupuncture. The technique talks about various energy points that we have from the tip of our head to under our eyes, nose, lip, arm, on the collarbones, etc. And my most favourite, the Karate chop point on the side of the hand. It says that when you tap on these points, it activates the energy there. This helps remove energy blockages that may be caused by these stressful thoughts, emotions and physical sensations; restoring the balance in our system.
The Statement
Just like positive affirmations, EFT consists of repeating a statement. Only here, it’s not positive. It’s a statement which describes what you are feeling. In short, it’s an affirmation which goes like this…
“Even though I am feeling……., I still choose to love and accept myself.”
What happens with most of us is that we tend to reject ourselves for feeling certain negative feelings. This creates further turmoil within us, thereby increasing our overall discomfort. The statement therefore helps us accept ourselves even if we are feeling these negative feelings, hereby reducing our overall suffering.
In my experience, it also helps us focus on the feeling better. Which by the way is the ultimate secret to processing our emotions!
How to use EFT
Let’s take an example to understand this clearly. Consider a situation where you are feeling sad and lonely. Now remember that to do this, it’s important to be able to first identify your emotion. Which is, by the way, extremely difficult for many of us! So, be sure to also use techniques like Mindfulness which will help improve your awareness levels and identify your emotions.
So, the EFT statement in this case will be:
“Even though I am feeling sad, I still choose to love and accept myself.”
To make it even more focused, you might want to add the situation in which you are feeling these emotions. For example, if you are feeling sad after having an argument with your spouse, you can affirm:
“Even though I am feeling sad after an argument with Spouse Name, I still choose to love and accept myself.”
Also, keep changing the statement as the emotion changes. So, if you suddenly start feeling, say lonely, change the statement to:
“Even though I am feeling lonely after an argument with Spouse Name, I still choose to love and accept myself.”
Also feel free to drop the situation when it feels right or make other modifications. And while repeating the statement, tap gently on the various energy points, one by one.
My experience with EFT
I have been using EFT since many years now. And it has helped me overcome many difficult emotions. In fact, I often share my experiences with participants during stress management trainings. And have even had some live examples!
I, however, have made some changes over the years in the way I do EFT. I started off by doing the tapping a little differently. I used to use only the Karate chop point as I find tapping all the points a little distracting. In fact, I have given up the tapping altogether since some time now! Yes, it is contrary to what the technique says. But I feel I can focus on and allow myself to feel the feeling better that way. I now also start with EFT as soon as I identify the feeling and later switch to just observing the feeling. So, I switch from EFT to Mindfulness.
What have your experiences been with this interesting technique? Do share them. We would love to hear them! And for those who are yet to try it, give it a go. And do let me know how it went and in case you have any queries.
Happy Tapping!