Frequently Asked Questions

What is this new technique?

EFT for short.

What is EFT?

EFT is the abbreviation for Emotional Freedom Technique. It is a simple procedure of tapping certain locations on the face and body called "points" or "acupoints." It is similar to acupuncture but it uses no needles.

Because EFT is so effective in helping veterans recover from PTSD, it is experiencing growing popularity.

Acupuncture has become a highly regarded and common therapy for a variety of problems. Eventually other energy or vibrational healing methods such as EFT will become mainstream as well.

One of the reasons energy healing is not widely known is because it is simple, easy to learn, inexpensive and uses no drugs. Drug companies tend do all they can to keep "simple, easy to learn, inexpensive and uses no drugs" out of the mainstream.

How Does EFT work?

Energy flows through meridians in our bodies much the same way blood flows through our veins. When a person receives a physical injury or emotional shock, a blockage occurs in the meridian system and a decrease or confusion in energy flow results.

Blockages cause a large variety of problems, most of which are emotional or behavioral in the beginning. If the blockage is not removed, the blockage can move to the brain causing brain damage, or to the physical body causing anything from muscle tension or rashes to cancer or heart disease.

Releasing blockages with EFT is a bit like releasing the kink in a garden hose. With no blockages in the hose, water can flow freely; with no blockages in the meridians energy can flow freely and freely flowing energy allows the body to heal itself.

Why Haven't I Heard of EFT Before?

EFT has been used in the United States for more than a decade. It is a departure from TFT or "Thought Field Therapy" developed by Dr. Roger Callahan. Gary Craig simplified the technique, called it EFT, and he gave it essentially free to the world.

Earlier we suggested that energy flow is somewhat like blood flow. Because energy in the meridian system is less visible than blood in the circulatory system, the idea of working with it has not been as widely accepted as more obvious therapies.

People in our western civilizations are less open to "unseen" phenomena. We are currently experiencing a huge increase in "unseen" wounds in veterans which are being called PTSD or post traumatic stress disorder. Because vibrational healing techniques like EFT are so effective with PTSD, they will undoubtedly become better known as the population demands them.

How Will I Feel After Using EFT?

People describe their feelings after EFT as "lighter," or "more comfortable." Often they feel as if they can breathe easier or they feel happier. Sometimes, if they are dealing with very difficult issues, they feel quite drained and tired after finishing a session, but experience relief of symptoms when they are rested.

Headaches, nausea, and pain can disappear during one session. Often one or two sessions will eliminate nightmares and sleeplessness; stress and tension from triggers or delayed reaction situations can be relieved in minutes.

EFT deals with the cause of discomfort which lies in the energy system rather than dealing with the symptoms of discomfort which lie in the mind or body or both. For that reason, the same procedure works for most complaints by eliminating the underlying cause.

Is EFT ALWAYS Effective?

EFT is effective in most situations. There are certain instances in which it doesn't work. If it is not working, the trick is to discover why it isn't working.

The primary reason for EFT not working is that you may not be using it long enough. Another reason for lack of effectiveness is not reaching the "core" of the problem which is more often than not a deep emotional hurt. Other reasons for ineffectiveness can be physical problems such as a chemical sensitivity, a food allergy, or lack of hydration.

Energy is electrical in nature and water is a natural conductor of electricity. It is important to drink a lot of water each day while working with EFT to be sure the energy is flowing freely.

When EFT is not effective you need to be a bit of a detective to discover the reason or reasons. There are many suggestions in the e-book Recovering From PTSD YOUR Way for discovering why it isn't working for you and how you make it work.

Can I Do EFT By Myself?

Yes. You can do EFT by yourself which is one of its major benefits. You do not have to make an appointment, drive to or pay a practitioner or therapist. You do not have to tell anyone you are using it. You can do it any time, any place, even in public when faced with a trigger, a delayed reaction, or a difficult situation of any kind. Once you learn how, you can do it so subtly that others will not even notice you are using it.

However, you do have to learn how to use it first. You can do this by attending a class, downloading the e-book Recovering From PTSD YOUR Way, or going to a practitioner.

How Can I Tell If I Am Doing It Right?

EFT is a very forgiving process. If you do the exercises the way you learn them in a class, or they way they are suggested in the book Recovering From PTSD YOUR Way, you are doing it correctly. If you are doing it the way we suggest, or even changed a bit to suit yourself, and you experience relief, you are doing it right.

This technique is simple enough that, once you learn it, it almost impossible to do it wrong.

What If Tapping Hurts Or Annoys Me?

You can do it very gently or even mentally with good results.

Can I Do EFT for Someone Else?

Yes. You can do what we refer to as "surrogate" tapping for another person. It is probably preferable for each person to do it for him or her self. However, if a loved one is incapable of using EFT because of physical or mental injuries, you can do the technique on yourself pretending you are the other person.

This is particularly effective with a soldier who is so severely injured he or she can not do it themself. EFT is an enormous help in facilitating the healing process; it can reduce healing time considerably. It also helps relieve pain. In the case of severe injury, you might need to use it every few minutes to reduce extreme pain.

The surrogate process is also useful for soldiers who experience debilitating depression because of combat stress or PTSD. Certain precautions should be used when working with depression. See page 34 of Recovering From PTSD YOUR Way for a more complete explanation of how to handle this.

Does EFT Take The Place of Normal Medical Treatment?

NO! EFT acts as a supplementary aid to healing. If you need medical treatment for something, by all means see a doctor. If you need surgery, have a medical condition, or have a serious chronic disease, seek medical help. EFT will help alleviate causes, but sometimes you need to have emergency relief for an immediate problem.

DO NOT delay treatment for serious problems. But DO use EFT as a supplement to speed healing and reduce trauma.

EFT can be used effectively to calm a person and even alleviate problems while waiting for medical help. One EMT in the Seattle area has taught her colleagues to use EFT on their way to the scene of an accident to calm both themselves and those injured in the accident. Unless they are too busy, they continue to use EFT while traveling to the hospital.

The question of whether EFT can take the place of psychiatric treatment or psychological help is less clear. In most cases, a patient can benefit from EFT whether getting psychiatric or psychological help or not. In some cases it might replace outside psychological help. But, by all means, seek help if you feel like you need it!

The difficulty in severe cases is getting people who need help to use EFT. They may be too depressed, too confused or in a state of avoidance to help themselves with any therapy at all. In this case try surrogate tapping.

Can I Use EFT When I Am Taking Prescription Drugs?

Yes, you can use EFT while taking prescription drugs. However, ask your physician to check dosages often. It is common to need less and less of a prescription drug when using EFT on a regular basis for a condition.

Do not stop taking your prescription
until your doctor tells you to.

Can I Use EFT For Addictions?

Yes. EFT is a very effective way to work with addictions, particularly addictions that are an avoidance of dealing with combat stress, combat trauma, and PTSD. If you were addicted to alcohol or drugs before combat, you may need to find the reason you prefer chemical dependency to healthy living. You also need to truly want to rid yourself of the addiction.

EFT is a good way to find your underlying issues for using your drug of choice. With this technique you can rid yourself of the addiction rather than substituting another addiction for the first one.

For example, people who are addicted to alcohol often replace that addiction with chain smoking, drinking coffee constantly, or constantly eating food or candy.

How Can Something Like Tapping Help So Many Different Problems?

Because EFT works with the energy system to find and alleviate causes rather than symptoms of problems, it works more subtly than drugs which treat symptoms rather than causes.

Your energy system doesn't really care how you experience the problem. For example, three soldiers might witness the same horror. One soldier might exhibit an aggressive, hyper-vigilant reaction to it, while another might react with depression and exhaustion, and a third might be physically ill. While the cause of the problem was the same, the symptoms for each person are quite different.

The energy system reacts to the cause by blocking energy and EFT works to release the block. Traditional methods might prescribe a depressant to the first soldier, a stimulant to the second and an anti-nausea drug to the third, thus treating each symptom differently.

While treating symptoms might help each soldier function in the short term, the underlying cause, which was the initial horror, is never addressed. The cause could lie undetected and untreated in the energy system and memory, causing subtle or not so subtle behavior or physical problems for years until the blockage is released.

It is somewhat like having static in your radio. You can see neither the sound waves that bring the sound to and from the radio, nor the cause of the static. Tuning the radio into a new station might temporarily relieve the static, but it does not address the fact that there is some kind of interference blocking the clear flow of radio waves to the radio. You may only get one station clearly until the cause of the static is removed.