EFT, TFT, Havening Techniques – The Cure All?
Many of the advancements you see today regarding health and medicine would have seemed unbelievable 25 years ago, but are now an accepted and regular part of many lives, as are modalities such as meditation and yoga. Unlike these highly visible breakthroughs and familiar modalities, the advances within the realm of psychological and pain-relieving techniques have gone generally un-noticed.
Notably, TFT (Thought Field Therapy), NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming), EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), TAT (Tapas Acupressure Technique)and more recently the outstanding ‘Havening’ techniques and my own amalgamation of things ‘QEPR’ (Quantum Emotional & Physical Release).
Energy Psychology Explained
Based on the 5,000 year old proven Chinese Acupuncture principles, Energy Psychology acknowledges14 micro-electrical pathways that run throughout the body called the Meridians. Situated along these pathways are hundreds of microscopic but powerful energy points. When a combination of specific points are stimulated, often by needles, the body’s energy becomes balanced, bringing about emotional and physical well-being.
Energy Psychology techniques could be viewed as a psychological version of acupuncture, however thankfully for many – without the use of needles! While the patient is seated, a few specific and powerful upper-body meridian points are tapped. During this, the person lightly focuses for a few moments at a time upon the issue troubling them. The process is comparable to tuning into a radio frequency.
East Meets West
Success in eliminating psychological and physical problems using meridian tapping was discovered quite by chance 25 years ago by psychologist Dr. Roger Callaghan. Dr. Callaghan’s patient, Mary, sought help after trying everything to cure a life-long terrifying water phobia. In consultations she explained, ”Every time I look at or think of water I feel it right here in my stomach.”
During one of their consultations, Callaghan came up with an idea… knowing a little acupuncture, he instructed Mary to tap a specific meridian point while she thought about her fear. He didn’t expect much, but thought the tapping might balance or unblock her energy.
After a few minutes Mary stopped tapping. With an amazed look she said, “It’s gone, the feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I’m not afraid any more!” Callaghan was very skeptical but upon testing confirmed she was phobia free, and has remained so to this day.
After years of research Callaghan formulated various tapping sequences for presenting problems, calling his method Thought Field Therapy or TFT. One of his first students Gary Craig simplified and modified the method, naming it EFT, Emotional Freedom Technique. A popular version these days.
How Energy Psychology Works
Callaghan discovered that when we experience a distressing thought the Meridians become disrupted. An electrical ’zzzzzt’ short-circuit affect occurs within the body and it’s this, not the thought or memory itself, that causes many emotional or physical problems to arise. If it were just the thought, we’d all be afraid of spiders for instance! Distressing Thought > ‘zzzzzt’ short circuit = Emotion
Tapping at the middle stage releases, balances and resets the body’s ‘zzzzt’ energy imbalance, breaking the link to the previously felt negative emotion or pain.
Havening
Havening Techniques (Psychosensory) is the latest, and some would say greatest advancement to be developed in the field of psychology over the past decade. It has however nothing to do with energy blocks or Meridians but is based on pure neuroscience – a departure for me! I shall be writing about this in a separate post.
A few recent QEPR Cases
A four-year back pain disappears within minutes. A woman in pain attended one of my workshops with a severe four-year back pain sustained in a car accident; as with Mary, nothing worked to relieve it permanently, yet within a short treatment the pain vanished.
After treatment the woman remained motionless in disbelief not quite sure what to think; she moved her body about to locate the pain – but couldn’t find it. She then sobbed, relieved that the pain she thought she’d always have to live with was now gone. Several years on and the pain has never returned.
Food cravings, exercise and public speaking “I can’t stop eating bread!” one patient mentioned to me; another, “I can’t motivate myself to exercise!” Another, “I’m afraid of public speaking!” All were significantly helped with QEPR.
QEPR In Resorts & Spas
The future of successful growth within spas will see menus offering much more than the usual treatments and modalities such as massage and yoga. Frequently, more and more spa goers are requesting that their deeper physical, emotional and psychological issues be addressed to enable progress and sustained relief, and not just temporary patches.
For instance, how beneficial would it be for guests to get help to quit smoking whilst on their stay at a wellness retreat? Or how about really eliminating a chronic pain, sports injury or some corporate stress or business difficulty? Or resolving a long-standing phobia or past trauma? Often permanently too, because QEPR techniques gently eliminate the root causes for issues never to return.
Detox Symptoms
People don’t have to suffer the detox symptoms of cravings, headaches and hunger pangs during their chosen programme. Because symptoms are often caused by psychologically induced energy imbalances, they can be significantly relieved using QEPR. Imbalances increase if not cause many symptoms to arise, symptoms that would otherwise make detoxing a lot more bearable.
Weight Loss
We know it’s not just diet and exercise that enable a successfully maintained healthy weight. It’s about addressing and resolving the emotional factors that cause people to overeat, or self-sabotage or lack motivation to exercise. Factors that prevent weight loss, for weight to gain or for it to yo-yo.
Factors why most diets fail time and time again and keep people where they are: over-weight and unhappy. So it’s absolutely essential that the emotional reasons behind excess weight be dealt with to attain any sustained long-term success. Fortunately QEPR can help by working to resolve these factors.
Golf and Other Sports Performance
Most golfers and other sports players would agree that once you know how to play the game, the remaining blocks to success are in the mind. Some even say it’s not a game against an opponent, but against their own negative thinking, beliefs and limitations. QEPR not only deals with the aches and pains associated with sports, but also the anxiety and psychological aspects too.
At its very basic level QEPR balances the energies and relieves stress and muscle tension, and benefits all bodily systems promoting good health and is an effective internal workout that’s easily learned and self applied. No, QEPR and Energy Psychology techniques are not a cure-all.
Nothing can ever realistically be, but with a very high success rate it just might be one of the simplest yet most effective holistic approaches we have to resolving many ailments, phobias and blockages in our lives permanently. Tap tap!
Paul Emery currently works at different top international resorts and spas and by Skype, helping people with issues such as Stress, fears and phobias, anger, sadness, quitting smoking, business and sports performance and chronic ache and pain relief. Nowadays he applies not only Energy Psychology – TFT, TAT, but also ‘Havening’ and his award winning ‘QEPR’ (Quantum Emotional & Physical Release).