Tapping Tips

Everyone experiences pain from time to time and some of us have chronic pain. Since EFT neutralizes emotional issues, you may wonder why I would be talking about pain.

It seems that pain has two components - the physical component and the emotional component. I believe that the emotional component of pain is there to make sure we pay attention to a bodily need. Once we have tended to the painful condition, we no longer need the emotional component to act as a warning signal.

Here are some examples:

A nurse at the university student health center was limping badly one morning. She explained that she had twisted her ankle when she got out of her car in the parking lot. She said she had too many patients to see to go home and felt like she had to work even though she was in pain. A doctor had examined her ankle and recommended rest, ice, compression, and elevation. She had it wrapped (compression), had applied an ice pack, and taken ibuprofen but had not taken the time to rest or elevate it.

I walked her through an EFT treatment. We focused on the pain, the anger about the hole in the parking lot, and the sense of "why me?" Her pain went from an 8 to a 2. She could walk with relative comfort at a pain level of 2 and was happy with the result. I saw her at the end of the day and she reported that her ankle had not bothered her the rest of the day. The next day she said her ankle felt fine and she had only a slight limp. Note that she had taken care of the problem and no longer needed the emotional components of the pain.

I was teaching EFT to an AIDS support group. These were people with AIDS, some who had lost friends. I showed them how to tap for grief and we did a couple of group rounds. I noticed that there was one man who had paid no attention to my presentation and had rudely carried on a side conversation while I was talking.

I then said EFT could help with physical pain and asked if anyone was currently in pain. The non-attentive man suddenly sat up and said he was in pain. I asked if he was willing to come up front and demonstrate the treatment for the group. He eagerly said yes and struggled to his feet, obviously in great pain.

In front of the group, he explained that both of his knees were very painful because of old football injuries. He took ibuprofen daily but it bothered his stomach. He rated the pain in both knees at a 9 and said that he could just barely bend them

We did a couple of rounds of EFT and he got a shocked look on his face. He reported the pain was down to a 1 or 2. Then he started doing kneebends! He said he hadn't been able to do that in years! He was so happy he left the room and went for a brisk walk around the block.

Three weeks later, I heard from the group leader. The man with the painful knees was still walking without pain. But she wanted me to know about another man who was sitting off to the side and had tapped along with the man who had knee pain. This man had AIDS and diabetes and was suffering from diabetic neuropathy in his feet which can be quite painful. His pain had gone to zero while he was tapping along! Up to that point, nothing had helped his diabetic foot pain. She tearfully reported that he had no further foot pain and died peacefully three weeks after learning EFT. His last three weeks were pain free thanks to EFT.

EFT for Pain

Focus on the pain. Name it. Rate it. For example, "this pain in my right knee" is a 7.

"Even though I have this pain in my right knee, I deeply and completely accept myself." The reminder phrase would be, "Pain in my right knee."

There may be emotional components that present themselves. The nurse above got relief when she focused on her anger about the hole in the parking lot. If you hurt yourself doing something that you feel foolish about, you may have to focus on feeling foolish. For example, a woman had jumped out of her car in the rain and run and jumped up on her porch. She slipped on the wet porch and bruised her hip. Her pain only went down a little until she focused on how stupid she felt running in the rain. Then it went to zero.

(If you need a reminder on the EFT steps, see EFT Basic Steps.)

Questions and Comments

Can you expect the pain to always go to zero with tapping?

Excellent question. My experience has been that you can only remove the emotional component of pain, not the physical component. If you had a knife sticking in your arm, tapping may reduce the pain, but it wouldn't go to zero. You need to remove the knife and get medical treatment!

Linda and I were asked to help a teenager who was having chest pain when breathing. It was Sunday night at a hotel in a strange town for his family. We tapped with him but his pain only went to 5. At that point, Linda turned to the parents and said rather forcefully, "Take this boy to the emergency room now." It turned out that he had a collapsed lung and needed medical attention.

Before you reach for the aspirin or ibuprofen, tap. There are no side effects.

Need a refresher on the EFT tapping techniques? See EFT Books. My personal favorite is Five Simple Steps to Emotional Healing by Gloria Arenson.

You can take the Rowe Distress Inventory to measure the effect of your issues. I suggest that you take it every week or so to track how you are doing.

For you golfers, see my mental game website, www.EFTandGolf.com. You can test your mental game strengths and weaknesses there. If you know a golfer, forward this message to them.

Do your friends a favor. Forward this email to them with a personal note about how helpful you find these techniques. They can subscribe to the newsletter here. Let's get the word out. Imagine what this world would be like if every man, woman, and child had the EFT tapping techniques.

For back issues, see Tapping Tips Archives.

More telephone coaching clients are finishing, so I have a few more openings coming up. If you need professional help to get past a difficult issue, call me at 888-856-9779 (918-576-8195) for a f-r-e-e telephone consultation. If you want to move your life to the next level, I can provide objective professional support to help you meet your goals.

You all know how powerful the EFT tapping techniques are. Let's take full advantage of these tools.

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Jack

If you have any questions, or would like further information, please contact Dr. Rowe.