*I mean no disrespect for those that have an interest in this.*

When I attended a self-esteem workshop at a centre I am involved with, the instructor repeatedly discussed this Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), which was developed with the knowledge of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine.

It involves the tapping of these meridian points (the same points used in acupuncture) with your fingers until you feel better. He said it can almost instantly cure extreme phobias, heals trauma, and that some people do it while undergoing medical procedures (i.e., surgery) to ease their pain instead of taking morphine.

After reading about and attempting it since that workshop, I am finding that it is nonsense, with absolutely no benefits whatsoever for me. It's like a complicated form of distract-and-redirect. The instructor happens to be a hypnotist also, which might explain his interest these abstract, voodoo techniques? I don't know, but for me, if I can't see, touch, experience, debate, or analyze something, it's useless to me.

If you have had experience with EFT, what are your thoughts?

[whatbeanbelieved]

I have experienced something to do with EFT that was pretty effective for me. This was in the middle of a breakdown/panic episode when I was crying hysterically and had come to the point where my eyes were swollen and my head was aching like a *****. My aunt came and picked me up from the boyfriend's house (where the madness is, always) and took me to her house, and she carried me through some EFT stuff. I don't know whether it was the tapping that worked or the empathy, the being seen - but in about an hour the headache, the hysteria and the panic were pretty much gone.

I think there is some stuff that strikes me in EFT as particularly useful, and it works with some of the other stuff I do also (i.e. Focusing, NVC, etc.), which is the question about not what you feel, but WHERE you feel it. EFT and Focusing are the only two healing mechanisms I've come across where there is space to just feel "something" and not put a name to it. You kind of focus on where it is, what it looks like, what it feels like.. what it wants, etc. So you're really giving space to yourself.

The part of EFT that doesn't resonate with me is the idea of letting go. I don't quite know what I would be without my emotions, and therefore "letting go" sounds almost ominous. So while there is a seven day online course I was somewhat interested in, eventually I didn't do it, because it conflicts with my hope for self-acceptance and...yes, for me, the idea of letting go of something amorphous is not okay. I need to know what it is, how it works, etc. Which is also why Focusing for me works better.

Also, hello -- I seem to be not in hiding anymore. *hides behind Mr. Venomous instead*

[Gus1234U]

i believe that not everyone is the same, and what works for some might not work for others... best not to generalize one's own experience to everyone else on the planet,, or you might end up in medical school,

[roads]

My body chemistry does handle traditional pain medications, which often land me in hospital with some sort of psychosis. Acupuncture has managed osteoarthritis, which was twisting my fingers in the joints, and so inflaming my cervical vertebrae that hands and feet were numbing. It may not keep me for surgery forever, but for now it is allowing me to function well.
Roadie