Twice in recent weeks I was afraid and it was keeping me from action. I wasn’t sure, in either case, what I was afraid of. In both cases, I started tapping on the acupressure points and started talking to myself. The first fear was about an activity I was avoiding:

-My stomach is hurting and I’m not sure why.
-I know I’m avoiding this activity but I’m not sure why.
-I just don’t want to go!
-Something is bothering me and I don’t know what it is.
-Why am I dragging my feet?
-What’s this about?
-What am I afraid of?

I tapped while I let the thoughts bubble to the surface. I didn’t censor anything. Tapping tends to bring up the hidden so I tried to not direct my thoughts at all.

I tapped about 5 rounds and I didn’t get any huge revelation but I did get up and go do the activity. I did not take any intensity ratings (measuring my fear level from a 0 to 10 intensity). I just tapped while I thought my thoughts.

My fear was not totally gone but it was gone enough to get me moving. The second fear I dealt with turned out the same way–I tapped enough so that I moved into action. Another example of tapping “just enough” was a client who was trying to avoid the food table at work. She would tap in the bathroom just long enough so that she could walk past it without grabbing something.

As an EFT practitioner working with a client, I would not be satisfied with tapping “just enough.” We would take an intensity rating and tap diligently until it was zero. But for everyday life, tapping “just enough” has its practical uses!

I used to be a binge eater. I remember what it took to finally accept that I was different from the average person and then to finally give up my favorite binge food (sugar). Yes, I was a sugar addict and, for me, the only solution was to not eat any. The saying, “One bite is too many, a thousand not enough,” applied to me.

I have helped other sugar addicts and overeaters of different types for many years but in the last 6 years I have been able to help them a lot more effectively with Emotional Freedom Techniques. Changes in thinking, feeling, and behaving are all needed to stop overeating and EFT makes every change easier!

Some of the overeaters I have worked with are binge eaters like myself. Some are grazers. Some have a few bad eating habits that they just can’t kick. Some have lifelong patterns of eating too much at every opportunity. Some grab food unconsciously when they feel bad. Some are addicted to a beverage and drink it all day long. Some are overweight and some are not. But one thing that they all have in common is that they eat for reasons other than hunger.

If you see yourself in these descriptions and you aren’t achieving your weight loss goals, you might be asking yourself, “Do I need outside help? How much help do I need?” My reply is, “How much help are you willing to receive?”

I needed daily (yes, daily!) help in the beginning. Everyday I talked to my coach and we discussed specific eating challenges, eating patterns, and cravings. We planned what I would eat. This helped tremendously. There was so much freedom after making the decision to not overeat for that day, no matter what I was feeling or thinking.

She also helped me look at my “stinking thinking.” My self-defeating thoughts created my struggles around sugar and its role in my life and they had to change.

I am so convinced that many people like myself need intense coaching and support to stop overeating that I have developed 3 coaching packages specifically for overeaters. The Ultimate Support Package provides daily laser coaching (15 minutes) for 30 days plus 4 hour-long EFT sessions. The Superior Support Package offers twice a week laser coaching plus 4 hour-long EFT sessions for 30 days and the Excellent Support Package is 4 hour-long EFT sessions. Read more here.

Are you ready to get off the misery-go-round of repeat dieting? I can help you as much as you want to be helped — even daily! I know how good it feels to have a clean day of eating. I want that for you!

If you surf the internet to learn about EFT, you will uncover web pages, audios, videos and stories showing a variety of tapping sequences. You may wonder, “Why do people tap different points? Which are the real tapping points?”

As I explained in my January newsletter, EFT is what founder Gary Craig called,”The 100% Overhaul Concept.” It requires us to tap near the end points of numerous energy meridians even though some of them may not be disrupted by our particular problem. We tap on too many points but in the process we tap on those meridians that are blocked.

In the original “Basic Recipe” Gary developed, we tapped on 13 points which included 8 on the head and torso and 5 on the hand. These were followed by the 9 Gamut Procedure. This entails a sequence of eye movements, humming and counting while tapping on the Gamut point which is on the back of the hand.

Gary, being the efficient guy that he is, discovered that all of those points plus the 9 Gamut Procedure weren’t needed to make good progress most of the time and he simplified the technique into only 7 tapping points on the head and torso. Period. As he put it, “The energy meridians that circulate through the body are all interconnected. Experience has taught us that tapping on one meridian often affects another. Thus, through trial and error, I have found that tapping on fewer meridians usually does the job.” (The EFT Manual, p. 144).

Most EFT practitioners use Gary’s short cuts but many add a point or two. Common points are the inside of the wrists (3 meridians are stimulated at once) and the top of the head. Also, some retain the finger points or the Below the Nipple point from Gary’s Basic Recipe. Some of us throw these extra points and the 9 Gamut Procedure in if progress is slow or for variety.

I like to remember that EFT is a very forgiving technique. Stimulating the energy system by tapping any of the points feels good and is beneficial. Tapping some but not all of the points often will relieve the intensity of your feelings. Many simple issues can be made better even if you tap “wrong.” (And the caveat is that complex issues will need a more systematic approach to be relieved, often with a skilled practitioner.)

Today a client suggested we “tap about fun stuff.” What?? Being the serious practitioner that I am (not a killjoy!), we first we did some remedial tapping on her past issues, tying up some loose ends. Then I said, “OK, what do you mean by tapping on the fun stuff?” Sometimes I have to learn from my clients.

So she proceeded to tap on her points (skipping the karate chop point) and started naming the things that were fun for her:

• the sunny day
• feeling full of life
• feeling vibrant
• having lots of ideas
• having genuine exchanges with people
• laughing at little things
• sharing silly things with others

Then I had her put these words into something visual. She imagined painting a dull room beautiful colors with a big paint brush. Then she went outside and began to paint the sidewalk in interesting shapes. I suggested she paint her life and her future. She listed a number of things she wanted to do—travel to Greece, go on a safari, etc. I was imagining all the colors and feelings she described and I felt good, too!

That was fun! (And an easy way to use tapping to lift your spirits.)

I used to binge on sugar. Beginning in high school when I finally had access to my own money and a car, I planned and executed eating binges. By college I was into a full-blown pattern of eating to excess one day and eating a very restrictive diet the next.

My body and mind were addicted to sugar. Sugar addiction doesn’t lead to arrest but while “under the influence” of too much sugar I was caught speeding during a binge. I have stolen food from restaurants and people’s kitchens. I have “passed out” from eating too much sugar. I was suffering from Binge Eating Disorder (BED).

I was able to achieve and maintain a normal weight only after I stopped eating sugar altogether. No moderation for me! “One bite is too many, a hundred is not enough.” Getting the sugar out of my body helped enormously to stop the physical cravings. But the emotional compulsion would still come back.

I had to cope with my negative feelings and thoughts, such as resentments, fears, boredom, and rebellion before the compulsion to turn to food was lifted. But even after the physical cravings and the emotional compulsion was lifted, I still had bad eating habits. And I discovered that those pesky habits were as difficult to overcome as the compulsions!

Emotional Freedom Techniques, which I discovered long after I stopped eating sugar, is a tool I use to help others with these same issues. EFT really can stop cravings in their tracks, calm disturbing emotions, and open the mind to a new way of eating.

Changing eating habits is also made easier with EFT. To do this, we address the resistance to ending those old, comfortable behaviors with EFT. We tap as we wax poetic about how much we love ice cream, Big Macs, Diet Coke, everything greasy, whatever it is that turns you on. As we tap, it opens our minds to new thoughts. “Mmm… maybe I CAN live without those things.” With persistence, we break down our resistance and build up our hope, even enthusiasm for new behaviors.

I didn’t know why I was avoiding writing this September newsletter. All I knew was that the days were going by and when I focused on the newsletter I felt tightness in my stomach. This morning, two days into September, I sat down and tapped. “Even though I don’t want to write my newsletter, I deeply and completely accept myself anyway.” Just saying that helped me feel better. Then on the points I said: “I don’t want to write my newsletter. I just don’t!” As I tapped, I switched to, “I don’t want to run my weight release program this fall” (the main topic I had planned for the newsletter). “I don’t want to take on that commitment. Mike’s chronic health issues are taking a toll on my energy.” (Mike is my husband.) “Maybe there is another way to offer classes without an 8-week program.”

I stopped tapping and started thinking of another approach for the fall. Maybe stand-alone teleclasses on weight release topics. Maybe teleclasses on other topics, too. Maybe audios of me spouting off plus some tapping with no live audience. Maybe I could offer written scripts to go along with the audios. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Ideas began to flow. (Send me YOUR ideas, too!)

My stomach feels a lot better and I feel relief. I started tapping by saying the truth–”I don’t want to write my newsletter”–and it morphed into a new truth–”There is another way to offer my clients/students something that is effective and satisfying besides an 8-week program.”

This is how I like to use EFT for feeling stuck. After admitting that I’m just not moving forward, and accepting that I’m OK anyway, ideas surface and the stuckness melts away. Try it! In the meantime, stay tuned for more about my fall offerings–but in another email!

In the 1990s, Gary Craig simplified Dr. Roger Callahan’s Thought Field Therapy (TFT) from a complex tapping system into a single algorithm tapping technique. Why did Gary call it “Emotional Freedom Techniques?”

In the opening pages of his The EFT Manual (2008), Gary claims that EFT could free a person from negative emotions, years of self-doubt, grief over the loss of a loved one, anger, and negative memories involving rape or other abuse. He says “freedom” could also mean freedom to earn a greater income, to improve one’s golf score, to make cold calls with ease, to lose weight, and to become a public speaker, singer, or comedian. He states one can achieve freedom from the anxiety that drives one to addictions, freedom from PTSD, guilt, and depression. Gary says, “I mean freedom to express love easily and walk upon this planet with grace and confidence” (pp. 25-26).

Most people who have done their share of tapping have experienced new levels of emotional freedom. One client is free from her vomiting phobia which stunted her life. Another client is free from migraines that kept her from planning with confidence anything in the future. Another client experienced freedom from Diet Coke, another from twice a day trips to Dairy Queen, another from late night binging. Another client is free from incessant negative self-talk that zapped him of energy. Still others are free from anger at that one person in their lives who used to drive them crazy. Many clients are free from childhood limiting beliefs about themselves, such as “I don’t deserve a good life,” “I don’t matter,” and “I’m invisible.” The increased emotional freedom I have witnessed proves Gary named his technique correctly.

How do you experience emotional freedom? Recently I knew I was more emotionally free when I attended my 40th high school reunion and jumped up to dance in front of complete strangers without feeling self-conscious. Before EFT, I would have stayed in my seat. I feel freer because I have more courage. For instance, I go to my gym knowing I’ll be challenged. I show up, feeding myself positive self-talk such as, “One step at a time, I can do it. And if I can’t do it, I can stop. That is OK, too. I can accept myself just the way I am.” Another way I know I’m emotionally freer is that a difficult person in my life no longer bothers me even though she hasn’t changed.

EFT is a powerful, fast-acting tool designed to bring you more emotional freedom. As you continue to shed the layers of cumbersome heavy feelings, thoughts, and beliefs that keep you from soaring, you will experience what “emotional freedom” means to you. And you will feel better and better and love your life more and more!