EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)
(More coming soon on EFT.) EFT is a very good method which I like a lot, though I don’t use it all that often as I have other methods which cover the same ground. It helps people turn towards their experiences and get into their feelings, it helps them stand back from a situation and make choices, it helps feelings to unfold, and to explore underlying feelings in depth. But I regard it as mostly an excellent and easily-taught combination and systematising of existing elements, rather than something fundamentally new. As such, it is a genuine step forward. I know EFT afficionados won’t agree with me, but that’s how I see it. It is a form of meditation-by-numbers.
One really great aspect is that EFT understands the importance of two key things:
- Turning to face and experience your experiences. The fundamental truth of healing is that when you do this, in a neutral, accepting way, the painful experiences flow away and dissolve on their own – without EFT, without TFT, without anything. (See meditation).
- It understands how “meta experiences” get in the way. Meta experiences are attitudes at the back of your mind towards your main experiences. These range from the simple “boys don’t cry, girls don’t get angry” to feeling “I don’t want to be feeling this! (eg sad, angry, panicky)” to feeling “I don’t deserve anything better than to feel like this” and many more. Such attitudes really block the basic healing process. Few other therapies understand this. (These attitudes are what EFT terms “reversed polarities.”)
For example, it seems so natural, if you are panicky, to think “I don’t want to be feeling this.” Yet this attitude can be what is keeping the panics happening. If you turn towards the experience and feel it acceptingly, it too will flow though and away.