Energy Healing - Case Studies (EFT)

Often, All It Takes is One Session . . .

Case Study # 1:  When my client, "Fred,"(not his real name) agreed to an Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) session with me, he made it clear he didn't really believe in any of this energy-healing business. But he was miserably uncomfortable after wrenching his back for the second time in a week. This time, the injury was serious enough, the pain bad enough, that he was willing to "try anything!"  

(Just as an aside, EFT uses a gentle tapping technique as a kind of psychological acupressure to stimulate traditional Chinese acupuncture points mostly on the face and upper body. It relieves blocks to the energy system, and that, in turn, appears to relieve stress--as well as physical pain. See Emotional Freedom Technique page for more information.)

In working with resistance, EFT addresses it as though it were a client. "Oh, you're there and you're resisting. That's OK, we see you, and we accept you and we accept who we are, with all of these feelings." Usually, after we accept it, and acknowledge it, the resistance loses its charge and drops away.

So with Fred, I suggested he let his resistance speak up and give it a voice.

He just started tapping on how this method wasn't going to help, how it was all bull----, and a waste of time. We kept going with this line of tapping for maybe 5 minutes, round after round, until the resistant voice did finally crack.

Fred wept and wept and wept. He released all of the holding on, all of the stress of being so messed up physically, all of the pain of holding onto his pride.

"I don't want to go any further right now, but I do feel a whole lot better, and my back is better, too," he said.

Case Study #2: "Judy" (not her real name) was suffering from low self-esteem and was struggling to believe she had any personal value or worth. Like many, she had grown up in a family where her emotions and views weren't valued. It wasn't a terrible family, but a fairly normal one. And because she was taught that her feelings and attitudes didn't matter, she grew up feeling "less than" and seeing the world through the eyes of victimhood. She relied on others to validate her, but, even when they did, she couldn't really take it in. 

• The session began with tapping while saying aloud what's called in EFT, a "set-up statement": "Even though a big part of me doesn't really believe I have any personal value and worth, another part does believe it--and I choose to strengthen that second part and heal the unbelieving part, starting now."
•  All the EFT acupressure points were tapped on, and the tapping unfolded with refinements of that initial set-up, "this remaining refusal to believe in myself," "All that childhood shaming, never being good enough, never really being seen, not having it safe to be seen or heard."
• That morphed into more positive statements, "It's safe to move into my power. It's safe to embrace myself and acknowledge my value and worth. I choose to release this negative pattern now." 
• And finally, "I choose to create a loving space for myself, finding self-validation, self-love, self-worth."

It was remarkable to see the strength of this negative pattern fall away and to have Judy herself recognize it, smiling and admitting, "Phew! That was a huge cognitive-emotional shift. I'm worn out!"

See the page, "Emotional Freedom Technique" for more about EFT, and the page,"Client Testimonials," for more brief case studies and client feedback on different energy-healing methods.