Improving Your Life with Energy Psychology

Energy psychology is a family of mind/body techniques that offers fast, new methods for reducing stress, achieving goals, and attaining peak performance. The methods are free, noninvasive, and easy to learn. They can benefit adults and children and can be used for self-help or integrated into a therapeutic setting. People often experience change in a single session, with lasting results. Most popular for self-help are Emotional Freedom Techniques® (EFT), founded by Gary Craig, and the Tapas Acupressure Technique (TAT), founded by Tapas Fleming. Each method works with your body’s energy system, producing mental shifts that change the way you feel and view life.

Many of our life problems result from early negative experiences that were threatening. These feelings often get programmed into our brains as part of the fight or flight response, our most basic survival mechanism. These old programmed responses and emotions then burst forth in future experiences and relationships, when a current situation reminds you of an earlier one. However, energy psychology can change those programmed emotional responses by actually shifting your neurochemistry, thereby neutralizing the patterns you carry within you.

There are many real-life examples that show that it’s possible to easily eliminate negative emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. In Energy Psychology Interactive a woman with a terrifying, lifelong fear of snakes attended a personal development workshop at a South African wildlife reserve. Within half an hour of energy treatment her terror was gone, and she walked up to a snake brought in by a handler, touching it with curiosity and interest. Nancy had a strong 20-year fear of heights after being jokingly pushed on the White Cliffs of Dover. After one EFT session she walked onto a hotel’s fourth floor balcony, and the fear was gone. At a two-year follow-up, the results held!

In The Promise of Energy Psychology, Vietnam veteran Rich had Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, despite 17 years of treatment. At the VA hospital Gary Craig used EFT on him, and his fear of heights from over 50 parachute jumps cleared within 15 minutes. Within an hour, horrid memories stopped intruding, and within a couple of days he was sleeping through the night. In another example, three-year-old Evan had uncontrollable temper tantrums whenever he couldn’t have his way. After a fun hike he didn’t want to leave and started screaming, sobbing, and struggling in his caretaker’s arms. Although Evan’s therapists said that they could let him cry himself out, the caretaker’s friend used EFT on him. Within minutes Evan started smiling, wiping away tears, and sitting quietly. His caretaker was dumbstruck. Evan had never reacted that way while in a tantrum.

How are these methods done? They are done by mentally activating the problem state while using a technique to neutralize it, such as tapping or holding acupressure points. They are so simple and effective that many people have a hard time believing that the results are real! However, as they go through their daily lives, they frequently find that the results are real and lasting. It’s reported in 70–80 percent of cases that delimited fears and issues disappear, specific anxiety goes away, and cravings are eliminated.

Here’s an example, including basic steps, of an abbreviated version of the EFT procedure.

* Recall a specific incident when you experienced your problem, such as standing on a 17th floor balcony when you have a fear of heights. Give it a stress rating of 0–10, with 10 being the most stressful.

* Then, write a set-up phrase that pairs the unwanted feeling with a positive affirmation such as, “Even though I have this fear of heights, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

* State it out loud three times while rubbing “sore spots” on your chest, which you can find two or three inches in from the point where your arms attach to your chest.

* After that, tap on a standard subset of eight acupuncture points while picturing the stressful scene and saying a reminder phrase such as “fear of heights.” Tapping can be done with one or two fingers, on either or both sides of your body. The eight points include the inner edge of the eyebrow, the bone on the outside of the eye, the bone under the eye, under the nose, the center of the chin, collarbone points, underarm points (three to four inches below the armpit), and the karate chop point (on the little-finger side of the hand).

* Then, picture the scene again, and re-rate your distress level.

* For subsequent rounds, adjust the set-up and reminder phrases to include “still” and “remaining,” while rubbing sore spots: “Even though I still have this fear of heights, I deeply and completely accept myself.” Use the reminder phrase, “Remaining fear.”

* Do more tapping rounds, re-rating the level of distress each time until it goes down to zero.

Another simple, effective technique is the Tapas Acupressure Technique, which also mentally activates a problem state while holding acupuncture points. TAT videos show a victim of sexual abuse working with Tapas to clear feelings of negativity and dirtiness, allowing her to feel better about life. Another woman, who was raped as a teenager, was able to clear the trauma with lasting results. TAT (child pose) was used with children who were victims of natural disasters in Mexico and Nicaragua, significantly reducing symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

To do TAT, lightly hold three acupuncture points: one-eighth inch above the inside corner of each eye using your thumb and fourth finger, plus one-half inch above the midpoint between the eyebrows using your third finger (TAT pose). The other hand is placed on the lower back of the head. Hold this pose during each of the procedure’s seven steps (one to two minutes), then release. The first four steps include focusing on the problem (a disturbing event, food allergy, etc), focusing on the opposite of the problem (it’s over, I survived), healing the origins of the problem, and healing the places in your mind, body, and life where this has been stuck. The method often releases trauma or stress and even sometimes eliminates allergies. However, no self-help method is a substitute for therapy, so seek professional help for serious problems or if any method is unsettling.

Because the methods are quick, easy to learn and use, and have no known side effects, people in Internet energy psychology groups indicate that they are self-applying the methods for lots of emotional and behavioral problems with children, adults, and even with pets! They use the methods for behavior problems in school, autism, heartbreak, old childhood issues, anger, guilt, anxiety, and more. They also use them for physical problems ranging from weight loss to allergies and for achieving goals such as improved eating or exercise habits. In sports psychology they use the techniques to achieve optimal performance by reducing stress and tension and making performance goals more believable to the athlete.

Whether used for problems or goals, energy psychology methods can take down problematic feelings, thoughts, and behaviors one by one, changing how you feel about yourself and others and how you view and experience life. This leads to positive experiences and joyous feelings, improving your life in simple and profound ways!

** This article is one of 101 great articles that were published in 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life. To get complete details on “101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life”, visit http://www.selfgrowth.com/greatways.html