Treatment for ME: The Good and The Bad

When my clients are learning the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), a question that often comes up is whether it is "OK" to go back to what we may call "bad" things in our lives in order to release and heal them. People fear, from what they know of positive thinking and affirmations, that focusing on the less positive or on the traumatic in an EFT session will bring more of that energy in that they really don't want in their lives.And the answer from my perspective is "yes" it is beneficial to go back to these issues using an energy therapy like EFT - and for a number of reasons.

To explain why, I will start with a short explanation of the Emotional Freedom Technique. As many of you will know, this is a simple yet very powerful therapy which involves tapping on various parts of the body where the main acupuncture points are located. Tapping on these points whilst being in touch with the "problem", issue or trauma leads to the energy field and body releasing these issues. And as we release those issues, we gain freedom from emotional and physical problems.

This is, of course, appears quite different from received wisdom around focussing on the positive and affirmations. For some people, learning EFT for the first time, it can be a relief to be able to finally "admit" that things aren't so easy for them, and to be able to finally say out loud some of the things that have been "sticking" them from the past. And, as they do this, they can let go of these things and come into more positivity.

For other people, it can be more complicated. I find that if people have been reading a lot about focusing on the positive, or the Law of Attraction, they can be reluctant to tap on what they are finding difficult, fearing that by saying it out loud and "admitting" it, they can be bringing it into being.

In my experience, the opposite can be true. EFT gives us the opportunity to bring out into the open the things that are holding us back in the present, and "clear" them. Tapping on these particular points whilst talking about the issue allows the energy field and the physical body to release and move on.

And this contrasts with affirmations. Sometimes, with affirmations, we can be forcing ourselves to say them, almost through gritted teeth - and as we are saying them, part of our mind is not agreeing with them, doubting them, or even sabotaging ourselves. You know the voice in your head that can say "What! You're kidding yourself - you're not happy or you're not rich, or you're not energetic -" - whatever it is we are focusing on.

And here is the problem with affirmations or positive thinking - even as we are affirming or forcing ourselves to think the positive, we can be attracting the opposite if this is where our energy is with the voice of doubt and self sabotage.

Having said all that, I completely understand why some people may not want to go back to difficult events - particularly those that involve physical or sexual abuse (although I also know these techniques work very dynamically with this kind of trauma.)

In these cases, there are two other possible ways of working with energy techniques. Firstly, it is possible to work with positive or "good" energy. For example, it is possible to work in EFT with the positive things people want to bring into their lives. Tapping whilst being in touch with the positive strengthens the positive - and in my opinion most likely "clears" the difficult stuff which is there in our minds as we talk about the positive (thus solving the "problem" I mention earlier with affirmations.)

And secondly, it is possible to work in a way that I call "unspecific". The latest healing technique I have trained in, Access Consciousness, the Bars, is very good for working non-specifically. It is a hands on technique where by holding various points on the head, it is possible to release what is no longer helpful to us - often without even being cognitively aware of what is holding us back. I am finding this a very powerful healing technique that people really enjoy receiving as it is so deeply relaxing.