Tutorial--When physical issues resist healing.

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One of the most obvious conclusions you will get from consistent use of EFT is that there is an undeniable link between physical ailments and unresolved emotional issues. Our EFT Insights Newsletter is loaded with true case histories whereby physical pain fades while emotional issues are being addressed.

Often, we can apply EFT to a physical problem (e.g. "this headache") and watch it disappear in moments. Sometimes, however, the physical problem doesn't budge ... or ... it fades for a while and "comes back." This is usually evidence that there is an unresolved emotional issue behind it that needs to be neutralized. Once this is done, the physical pain is likely to be relieved.

I have a favorite question for playing detective in this regard. Once I have isolated a physical ailment that is resisting healing, I ask....

"If there was an emotional contributor to this pain, what would it be?"

If the client draws a blank then just ask them to guess. Their guess will usually take you in useful directions.

There is a classic example of this on our From EFT to the Palace of Possibilities DVD set. It involves a lady who had constricted breathing in one nostril due to an accident. Regular tapping for "this breathing problem" did nothing for her. However, after I got to the emotional contributors, the whole thing cleared up--and her eyesight improved as well. While this case is best studied on the DVD, it was also written up on our EFT email support list. That write up is given below. Please consult physicians on all medical issues.

LORI LASKOWSKI'S BROKEN NOSE

Hi Everyone,

Accolades to Lori Laskowski for bringing her nose to my recent Cleveland training.

With apologies to Shakespeare, a nose is a nose is a nose. So why accolades to Lori for bringing hers? To the outside observer, it was just a regular nose pleasantly affixed to a smiling face and a bubbling personality. But to Lori it was a source of constant discomfort. She fell and broke it 7 or 8 years ago and has had several surgeries on it since. Despite many efforts at correcting it, one of her nasal passageways remained partially blocked. She ranked the discomfort at a 7.

During the EFT training I asked each person in the audience to identify a physical discomfort. One person chose a hip pain while others chose shoulder pains, headaches and the like. Lori, of course, chose her nose. After the first round of EFT, I went around the room asking people to rank their discomforts before and after the tapping. While many reported noticeable relief, Lori reported none. The 7 was still a 7.

After another round more people reported relief--but not Lori.The 7 was still a 7. At this point, newcomers to EFT might conclude, "Oh, it doesn't work in this case." That's easy to assume, of course, because she was at a standstill while almost everyone else was reporting good results. Further, there was physical damage to her nose that not even surgery could correct. So, why not just leave it be and go on to other things?

Well, I've been here many times and, if I had given up, many people would have never achieved their eventual relief. There are countless examples of how persistence with EFT and playing detective provide results where other techniques completely failed. For a dramatic example, please review the discussion with Cathy on The EFT Course audiotape 1B. In Cathy's case, major relief was achieved by using EFT for constant back pain from an accident of 18 years ago.

So, since tapping directly on Lori's nose problem "wasn't working," I asked her about emotional issues that might be contributing to her breathing discomfort. One of my favorite questions here is....

"If there was an emotional contributor to this issue, what would it be?"

She said there was some anger surrounding the original accident so we tapped on that anger as well as forgiveness. She then reported noticeable relief--but only by a point or two.

Now please notice something. Even though we didn't get one of our "one minute wonders" and even though EFT for her nose issue was not as rapidly effective as for other people, SOMETHING IMPORTANT HAD HAPPENED. Please recall that the problem was still there despite her previous surgeries. Nor did tapping directly for the physical issue bring any relief. But when we addressed possible emotional drivers to the problem, we made noticeable headway. We pried open the lid with this approach. It was never that EFT "didn't work." It was that we hadn't found the proper avenue yet.

Lori's relief at this stage was noticeable, but not dramatic. This is obvious evidence that more progress is possible and that persistence is called for. But sometimes we are too quick to dismiss such "minor" results as "not very good" and conclude, "that's all we can do."

No, nix, nay. Bad conclusion.

Instead, we are just getting started--the gates have opened and it's time to roll up our sleeves. There is more to do. More avenues to pursue. As it turns out, I knew I was going to have the whole audience do a few rounds on "constricted breathing" as the next demonstration, so I let Lori be for the moment. Shortly, though, the session commenced on constricted breathing and, after a couple of rounds, I asked Lori to take a deep breath. The change was obvious to everyone as she reported a clearing of the nose passage and a sense of "draining." The original 7 had dropped to a 2 AND she was delighted to report that HER EYESIGHT HAD GAINED NOTICEABLE CLARITY.

On each of the next two mornings she reported that her breathing improvement was holding and she continued to point out the improvement in her eyesight. There was more to do, of course, because we were not down to a zero. However, my purpose at these trainings is to demonstrate EFT and teach its fine points. I don't usually have time to carry every issue through to completion. She said there was still some minor pressure on the wall of the right side of her nose, so I suggested to Lori that, after the training, she be very specific with the remaining physical discomfort. A good candidate for this specificity would be....

"Even though I still have some of this minor pressure on the wall of the right side of my nose......"

Yesterday (3 weeks later) I called Lori for a follow-up. I thought we might clean up any left over aspects and bring the nose issue to zero. As it turns out, she went to zero on her own.

Complete relief.

She consented to having the conversation recorded and, after some recounting about how our original sessions went, the conversation unfolded as follows (revised for readability).....

Lori: ....and then after we did the tapping I kept noticing more release and more release so that I could breathe easier and easier and easier. In fact, I even mentioned to you then that my eyesight...I see much better for some reason.

GC: It's still better?

Lori: Yeah, it's still better. In fact I used to have problems with my contact lenses and I just don't have those problems any more,which just amazes me.

GC: Well, me too. I've been doing this for a long time, Lori, and my jaw still drops from time to time and I'm not sure if I even know the reason why...we just have our theories. But what I want to ask you is....how do you know your eyesight is better? What tells you that?

Lori: Well, the clarity in which I see things. I think before, when I would look out through my contacts, things would be clear but not "sharp clear." And it would always be a bothersome thing. I think contact wearers would commonly describe it as if you had makeup or something in your eye. And, after we did the tapping, it was just as if I would blink and I would see everything clear. I don't know if it was related to my breathing and my nose--because your ears, nose and throat are all attached--but with breathing more clearly my vision just seemed sharper--much more comfortable. I could just tell immediately the difference.

GC: Well, it could also be that as you breathe better you get more oxygen in your system.

Lori: Yeah, that could explain it, too.

GC: By what percentage would you say your eyesight is improved? 5%, 10% 30%? What would you say?

Lori: I would say the "comfortability" is improved by about 75%.

GC: Comfortability?

Lori: Yeah, feeling more comfortable with my contacts. On clarity of vision I would say it's improved by 30% at least.

GC: Oh really. OK. And that has held with you throughout this?

Lori: Yes. Since that day I went for the training. Yes.

GC: Getting back to your nose for a moment. You said that at the end of the workshop you were left with a "2" and, if I recall it right, you said it had to do with one side of your nose impinging upon the rest....

Lori: Yes. It was like my right nostril seemed to be restricting the air flowing. Every time I breathed I could feel that happening. But since the tapping I don't even have an awareness of it because it's not happening any more.

GC: Well, you went from a 7 to a 2 and the 2 was the side of your nose impinging on things?

Lori: Right.

GC: Are you now to a zero or are you still a 2?

Lori: I'm now to a zero.

GC: You're to a zero? So, it totally cleared up?

Lori: Yes.

GC: To me, this whole thing is remarkable.

Lori: Oh, it is!

GC: As you can imagine, I've been on the other end of the telephone for lots of these stories.

Lori: Oh, I would bet.

GC: They still amaze me. Now, getting back to your nose,when did it go to zero and, question #2 did you do more tapping to get it to zero?

Lori: Yes, I did more tapping to get it to zero. I probably didn't apply the tapping again for a week after the training. And then I just started to tap again for anything having to do with my nose. I think what you showed me was to get more finely detailed as I was working to improve it. So I would get even more descriptive and more descriptive.

GC: Such as?

Lori: Instead of just saying, "I accept myself fully and completely even though my nose is blocked up....", I went down to, "my right nostril which is closest to my air opening that's on the right wall that seems to be difficult--the top side inside my nose, not the bottom...", you know, like that. And then, a week after that--probably a total of two weeks since the training--it went down to a zero and I haven't had to tap on that particular thing since.

GC: Did you notice as you were zeroing in on very specific things that you were getting relief at the moment or was it sort of a delayed reaction?

Lori: It was delayed. It was almost like at the time I wasn't too sure how it was going to come out. But then I noticed that--probably a day or two after tapping--that I wasn't feeling it again.

Hugs to all, Gary

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