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Articles & Ideas

Being Specific

The importance of being specific in the EFT Setup Phrase

Important Note: This article was written prior to 2010 and is now outdated. Please use my newest advancement, Optimal EFT. It is more efficient, more powerful and clearly explained in my free e-book, The Unseen Therapist™.  Best wishes, Gary

This article by Dr. Tam Llewellyn-Edwards of the UK points out an important "stumbling block" that sometimes thwarts progress with EFT. Two people were using EFT for, presumably, a craving for muffins. One had rapid improvement while the other went nowhere. It was only after Tam discerned a specific difference in the craving (chocolate) that the Setup Phrase was modified and the "went nowhere" client now showed improvement. This is an important refinement to the EFT process and one that bears diligent study.


By Dr Tam Llewellyn-Edwards

The EFT basics are very easy to learn and very easy to use' However, a critical part is the 'Set Up'. If the 'Set Up' is not correct all the tapping and intent in the world is not as likely to solve the problem effectively. I would go further and say that in practically all cases where EFT is seen to fail the problem is usually not with the method but with the 'Set Up'.

Here is a simple example from my notes which demonstrates the importance of the 'Set Up Statement' well, as I was working with two people simultaneously. The 'set up' was right for one but not the other and the results showed it.

I was introducing, and demonstrating EFT in a series of presentations to nurses at the local Nation Heath Service Hospital in England. During these presentations I always give a number of demonstrations using volunteers from the audience as patients.

In this instance the volunteer was a male nurse, we shall call him Joe, who was struggling with a weight problem. He had dieted to bring down his weight, but always his love of (American Style) muffins foiled him and caused his weight to increase again. He asked that I remove his desire for muffins.

He did not have any at the time, but one of the other nurses offered one from her shopping bag for use in the demonstration - it was a nice looking chocolate muffin.

I used the standard EFT process, as I always do in these cases, and started by asking Joe to assess how much he wanted the muffin at that instant and he said that as soon as he saw and smelled it his desire was a 10 on a 0 to 10 point scale

At the same time one of the other nurses, we will call her Jean, spoke up that her desire was about 20 on the same 0 to 10 scale and she asked if she could also take part in the demonstration - so she joined in. We used the 'Set Up' - "Even though I crave that muffin - I'm OK"

Both Joe and Jean ran through the usual tapping sequence and Joe's 0-10 level fell rapidly. It was only raised slightly when he smelled the muffin, but immediately fell again with another round of tapping. On the other hand Jean's level remained stubbornly at 20.

In an effort to bring Joe's 0-10 level up from zero to test the therapy I asked him to taste the muffin and to eat it all if he wished, but he declared that he did not want to - in fact he did not think he even liked muffins any more! He was done.

When Jean, still at 20, heard me offer the whole muffin to Joe she cried out, "Just get him to leave a bit of the chocolate for me". That was the key. Jean was not craving the muffin, but the chocolate muffin or even just the chocolate.

Two further rounds with Jean using the 'Set Up' - "Even though I crave that chocolate muffin - I'm OK", brought her right down to a lovel of zero. When she tried to eat a chocolate chip from the top of the muffin, she spat it out and said it tasted bitter.

Joe had been addicted to muffins in general, while Jean was addicted to chocolate muffins. So they needed different 'Set Up Statements'. Even the slight error in not including the word 'chocolate' in Jean's 'Set Up' completely prevented EFT working

The muffin was a dark (plain) chocolate one, so one of the other nurses gave Jean a piece of white milk chocolate which she did not eat as she said it also tasted 'strange'

It would seem that Jean was addicted to chocolate, not muffins, so after the presentation was over I gave her a further short private session working more specifically on some remnants of her chocolate addiction.

Dr Tam Llewellyn-Edwards

Energy Therapy Practitioner & Trainer, Tickhill UK

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