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Thoughts on resolving difficult physical problems

Important Note: This article was written prior to 2010 and is now outdated.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

Hi Everyone,

In this 3 part series, Ryan Kurczak gives us examples and insightful concepts for getting physical relief where EFT seems to fail or falter. Please consult physicians on all medical issues.

Hugs, Gary

Part 1 of 3 (Low Back Pain)
Part 2 of 3 (Three components to addressing physical issues--skin irritation)
Part 3 of 3 (Thoughts on resolving difficult physical problems: Fading Eyesight Restored)


By Ryan Kurczak

Part 1 of 3 (Low Back Pain)

Dear Gary:

Recently in my EFT networking I've found that most of the people (clients and colleagues) I know who use EFT regularly have not had much success addressing physical pain or physical concerns aside from just doing the general set up saying "Even though I have this pain...etc."  As you might expect, most often they don't get the results they should.

GC COMMENT: As a point of clarification, I find that most people DO get good results just tapping on the pain. However, these results can often be of higher quality by addressing related emotional issues. This is a main topic within Ryan's series.

In this series I will address physical concerns effectively using examples of physical pain (low back to be exact), a chronic skin irritation on the hand, and fading eye sight that were all almost completely corrected by being more specific and also keying in on the underlying emotion the people felt when they thought about having the problem and it never going away.

I found it necessary to be thorough and persistent in finding out the specific aspects and memories associated with the problems.  It is also necessary to have clients really tune in to their emotional investments in the problems.  Many physical problems are like old friends that clients miss when resolved.  This too needs addressed.

Low Back Pain

A few months ago I worked with a chiropractor to assist his clients in losing weight using EFT.  Since he was a smart chiropractor he knew there was more to the weight management issue than just nutrition and exercise.  One of his patients had completed a session with me on his weight issues and was waiting to see the chiropractor for an adjustment.  Tom, as we'll call him, had a low back pain that had been bothering him for somewhere near 12 years. 

Since I was done working at the chiropractor's office for the day and Tom was just sitting around I asked him if he'd be interested in trying EFT on his back pain.  Since we had already used it together to help him lose weight, lower his blood pressure and address some relationship issues he was open to the suggestion. 

I started generally. First I asked him to tell me how much pain there was and the quality of it.  He said it was a 6 out of 10 and that the quality was a dull ache.  I took him through the basic recipe while having him tap on the phrase, "Even though I have this dull back pain, I deeply and completely accept myself."  I have had many instances in the past where this general setup worked as a quick miracle relief of pain.  This time it did not work. 

So I tried it again and had him repeat it with more emphasis while really focusing on the pain.  Again it didn't budge.  I asked him how long he had the pain and he said around 12 years.  Then I asked what happened 12 years ago and he said nothing important, he just knew he had had it that long. 

Since EFT also has a distinct way of jogging a person’s memory I took him through the basic recipe again using the phrase, "Even though my back has been hurting for 12 years I deeply and completely accept myself."  Half way through the basic recipe it looked like an "Aha" moment had occurred by the look on his face.  After finishing the basic recipe I asked him how he felt.  He said, "Around the time we were tapping on the collarbone point I remembered what happened 12 years ago.  I was working a job where we were moving gravel.  I had an accident where the end loader operator wasn't paying attention and the thing came down on my shoulders knocking me to the ground." 

I then asked him how his back felt.  He smiled and said it was about a 3.  My first instinct was to have him tap again using the memory.  So I asked him, "What sticks out most in that memory?  What is the most troublesome aspect of what you remembered happening?"  He said it was the shock of being knocked on the ground.  We then tapped on, "Even though I was shocked when that end loader knocked me to the ground I deeply and completely accept myself."  This only moved the level to a 2. 

It occurred to me that maybe there was an emotion there that needed to be addressed about the circumstance.  When he explained the memory earlier I noted he seemed to get a bit angry about the situation.  I then asked him to repeat the memory to me as if he had never explained it to me before. I asked him to tell it to me as if he was explaining a movie to me.

He explained it again.  When he was finished I asked him what his underlying emotion about the situation was as he related the story.  He replied, "I was getting mad that the guy running the equipment wasn't paying attention." 

I got a sense we had hit a core issue.  His appointment time for the chiropractor was close so I asked him to go through the tapping sequence one more time.  This time I had him tap on, "Even though I'm angry that idiot wasn't paying attention I deeply and completely accept myself."  Throughout the process I reminded him to keep thinking back to the memory of the incident.  When we finished I asked him how his back was.  He looked at me slightly amazed, moved around in his chair as if to recreate the pain, and said, "It's gone."  I asked him how he felt about the situation, and he said, "People make mistakes.  It wasn't his fault."  Then it was time for his adjustment.  Before he went in to meet the chiropractor he said, "We'll see how long this lasts."

A week later when I saw him the pain had not returned.  I saw his wife a month later and she volunteered the information that he is still amazed that the pain hasn't come back at all. 

The key to pain, illustrated here, I've found lies in getting back to an initial memory or situation that was occurring when the pain began.  If clearing the memory doesn't completely take care of it, then it is helpful to probe any emotions about the memory.  This was a pain Tom had lived with for 12 years and had never had any success in resolving.  In just under 10 minutes, the pain was gone. 

In our next installment I’ll address a chronic skin irritation a client had for over 4 years.  Various ointments prescribed to him only served to temporarily get rid of the irritation that, oddly enough, always came back when stressed.  Over a series of three sessions the core issue was discovered and resolved, and the irritation has not been back since last addressing it over a year ago.  Not only was the stress a concern but also the idea of the irritation never going away seemed to play a role as well. 

Best Wishes,

Ryan Kurczak


Part 2 of 3 (Three components to addressing physical issues--skin irritation)

Dear Gary:

There are three key components I've found to effectively addressing physical concerns with EFT.  They are as follows:

1. Pinpoint any emotionally traumatic memories on or around the onset of the physical problem.  Then tap on all the aspects of that memory which are troublesome until it is no longer problematic to recall.  When someone has a chronic physical ailment, I always ask them when did the problem develop, then what was going on in their life at the time it developed. 

2. Specifically address how you feel about the physical concern.  What is the emotion you have when you think about the fact that you have it?  Are you scared, angry, sad, or frustrated?  I've found that tapping on these emotions and allowing yourself to become neutral to the issue emotionally allows the issue to clear up more quickly.  (More of this will be covered in the third installment of this series.)

3. Find out how you feel about never getting rid of the issue.  Again, what are the emotions involved when you contemplate this?  How do you feel never getting rid of the physical issue will affect aspects of the way you interact with the world in the future?  In regards to clearing up the skin irritation discussed below, this was the core issue that resolved the whole situation.

How a 4-year Old Skin Irritation Cleared with EFT

Tom came in with a skin irritation on his left hand.  It wasn't anything terrible when he had his first session, but it annoyed him constantly.  Just the thought of having it drove him nuts, and the fact that he'd had it for four years and was afraid it would never go away made it worse. 

His situation was basically that whenever he would get stressed out, little poison ivy-like blisters would appear just below the knuckles on the top part of his hands.  He told me that if he left it alone, it would spread from a few single blisters into rash about the size of a half dollar coin. 

Four years before coming for an EFT session he had gone to see a doctor who prescribed a steroid cream for him to apply any time it showed up.  Tom said that at first he was elated that all he had to do was apply a thin layer of this cream and the bumps would magically vanish.  As time wore on and he found that it was four years later and he still had to apply this cream, he felt there had to be another answer.  Somehow he heard about EFT and so contacted me.

Now, having never worked with a rash situation before, I wasn't quite sure what to do.  So I started simple and went through the following steps in the first session.

Session 1

1. I had him tapping on Even though I have these bumps on my skin…  We went through this a few times and sent him home with this to tap on for homework.

2. I asked him what was going on in his life at the time the bumps started.  He told me that he had moved, and found that to be slightly stressful.  When I asked him to recall particular memories of the stress, he said that the intensity was pretty low for most of the memories.  He said leaving his home was made him sad to about a 3 out of 10 on the 0 to 10 intensity scale and that having to move all of his belongings by himself made him feel alone and stressed to about a 4 out of 10 on the intensity scale.

So we spent most of the first session tapping on specific memories he remembered during the move that made him feel sad for leaving home and also specific memories of when he was packing his belongings by himself and feeling alone.  We worked until the intensity of the memories were zero. 

Session 2

Tom came back for session two and said that the bumps had disappeared a few hours after the first session without any steroid cream applied.  This had never happened before and made him extremely happy.  However, the bumps returned two days previous to this session.  He said that he had continued tapping using the first phrase I gave him as homework, and although the bumps did not turn into the larger rash, they had not gone away either.

So knowing that these bumps appeared when he got stressed, I asked him what happened in his life two days ago.  He said that he and his wife were not getting along.  That they had not been fighting but that there was some palpable tension between them in regards to their finances.  I asked him if the bumps typically appeared when he and his wife had problems.  He thought for a moment, and then said no.  Then as though a light came on, he said, "But they usually do appear around the time of the month that I pay bills, now that I think about it."

I thought to myself, "Bingo.”  The core issue must be money.  So session two involved the following:

1. We identified and tapped on everything that stressed him out about paying bills.  This included the act of sitting down to pay the bills, memories of his father yelling at his mother about bills, and also the frustration that Tom felt about not making enough money.  All of these had an intensity level between 6 and 7 out of 10.

Phrases we used included:

Even though I hate the feeling I have sitting at my desk writing checks…

Even though I hated the feeling of my father yelling about bills…

Even though I wish I had more money to buy what I want…

2. To test our work, I had Tom describe his typical routine paying bills.  He told me the story without any intensity.  Then I had him describe a typical memory of his father yelling at his mother about her spending.  Finally, I had him describe his money issues.  All of these he related in a completely neutral manner, saying that he just couldn't relate to them anymore.

He said he would see how his bumps reacted after this session and would schedule again if he needed too.

Session 3

Our final session was a short one.  He called to schedule again.  I asked him about the progress and he said that just like the first session, after the second session the bumps disappeared without the use of the cream.  It had been over a month and he had just recently developed the bumps again.  He said he had even paid bills without any problem and he was much more comfortable about his finances.

(Note: When I work with people on prosperity, I've often found that once the anxiety about not being "rich" or not being able to buy whatever they want is neutralized, they often find they have more resources than they thought or that their spending greatly diminishes, giving them a greater sense of abundance.)

He said the bumps did return once he began wondering if they were going to come back.  He had recently begun thinking about how he hated for people to see his hands with the bumps and that he wished they were actually gone forever. 

So before scheduling another "official" session I told him to wait until he was home alone, and then tap using the basic recipe while yelling emphatically the following phrases:

Even though I'll never be rid of these bumps...

Even though my hands are hideous when these bumps appear…

Even though I'm extremely irritated that I'll never get rid of this problem…

I told him that if the bumps did not go away after this process to call me to schedule a full session ... I didn't hear back from him. 

When I ran into him a few months later he said that the bumps went away after this, and the process felt like he was venting all his frustrations he had pent up about the situation for those four years.  It's been over a year now, and last I saw him, they had still not returned.

In the final installment of this series, we will address deteriorating eye sight, and how vision was restored through tapping on feelings of the client's parents losing their vision.  We will also describe how resolving feelings of failure to be healthy despite the client's best efforts contributed to the problem. 

Best Wishes,

Ryan Kurczak


Part 3 of 3 (Thoughts on resolving difficult physical problems: Fading Eyesight Restored)

In this installment we will explore the restoration of failing eyesight by tapping on the unresolved emotions of the client’s parents getting old and also the client’s feeling of inability to take care of herself despite her education about remaining healthy.

Janet was a fellow participant at a retreat my wife and I attend yearly.  At some point during one of the meal hours, she overheard that I offered EFT and other energetic healing modalities within my business.  So she approached me during my turn to wash dishes and asked if there was anything that could be done for eyesight.  I told her even though I didn’t have direct experience with it in my practice, I’m sure that there is something that could be done as I’ve found all physical problems to be a result of some mismanaged emotional energy. 

I gave her my typical schpeel about EFT and she was very interested in making an appointment.  Since I had nothing to do other than wash dishes before going to the meditation hall to meditate, I asked her if she’d like to try it out right then.  So she did.

I first asked her about her eyesight.  She said she could see up close, but had begun noticing that her distance vision started to go blurry about 2 years before.  So my next questions, which I feel all good EFT therapists should ask when a client says a problem started a set amount of years ago, was, “So what was happening in your life two years ago?”

She thought for a moment and said that her parents started to go downhill health-wise, and that their eyesight was beginning to fail.  I made a note of that information to come back to it later. 

Then I asked her how she felt about her eyesight changing.  She said it made her scared, because she felt that she knew enough about health and wellness to prevent problems from occurring in her life.  She was afraid that maybe she didn’t know anything at all.  (This of course was not true, as she was very healthy overall, but she had an irrational fear that if she couldn't stop this, what else could go wrong.  I never care what is real or not real with a client.  What is real is what they are experiencing, so that is what I focus on.  Currently her reality was a great fear about her inability to be healthy.)

Now that I had these bits of information I taught her the tapping sequence and took her through 4 rounds of tapping.

First I told her to look at something far away.  She chose a hat from across the room.  I asked her how blurry it looked on a scale from 1-10.  10 being so blurry she couldn’t see it and 1 being crystal clear.  She said it was about a 6 out of 10. 

1 ) So I had her tap on the phrase, Even though I can’t see that far away hat because it is so blurry…  After completing the basic recipe with this general statement I had her look at the hat again and see if it changed.  She was mildly surprised and said it changed to around a 4 out of 10.  (I always like to start general just to see the effect.)

2) Then I had her think about her parents.  I asked what emotion came up when she thought about their failing health.  She said she felt tightness in her chest at an intensity level of 8 out of 10 when she thought about being responsible for them.  So I had her tap on the phrase, Even though I get this tightness in my chest when I remember how responsible I am for my parents…  After completing the basic recipe with this phrase, I saw her take a deep breath and her shoulders relaxed. 

I asked her to tune back into the idea that her parents health was failing and she stated that the intensity was gone, as if it was not possible to focus on it.  Again I asked her to look at the hat across the room.  This time she was very surprised.  She stated that it was blurry at the level of 2 out of 10.  (As we can see here, the physical eyesight was greatly affected by an issue that might otherwise seem completely unrelated.)

3)  Finally I had her focus on the idea that she didn’t know how to take care of herself or her health.  I asked her how she felt when I said, “You don’t know anything about health, and are just going to get old, sick and die like everyone else.”  (Note that I have found making statements like that to clients, even though I don’t mean it, is a great way to get their intensity up to tap.)  I could immediately see fear in her face.  She said that statement caused anxiety at a level of 9 out of 10. 

So I had her tune into the anxiety and tap on the statement, Even though I can’t change the fact that I’m going to get sick and old like everyone else...

Janet took many deep breaths during this basic recipe.  When we finished I asked her how she felt when I repeated the previous phrase.  She said the intensity was still 5 out of 10, but she felt like she could breath easier. 

So I had her tap one more round through the basic recipe using the phrase, “This remaining anxiety.”  When complete, she chuckled a little bit.  She then said, it was silly for her to get worked up about the idea that she was going to get old and die like everyone else.  She said that just because her eyesight was blurry at a distance didn’t mean that she was going to have major debilitating issues. 

At that I asked her to look again at the hat across the room.  This time she said she could see it fine, but that she couldn’t make out the words in the logo.  I looked at the hat myself and told her, that I couldn’t make out the words either, and last I was checked I had 20/20 vision.

She thanked me and asked more about EFT.  So I referred her to the web site and the free manual.  Later on in the week she mentioned how much more relaxed she felt since our brief 15-minute session. 

As you can see, many great leaps can be made in a short time with EFT.  I had a sense that Janet had more issues to work through to prevent the problem from being retriggered, which is why I referred her to the emofree.com web site.  However, this was a good example to show a person just how influential their emotions are in regards to their physical health. 

To summarize, note the importance of how a person feels about their physical problem in the first place.  Does it make them scared, angry, frustrated, or sad?  This needs to be addressed.  It is also important to note what was occurring in the person’s life during the onset of symptoms.  If there is anything in the past tagged to an emotion that they can get in touch with, it also needs addressed. 

I’ve found many instances where tapping generally on a physical issue resolved the issue, but to be more thorough it has helped in my practice to discover and address the emotions and situations related to the issue.

Best Wishes,

Ryan Kurczak

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