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Fears And Phobias

Animals

Sarah's cat phobia and other newcomer issues

Important Note: This article was written prior to 2010 and is now outdated.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

Margaret Condy is relatively new at EFT and shares with us some experiences that should be helpful to all. My comments are contained within her message.

Hugs, Gary


by Margaret Condy

Hi Gary,

I took Crystal Hawk's EFT workshop just three weekends ago, and it has changed my life. Within the first 15 minutes of the workshop, I could feel the excitement building in me, and it hasn't left me since!

I'm a Therapeutic Touch practitioner and, as Crystal says, EFT comes naturally to TT'ers. With TT, we witness and share in some magnificent and wonderful healing experiences. Even so, each time I use EFT with someone, I'm thrilled and excited with the results, as if I had never seen energy work before. For me, EFT and TT form a beautiful partnership.

GC COMMENT: I encourage everyone to blend EFT with your favorite procedures. Almost invariably, the two procedures form what Margaret calls a "beautiful partnerhip." I've had reports from all over the world of enhanced results by blending EFT with Hypnotherapy, Therapeutic Touch, EMDR, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Reiki, Talk Therapy, Focusing, NLP, Systematic Desensitization, Imaging and just about every other technique you can name. The advantage here is two fold....

1. You can continue to use your own comfortable procedures while integrating a newer one. This allows an easy transition.

2. You can wrap EFT within more conventional techniques so that the client isn't hit all at once with this strange appearing, belief busting procedure. It can make things easier for new clients.

MARGARET CONTINUES: I'd just like to tell you about my first outing with EFT. I have a friend whom I've only known for about two months. When you read on, I'm sure you'll agree that our coming together was a wonderful example of synchronicity.

I'll call my friend Sarah. When Sarah visited my house for the first time, where two cats reside (actually, we live in their home!), I discovered that she had a phobia about cats. If the cats were sleeping soundly, she could tolerate their presence, but as soon as they started stirring, she became very uncomfortable.

That was the weekend before Crystal's EFT workshop. The following Monday, I called Sarah up and suggested (trying not to sound too excited) that we try tapping for her fear. So she came over again and I took her into my "Healing Room," where there were no cats in sight. I questioned her about her phobia, and discovered that she was specifically afraid of cats jumping up on her lap and scratching her.

We established that the SUD was 8--which was her perception. Compared to other phobics, I would have put her at about a 5. But as she chose 8, that's what we went with. Then she tapped on her fear of cats scratching, and it dropped to a 4. We did a second round, and got it down to 1. Then she said, "but if I were to have to face a cat, it might be higher." So I suggested we do just that, and test it out.

GC COMMENT: This is a relatively common response from clients. The tapping actually brings them down to 0 or 1 but they still remember what it was like to be around their phobic object. They don't know if they will truly feel calm under the real circumstances until it is tested and so, quite naturally, they may still have some apprehension. Sometimes I find people that completely resolve an emotional issue down to zero but still report a 3 or 4 simply because they don't believe it will last or because it "shouldn't get any lower than that."

MARGARET CONTINUES: We went into the kitchen, where one of my cats, Katie, was sleeping on a chair. I began to stroke her, and she woke up and stretched, showing all her sharp little claws, then yawned so that those nasty fangs were beautifully exposed. Sarah, who was standing about two feet away, didn't move. I continued to stroke Katie, and after a moment Sarah took a step closer and started petting her. She continued for several minutes, and then began to say, "I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't believe I'm doing this. I've never petted a cat in my whole life!" (I had to give her a brief lesson on how to stroke a cat, with Katie a willing participant!)

I know this is all familiar stuff for you, Gary, but for me it was a tremendously exciting moment--and for Sarah as well, of course.

Now here's where the synchronicity of Sarah entering my life comes into it in a big way. I found out while talking to her that she's not only afraid of cats, but of dogs, horses, mice, insects--in fact just about every living creature. I was going to add there "except people," but I believe she's afraid of people as well. She's a bundle of insecurities, with absolutely no self-esteem, who is trying to take on reponsibility for the whole world and, of course, failing miserably.

And she is a lovely person.

Who better to enter my life just as I'm discovering EFT? Sarah is more than willing to serve as my guinea pig, and I'm thrilled to have someone I can work with.

GC COMMENT: Oh yes!! For newcomers to EFT a willing and cooperative friend to practice with is truly a gift. It allows us to get started and sharpen our skills without feeling tenuous or unsure. Most of us know someone like Sarah, a delightful and appreciative person with a long list of issues. Spend time with the Sarah of your choice and you will likely get your share of "one minute wonders" (e.g. Sarah's fast relief from her cat phobia) as well as broader issues that take more artistry to unravel.

MARGARET CONTINUES: I've read all of the Palace of Possibilities, and I want to incorporate affirmations along with EFT in what we do together. I've also ordered the EFT Course (I've already downloaded the manual and read it through), and I know that will be a tremendous help. Sarah and I have tapped one more time, when an afternoon together with her family and mine didn't go the way she had planned. She became terribly upset and angry because she felt she had failed. After only one round of tapping her anger and distress completely disappeared. Yes!

Just one more thing (I didn't intend this e-mail to be so long!). The day after tapping for cats, I got an e-mail from Sarah, in which she said, "I can't stop thinking that maybe a host of favourable circumstances came together and made it work, and it might not work again." How's that for an example of the "Apex problem"? (Except that even with her doubts, she did come back for more.)

GC COMMENT: The "Apex problem" is Dr. Roger Callahan's term for what amounts to Cognitive Dissonance. Basically, the EFT procedure is so far removed from the client's belief system that they search for "other reasons" as to why they feel so much better and have made progress. Interestingly, these reasons are often even more ludicrous than the EFT procedure. It is a human need to make sense of the world around us and when something comes along that doesn't fit within the existing "writing on our walls" we literally fill in the blanks with whatever is resident in our knowledge base. Some of the alternate explanations clients come up with are candidates for the Comedy Hall of Fame.

MARGARET CONTINUES: Again, Gary, thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm having a ball with EFT, and I want to share it with the whole world!

Peace and love,

Margaret Condy

FOR MORE EFT HELP ...

Explore our newest advancement, Optimal EFT™, by reading my free e-book, The Unseen Therapist™. More efficient. More powerful.