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Serious Diseases

Asthma Relief

EFT Clears Lifelong Asthma and Dog Phobia

Important Note: This article was written prior to 2010 and is now outdated.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

Here's an interesting case by CJ Puotinen where asthma appeared to be linked to a dog phobia. Some quality insights here. Please consult physicians for medical issues.

Hugs, Gary


By CJ Puotinen, EFT-ADV

Dear Gary,

The Hudson Valley Humane Society Visiting Pet Program is an Animal-Assisted Therapy organization in which volunteers and their calm, friendly dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, and other pets visit hospitals, schools, nursing homes, and other facilities in New York and New Jersey.

I’m the organization’s coordinator, and I run EFT workshops as fund-raisers to support our recruiting and training. In the workshops, our volunteers and their pets help demonstrate how to use EFT for the benefit of animals using both direct and surrogate or proxy tapping.

In March, we ran a Level 1 EFT workshop that Holly Shelowitz attended. Holly is a nutrition counselor and whole foods chef in Kingston, New York.

In the afternoon, we brought some of our therapy dogs into the classroom for our “EFT for pets” demonstration. First I had my Labrador Retriever, Chloe, come out of her portable crate and invited our 55 students to come close so they could see how she sits with her eyes closed and head back, blissed out, while I tap on the top of her head with one hand and the front of her chest with the other. I usually use this combination for our setup phrases. Chloe is a great model who enjoys having her face tapped using the standard EFT points, and I usually massage her ears and tap around her ears (in the temporal tap area) as well.

Chloe returned to her crate for a nap and we brought in Luna, a Doberman Pinscher puppy, who is being trained for therapy work. She made a brief appearance and left the room. Next came Primo, a Portuguese Water Dog; Topsy, a Standard Poodle; and Booka, a Miniature Dachshund. These dogs and their handlers sat in the back of the room, one on each side and one in the middle.

While the dogs were getting settled, I realized that Holly was standing next to me, facing the class, backing away from the group, and she looked extremely uncomfortable.

When I asked how she felt, she said, “I’m really allergic to dogs. I get asthma whenever I’m around them.”

I said, “How are you right now on a scale from 1 to 10?”

“Well,” she said, “I’ve got my hand in my pocket on my asthma inhaler, and I’m about to take it out and use it.”

I said, “I guess you’re on your way from a 9 to a 10,” and she agreed.

I told the class, “This is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to improve our breathing while we tap with Holly, who is having an asthma attack. Let’s all of us start tapping on our karate chop points while we focus on our breathing problems.”

At once people started volunteering. “There’s early pollen in the air, and I’m allergic to pollen.”  “I think there must be mold around here somewhere, there’s been so much rain. I’m really sensitive to mold.”  “I’m coming down with a cold, so my breathing is getting restricted.”  “I have trouble breathing anyway, so this is nothing new.”

We all tapped together on our karate chop points while saying how even though there’s pollen in the air, there are dogs in the room, I’m allergic to mold, I’m allergic to pollen, I’m coming down with a cold, I’m allergic to dogs, I have asthma, I can’t breathe, my breathing is shallow, my lungs barely inflate, it’s hard to breathe, breathing is an effort, breathing is difficult, I don’t get enough exercise, my lungs have forgotten how to inflate fully, I lead a sedentary shallow-breathing life, no wonder I’m dying from oxygen deprivation, my body is starved for oxygen, no wonder I wheeze and gasp for breath, and no wonder I’m afraid to go out and live life to the fullest.  Nevertheless, I fully and completely accept myself, I love and forgive myself, I forgive my under-inflated lungs, I forgive my oxygen-deprived cells, I love and bless my brilliant mind and my brilliant body, and I choose to let go of all breathing impediments and obstacles and allergies and asthma symptoms, I choose to release any and all conditions that prevent me from breathing fully and completely, and I choose to effortlessly fill my lungs with air, fill my lungs with oxygen, fill my cells with oxygen, and enjoy deep, relaxed, comfortable breathing. We all, all of us, choose to relax and forgive ourselves, our lungs, and anything and anyone that has anything to do with our inability to breathe. We choose to breathe deeply, fully, and joyfully. In fact, we’re so full of oxygen, we’re lighter than air. Our lungs are like helium balloons, lifting us up. We’re floating right out the window, we’re so light and full of air. We’re floating up to the tree tops, where we travel right through the pollen and we still feel terrific. We look down at the building and down at the ground and realize that we feel better than we have in years. It’s easy to feel wonderful, to fill our lungs with oxygen, to fill our lungs with clean country air, to enjoy everything Mother Nature has to offer, including dogs, pollen, mold, cold germs, and even smog from the New York State Thruway. We’re strong, our immune systems are strong, and we feel terrific.

We did three quick rounds of tapping on the EFT points, saying a different “problem” reminder phrase at each point in the first round (can’t breathe, shallow breathing, allergies, pollen, asthma, dogs, starved for oxygen, etc.), then alternated between “problem” and “solution” reminder phrases in the second round (can’t breathe, breathing is easy, shallow breathing, full lungs, allergies, freedom from allergies, starved for oxygen, lots of oxygen, hard to breathe, breathing is easy, etc.), and in the final round we focused on positive “solution” statements (I feel terrific, it’s easy to breathe deeply, my lungs fill without effort, all my cells are bathed in oxygen, my body is healing itself from the inside out, breathing is easy, etc.).

I asked Holly how she felt, and she looked happy and surprised. “It’s gone,” she said. “It’s completely gone. I’m at a zero. I feel fine. The asthma has completely disappeared!”  Everyone else reported improvement, too.

Booka, the Miniature Dachshund on the right side of the room, was the dog closest to us, so I asked Holly if she would be comfortable walking a little closer to him. She was willing, so we moved toward him. Holly was completely relaxed and at ease until we got within about 15 feet of Booka, and she suddenly bounced back, as though she had walked into a wall. Her voice cracked, her face got very tense, and she was having trouble breathing.

I said, “This is like the case in one of Gary Craig’s videotaped seminars, where a woman who was afraid of mice started out being afraid of a mouse that she couldn’t even see, a mouse that was in a glass cage in the hotel lobby. She tapped herself down to a zero and felt fine until the mouse was brought into the classroom. That was a different aspect of her mouse phobia because the distance was shorter and now she could see the mouse, or at least see its cage. She tapped with good results until the glass cage with the mouse in it was just a few feet away, and then the mouse moved. Eek! That was a different aspect. Each of these aspects required tapping, but eventually, the phobia completely disappeared. In fact, if you watch the video, you’ll see the woman reach into the cage and pet the mouse, feeling completely comfortable.”

Holly and I stood where she felt safe and tapped, with the group’s support, on how even though I’m allergic to dogs, even though dogs give me asthma, and now I’m close to a dog and it’s hard to breathe, I fully and completely accept myself. Even though I can’t breathe around dogs, my lungs feel constricted, it’s hard to breathe in and breathe out, and I’m really allergic to dogs, I fully and completely accept myself.

I stopped and asked Holly how long she had had this reaction. “All my life,” she said, “since I was a child.”

We tapped on how even though I’ve been allergic to dogs all my life, I choose to release this allergy, I choose to be well. Then I said, “This allergy to dogs has been part of my life forever, and now I realize that this reminds me of -----.”

Holly paused and thought, then said, “This reminds me of when I was really young and I was bit by a dog.”

In fact, Holly said, she was less than a year old when a dog bit her on the arm, and she said she actually remembered it happening. “What kind of dog was it?” I asked, and she said, “It was a black dog.”  Booka, the Miniature Dachshund, is a black dog. At this point, Booka’s owner, Virginia Montoya, picked Booka up and held him in her arms, which helped Holly feel less threatened and more comfortable.

Now we had a core issue to tap on, so we said, “Even though I’m allergic to dogs, and dogs give me asthma, I realize now that it’s because I was bit by a black dog when I was an infant. I still remember it. My conscious mind remembers it, and so does my unconscious mind. I can never forget that dogs are dangerous. Dogs bite. I got bit. I have to stay away from dogs.  My brilliant mind has done a terrific job over the years of keeping me safe by giving me asthma whenever I get close to a dog. Asthma has kept me safe from dog bites all these years. It’s been a very successful strategy. But now I realize that I’m an adult woman and I no longer have to let my life be controlled by an infant’s logic. I can live in the present moment and be free from the past. I can thank my clever and brilliant mind for having kept me safe all these years, and I know it will continue to keep me safe from things that are actually harmful. Starting now, it can release my fear of calm, friendly dogs that have no interest in hurting me. I can be free from a fear that no longer serves a useful purpose. I can breathe freely and deeply, even when I’m close to a dog. I can look at a dog and feel terrific. I feel terrific right now, and that’s the truth.”

We switched from the karate chop point and did three quick rounds of tapping the EFT points, saying reminder phrases like asthma, dogs, dog bites, danger, can’t breathe, fear, worry, stay safe, keep away, etc. Then we switched to positive reminder phrases like I feel terrific, life is good, dogs are great, I can breathe freely, asthma all gone, goodbye asthma.

At that point, Holly walked straight up to Booka and looked into his face. She reached up and touched one of his ears. She petted him. She was completely relaxed.

fear of dogs

I asked, “What do you see when you look at him now?”

Holly replied, “What a cute little face!!”

“What did you see a few minutes ago when you looked at him?”

“What a scary little face!!!”

Later, after the workshop, Holly stayed while we cleared the classroom and put things away. We asked Holly if Luna (the Doberman Pinscher puppy) and Chloe (my black Lab), who were the only dogs left in the building, could come out of their crates and play. If Holly was still uncomfortable around dogs, we would leave them where they were.

“Oh, that will be fine,” she said, “as long as they don’t jump on me.”

For the next half hour, Luna and Chloe chased each other and played, often stopping at Holly’s feet or even leaning against her. At no time did she feel any anxiety or experience any asthma symptoms.

Over two months have passed since our workshop, and Holly reports that her lifelong fear of dogs has permanently disappeared. She has had only one brief moment of tightness in her breathing, which happened when she approached a Golden Retriever. She wasn’t afraid of the dog and actually wanted to pet it and connect with it. Golden Retrievers have long hair, and perhaps Holly was reacting to dander or some other allergen that we hadn’t specifically tapped for. I assured her that tapping for her sensitivity to Golden Retrievers and other long-haired dogs – or perhaps dogs that are colors other than black – would address these different issues or aspects and help her enjoy new canine friendships.

Once people learn and master mechanical EFT and begin exploring their concerns with intuition, creative questioning, and conversations with themselves, it can (in some cases, at least) take as little as 10 minutes to find and neutralize the core issue of a problem that has lasted a lifetime.

With best wishes,

CJ

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