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Deepak Chopra, MD
"EFT offers great healing benefits."
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques®) Where emotional relief brings physical health
Self help method often works where nothing else will No Drugs Involved ~ High Success Rate
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Note: This article assumes you have a working knowledge of EFT. Newcomers can still learn from it but are advised to get our Free EFT Get Started Package or our Affordable DVDs for a more complete understanding. For more, read our EFT Info and Disclaimer Document
EFT and Nightmares
Many thanks to Jayne Morgan-Kidd for detailing her EFT steps through two puzzling nightmares. There are many "personal mysteries" hidden within our dreams and sometimes we can bring them to the surface with EFT.
Hi Gary,
I awoke one morning from a nightmare with feelings of overwhelming depression, both emotionally and physically. I looked at myself in the mirror and I looked like all the joy had been sucked out of me. This was the nightmare:
I had a horse that I loved. The horse had become ill and was going to be put down. I was very upset about this. I wanted to say goodbye to my horse. A friend was going to put my horse to sleep. He said he would do it in the afternoon. I went to see my horse at noon. As I arrived at the gate to the place where my horse was kept, I saw a truck coming through the gate with a large platform attached at the rear. On this platform lay the body of my horse. My friend had not waited until the afternoon, as he said he would. He had killed my horse before I could say goodbye. I felt a mixture of tremendous sadness about my horse and anger toward my friend.
In the next scene, I was sitting at a table with 2 of my daughters. I felt very upset with my friend and I was crying. When he approached us, I put my head down and refused to speak to him. I heard him say something like, "Well, I guess I'm bad. I did something wrong." I loved my friend too. I began to fear that he would now be upset with me. I hoped that I could get back in my friend's good graces but now I felt very worried about it. Then I woke up.
I didn't understand what the dream meant, but the fact that I could remember it with such vivid detail (unusual for me) seemed like I should do something with it. That plus the fact that I was feeling so depressed, I really had no choice but to do something about it.
I went to the bathroom mirror where I often do tapping and tearfully began (0-10 intensity=10):
"Even though I had this nightmare that has created in me all kinds of upsetting feelings and I don't know why, I deeply and completely accept myself."
"This nightmare" at all the points.
One round later, I'm still a 10. I decided to tap rounds on all the elements of the nightmare:
"Even though my horse died..."
"Even though I didn't get to say goodbye..."
"Even though I got angry with my friend because he put my horse to sleep too soon..."
"Even though I saw the body of my horse..."
"Even though I wouldn't talk to my friend... "
"Even though I felt scared that my friend was angry with me and wouldn't be my friend anymore..."
"Even though I felt nervous about getting back into the good graces of my friend..."
"Even though I had no idea how my friend felt about me but I was afraid anyway..."
After all of these rounds my intensity dropped only to a 7 or 8.
Then I remembered a simple style of phrasing that Gary used with someone on the Borrowing Benefits series so I continued:
"Even though this dream still upsets me and I don't know why, I deeply and completely accept myself and I ask my system to release all these upsetting emotions."
At each point I simply said, "system release".
After this round I went down to a 4-5.
One more round of "system release" and I went to a 1-2. Gee, sometimes simpler is better...
Then one week later, another nightmare.
The only details of this dream that I could remember were 3 images: little kittens tied to the outside of a trailer, later in the dream, a second set of small (unidentified) animals tied to the trailer, and before I woke up a final set of very tiny little horses tied to the trailer. Each of the animals' bodies was tied rigidly in an extremely awkward position with backs flexed backward, mouths wide open, looking unconscious. It saddened me very much to see them this way. When I woke up, I had a vague feeling of discontent. I tried to ignore it and just get ready to go to work. But I kept wondering about the little horses in this dream and my dead horse in the last dream. So I went to the mirror, looked at the expression on my face and knew I couldn't let this go. I was not extremely intense (maybe a 4-5) but I started tapping anyway:
"Even though I had this troubling dream about kittens and tiny little horses tied to a trailer..." (During this round, I went to a '10'. I did one whole round on this phrase.)
"Even though I am having an emotional reaction to this nightmarish dream... (one round)
"Even though these kittens and little horses were tied backward to the trailer; and I don't think they were dead but they seemed anesthetized or else extremely uncomfortable, but for sure, they couldn't move... (one round)
Maybe a 9.
"Even though I have an emotional reaction to these little animals being held rigid... " I became a 10+ if there's such a thing. Lots of tears and sobbing.
"Held rigid" at all the points. Several rounds, occasionally saying "held rigid" and lots of tapping.
Still an 8 or so after several rounds. I thought perhaps I had been 'held rigid' at some time in my life but I couldn't remember it. Perhaps I was an infant when it happened. Thoughts of my grandmother filled my mind. An image popped into my mind of her tucking me into my baby bed very tightly so that I couldn't move. My intensity soared again. More tears and sobbing and tapping:
"Even though grandma might have tucked me in so tightly that I couldn't move..." "held rigid" at points.
"Even though that sounds like something she'd do to me, maybe she thought that was the right thing to do... "held rigid" at points.
"Even though I have this emotional reaction to something that happened very long ago but I'm still reacting to it today... "reaction to held rigid" at points.
"Even though I guess grandma was doing her best, but it wasn't very good for me, I deeply and completely accept myself and I forgive grandma. I don't think I can love her but I can forgive her." "forgive her" at the points I went to a zero.
I tested my work by talking to myself about the dream again. Zero intensity. Talked about grandma, what she may have done, and my reaction to being 'held rigid'. Zero intensity. It occurs to me that for as long as I can remember, I have had an aversion to tucking in my top sheet. When visiting someone or in hotels, I will pull out the top sheet so my feet aren't confined in any way. That might be something else I could use to test although the thought of it is still not appealing to me at all.
In the first dream, I really never knew what incident in my life was triggered by the dream. It doesn't matter because whatever it was no longer has any power over my emotions. So much for insight in this case. In the second dream, the images eventually led me to a memory which could then be worked through. Insight seemed helpful in this instance. Either way, EFT handled the upsets that could have really interfered with my mood, my day, my job, etc.
Thanks for this amazing technique that quietly changes our lives on a daily basis.
Jayne Morgan-Kidd
