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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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For Serious Students - Getting to the real issues behind Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Hi Everyone,
Serious EFT students will want to study this article by Sarah Marshall from the UK. Note how she quickly finds many emotional issues behind her client's "inability" to go downstairs.
Hugs, Gary
Hi Gary,
I work with many people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (otherwise known as M.E, or Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome) and many other fatigue illnesses. I use EFT in conjunction with another technique with great success and I'd like to share an experience with one particular client.
The client I worked with was housebound, only going downstairs once a day to conserve energy. My client had booked to do some work with me face to face but we felt a telephone session to help her get to the clinic was a good place to start.
At this point I'd like to add that people with CFS/ME have a lot of fear - fear of getting worse, fear of not recovering, fear of relapsing, fear of doing too much (physically and mentally), fear of doing something that caused them to relapse in the past - which of course uses up a lot of energy.
And they can be constantly re-traumatizing themselves by past experiences. Some people, but not all, have fear about what being well or recovered would involve - responsibilities, possible blame if things go wrong, and not being able to say no to others, are few of the things that have come up. Of course everyone is individual, but I do see a lot of the same fears in my clients.
With my client, we started with what would be the first thing we would need to work on for her to be able to get to my clinic, and that was to be able to go downstairs without any fear. I asked her to guess how she would feel if she were to imagine going downstairs after our telephone call.
Her level of intensity was an 8, on a scale of 0 to 10 and it was fear. We brought this down by tapping on "8 fear feeling," until it dropped down to a 5 out of 10, and tapped on the thoughts that came up:
Even though I'm scared to go downstairs…
Even though I'm scared it'll make me worse…
Even though I don't want to go downstairs…
Once we brought the fear down and she felt ok about imagining going downstairs, we ran the Movie Technique and tapped on:
Even though I have this sick feeling in my stomach when I think about going downstairs…
Even though I have this tense anxiety in my chest as I approach the first stair…
We tapped on all the physical sensations until they were all down to zero out of 10, and she could imagine going downstairs without any negative emotion.
She then realised that it wasn't about going downstairs but the fear of what she'd be expected to do once she was there - 'I'd have to go back to college'. So we tapped on:
Even though I'd be expected to go straight back to college once I'm downstairs…
Even though being downstairs would be 'proof' that I'm well…
Even though my husband will see me as being recovered, and I'd have to go back to college…
At this point she realised that going downstairs wasn't just about going downstairs. Rather it was about her expectations, and no one else's. We then got her to imagine going downstairs, enjoying being downstairs, and then going back again. She then felt her stomach gurgling so we tapped:
Even though my stomach is gurgling at the thought of just going downstairs…
Half way through this round she felt that her stomach was "digesting" this information and felt this was a good sign. She also felt that going downstairs was a possibility.
Even though my stomach is digesting this, I'm open to the possibility that going downstairs is a possibility…
We tested her imagining going downstairs a few times, and it felt fine. We noticed through the session that her stomach gurgled whenever she experienced a cognitive shift so we used this to test our work.
We carried on the session clearing other times that going downstairs in the past had made her worse. At the end of the session it came up that she didn't like to let people down. She'd rather not do anything at all, than attempt it, not be able to complete it, and then have to let someone down. We agreed to work on this in the next session.
I phoned my client the next day to arrange our next session. I expected to speak to her husband and arrange a time when it would be ok to speak with my client, and to my surprise the phone was passed straight over to her. I suggested a time, and my client replied that she would JUST go upstairs to check her diary! She had been up and downstairs several times (although she was still resting and pacing) since our session the previous day. She had finally realised that going downstairs was just that and only that.
ME/CFS are complex conditions, and not everyone experiences the result that this client did in such a short space of time. EFT is excellent at clearing and releasing the fear people with CFS/ME experience around everyday activities (which of course releases energy) and enables them to be able to increase their activity.
On a personal note, I had ME/CFS for 5½ years and have been fully recovered 3 years. EFT was an integral part of my full and complete recovery, and I know from working with clients that this has been true for them too.
With warmth and love,
Sarah Marshall
