9+ ways to increase your success with EFT

By Utahna (Tonnie) Tassie, LMT, EFT-ADV

Dear Gary,

This letter is in response to some email I've gotten about my success rates using EFT.  I have described some of the little known tools of energy workers that I use whenever I get stuck with a resistant client.  There's a lot of information here, so you may want to just scan it and pull it out to read when you get bored.  Looks like I may want to tap for run of the mouth (I mean fingers!).

I don't know how many other EFT practitioners have studied quantum physics, Law of Attraction, massage therapy, Touch for Health, and energy work, but we all have different experiences that we bring with us to the practice of EFT that may account for our differing rates of success in applying it.  I have been asked why I think I have such great success with it, and the best I can come up with is that I employ CREATIVITY AND PERSISTENCE.  I don't have the psychotherapy and extensive NLP training that others have. 

For clients who are resistant to healing or lowering the intensity level within a few rounds, there may be several reasons:

1. Dehydration.  Have them drink at least a cup of water, preferably before starting the session.

2. Fear of change, or not knowing who they'd be without their dis-ease.  We talk about the possibilities available to them for ways to spend the time that used to be spent being sick.

3. Secondary (hidden) benefits of remaining sick.  Ask them if what would be expected of them if they weren't sick.  Ask them what would change around their house.  I always ask them what was going on in their life around the time that their problem started and tap on whatever comes up.  I listen very carefully to their words, for metaphorical references.

4. Resistance to me as the therapist, for whatever reason.  Maybe I don’t have their trust yet.  Perhaps they REALLY want a massage and I'd like to do a few minutes of EFT first because we have a better chance of relieving their pain (and permanently even!).  Sometimes I just need to tell them that I've had really great success relieving most issues with EFT in just a few minutes, so let's try it.  It works, then they will be able to really enjoy a nice, relaxing massage instead of one that hurts and makes them tense up.

5. Embarrassment or irritation.  Maybe the technique seems totally ridiculous to them and it would be incredulous to think they could possibly be healed by tapping on the body.  (All are tappable issues.)  I like to call forth my somewhat hidden sense of humor to come up with funny and interesting phrases to tap on concerning the resistance issues.  It usually causes them to relax and gets us both much more in tune with each other (rapport?).  I love it when then laugh because I've found exactly what they were thinking, and relieve them of their resistance.

6. Hidden aspect not uncovered yet.  Listen very carefully!  Words are powerful and metaphorical.  Our bodies and environments are the physical manifestations of what we have been thinking and FEELING about something for a while.  I am constantly referring to the book “You Can Heal Your Life” by Louise Hay.  It's got pages and pages of possible thoughts and underlying feelings/emotions that have created the current problem.  I usually just read it out loud to the client, including the positive affirmations that can erase the problem.  I'll ask them if it resonated at all with them, and if they feel comfortable, they will tell me.  Most of the time, they sit there in amazement that the book sounds like it was written about them!  Becoming aware of how they may be contributing to their condition unconsciously is very healing. 

7. Tapping for GRATITUDE for the healing that is taking place, can create huge shifts very quickly.  An attitude of gratitude creates a vacuum for something new to come in.

8. Substance sensitivity, environmental toxin (or "allergy") could be interfering.  I have been creative clearing these, using information I have learned from many different sources.  They can actually very fast and easy to clear with my Quantum-ized EFT Techniques!  (I wrote about this in another article.)

9. Maybe they just need to take in a couple of cleansing breaths or move around for a few seconds (moving opposite arms and legs) or hum a little bit of a tune to engage both sides of the brain.  Once in a while, I find I need to use the Collar Bone Breathing Technique.  Oxygen is profoundly healing.  It contains the Life Force Energy!

Every person I've ever worked with (using EFT) has received at least a couple points of relief (using a 0-10 scale).  So my success numbers are right around 99.9%.  I guess it all depends on how you define success!  It hasn't always held without reinforcement, but they got relief at the time.  Severe depression complicated by sugar problems and environmental toxins have been the most challenging for me.  You've got to have a window of opportunity for the healing to take place. 

For another type of PR correction (PR=psychological reversal or polarity reversal), you can have them hold the fingertips of one hand around the navel and tap on the thymus gland (collarbone area) with the fingertips of the other hand for a few seconds or minutes while being tuned into the problem.

Being creative with your questioning, or using muscle testing, kinesiology, or a pendulum can be very helpful in finding tappable issues.  As long as you have the client's permission to ask questions of their Inner Wisdom or subconscious mind, ask whatever yes/no questions you can think of.  "I'd like to know the source of the present condition.  Is it prior injuries?  Parasites?  Unconscious thoughts?  Toxins -- Internal?  External?  Beliefs?”

As you can see, I am quite persistent and creative in my use of EFT because I've studied and practiced a wider range of metaphysics and energy work than most and because of that see how absolutely dependable EFT is.  Our individual past experiences make up the writing on our walls.  I've had, seen and heard of so many successes, that I would be totally surprised to find a client who couldn't be helped with EFT.  That's why it's so important to get the numbers (intensity ratings from 0 to 10) from them. 

It's also important to get feedback from the client as you go along.  It is very possible for the pain or problem to intensify or change locations before it moves out of the body.  If they were just coming down with a cold or the flu before seeing you, they may get worse for a little bit, and then it could leave their body very quickly.  It's called a healing crisis and speeds up the whole healing process, even if it doesn't completely remove the perceived problem in that session. 

Sometimes the problem that the client came in to address with you is not the most important one needing healing at the time, according to the client's Inner Wisdom.  Healing and balancing are always happening somewhere in the body, but it would be sort of like "Borrowing Benefits" in an invisible way, until you've been persistent enough.  If frustration (that it's taking too long) comes up for the client or practitioner, tap one round for that before giving up so that you don't have that block preventing you from even getting started with them next time.

Finding the resistance for not allowing the change is just part of the challenge for me.  Incurable just means curable from within.  They have come to you for some reason.  It's the therapist's job to discover what the real reason is and bring it into the light.  Once the client gets the “ah-ha”, the problem is 99% cured.  If they are in your office to appease a loved one, you may need to tap on the need to be controlled or feeling like a victim.  

If the client has come to you under his/her own free will, then something is going to shift when you do EFT.  It has to!  Change is the only constant in the Universe!  We are all mirrors of each other and our environment, so what is it that YOU are resisting when you don't see any change in them?  There's always a higher purpose working behind the scenes.

I find that family members are the hardest for me to work with because I don't want to hurt their feelings or start a war.  When I'm working with a client, I just say whatever comes to mind (with the intention of being divinely guided) and know that it is exactly the right thing at that time.

I hope this helps you be more successful in some small (or BIG) way!  Thanks for allowing me to give back something for all the benefits I have received from this site.

Namaste!

Utahna (Tonnie) Tassie, LMT, EFT-ADV,

Reiki Master-Teacher, Healing Coach