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Deepak Chopra, MD
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Extreme snake phobia with an unusual cause
Hi Everyone,
Bernie Turvey from Australia helps his client with one of those intense snake phobias that would give any conventional therapist cause to pause. In this case, the client thought the reason for the phobia was a past life experience and, indeed, this past life memory showed up in full regalia during one of their sessions. Whether or not you believe in past life experiences, it is important to "go with it" if the client does. It can lead you to fertile ground.
Hugs, Gary
Dear Gary,
This was my first experience of a phobia EFT session spontaneously 'flashing back' to the origin of the phobia (in great detail) in a past life. Just thought I'd relate it, because it evolved into a 'self-solving phobia" .
The phobia was of snakes. No, not "Ho hum" - this was so severe that 'Margaret' could not even say the word "snake". To hold out an arm and wriggle it in front of her in a sinuous motion caused shuddering and physical 'shrinking away' from the arm. The very idea of actually seeing a live snake bought forth 'flight' reactions.
A psychologist, specialising in phobias, used hypnosis AND de-sensitisation techniques with her to absolutely no avail.
Like I said - severe! But EFT fools rush in ..............
Margaret said that she felt that the phobia may have been caused in a former life, since she knew of no reason for it in her present life, and had a 'memory' of being tied down on the ground and attacked by rattlesnakes. I shelved this comment for 'future reference if necessary', but used the scenario as an entry point for the movie technique.
An initial point of interest was that she was unable to say "love" in the set-up sentence.....
Margaret titled her movie "Death". After one round of mentally running the movie of this event in "old, B&W, streaky, poor scratchy sound, back-of-the-theatre" tapping, it went from 10 to 4; two more rounds bought it to a 1 or a zero.
So I moved on asking her to run a "poor color" version of the mental movie, and Margaret just bailed up and refused to go any further. She exhibited all the previous fear reactions.
Stalemate - I just let it lie, because I knew that progress had been made, even though she had yet to come to terms with that fact. This syndrome was to rerun later.
At our next session, she was comfortable starting with the "poor color" version, AND was able to say the word "love" in the set-up sentence. I believe that her mind had just taken time to release 59 years of habit .... an "habitual habit" that had to be consciously KNOWN to be unnecessary any longer to lose its power. This had happened over the intervening few days.
OK, session 2 went well - we got as far as being in the front row of the mental cinema, with perfect color and low sound, and we were tapping at an intensity of 6. I was cruising, feeling pleased with her progress, when she changed tack altogether and went 'spinning off' into another reality--a past life event! Talk about a wake-up call.
"A wagon train. We are going from Philadelphia to California. My name is Margaret. I don't want to go - my parents made me. I left my boyfriend behind - he is a lawyer in Philadelphia. I'm 17 years old. I have made friends - Elizabeth and Brad. They are married, but about my age. We are in Arizona. We are afraid of Indians."
There is an Indian attack, and Margaret remembers the wagon-master calling for the wagons to be circled. The Indians - Apache - overcome the defenses, many are killed (including her parents) but Margaret is taken prisoner. Her next memory is of being staked down on the ground, with an Apache standing over her holding a bag of snakes - rattlesnakes. He has a particularly large nose, and she would recognise him even today. He upends the bag, throwing the snakes over Margaret. She tries to remain still, but eventually breaks and tries to get away - and a snake bites her high on the thigh.
Her memory continued right through the death experience and into a classic "Near Death Experience" type scenario, culminating with her being told that she could have a rest before 'returning' again.
After this, she 'returned' to 'reality', and pegged her fear of snakes at "Zero", firmly and unequivocally.
At our next session, I arranged for an assistant to - upon my call - to walk slowly into the room holding a rubber snake. I explained this to Margaret, and she freaked out - the very idea sent her into shuddering terror. I promised her that I would not leave her, and that my assistant would obey her every word instantly, and we tapped on 'this fear' in a storytelling type manner. She consented to allow my assistant to come into the doorway, about 10 feet from where she sat.
She stared at the rubber snake, whilst I was tapping on the 8 main points in a continuous cycle. She said "Come closer", and my assistant walked a couple of steps into the room and stopped. "Closer", and my assistant slowly walked to within arms reach of us. (I was still tapping on Margaret.)
Slowly, cautiously, she reached out towards the rubber snake and asked for permission to touch it. I told my assistant to hold it very still and not to move. Margaret reached out and touched the lifelike 'snake'. Then she asked to hold it (I was still tapping on her main points) and my assistant placed it on the table. Margaret picked it up ..... saying "I don't believe I'm DOING this!".
But wait - there's more!
A few days later, Margaret was weeding in her garden. A motion attracted her attention, and she realised that there was a tiger snake (deadly venomous) about a foot away from her left hand. She calmly and slowly stood up, walked away, and called a friend for assistance in despatching the snake. And only THEN did she truly realise that her phobia was over, gone, and finished with!
Funny how the Universe arranges these coincidences, isn't it?
Definitely one of my more interesting clients ...... but then who could ever get bored doing EFT?
Best Wishes,
Bernie Turvey, Tasmania, Australia
