40 year debilitating migraine--and much more--gone!

By Timo Kivio

Dear Gary,

I thought you might find what happened with my client interesting.

Mrs. X is a successful, well-known authority in holistic healthcare, who has suffered from debilitating migraines for over 40 years. Physically and emotionally violent, they make her completely bed ridden up to four days at a time, often occurring several times a month.

Over the years, the situation worsened to the point where she was unable to make solid bookings for her clients, lectures, and workshops. The best she could do to keep her appointments was to see how she felt in the mornings since they were an accurate indicator on how the day was going to be. Experiencing such frequent migraines, this often led to last minute cancellations creating an unwelcome downfall to her business and finances.

During our initial phone consultation Mrs. X was having a good day with no visible symptoms to tap on. She explained almost always having some sort of a headache, and if not, it would appear from any emotional exertion, good or bad (anger, belly laugh, etc.).

Her symptoms included excessive vomiting, severe headaches, complete inability to move around and tolerate light or electronic devices (she could not be in the same room with a cell phone that was only turned on but not in use, for example), significant drop in bodily temperature (3-4 degrees Fahrenheit, down to 35.2 Celsius), vertigo, loss of balance, and an "awful feeling" that just wouldn't go away. In addition to other physical problems, such as neck, shoulder, and stomach pain, she felt several "energetic" sensations in and around her head, from a "tight band" to piercing pain behind her right eye. The only positive side, she joked, was that she didn't have to worry about gaining weight.

Since Mrs. X was totally unfamiliar with EFT and had called me on a good day, I asked her to call me the next time she started to feel a migraine was approaching regardless of the time. Although I could have plunged into the session without this step, I felt like it was the way to go. Moreover, it would give her a tangible experience of relief, possibly encouraging her to tap on the symptoms by herself when they appeared. Two days later, at 6 am, the phone rang and we proceeded with a session.

My initial inquiries revealed that the "awful feeling" was a 3 or 4. The same applied to the other symptoms - nothing was above a four. When I asked what the "awful feeling" was about, she said it was as if something awful was to happen to her. "Like what," I asked, resulting in "I don't know." But just before I was to continue my inquiry, I had a feeling there was something important she suddenly became aware of. "Please continue - you were going to say...?"

She mentioned a dream she had had just the night before the last. In it, three women were running after a city train (like in San Francisco) that was completely full. Two of them made it in but one was left to hang outside, desperately holding into the handle bar with both hands. Exhausted and unable to climb on board, the woman lost her grip and died.

T: "If we assume that all the women in the dream represented parts of you and if there was a part in your life that you have desperately but unsuccessfully tried to hold on to, resulting in a personal death of some sort, what would that be?"

Mrs. X: "A section of my business that I decided to pass on to another person for but have been unable to do it completely due to a fear that she is too overwhelmed with her personal life to take it on fully. Because of it, I feel that a part of me has died - that fun has run out of my life."

T: "Give me an intensity number for this problem."

Mrs. X: "A ten."

T: "Where do you feel it in your body?"

Mrs. X: "In my arms."

At this point she shared with me she had gotten this pain (an eight) in both of her arms for no apparent reason. Interestingly enough, it had appeared the night after her dream...

T: "If this pain in your arms had a voice, what would it say?"

Mrs. X: "That I am afraid of letting go and hold onto something that doesn't interest me at all."

Guiding her with the sore spot, I asked her to repeat the following:

Even though:

• Part of me has died by being too afraid of letting go this part of the business...
• Part of me has died and all fun has run out of my life...
• And I am not doing what I would do and I am busy with stuff that doesn't interest me at all, I deeply and completely accept and love myself.

During the tapping that followed, we tapped on a story that got formulated as we went up and down the basic recipe (plus top of the head and forehead points):

- by hanging into my need to control everything

- I am disallowing XX to do her job...

- the job that belongs to her...

- I also prevent myself from doing what I really love to do...

- ...and because of it, fun is running out of my life

- ...and I feel like a part of me has died

- I deeply and completely forgive myself for my fear and for wasting my life this way

- ...I am simply too afraid to let go

- ...and this has created such chaos in my head and body

- ...and has made my life a complete misery

After two rounds of these and other sentences (excluding the 9-gamut), the problem became a "three." Her stomach started working (very unusual) and she felt more relaxed. We also addressed other physical symptoms (which changed form and location on their way out) as they appeared at their new location.

Changing the sentences from point to point, we tapped on:

- hanging onto the train that knows where it is going and is going to reach its destination with or without my efforts...

- having to make sure things go alright...

- not trusting that it will be ok...

- that I can rest...

- that I have earned my rest and can now put my attention to things where I will be of most use and that matter to me the most...

- even though I have sacrificed my dreams, I deeply and completely accept and love myself...

- and I let it all go...

- including the pain behind the eye...

- and the band inside my head and neck...

- and the pain in my arms...

- the cloud over my head...

- I have worked enough and I now choose different

- I choose to go after my dreams...and the things I love...

- nothing else matters to me more at this time...

- I choose to trust the process...and acknowledge the fact that it is time for a change...

- I let it all go the way it can go...

- and I thank it for leaving, because now we both can be free...

- forever.

The session came to its natural end at 1h 10 min. At the time, she was pain free and the problem with her business had become a "zero." Knowing other aspects of it would likely occur, I asked her to call me immediately should it happen. Then, my plan was to go into what happened when she was 12 - that's when the migraines appeared the first time. Surprisingly, she never called but said during my follow-ups that she went to an acupuncturist once who said her liver-bile meridian was out of balance. For that, she took a herbal remedy and tapped occasionally during the days that followed (without formal instruction or format).

Four weeks later, she remains headache, symptom, and migraine free. She calls it a miracle.

Sincerely,

Timo Kiviv

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