Several short examples including: Fear of flying, Halloween costume fear, Fear of ocean waves, A baby about to cry, Broken leg pain, Student/Teacher friction, Upset student

Fear of flying

Gary--hi from Sharon O'Hara. I just came back from visiting relatives in Roanoke, VA, and when I changed planes in Phoenix, I found out to my dismay that I was sitting next to a woman with a year old child. Worse, the mother smiled at me apologetically and said, "I'm sorry in advance, but we just flew in from San Antonio and my daughter cried the entire time." I said that I knew something that might help, but that we had to start with her, the mother's fear for her daughter. The mother immediately said that she was afraid of flying anyway and she was game for anything.

So as we were sitting there waiting to take off I did a round of touch and breathe with the EFT points and we took off. The child and mom were both fine the entire trip. The mother said that she thought it worked because she knew that I could help her if she or her child got upset, so she didn't get upset. Whatever.

At least I had a better flight myself.

Gary--I know that you've had these mother/child ones before, but it still feels like magic when it happens to you . . . sharon o

Halloween costume fear

Dear Gary,

At a recent Halloween Party my 4 year old daughter and I both saw a gory costume that made us shudder. We both had a hard time erasing the image from our minds so when we got home we tapped on her (I later tapped myself) and after only two rounds she was able to go to sleep peacefully. She could still bring the image up but it didn't carry the charge. Plus, she thought it was kind of fun...

Peace,

Jody Pignolet

Fear of ocean waves

Dear Gary,

A favorite of my many experiences with children happened with a generally fearful 4-year-old getting anxious while swimming on the edge of the ocean and running frantically from each wave that rolled in. I began to tap on the spot under his eye as his anxiety level visibly dropped. He then went into the water and stayed, while tapping on himself whenever a wave rolled in.

After the first few waves, he was able to stop tapping and swim happily, only occasionally tapping on himself whenever a slightly larger wave arrived. I noticed that this child was generally less anxious following this experience, and I received a drawing of himself in the water with a sad face, and then a happy face, signed with a "Thank you."

With aloha, Bobbie Sandoz

A baby about to cry

Hi, Gary! This is such a tiny instance, but life is full of tiny instances..., so here it is:

About a month ago (shortly after the Cleveland EFT workshop), I was in the elevator of a large, very busy hotel. A family got on and the father placed a carrier holding a little baby on the floor. I looked down. The baby's face was sweet, and he (she?) seemed to be sleeping. Suddenly, his face scrunched up, the way a baby's does right before he cries. I did a quick internal check (my intention is not to have control over the baby's behavior, and if the baby needs to cry to alert his parents to something that is wrong, I don't want to interfere with that; but likely the motor of the elevator and the constant starts and stops were the problem.)

I was filled with a sense of 'We are all one' and the baby's discomfort was mine.

I opened my heart to him and started tapping mentally on him: EB, SE, UE, CB; for whatever reason I didn't do the other points, but did these three times, keeping my eyes glued to the baby to see if I was causing further disturbance, in which case I'd stop. But moments after I started, his face started to relax again, and by the time we reached the first floor, he was back to where he was in the beginning, resting comfortably. It all happened so quickly, relatively, the father never even had reason to look down again at the infant. Of course, I don't know if what I did made the difference, but I suspect it did. I don't think I have ever seen a baby not cry once the face started to move into that expression without intervention (e.g. a mother picking her up). I also don't know if it was the unconditional love that I poured out to him or the tapping that made the difference, but I wouldn't dream of tapping without loving, and that wasn't the time to 'experiment'; my goal was to relieve his discomfort.

I was awed and grateful to have been on the elevator. It was a tiny thing, and yet to relieve the discomfort, even minor, or another being is not a tiny thing. I am still filled with gratitude for being privileged to have that interaction with the unknown baby.

Catherine Light

Broken leg pain

Hello Gary,

Once I learned EFT I was often offering to tap on my children for various reasons. They were skeptical and would give me and adamant "No Mom!" Last winter my 11 year old son broke his leg skiing. After waiting more than an hour for a physician to look at him and remove the splint, I offered again to tap on him as I saw he was in much pain. At first he said "No". I said "Lee, it maybe it will help."

In his desperation he agreed to allow it. Shortly after I began tapping he relaxed and appeared in much less pain. After that experience he was sent home to wait until Monday for the OR to be available. He was in much pain and would often ask me to do that thing that takes the pain away. He became a believer.

Best Wishes,

Deb Kennard

Student/Teacher friction

Dear Gary,

What a great idea to have a special section on children. I have been wanting to share ideas with others who are using EFT with kids and ideas for making it more acceptable. Here's one success story.

I work in a children's residential psychiatric facility. One day one of the teachers came to me and said "Do something with this boy...he can't come back to class until he settles down!" The teacher and boy were obviously furious with one another and the air was electric with the mood.

"Jason" quickly related that the teacher had been "an asshole" and he hated him. But didn't want to miss school and get behind on his work. I mentioned that I had been learning a very simple but rather strange technique where you tap on acupuncture meridians to help calm yourself down. The boy agreed he would like to try it.

We tapped on "I hate the a__hole!" for one round. He stood up and cracked every joint in his body and said he was feeling much better. He still had SUDs of 3. So we tapped one more round on "still some upset with the teacher". On the completion of that round he announced he felt perfectly calm and was ready to go back and debrief with the teacher.

We did and he managed to be polite, assertive and calm throughout the discussion - even though the teacher was still rather charged in his negativity (I offered later to tap on him but he was not willing). Jason returned to school and managed the next 4 hours without incident.

During the tapping and related discussion Jason admitted that the teacher reminded him of his very controlling father. Since I was not his main worker I did not get into that layer of the problem but suggested he could work on it later using the same technique.

What a gift if we could educate teachers in EFT so they could teach it to their students!

Blessings Gary, Love Karen Ledger

Upset student

Gary,

I haven't written before, but I've been enjoying your website. I learned tapping from Charles Figley at a Trauma and Loss workshop three years ago. Shortly after that I tried tapping with a young female client. I think she was about ten years old. I went to her classroom to get her for our session. The teacher said she was very upset, but didn't know why. I never did find out why. I took the tearful girl to our little room, but she wouldn't talk. So I told her I wanted to do something very silly with her. First I asked her to draw a line on the blackboard to represent how big her yucky feeling was. Then I took her through the procedure two or three times. By the time we were done, she was all smiles and giggles, and couldn't even remember why she was crying. I've not had the opportunity to use this with children since, but it has been very helpful with my adult clients. Thank you for all the wonderful info on your site.

Alice Finnamore, L. Psyc.

More articles on Children's Issues