A Frequently Asked Question & Answer about EFT

How do I introduce EFT to skeptics? (Building Bridges to Believability)

Hi Everyone,

Many newcomers to EFT are skeptical because the process violates their beliefs in a major way. There is no "writing on their mental walls" that gives all that tapping and all those words any label other than "absurd."

In many cases, skeptics remain that way even if they try EFT and have success. How many times have you seen someone's headache disappear or their bothersome memory fade into nothingness and then hear that person "explain away" the results by some means other than EFT?

This is to be observed, not criticized. It is human nature and, faced with a similar circumstance, YOU AND I WOULD DO EXACTLY THE SAME THING.

Suppose, for example, I said I could cure your cancer if you pulled 17 times on your left ear lobe at precisely 3:26am during a full moon for 3 full moons in a row. This, of course, is so far outside of your belief system that, even if it worked, you would explain the results by some other means (e.g. your medication finally worked or it was simply time for the cancer to leave).

This mental myopia is what our clients experience when we try to apply EFT without first establishing a level of believability that works within the bastions of their own beliefs.

We can, of course, convince skeptics of the power of EFT simply by generating so many good results that they run out of ways to explain it away. But that is doing it the hard way. It is much more efficient to "Build Bridges to Believability" that extend from this strange appearing process to the skeptics' belief systems. Properly done, these bridges create curiosity rather than arouse avoidance.

Building those bridges is the purpose of this article.

Several useful ways to Build Bridges to Believability

1. Let an authority help you build a bridge: People give weight to the written word or to what they see on television or videos. These things have an implied authority that tends to lend credibility to the topic at hand. That's why you see advertisements that display quotes from authors/celebrities or that say "as seen on TV."

There are loads of materials like this on our videos and web site that you can give to skeptics BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY USE THE PROCESS. These materials may or may not make raving converts out of your skeptics but they should at least open the door a bit and nudge them through it.

For example, print out 10 or 20 of your favorite EFT articles from our web site and compile them into a book. Be sure to include some articles written by MDs, PhDs or other highly credentialed people. Make several copies of this book to loan to skeptics. The fact that it is written material that appears in public places tends to lend authority to the subject matter.

Another way to do this is to provide skeptics with copies of your favorite parts of our training videos. They show real people undergoing real EFT sessions and getting real results. What's more, they appear on the skeptics' computer or TV screen. This tends to lend even more credibility.

2. Use a customized build-a-bridge sentence: While this idea requires some creativity, it also has great potential to convert skeptics. It uses a simple "bridge building" sentence of the general form....

The logic here should be clear. The sentence first mentions something the client believes in and then links it to EFT. It allows the client to "see EFT through his/her own filter."

You will, of course, need to have a conversation with your skeptics to find out what methods they find believable. Once found, however, versions of the above sentence will allow you to Build Bridges to Believability that are customized for individuals.

Examples are given below. Please note that I don't always follow the precise wording of the above sentence but consistently maintain the concept. This language flexibility provides more power and usability to the process.

EFT is like hypnotherapy but adds extra power to the process because it integrates the body's subtle energies.

EFT is like talk therapy with the advantage that it allows us to get to the issues faster and resolve them more thoroughly.

EFT enhances massage therapy by adding an important emotional relaxation process.

EFT blends perfectly with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy because it helps bring up the issues faster and creates more (and deeper) Cognitive Shifts behind the scenes.

EFT integrates beautifully with hypnotherapy because it allows us to take the process even deeper.

EFT is like Systematic Desensitization except that it is much more gentle and often faster.

EFT enhances our Chiropractic work because it allows us to include important emotional issues and to integrate the body's subtle energies.

And so it goes. Feel free to create your own wording and to mix and match the language in the above examples. Once you have developed a facility with this procedure, you can realistically link EFT to almost any other process .... including those not mentioned above.

3. Use generic bridge building phrases that tend to work with specific sections of the population: If you are addressing a wide audience, try one or more phrases that have a reasonable chance of bridging to their belief systems.

For example, a growing number of people already have a favorable belief in acupuncture. Thus you might try....

EFT is an emotional version of acupuncture, except we don't use needles. Instead, we stimulate the meridians by tapping on them with our fingertips.

Another possibility that may have wide appeal, especially for those who consider Albert Einstein an authority (almost everyone), would be something like this....

EFT is an obvious extension of Einstein's discovery in the 1920's that all matter, including the human body, is composed of energy.

4. Let the client develop their own explanation for why it works. This is especially useful for those whose scientific or medical training is so well ingrained that they simply must explain everything in terms of their own models. In such cases you might say...

We're not sure why this works so well. Perhaps you can help with the explanation after you experience it.

I used this method very effectively with an MD and wrote up the experience for our web site. Please see A bridge for Dr. Fred's beliefs for substantially more detail.

In summary, building bridges to believability is an important part of EFT's Art of Delivery. Spend time developing these methods of explanation. Everyone benefits when you do this effectively.

Hugs, Gary