By Rob Williams and the York EFT Practitioners Tapping Group

Have you ever had a session when nothing shifts whatsoever? You have tried everything and it just isn't happening!

Maybe there is something in the way stopping EFT from working. In these cases maybe the issue the client has come along with needs to be put to one side until the blocks allowing EFT to work are either reduced or resolved. Once this has been achieved the original issue can then be tackled again.

I run a monthly tapping group, and we spent a session discussing experiences and ideas related to this. We came up with a list of questions which could be asked to ascertain if there are any blocks. Sometimes all that may be required is allowing the thoughts of the therapist and the client to be out in the open.

The therapist needs to use their own intuition as to whether there is good rapport and unobstructed energy between themselves and the client. They then need to find a way in which the questions can be asked in a sensitive appropriate manner so as to not alienate the client. It is imperative there is complete honesty between the two individuals so that rapport can then be maximised.

We have divided the questions into four categories,
1 Client,
2 EFT practitioner,
3 The dynamics between client and EFT practitioner
4 Family issues held in the client.

This list is not meant to be exhaustive, it is the product of our successes with difficult EFT cases, that have not gone smoothly at first. Other practitioners will have different approaches to tackling this issue.

THE CLIENT

• Do you believe there is a chance you are ever going to get better?
• How do you feel about the tapping? Is it silly? Do you feel the tapping might work?
• Do you need evidence of how EFT works before buying into it?
• How much do you want EFT to work?
• Are you prepared to 'give it a go'? Are you prepared to 'jump in'?
• Is part of your personality getting in the way e.g. don't like being told what to do, need to be in control, generally suspicious / cautious?
• Is part of you 'holding back'?
• Do you feel relaxed?
• Are you thirsty / dehydrated?

THE EFT PRACTITIONER

• Am I in a good state of mind generally myself?
• Am I tired, hungry, thirsty?
• Have I seen too many clients today, or not left enough gaps between each one?
• Do I feel comfortable working with this client and /or the presenting issue?
• Do I need to work more at the pace of the client? Maybe they just need to talk and be given an opportunity to get everything out into the open before continuing with the next tapping session.
• Is there anything else stopping me from getting into 'the zone' so that EFT can then just work smoothly?
• Is this client subconsciously inviting me to feel responsible for her/his progress?

THE DYNAMICS BETWEEN CLIENT AND EFT PRACTITIONER

• Are you going along with the tapping just to keep me happy?
• Do you trust me? Generally does trust need to be automatically earned with people?
• How do you feel working with me, this room, the premises etc?
• Do you feel embarrassed talking about this issue?
• Coming here were you expecting me to do all the work? Are you engaging in this process or do you feel passive?

FAMILY ISSUES HELD IN THE CLIENT

• Is there a downside for anybody in your family to you clearing this issue?
• Does anybody else in the family express the same symptoms? (Often one person in a family expresses the emotions that nobody else wants to feel.)
• This issue then becomes part of the client's identity in the family which can feel threatening to let go of, for the client and for the family).

SPECIFIC CASES

It was mentioned at our meeting that there were 2 clients that one of us had been working with recently and they just weren't getting anywhere.

With the first client, at the next session, they were asked all the above questions and surprisingly they said they were very embarrassed talking about the original issue so we tapped:

Even though I am really embarrassed talking about this...

After a few rounds of tapping they said they felt a bit more relaxed and comfortable talking about it. We then tapped on the issue itself with which they had originally come with and, fantastically, a core issue immediately came forward that was then collapsed!

With the second client, they were again asked the same above questions. They responded they thought that tapping 'was a complete load of mumbo jumbo'. So we tapped:

Even though this is a complete load of mumbo jumbo and there is no way it is going to work...

After several rounds of tapping they said that there may be a very slight chance that EFT could work. Consequently we were then able to get somewhere with the original issue that they had brought to the first session.

The York EFT Practitioners tapping group.