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EFT for the Inner Child

Important Note: This article was written prior to 2010 and is now outdated. Please use my newest advancement, Optimal EFT. It is more efficient, more powerful and clearly explained in my free e-book, The Unseen Therapist™.  Best wishes, Gary

Hi Everyone,

This article by Karl Dawson of the UK will be most appreciated by sophisticated users of EFT who are also familiar with Inner Child work. Well done! Many useful ideas here.

Hugs, Gary


By Karl Dawson

The first time I used what I call ‘Matrix re-Imprinting’, by tapping on the client while they imagined tapping on the inner child, the effects were dramatic.  What was an incredibly traumatic memory had much of the intensity taken out of it in just a few minutes.  This is not to say it replaces the Movie Technique or the gentle techniques as they would still be my first choice when approaching a traumatic memory.

The beauty of this simple technique is that whenever the appropriate moment appears, be it straight away, during, or at the end of the Movie Technique, it can be utilised.  This simple technique allows the client to talk directly to the inner child which elegantly facilitates gaining understanding of and releasing the energy from the trauma, helps the client reframe the situation, learn and gain wisdom from the event, let go of the negative emotions, reintegrate the child/part and, ultimately and importantly, forgive the perpetrator and/or self - one of the most important parts of any therapeutic work.

Although at the time I realised what a wonderful application of EFT this was, I didn’t realise the full implications of what could be achieved until later.  For example: These inner children are real energetic realities existing in the field, or matrix as I prefer to call it.

These memories of the inner child are locked in space and time.  It doesn’t matter how long after the traumatic event you work with them, be it a month later or 90 years later.  In the energy system there is still a three year old, or infant, six month old, one, seven or fifteen year old, baby in utero or even past life.

These memories are still current events.  They are still happening now in the person’s life as far as the subconscious mind is concerned. The subconscious responds to these images.  As long as they are locked into the energy system that is how life is perceived. These ‘inner children’ have real personalities that not only react to the original trauma but also affect reactions to present day circumstances.

In extreme cases these inner children develop in such a manner that a person will switch between personalities, as is the case with multiple personalities.  There have been documented cases where different personas exhibit different physical traits, such as eye colour or whether they express disease symptoms or not.

In many instances the dual personality issues on the schizophrenic spectrum are due to the effects of the inner child. Working this way with a client and their inner children also allows for a great deal of flexibility and creativity and, by keeping it simple without any need for scripts or process, supports Gary’s EFT ethos of allowing the practitioner to keep themselves out of their own way, out of the process and stops them projecting onto the client.

An example of the creativity available within this process occurred during an EFT training.  During a breakout session practicing the Movie Technique, I was walking round the room checking on progress when I noticed one of the trainees looked very distressed.  When I checked in with her she was on the edge of an abreaction.  Her mind was filled with the intense images of some disturbing photographs she was forced to look at as a child.

Instantly I took over, tapping on the trainee and instructing her to focus on the child in the memory and imagine tapping on this younger her.  She easily got a sense of this but couldn’t get the intense photographic images out of her mind.  I asked her if it was ok to give permission to the child to burn the photographs.  In her mind as we both tapped (me on her, she on the child’s image) the child lit a match and burned the photographs.  The relief was instantaneous.

A few days after the training this trainee sent me the following email: “Firstly, thanks for the help on clearing the issue today around the photographs.  It was an ingenious idea to get the little girl in me to burn the photos.  I've had lots of psychotherapy (from an excellent therapist) on this issue; in fact my last psychotherapy session a couple of weeks ago was about the same issue.  When I compare the results from EFT to psychotherapy there is no comparison.  I feel like resolving my issues should be about me and not about others, and the resolution should come from within.

The second exciting thing is that when you came to help me this afternoon when you saw I was in trouble I was actually having a bipolar episode.  Every episode I have ever had has lasted a day minimum and you brought it down with EFT in 5 minutes!!!  This is incredibly exciting to me and my partner, and now I have seen that it is possible to bring it down with EFT I feel confident that I can do it myself if it arises again.  It is interesting how you connected bipolar with child abuse and it was the memory of the abuse which brought the bipolar on - I can definitely see the connection now.  The fog which it creates in the depression is to protect me from the reality of my memories, and the hypomania is created to avoid the memories.

Thirdly (and perhaps most excitingly) I feel like I have found myself in EFT!!  I was always training in some course or other and engaged in everything I did, but I didn't feel that spark like I do with EFT.  It feels now that everything has brought me to EFT and although I value the past experiences, I feel so passionate about this one!!”

Karl Dawson

FOR MORE EFT HELP ...

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