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Children

General

SURROGATE EFT calms a boy bitten by a dog and PERSISTENT EFT restores his calm sleep

Important Note: This article was written prior to 2010 and is now outdated.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

Note: This article assumes you have a working knowledge of EFT. Newcomers can still learn from it but are advised to peruse our Free Gold Standard (Official) EFT Tutorial™ for a more complete understanding.

Hi Everyone,

Imagine how frightened you would be if, as a toddler, you were bitten in the face by a dog. How long would you retain the fear and how long would you have restless sleep? A month? A year? A lifetime? Fortunately, we can use EFT to collapse such traumas right away and avoid such long term limitations. Nancy Privett shows us how.

Hugs, Gary


By Nancy Privett

Dear Gary,

I received a phone call from my stepson and his wife, asking if I could help them with their 19-month-old son, Andrew.  They had been visiting relatives the previous week and Andrew was bitten on the face by a dog.  The bites required stitches and future plastic surgery, but were healing nicely. However, Andrew, who had always slept soundly through the night, was now having nightmares and waking up two to three times a night and during naps crying out in terror for his parents.

We set up a time for them all to come over the next evening so I could show them how to use EFT with Andrew.  (Andrew's mother had done some EFT with me in the past, so she was familiar with the process.)  In the meantime, that night I decided to do some surrogate tapping for Andrew.  I did not mention this to his parents.  I thought that, if it had a noticeable effect, it would be a good way for them to really embrace surrogate EFT.

So that night I tapped for about 30 minutes on myself as if I were Andrew using the official shortcut version with the top of the head point added. I allowed my intuition to guide me with the phrases.

Even though I am really scared to go to sleep…

Even though it was really scary when that dog bit my face…

Even though it really hurt when the dog bit me…

Even though I couldn't breathe when the dog bit me…

Even though I was too little to do anything…

Even though I need mommy and daddy all the time now…

Even though I have to make sure mommy and daddy are near me…

Even though I am having bad dreams about that scary dog…

The next evening when the family arrived, I asked them how Andrew had slept the night before.  His mother said, "It was unusual.  He only woke up once last evening.  That's the first time he has slept so well since the accident."  I then explained the surrogate tapping I had done as a way of introducing surrogate tapping to them and they were both willing to try it when they weren't using EFT directly with Andrew.

I went over the EFT shortcut procedure with both parents, making sure they knew where the points were and what to do.  I had them each tap a little on Andrew, who was very busy exploring and playing and wasn't really interested too much in sitting still to be tapped on.  I suggested that at first when they physically tapped on Andrew, they use phrases like:  Everything is fine now and I am safe now, and use more specific statements about the dog bite when they surrogate tapped and after Andrew was used to the tapping.  I also suggested that they tap directly on him when he was going to sleep.

The first night they used EFT with Andrew, they did it while they were reading him a story right before bed.  His mother reported that he didn't mind it too much, but seemed distracted and bothered.  However, when she turned out the lights and held him while rocking in the rocking chair, she was able to tap [without using the set-up affirmation] and say things like:

Sweet dreams.

Mommy and daddy love you.

You are safe.

If you wake up tonight, mommy and daddy are right downstairs so you can close your eyes and go back to sleep.

Andrew became completely calm and was asleep within 2 minutes of being put in his crib.  It was the first time he had gone to sleep so quickly since the dog bite.  Both his parents surrogate tapped that night and Andrew only woke up once, and went quickly back to sleep when his mother came to soothe him.

Andrew's parents continued to use the tapping on Andrew whenever they put him in his crib to sleep, and also continued to do surrogate tapping each night.  Andrew's father spoke to Andrew as he was tapping on him and said things like:

You don't need to be scared of dogs.

I know you were scared when you got bitten.

His father did not get very graphic with his statements about the dog bite, but he knew that Andrew remembered the incident, and he wanted to address the fears.

After a week and a half, Andrew had only woken up twice in the middle of the night and had not had one nightmare.  Putting him to sleep had become very easy.  Previously his parents had not been able to leave his room until he was sound asleep.  Now they were tapping on him, putting him in his crib and leaving the room.  He was asleep within 15 minutes at the most.  Many times his parents reported that the next morning he was in a really good mood.  Andrew was sleeping so well that his parents were even able to go out to dinner one night and have the babysitter put him to bed.

Meanwhile, I encouraged Andrew's parents to tap on themselves for the trauma they went through seeing their son bitten by the dog.  I suggested that even though they may not realize it, they both probably had anxiety from witnessing it and all the worries that would understandably come into their minds afterwards, especially wondering if they had done a good enough job protecting their son.  I suggested saying something like:

Even though I feel like I wasn't watching carefully enough…

Even though I wasn't able to protect Andrew…

Even though I wasn't able to prevent this from happening and my son was hurt…

Andrew's mother reported that even reading these statements evoked a lot of emotion for her. After she tapped on them, she then had her best night's sleep since the accident.  (Because parents and children -- small children especially -- are so connected energetically, it is important for the parents to calm their own energy systems when dealing with their children; that will immediately have a calming effect on the children.)

After a month, all the positive results had continued and Andrew was sleeping as he had before the dog bite.

Andrew's parents now use the tapping for Andrew each night and for naps because it calms him and he likes it.  On the rare occasion that Andrew wakes up, using EFT gets him back to sleep very easily.  They also teach EFT to everyone that has to put Andrew to sleep, and tell the caregivers that Andrew will want to do the tapping.  The phrases Andrew's parents now use to tap out loud are calming and reassuring words about having nice and happy dreams, that he is safe, that they can hear him if he calls, and that they are downstairs.  They also tap on him while going through the list of everyone who loves him and Andrew now helps finish the list.

In the weeks after the dog bite and before tapping, Andrew said that he was afraid of dogs, and even had a strong reaction to a photograph of a dog on a bag of dog food.  Now he says that he isn't afraid of dogs, and, although appropriately tentative when around them, he shows a general interest in them.

Just one other word about surrogate tapping: because we are tapping on ourselves as if we were the other person, the tapping also has an effect on us.  I experienced something interesting one night when I did some surrogate tapping for Andrew during the first week.  I tapped on myself about a dozen times using this set-up affirmation:

Even though sometimes I wake up scared and crying for mommy and daddy, tonight I choose to sleep soundly and deeply and wake up with a big smile on my face.

The next morning, as I was waking up, I was seeing a lovely vista of a Caribbean beach right in front of me, and I woke up with a big smile on my face!  Whatever you give out, you get some of the same yourself!

Nancy Privett

FOR MORE EFT HELP ...

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