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Instruction

Techniques

Discovering "core scenes"

Important Note: This article was written prior to 2010 and is now outdated.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

Stefan Gonick has his own method of finding core issues (he calls them core scenes). Many readers should find this a useful technique to add to their skill set.

By Stefan Gonick

Dear Gary,

I greatly appreciate all of the wonderful material you have available on your web site. I have found it very helpful and would like to give back to the EFT community by sharing a very useful technique that I have learned for uncovering "core scenes" (ie. young representative memories) underlying a current day issue or upset.

This technique is similar to the EMDR "float back" technique, but it is enhanced with a body-oriented focus. It is particularly useful with people who tend to be in their heads where their intelligence can get in the way, but it works well for most everyone.

The first step is to invite the client to gently tune into the issue, letting go of the specific details. You then ask the client to notice where in their body s/he feels the issue, where s/he feels a reaction in their body. The next step is to describe the physical sensations in as much detail as possible. For instance, ask how big an area the sensation covers. Is it sharp or dull? Does it have an electrical feeling? Is it warm or cold? And so on. The purpose of this step is to help the client to get more deeply in touch with the bodily experience of the issue.

Once the client has done this, you ask him/her to notice what emotions they are having. Also, ask if there are any words the client is saying to him/herself (eg. I'm not safe or I'm not important, etc.). The self-messages are optional. Don't get stuck at this step. It's more important to keep the flow going.

The next step is the "float back." You ask the client to keep their attention on their bodily sensation, emotions and self-statements and to take a relaxed, friendly, receptive stance and to wait for a memory to pop into their head. Emphasize that they should not try to use their mind to "figure out" where this could be coming from. It's important to passively wait for the memory to come.

Usually, a memory will come to the client after a short time. There are a couple of issues that may come up with this technique. The first issue is that the client may say something like, "I'm bad at this kind of thing." In this case, just encourage the client to give it a try with no pressure for success (or you could do a little tapping here, of course). Another issue is a client saying that they don't feel anything in their body. This can be a significant issue in itself. It's helpful to do the constricted breathing exercise here to both bring energy into body through the increased oxygen flow and to help the client feel their body. Noticing one's breath is a bodily awareness.

The more common occurrence than the first two is that the client will remember a related experience that happened as an adult. In this case, congratulate the client's success, make a note of the memory for future tapping, and then try again asking the client to wait for a young memory to pop into their head.

I have found this float back technique to work extremely well, and I use it with all of my clients. I hope that the EFT community finds this useful for uncovering tappable memories.

Warm hugs,

Stefan Gonick

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