An eft? A baby newt. Or maybe electronic funds transfer. That's all those letters meant to me until early 2017.
I had been struggling in a doldrum for a few months, and the panic attacks were back. I happened to be with a very close friend, and the tears came. 'Let's do some tapping.' she whispered. So we did. I had no idea what to expect, but this simple, gentle technique helped me to cry a lot more, then to calm down, yawn and smile. I was captivated and wanted to know more.
Six months later, I started training with Ashley Meyer at The Energy Therapy Centre in London. Definitely a Stretch Zone for me, not that I'd heard of one of those at that time, until doing my coaching training last year.... I had a counselling diploma from the Dark Ages of the late 1980s, and had in recent years received some random Reiki and acupuncture, and accompanied my mother to a kinesiologist who tested with a large machine and copper balls, muttering something about a 'triple warmer'.
Nothing could have prepared me for the energetic jolt which I experienced during my EFT training. It was one of the best things I have ever done. It all seemed to make perfect sense.
In EFT we use our fingertips to tap gently on some points situated on our face and on our bodies. It doesn't matter if you don't know what they are, as they are simply called 'under the eye', 'side of the eye', and so on. But I was curious.
Enter meridians. I discovered that we have 14 of them. A rugby team minus one. And that the tapping points activated and/or resonated with these subtle energy pathways just beneath the surface of our skin. Energy. Some of the 14 directly govern an organ - heart, liver, kidneys, bladder, for example. Each meridian has a connection with part of our physical body - so the liver meridian governs our tendons, nails and eyes, the kidneys our bones...On top of all that, each meridian has an emotional dimension.. - the lung is connected with, among other things, grief and sadness. This was of particular interest to me, as I was, at the time continuing to process the loss of my parents many years earlier. I had heard of Alcmaeon and Hippocrates' Humours and Empedocles' Elements during my Classical journey. Now I was seeing even more wonderful connections being made.
As I notched up my practice hours, I couldn't believe the power of EFT. The skill of the practitioner is of course invaluable, but I didn't have much skill at all, yet it still worked. I remember feeling very humble and unworthy, and deflecting any gratitude from my practice clients. After all, I was grateful to them for letting me work with them. And if I could be a conduit, a catalyst, or just another human being tapping with them, that was good enough for me.
The training involved case studies too. One of which had to be on myself. This was the most illuminating and challenging of all. I had a fear of people being sick, ever since I was a child. When taking trips to Greece during my teaching career, I would always make sure that another member of staff in the coach was on bag duty whilst I just focused on microphone duty. This profound case study work involved casting myself back to the event, other subsequent similar ones, the triggers, the reactivity, then gradually to work to neutralise the emotional charge and the fight/flight response, to restore balance. Triple Warmer and I certainly got to know each other better during this exploration.
The crescendo continued, with the submission of paperwork and the final live recording of a session with a client. I qualified in December 2019, some months before lockdown.
It is beyond exciting that NICE (The National Institute for Clinical Excellence) has recently recognised the EFT research that was carried out for the treatment of PTSD, which really boosts the chances of EFT becoming a mainstream therapy in the future. Hooray.
I still remember so vividly that first tapping experience with my friend, and will always be so grateful to her for showing me a new path. New, but which I felt was totally the right one to walk. This in turn has led me to Energy Medicine, which means I have now been seriously learning about Meridians, the Elements, Chakras and Radiant Circuits...and spending quite some time befriending Triple Warmer!
A whole other world has opened up, which is strangely familiar, and so very wonderful.
The Energy Therapy Centre in London You'll find here a wealth of information about EFT and about the various stages of training.
EFT International The international accreditation body for EFT practitioners and trainers. A treasure trove of information about EFT.