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by Dr David Lake

This post is about a small discovery that may be of interest to users of EFT. It is based on a clinical observation, but since the essence of acupuncture is continual point stimulation, it may be a useful bridge between acupuncture and acupressure. In the same way that the 7-point shortcut EFT sequence is generally useful, I have found that continual tapping on EFT points brings further benefits. .

During several years of using EFT sequences to treat trauma clients, I came to the idea that the more sequences you could initiate in a session, the more thorough the result—assuming of course that you are using such wonderful techniques as “Tell The Story” (which is available on the EFT website), and working with the body feelings as much as possible, in an appropriate framework of rapport, caring and respect.

I thought: “Why stop when you’re on a good thing?” From there it was a simple step to asking the client to tap on EFT points whenever they were telling me of their reactions to the EFT sequences, or when they felt intense, or had insights spontaneously in the session. In this way, the majority of the session was filled with point stimulation. Because a trauma treatment assumes that the problem is tuned in quite strongly, I think the good results I noticed right away were as a result of the opportunity to “do” more. So often in difficult work there is a temptation to process what has happened and to “think” more together. Continual tapping bypasses this thinking to a degree, or postpones it to a later time.

Then I began to use it for everything, not just trauma.

I found this addition to my technique quite naturalistic. “Just tap on the little finger point with your thumb while you tell me more about what you’re thinking now”. (Thanks Larry Nims for the one-handed demonstration in February 1998). And you can vary the points—as Gary Craig likes to do for the receiver when he is the helper—except that the person taps for themselves. If you like, you can use points that you have noticed have a resonance for that person, or were the site of an emotional shift (sighing, yawning, relaxing) while working with formal EFT sequences.

If there are two people working then the helper should tap too—passive practice. We do this because we want to stay relaxed, and to model and mirror the points for the receiver, and to avoid being hurt by the content of what may come up in the session. In that sense we also do regular tapping—and I do a lot of continual tapping myself if I am hearing, and resonating with, upsetting material. The subtle and ongoing personal effects of EFT—like the “generalizing effect” — become apparent very quickly like this.

Now in my practice I use continual tapping for another reason. Using EFT, we preach persistence, and for a good reason. It is likely to lead toward the point of “critical mass” for shifting the problem in emotional consciousness. I find that continual tapping facilitates that effort. You know you are doing good work.

I also teach focus. Additional tapping—when the problem is “attuned” by way of being intense—brings disproportional relief even if we don’t then know exactly the nature of the foundations of the problem. Those insights come later, following the relief. Continual tapping supports that focus in itself.

I use it myself whenever I am below par, or in a contracted state, and can’t think clearly. This “awareness” in EFT that arises during healing some call the ‘wisdom of the body’.

A non-conceptual awareness, just “being”.

“The peace that passes all understanding”.

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