the science behind eft and meridian tapping - lili...

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The Science Behind EFT and Meridian Tapping

Woo-Woo, Voodoo, or Evidenced Based Techniques

for Instant Emotional Health?

A report from LILI HUDSON

www.DiscoverWhatsStoppingYou.com

Helping people clean out their emotional junk drawer and live life with more success, peace and fun!

http://www.discoverwhatsstoppingyou.com/

www.Discover WhatsStoppingYou.com Lili Hudson

Helping people clean out their emotional junk drawers and live with more ease and success

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Disclaimer

To present and future tappers:

With gratitude and respect to Gary Craig, George Pratt, Gwyneth Moss and Ingrid Dinter and all of my teachers, I offer my version of meridian tapping and Emotional Freedom Technique.

While I hold a Level One certificate from Gary Craig and have trained with a number of other leaders in the field, this booklet skims the surface of the possible applications of EFT. The material presented is intended for your personal use and for you to use with your family, if you choose.

By using this report and doing the exercise contained within, you acknowledge that meridian tapping is still considered experimental, even though it has been in use more than 25 years. Take full responsibility for your physical, mental and emotional well-being. EFT and all meridian tapping cousins are not, and have never been intended as a substitute for proper medical or psychiatric care.

Anyone under a treatment with a psychiatrist or psychologist should discuss the use of energy balancing with his or her provider. It is strongly suggested that you consult your doctor before beginning any Behavioral Coaching or Mind-Body work for any medical condition, including acupressure and hypnosis.

Happy tapping!

Lili

LILI HUDSON Consulting Hypnotist, EFT Practitioner,



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About Lili

After completing Guilford College with a B.S. in Chemistry, Lili worked in quality

control for a manufacturer and in basic research at Vanderbilt University. She

discovered tapping over 10 years ago and was stunned by the rapid and lasting change

in herself and in all of her clients ever since!

Her training as a scientist informs the way she looks at complementary and

alternative modalities. She asks “can we get as good or better outcomes, with fewer or

no side effects? Does the change last?” She has found that Meridian Tapping (a term

used to pool all the tapping variations) and hypnosis create the lasting changes that

people want, all without pills, injections, or years of treatment.

A consulting hypnotist and a certified Emotional Freedom Technique practitioner,

Lili is a member of the National Guild of Hypnotists, the Association for Comprehensive

Energy Psychology and the Pastoral Medical Association. She is a volunteer

practitioner with the Iraq Vets Stress Project (www.stressproject.org), a project offering

free and low-cost EFT to veterans and their families for help in resolving war trauma

and PTSD, and she served 17+ years as a volunteer in all things related to her

children, including nine years as a Girl Scout leader. She is a Nashville native and lives

here with her husband, two children, and two funny rescue dogs, who handle their

stress by destroying toilet paper rolls.

She can be reached through www.DiscoverWhatsStoppingYou.com and by email at

[email protected]

http://www.stressproject.org/




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The Science Behind EFT and Meridian Tapping

“After EFT, I feel released from my emotional prison.” US Army Medic

“I finally have been able to sleep at night without waking up in combat.

I finally have my life back.” Staff Sargent, Brian. D.

“Thank you Veterans Stress Project. You saved my life.” David S., Army, Iraq

I open with quotes above, gleaned from the hundreds of veterans who have found relief through

EFT and tapping, for two reasons. First, to spread the word about the availability of free services

through the Vets Stress Project (www.stressproject.org) and second because the shift these men

experienced, the relief from the trauma of war, is profound. If EFT, properly applied, can elicit

that kind of relief, and those kinds of comments, we need to employ the techniques more

broadly, need more people to know about them, and to know how to use them.

If you have any familiarity with EFT or Tapping, especially with a skilled practitioner, chances

are you have experienced profound changes in yourself, the way you view an event, the way you

feel in your body, or even physical changes, like a diminution in pain. The shifts may have

ranged anywhere from subtle to dramatic, but the changes are real!

When you experience a major shift, it seems almost too good to be true. That pain you have

been hanging on to, that judgment someone laid on your shoulders, that guilt or regret, that

feeling of “too little, too late”… When these emotions release their grip and you feel blessed

relief, it seems like magic, or voodoo, or some sort of sorcery.

But it’s not.

Acupuncture, a technique that the Chinese have used for over 5,000 years seems too strange to

our Western minds. The body’s acupuncture system is organized into thirteen primary lines,

called meridians, on which the acupuncture points are located. It seems implausible that poking

a needle here or there makes a difference in one’s physical state; much less that it produces

improvement in physical or mental health. What is even harder to comprehend is how physical

manipulation of these same points, sans puncturing, might result in similar improvement.

http://www.stressproject.org/



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Western model treatment plans for emotional and psychological issues often call for years of

talking it out, working through it, and quite possibly medications. What if there really is

another way past pain,

another way to peace,

another way to happy,

another way to really let go of it once and for all.

A Little History

Like so many discoveries, the value of acupressure for emotional healing was a chance

discovery. Gary Craig tells the following story: Psychologist Roger Callahan, PhD, was treating

a woman for her fear of water. At the same time, he was taking a class on acupressure, just to

indulge his own curiosity.

Callahan knew that the stomach is where many people physically experience fear. He had

learned in his class that the end of the stomach meridian is just under the pupil on the occipital

bone. He suggested his client tap below her eye, while thinking and talking about her fear of

water.

To the great surprise of both, the woman’s fear of water evaporated. How could a fear that

plagued the woman for years, through many a therapist, have simply vanished? Was she ready

to let go of it? Or was there another factor?

In 1962, chiropractor Dr. George Goodhart, D.C. began using manual pressure on acupuncture

points to enhance healing. Later, psychiatrist, Dr. John Diamond, M.D. had his patients say

positive statements—now popularly called “affirmations”—while his patients tapped on their

points. Callahan created a formal structure to the process, creating specific sequences for

different emotions, and he named it: Thought Field Therapy. Callahan’s student, Gary Craig,

utilized his Stanford University training as an engineer, simplifying and streamlining the process.

Practitioners have been tweaking and refining it ever since, sometimes making the process

simpler and in other cases making it more complex.



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Try It On Everything

Gary Craig spent years widely promoting the process he dubbed Emotional Freedom Technique

(EFT) throughout the world. In his generous fashion, he declared that we are all “on the ground

floor of a healing high-rise.” What could be helped by EFT? Well, what couldn’t? He gave the

encouragement to “try it on everything.” Those of us in the Tapping World have taken him at

his word. We have applied EFT to everything from headaches to hot flashes, from test anxiety to

money anxiety, from the trauma of war, kidnapping, and abuse, to the trauma of neglect,

abandonment, and bullying, from deep-seated anger to cravings, fears, phobias, headache, and

heartache. We try it with animals, with children, with patients who have dementia, and even

with their caregivers. The list goes on.

But How?

Through it all, there are many who do not care how it works! They simply know that Tapping

works and it doesn’t require them to do anything illegal, immoral, or unethical. Tapping does not

require them to ingest or inject anything. There are no adverse side effects. It does not matter if

you believe in it or not. In fact, there is nothing to believe in. It is a mechanical process, and the

relief is real…and it lasts! That is good enough for many.

Trained as a scientist, I fall squarely into the other camp, the camp of people that like to

understand how things work. If you are reading this, I’ll bet you are like me.

Tapping, Thought Field Therapy, EFT, and all the variations on this branch of “energy

psychology” have only been around for about fifty years, and as such, they are still considered

experimental. If this is a concern to you, let your thoughts travel back a few centuries, and

consider the example of aspirin.

The Lesson of Aspirin

In the 5th century BC, Hippocrates documented that a bitter powder extracted from willow bark

could ease pain and reduce fever, but he had no explanation for how this could occur. Native

American Indians probably did not understand any more than Hippocrates why chewing on



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willow tree bark would relieve pain. I imagine that pain relief was enough of an outcome to

recommend the treatment.

Peering into the laboratory, Dave MacInnes, PhD. and others summarize in Chemical Principals

II Lab Manual:

{Salicylic acid]… which was first isolated in 1838, comes from the salicin in the white

willow bark. The salicylic acid compound formed from the salicin can be synthesized

further to form acetylsalicylic acid or more commonly known as aspirin. This compound

was first synthesized in 1853, but not until 1897 did anyone take it to a manufacturing

corporation. Then the Bayer Corporation began to market the product as a pain reliever

and antipyretic.

It was not until 1971 that British pharmacologist John Robert Vane demonstrated how aspirin

works. This discovery was so momentous that it earned a Nobel Prize in 1982.

Yes, that’s right. For over fifty years, Bayer manufactured and marketed aspirin, and people

have used it and its precursors for centuries as a treatment for fever and pain, as an antiseptic,

and an astringent without even knowing how or why it worked.

What We Know Now

I was fortunate to have a mentor in college, Professor Dave MacInnes, who frequently

introduced topics with the following words: “this is what we know now.” Those who love

science know it is about exploration and creativity. The minute you make a decision and close

off other ideas, you have put yourself in a box. Dave MacInnes taught us that by using the

words, “this is what we know now,” we could remember to leave open the door of possibility.

So in honor of my mentor, I will tell you what we know now, with the caveat that there is

certainly more to come.

Neurochemicals, blood work, MRI’s—the stuff hard science is made of, things we can see and

measure—these products of western research depend on quantifiable and repeatable results. By

way of synopsis, I will give you what we have learned so far, as well as references for you to do

further research if so inclined.



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A Body in Balance

Danger, threat, stress, whether mental, emotional, or physical, engages the body’s Sympathetic

Nervous System (SNS) alarm response. In a masterful stroke, your body’s survival system, what

might be dubbed the fight-flight-freeze mechanism, goes in to operation. Digestion slows,

sexual appetite decreases, pupils dilate, and blood flows to the large muscles in preparation for

evasive action. The adrenal cortex produces cortisol, which acts as an anti-inflammatory and

signals the liver to release glycogen, thus increasing blood sugar. Blood flow and electrical

activity centers in the mid-brain, which is the reflex-like part of the brain. Blood flow and

electrical activity are less concentrated in the frontal cortex, which is the part of the brain that

considers options and makes decisions.

Consider the ordinary citizen who performs some extraordinary action, saving lives in the case

of an accident, fire, or disaster. When queried by the reporter, “What were you thinking?”, they

almost always respond by saying something like, “I don’t know, I wasn’t thinking.” They are

right. The Sympathetic Nervous System had switched into high gear, engaging the mid-brain,

attendant electrical activity, and neurochemicals for rapid action. This also might explain why

you said those foolish words in the heat of an argument. During that moment of stress, which

your body perceives as a threat, your frontal cortex (your thinking brain) can disengage from

your mouth!

When the stress or danger has passed, the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) engages to

relax and re-balance the body. Neurochemicals such as endorphins, the body’s self- generated

opioids, are released, reducing pain. Neurotransmitters, like GABA and the mood regulator

serotonin, are released to reduce anxiety. The production of cortisol is reduced as the other

blood chemicals increase in concentration.

Dr. Jim Lane, PhD. states in his 2009 article in Energy Psychology that “gently tapping the

acupuncture points, as in EFT, and most meridian tapping processes, effectively eliminates fear

because it terminates the Fight-Flight-Freeze response of the Sympathetic Nervous System and

replaces it with the relaxation response of the Parasympathetic Nervous System.” In a healthy

person, the body rebalances itself, digestive activity resumes, blood flow normalizes over the

entire body, and clear thinking returns. This is not just conjecture.



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Using functional MRIs, measuring neurochemical blood concentrations, and SPECT scans,

study after study has shown that the positive effects of acupuncture and acupressure are neither

woo-woo or voodoo, but are actually real. (A thorough discussion of the literature is beyond the

scope of this article. I invite you to review Dr. Lane’s well-referenced work, “The

Neurochemistry of Counterconditioning: Acupressure Desensitization in Psychotherapy”, which

can be found on the web or within the November 2009 edition of Energy Psychology.

Chiropractor, Craig Weiner, D.C. posted an excellent summery on his website of other theories.

He offers thoughts on the theories of Cognitive Restructuring, the Great Energy Field, and

Healing by Intention, as well as Spiritual Healing. Please visit his excellent site

http://www.chirozone.net for informative videos and interviews).

Still there are those that contend that Tapping simply offers a placebo, or is a distraction, or more

recently, that EFT is hypnosis. As a consulting hypnotist, I do see a similar relaxation response

with my clients while in hypnosis. Relieving stress is an excellent use of hypnosis. Still, I’ve

yet to see similar scientific research into changes in brain activity and neurochemistry produced

by hypnosis.

Try It For Yourself

For a moment, think about moderately stressful scenario, such as being expected to speak to a

large audience on short notice. Imagine looking out into the audience. Imagine the audience in

front of you, their eyes on you, being alone on the stage and having to say something. Imagine

not being sure what to say. If you need to, close your eyes and imagine being there. Can you feel

a dryness in your mouth? Can you feel butterflies in your stomach? Check your body for other

sensations, maybe a tightness in your throat. Rate the intensity of the feelings on our 0-10 scale.

Tap gently on the occipital bone, directly in line with your pupil as you look straight ahead. After

a moment take a cleansing breath and check in with your body. Are the butterflies gone, or at

least calmer? Is your mouth feeling more comfortable? Are you breathing more easily? Do you

feel more relaxed? Revisit the scene and reimagine it. Is your response different this time?

Your mind created the stress, thus triggering the Fight - Flight - Freeze response of the

Sympathetic Nervous System by imagining the stage, the audience looking at you. Tapping

http://www.chirozone.net/



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gently on the end point of the stomach meridian, just as Dr. Callahan’s patient did, produced the

relaxation response of the Parasympathetic Nervous System.

As Dr. Lane stated above “gently tapping the acupuncture points, as in EFT, and most meridian

tapping processes, effectively eliminates fear because it terminates the body’s Fight – Flight -

Freeze response of the Sympathetic Nervous System and replaces it with the relaxation response

of the Parasympathetic Nervous System.” Remember that this means that the stress hormone,

cortisol is down regulated as the relaxation hormone serotonin is released. Blood flow increases

to muscles in the chest, making breathing deeper and more comfortable.

What Next?

If you have experienced unrelenting stress, you may felt like you were on the proverbial “hair-

trigger” ready to go off at any moment. You may have felt out of control. Both trauma and

chronic stress can condition the brain to react in this protective manner. Trouble comes when the

body and brain do not know when to turn the Fight-Flight-Freeze mechanism off.

Modern television presents 24-hour drama and trauma. Countless crime shows push emotions

farther and farther. News reports exaggerate emotions and stories to keep you tuned in and please

their advertisers. If you participated in the exercise that I suggested earlier (imagining speaking

from the stage) and experienced butterflies in your stomach, you now know that stress, whether

real, on TV, imagined, or remembered, can all trigger the body’s Sympathetic Nervous System

response.

How do we reduce the detrimental effects of daily stress, extraordinary stress, and chronic stress

that just seem to be a part of our lives in the 21st century? How do we effectively and safely

reprogram the brain and the body to a healthier stress response?

My answer, of course, is to learn to use one of the Tapping modalities. I frequently combine

Tapping and hypnosis to help my client reach the desired outcome, and I always teach my clients

how to use these tools safely and effectively and on their own.

I am not a licensed therapist or social worker, but a teacher and a coach. It is my desire that my

clients learn techniques and practice them enough that they become habit. One of my clients said

this: “This is the most healing, best feeling habit you will ever have!”



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There are a number of other effective stress relievers, such as yoga, exercise, talking with a

friend, and regular prayer or participating in worship services. The important thing is to not let

the stress build. Rather have regular outlets for stress relief.

Please visit my website www.DiscoverWhatsStoppingYou.com for more information and ideas

on how to use tapping, and a one page guide you can download to get started on using this most

healing, best feeling habit!

Thanks for your interest and your time.

Happy Tapping!




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References

1. Craig, G. www.Emofree.com

2. Wikipedia. Salicylic acid – History. Retrieved September 23, 2012, from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salicylic_acid

3. Wikipedia. Aspirin. Retrieved September 23, 2012 from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspirin

a. Vane, R. J. (1971). "Inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis as a mechanism of

action for aspirin-like drugs". Nature – New Biology 231 (25): 232–

5. PMID 5284360.

b. Vane, J. R. , Botting, R. M. (2003). "The mechanism of action of

aspirin" (PDF). Thromb Res 110 (5–6): 255–8. doi:10.1016/S0049-

3848(03)00379-7. PMID 14592543.

4. Glenn, A. , MacInnes, D. , & Whitnell, R. (1998). Chemical Principles II Lab

Manual. Greensboro: Guilford College. Retrieved June 15, 2013 from

http://library.guilford.edu/lab-report/

5. Lane, J. R. The Neurochemistry of Counterconditioning: Acupressure Desensitization

Psychotherapy, Energy Psychology,1 (1) November, 2009. Also retrieved from

http://hblu.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/HBLU-Lane2.pdf

6. Weiner, C. (2012, September 17) . Science and the Field of EFT. Retrieved October 12,

2012 from http://www.chirozone.net

.

http://www.emofree.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salicylic_acid

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspirin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PubMed_Identifier

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5284360

http://www.eao.chups.jussieu.fr/polys/certifopt/saule_coxib/theme/1vane2003.pdf

http://www.eao.chups.jussieu.fr/polys/certifopt/saule_coxib/theme/1vane2003.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_object_identifier

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2FS0049-3848%2803%2900379-7

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2FS0049-3848%2803%2900379-7

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PubMed_Identifier

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14592543

http://library.guilford.edu/lab-report/

http://hblu.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/HBLU-Lane2.pdf

http://www.chirozone.net/

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