Freedom at Your Fingertips

It8217;s quick, it8217;s safe, it8217;s free, and it has a growing swarm of faithfuls who swear it works.The lowdown on Emotional FreedomTechnique for those willing to give it a shot

IT8217;S SO SIMPLE that it mocksand dares belief. Close youreyes, recall a trauma, state itsimply and honestly, gently tapyourmeridianpoints, humabarofa song the tone-deaf needn8217;tworry, open your eyes. It8217;s going.Step and repeat. It8217;s still there, butless intense. Repeat. Gone!Okay, we admit that8217;s a bit of astretch. There are conditions thatwill take more persistence, but ex-periencedpractitionerswillvouch,and new converts will swear don8217;tthey, always? that EFT EmotionalFreedom Technique can workwonders in curing you of yourfears, phobias, traumas, addic-tions,and just about any other de-bilitatinglife condition.

EFT, developed by Stanford en-gineerGary Craig, is a form ofemotional acupressure, minus theneedles. It8217;s a derivative of themore complexThoughtFieldTher-apyTFT, which became a sepa-ratehealing field when US clinicalpsychologist, Dr Roger Callahan,began to use insights about thebody8217;s energy system to treat psy-chologicalproblems with hugesuccess in the early 1980s.

EFT was brought to India byGurgaon-based food columnist-turned-healer Rohini SinghChopra. She stumbled upon thetechniquesixyearsago onavisittothe US, and has since become amissionary of the method. Thebeauty of EFT, she explains, lies inits simplicity. 8220;Its so easy to tellpeople about it because its scien-tific, and yet easy to learn.8221; Nofussy paraphernalia, no persnick-etyatmospherics, no curtsying atthe doors of faith healers, no needfor years of rigorous training. All itneedsisyou, andthewillingnesstogive it a shot at your problems.Chopra now conducts a monthlyworkshopon EFTforhergrievancecallers, and has developed tailoredmodules for employees at Airtel,Hewitt andVertex.

The underlying assumption ofthe practice is that negative emo-tions disrupt the body8217;s energycircuits. And tapping/massagingthe meridians, as prescribed in EFT protocol See All You Want Know about Emotional FreedomTherapy, removes the emotionalblocks that cause mental physical stress. So, whether emotional debris that you struggling to shovel out of system, or aches and pains and ad-dictionsthat you want to be rid EFT might have the answers.You8217;llnever know till you try.

THE TREATMENT POINTS

1 On your chest whereyou8217;d pin a brooch thesore spot. Push gentlywith your fin-gertips to find an area thatfeels tender, rather thansore;

2 Where the bonebehind your eyebrow turnsinto the bridge of yournose;

3 On thebone atthe corner of your eye;

4On the bone just belowyour eye, in line with yourpupil when you lookstraight ahead;

5 Betweenyou nose and your upperlip;

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6 In the notchbetween your chin andangle formed by yourcollarbone and breastbone;

7 In line with a man8217;s nip-pleson the side of thebody;

8 Thumb;

10 Index finger;

11! Middle finger;

12 Little finger all fingerpoints are on the side ofin line with the nail bed;13 On the side of yourhand, roughly in line withyour life line the karatechop point;

14 Just behindand between the knucklesof your ring and littlefinger the gamut point.

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on your problems, you8217;lllikely find that some points8220;feel8221; differently when you tap them, and you8217;ll noticethe shift or release withone or more points,depending on the reasonfor using the technique at the time.

8216;Tapping8217; the points You tap the treatmentpoints with your index finger or index and middlefingers, fairly rapidly seven to nine times, or asmany repetitions as it takes to take a normalbreath in and out. Tap just hard enough to feela slight resonance from the tapping.

Contacting the problem Focus on a problem, and state it: 8220;I hatemy boss8221;, and say it aloud. Likewise forany other fear, ailment, problem youwant to rid yourself of. Choose astatement that rings true to you.

The set up Find the 8216;sore spot8217; oneither side of your chest; rub it gentlyand say: 8220;Even though I insert problemstatement, I deeply and pro-foundlyaccept myself.8221; Repeat this thrice, rubbing the sore spot continuously.

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The sound Following the 8216;set up8217;, tap all the treat-mentpoints, starting at the top eyebrow and endingwith the karate chop point. As you tap each point, repeata shortened version of the set up statement the8216;reminder phrase8217;.

The 9 gamut After doing 8216;the round8217; about seventimes, do the following while continuously tapping on thegamut point: move your eyes from the floor to the ceilingwithout moving your head, and back again; now moveyour eyes from left to right and back; now roll them in abig circle and back; hum a bar of tune, any tune that takesyour fancy; count to five; hum again. Take a deep breath.Now, repeat 8216;the round8217;. Take a deep breath and giveyourself a moment to reflect on how you feel.

Testing your changes Before you start tappingaway at a problem, rate its intensity on a scale of 10. EFTtheorists call this the SUDS Scale subjective units ofdisturbance. And then repeat the rating after theexercise, to assess how well the treatment hasworked and if you need to repeat it.

Now, let8217;s be reasonable. You may not startloving your boss at the end of the first ses-sion,but you could be on your way.