Betty's EFT and Hypnotherapy Store

Excerpts from...
"Tapping Your Amazing Potential with EFT -- Creative Ideas and Teaching Tools using Emotional Freedom Techniques and Concepts from Hypnotherapy"

By Betty Moore-Hafter

Chapter 13: EFT and Personal Inner Imagery

Imagery is a powerful vehicle for transformation. When we shift from talking about an issue - analyzing it and figuring it out - and instead create an image for it, we have shifted from left brain to right brain, from the cognitive level to the intuitive level. Imagery is the language of the subconscious, and it is through the image that the subconscious can both express itself and accomplish the process of change.

The Different Sensory Channels for Personal Imagery

It is important to keep in mind that all imagery is not visual. The subconscious holds imagery from all our senses. We can imagine the crunch of a crisp apple, the sound of the ocean waves, and the feel of velvet on our skin. We can also imagine feeling states. Imagine, for example, how it feels to be confident and optimism vs. how it feels to be down, hopeless and depressed. Consider the question, "What would your body posture be for each of those states?" Most people would imagine themselves as standing tall, head held high with the feeling of confidence vs. shoulders slumped and head down with the feeling of depression.

Each person experiences her or his inner imagery in the way that comes naturally, and a person generally favors one of the three sensory channels, although most of us experience differing levels of all three. Those who are primarily visual easily see pictures in their minds - in the above example, they would see themselves standing tall with confidence or slumped in depression. Those who are primarily kinesthetic feel it in the body - they would feel themselves in the body postures described. And those who are auditory are more tuned into words and language - they might not see or feel so clearly, but they could tell the story and describe in words their confident state vs. their depressed state. It helps to remember all these channels, rather than asking for visualization alone.

Tapping For Personal Imagery

EFT breaks up stuck patterns of energy with regard to any issue that we are working on. As EFT releases the imbalance and allows the energy to move and come into balance, inner images change. A very effective session is one in which we start with an image for the problem, tap for the image, and continue talking and tapping as the image evolves. If a recliner is available, the client may wish to lie back and relax to more easily stay with the images and the guide may wish to do the tapping for the client. The same work can be done face-to-face, just closing the eyes after each round to get in touch with the image.

Here are some questions to get started:

• If there were an image for this feeling, what would it be?
• If you could create an imaginary scene that really illustrates how you feel, what would that be? (You can "get the ball rolling" with examples: For an issue of being stuck, you can ask, "Is it like being in quicksand… or in chains… or in a prison cell… or something else?" You can ask, "Does the feeling have color? Texture? Shape?")
• What's it like? What does it feel like to you? How would you describe it?

A Personal Imagery Story - Sara's "Fight for What is Mine"

"Sara" had completed all the credits for a certain certification, but things were being held up because of an administrative dispute and red tape. She had spent hours documenting her credentials and was still being denied what was rightfully hers. This pushed her buttons because, as she said, "I had things that were mine taken away from me as a child." We had done a lot of EFT to bring healing to the inner child, then we moved into working with some imagery.

The Inner Place of Pain - Two Examples of EFT with Inner Imagery

Sometimes the deep well of pain within seems too terrifying to approach. We form defenses to avoid getting close to this pain, which seems unbearable, as if we would be annihilated if we felt it. And perhaps we would have been as children, it was indeed too much to bear. In these two examples, the basic idea from the Tearless Trauma Technique (see www.emofree.com, under the Articles and Ideas section) is used to facilitate healing without further trauma. This basic idea is that we do not have to go into the trauma in order to bring healing to it. Instead, we tap around the edges of it - we tap for the expectation of how intense it would be if we did feel it - and the intensity subsides. In both cases, the clients had done extensive therapy and did not wish to talk further about their childhoods. In each, a relaxation induction facilitated a state of inner focus.

"David and the Black Void"

While going within to find the source of his anxiety, "David" suddenly tensed in fear. "I can't do it. I don't want to go there." I asked him to find an image for the fear. "A huge black void inside. A black pit. It's terrifying."

Even though this black void is terrifying… I don't want to go there… I deeply accept myself.
Even though I can't even get close to the black pit inside … it's too frightening…etc.

After a number of rounds of tapping, the fear was greatly reduced. David said, "I think I can go closer now. Oh no - there's someone lost in there. Oh no - it's me - a little boy lost in that awful blackness." He was in tears. He recognized the lonely child he had been. We did more EFT.

Even though my child is lost in the void, so lonely, so afraid, I've found him now…
Even though he has been lost there, I've found him and I can rescue him now.

"Now he's in my arms. We're leaving that horrible place forever." David imagined a beautiful, safe place in nature, an inner haven where he could hold the child and reassure him. He felt great relief and the fear had subsided. Weeks after the session, he still felt the benefits. He was not only calmer but felt empowered - "I'm not imprisoned by that fear anymore."

"Claire and the Vessel of Pain"

During a session to deal with a weight issue, "Claire" began to feel intense fear and dread. "There's too much sadness inside. I can't go there." We tapped for several rounds as follows:

Even though there's too much sadness inside and I can't go there, I deeply accept myself…

Her fear was greatly reduced. I asked what the sadness was like. She said, "It's a large vessel. My sadness is stored in there, and a sentry stands guard. I can't let it out. There's too much of it."

Even though this vessel holds all my sadness… I accept myself completely… and even though there's too much sadness and I can't let it out… I deeply and completely accept myself… and even though this sentry guards it because it's too much, too much to deal with, too much to feel, too much to let out, it's ok to just be with it… to be with this vessel of pain inside… I'm still safe.

Claire's perception continued to change as we tapped a number of rounds. The sadness began to seem less intense, less overwhelming. Finally she said, "The vessel is beautiful. What I dreaded so much actually has a beautiful aspect." She then saw both light and shadow and had a profound sense of the duality of life, how it all fits in some way. She later reported that the work with that sadness, through the vessel image with the support of EFT, was profoundly healing for her. And in the six months after the session, she lost 10 lbs without a struggle. Sometimes when we let go of the emotional weight, the physical weight loss follows.