The Work of Self-Enquiry, Self-Help & Self-Healing
E.F.T. Emotional Freedom Technique
[www.tapping.com/videos/introduction-to-tapping.html – For free E.F.T teach yourself videos; Brad Yates on U tube; E-Book tap Yourself Free]
Tapping is a technique that can help to free a person from persistent or inappropriate negative emotions that are not wanted. It is a simple technique that is easy to learn. It can be done at any time when the person is alone, or with the support of another non-judgemental person who is more experienced in the technique.
The following is a brief introduction to the basic elements of this technique.
a. Use the flat little finger side of either the left or the right hand.
b. Establish the main aspect of your issue and create a simple statement. Use this statement in at least the first three tapping procedures then expand the statement with associated aspects that you are not feeling comfortable with.
Even though [ E.g. I am feeling very angry about………………] I still totally and completely love and accept myself.
c. Tap with the fingertips on to the body (either one side or both sides of the body in each of the following places. The specified order is not essential it is more important that one gains a feeling of flow rather than ‘stop and start’ due to worry about performing the correct sequence of procedure. )
Recommended parts of the body to tap are:- Top of the head
Inside corner of the eyes
Temple side of eye
Under eye
Under nose
Under mouth
Under the neck on the collar bone
About four inches under the arm pit onto the
rib cage
Keep tapping out phrases related to the main issue until one feels relaxed with a warm calm feeling inside. This may take some time or indeed more than one session. This holistic multisensory therapeutic activity is remarkably effective in all manner of situations. It can also be very helpful to children over the age of nine when they are supported through the technique by a caring, patient and non-judgemental adult or encouraged to learn how to do it for themselves.
The Metamorphic Technique
The Metamorphic Technique is a simple tool that enables us to move from feelings of limitation towards accessing more of our potential…it helps us to help ourselves. It is easy to learn and is accessible to everyone.
During the gestation period, the nine months between conception and birth, physical, mental, emotional and behavioural structures are all established. Our life following birth is rooted in and influenced by this prenatal period, our life before birth. It is this structure of time that has to be loosened….. Life is the power that heals; the use of that power towards self healing powers…..Man now needs a catalyst to connect and to awaken this quality. (The Metamorphic TechniquePrinciples and Practiceby Gaston Saint-Pierre and Debbie Shapiro; London , Vega 2003:3)
‘sometimes there are very definite changes one can see or feel, as with the four year old girl who walked for the first time in her life after only a few sessions, but often the changes are intangible, the energy is moving on so subtle a level that we are almost unaware of it. It is like trying to watch a plant grow – we know it is growing but we cannot actually see it happening.’
“I feel a dropping away of old patterns. When confronted with familiar situations, I find I am just about to respond in my normal manner when something stops me…….. then I find I am responding in a different way; a new pattern is emerging.” (The Metamorphic Technique page 66)
[www.metamorphicassociation.org.uk]
Theta Healing
ViannaStibal in her book Theta Healing describes how she discovered a way of engaging in a very deep relaxation that taps into Theta brain waves which can access an extraordinary healing energy that can cure any condition instantly.
‘ViannaStibal provides an in-depth guide to dissolving your limitations and being truly connected to your divine self. Through advanced belief, feeling and digging work, learning how to heal from the Seventh Plane of Existence we are given essential tools for our spiritual evolution …….. .This will allow you to utilize more energy, to achieve faster healing, to advance the human species and to connect to the highest level of love and energy of All That Is.’
‘To love is to be Happy With’by Barry Neil Kaufman co-founder with his wife, Samahria, of the Option Institute and author of ‘SON RISE’ the story of their son’s recovery from autism. The book ‘Giant Steps’ gives real accounts of how people have made personal breakthroughs with the help of the Option Dialogue Process taught and used as an everyday living and learning tool at the Option Institute. Barry (Bears) and Samahria are the founders and directors of The Option Institute International Training Centre Sheffield Massachusetts USA. This inspiring couple Live Their Dream – Love Never gets Old, Plant Seeds of Love Everywhere. Their work at the Option Institute helps people live happier, more self-empowered and more successful lives. Examples of their residential courses:- ‘Radical Authenticity’; ‘Do you ever lie to protect yourself and others?’; ‘Is Fear Stopping You from getting what you want?’; ‘Making Love Last’ – Successful Relationship Secrets; ‘Who’s Life Is It Anyway’; ‘Start Living your Dream’; ‘To Love Is To Be Happy With’and finally the optimum and most profound illustration of the healing power of LOVE – ‘The Son-Rise Programme’, renowned for its success in teaching families to work with their children challenged by Autism and other Special Needs.
‘Loving What Is’.by Byron Katie describes Four Questions ‘That Can Change Your Life’
“Perhaps the most important revelation is precisely this: that the left cerebral hemisphere of humans is prone to fabricating verbal narratives that do not necessarily accord with the truth” (Cited in the Introduction of Loving What Is by Byron Katie.
First identify the issue of disturbance….What is the issue that angers, saddens, scares, or disappoints you? Describe clearly and simply what fuels the issue of discomfort then ask the
Personal Dialogue
A simple structure that can help a person on their own or with a non-judgemental facilitator to explore an issue of disturbance and/or discomfort.
• Describe what you are unhappy about and give an example of when you had this experience and how you felt at the time.
• Question why you are unhappy about the experience and if you don’t know make a guess at why this has upset you.
• Describe what you believe or fear might happen if you were not unhappy about this issue and experience.
• Question if you really believe that your fears are supporting highest good for yourself and your relationship with others.
A Positive Attitude and (Unwavering) Positive Beliefs
Much has been written to encourage our faith in our own potential for self-healing through the power of thought and our ability to create positive beliefs that can override adverse negative beliefs that are attributed to uncomfortable experiences that separate us from our natural ability to give and receive love.
‘Affirmations for Healing’Regaining our ability to give and receive love
Louise Hay is the author of the book ‘You Can Heal Your Life’ which describes how she discovered the art of self-healing. She avoided invasive allopathic treatment and operations and healed herself of a life threatening illness within less than two months. In her book ‘Heal Your Body’Louise Hay describes the mental causes for different physical illnesses and then she presents positive affirmations that work in a metaphysical way to overcome these conditions.
Positive Affirmations
Use a positive affirmation with the movements described above on page 63 for ‘the Spiritual Spring Cleaning’ while repeating your chosen affirmation word for word three times.
I request that in accordance with highest good and by the power of Divine Love……….
…(Say positive affirmation)………….So Be It within every aspect of my being now and always. ‘So Be It’ and finish with ‘It Is Done’ or Amen or the Maha Mantra.
1. I now take up my life path according to Highest Good
2. I am completely free of all past disturbance
3. I am strong and fulfilled
4. I am at peace with every aspect of myself
5. I have compassion and courage
6. I am positive about life’s adventures
7. I am gentle and good to myself
8. I am taking responsibility for my life
9. I am confident I can look after myself
10. I am my own best expert
11. I am calm and assertive
12. I learn from all my experiences
13. I am here now enjoying each moment
14. I am here now
15. I move forward in confidence
16. I have faith in life
17. I can trust my intuition
18. I have confidence in my future experiences
19. I have confidence in my future
20. I welcome my future happiness
21. I have all the time I need
22. I can do anything
23. I am strong and energetic
24. I am strong and healthy
25. I love my life
26. I release myself from all guilt and shame
27. Highest good is always right for me
28. I let go of all feelings of guilt and shame and inferiority
29. I radiate peace and light
30. I can be successful in all situations
31. I think clearly
32. I happily accept change
33. I accept change with ease and comfort
34. I am calm and relaxed, all is well in my life
35. I see the best in others
36. I am completely free from unwanted/unhelpful past programmes
37. The more I love myself the more I can love others
38. I am successfully cultivating a positive outlook in all situations
39. I enjoy doing what is in accordance with highest good
40. I enjoy doing what is right for me
41. Every day I am getting healthier/fitter/stronger
42. I am safe and secure
43. I am willing to receive the very best in life
44. I experience everything as a wonderful opportunity
45. I am able to express myself easily
46. I am able to express myself with authenticity
47. I am choosing happiness
48. My body is beautiful
49. Everyday holds wonderful new opportunities
50. I feel safe with my growing maturity
51. I am completely free from limiting thoughts
52. I am completely free from limiting habits
53. I love myself and my creator
54. I enjoy being me, I am my own master
55. I feel awake and fresh
56. Calmness flows throughout my body
57. Love, acceptance and forgiveness create healing experiences
58. I am secure in my own happiness
59. I am a unique individual and I have many gifts
60. I am happy to embrace new opportunities
61. I am learning from all my experiences
62. I am happy to share with others
63. I have the perfect living space
64. Each day brings wonderful new experiences
65. I let others take responsibility for themselves
66. I am free from childhood fears, I am safe
67. I can express myself with ease
68. I choose to always think positive thoughts
69. I feel good about my future
70. I am grateful for all the love in my life
71. At this moment enormous wealth and power are available to me, I choose to accept it
72. I release all fears and let potential stress melt away
Using the Angel Cards
The Angel Cards provide an excellent source of spontaneous guidance that can encourage positive thoughts. An activity the author has devised using the Angel cards is as follows.
• Spread the angel cards face down in an arch on a suitable flat surface.
• Collect three cards and place them as shown below:
Turn over the cards in their respective order – taking plenty of time to consider each card separately before going on to the next card.
• Using the three words on the cards create a positive affirmation that brings the three words into a meaningful phrase or sentence that feels helpful.
For Example if the first word was TRUST and the second was PEACE and the third word was LOVE. I might create the affirmation :-
| When I have Peace-full feelings in my heart I can TRUST my ability to share LOVE-ing thoughts and actions with those around me |
Transforming Negative Feelings into Positive Affirmations
Negative feelings are simply a sign of discomfort and emotional fears. Once the negative feeling is acknowledged a clearing, harmonising and healing process can be initiated. The following list of disruptive feelings offers an extensive range of words that may be useful and inspire readers to accurately describe their feelings in their own words.
Again it may be helpful to choose either one or three negative words (as shown above). These words can then be paired with a positive opposite feeling.
For example:-
The positive opposite feelings could be described as:-
Our ability to think of opposite positive descriptions for negative feeling words can be a clear illustration of what negative emotions are still likely to trouble us in the future. This language based activity can initiate an awareness of how our own inner negative emotions are influencing our everyday situations. Similarly, when we are disturbed by another person’s negative emotional state we can be sure that the level of our own disturbance is a reflection of how similar emotions are present within ourselves. Thus like associates with like and this can add to everyone’s emotional insecurities until someone brings in a positive disposition that can have a neutralizing affect which is felt as a healing experience.
The range of different feelings identified within our language is very extensive and often relates to uncomfortable feelings related to emotionally challenging circumstances.
Expressing Our Emotions
| Abandoned Anger Aggressive Arrogant Apprehensive Awful Argumentative Ashamed Anxious Aggravated Boredom Bitter Blind Broken-hearted Burdened Betrayed Concerned Confused Criticized Claustrophobic Difficult Disorganized Defensive Distressed Depressed Doubt Dirty Deceived Disappointment Disloyal Discontent Drained Discouraged Disgusted Egotistical Embarrassed Exasperated |
Envy Empty Failure Fear Forced Forlorn Forsaken Futile Frigid Frustration Grief Guilt Hate Haughty Helpless Hopeless Humiliation Hurt Hurried Impatient Insecure Incapable Impossible Injustice Irritated Intolerant Inadequate Irresponsible Imposed upon Indecisive Jealous Longing Lonely Left-out Lies Lost Let-down |
Misunderstood Mean Miserable Nauseated Neglected Nervous Obligated Oppressed Overwhelmed Paranoid Punished Powerless Pain Pity Pressured Provoked Panic Rejection Restless Restriction Repulsive Resentful Responsibility Selfish Shameful Shattered Sour Sorrow Stubborn Stuck-up Suppressed Shock Smug Stifled Spiteful Sad Shy |
Stupid Scared Sceptical Terror Torment Teased Troubled Too much responsibility Thoughtless Trauma Unaccepted Undesirable Unneeded Unfriendly Uneasy Unfulfilled Unpleasant Unhappy Unhelpful Unsuccessful Unwanted Used Unworthy Unloved Unreliable Useless Unsociable Unconcerned Upset Unwanted Vindictive Vulnerable Wasted Worthless Weary Wounded Wrong Wretched |
The above is a list of some words that we use to describe our emotional feelings. This list can be used and expanded as a resource that can help us to assess our own inner state of being with the following creative activities.
1. Read each word aloud and say or write a positive opposite feeling. When the positive is easy to find it indicates a positive inner state of being. If it is difficult to find a way to express in one’s own words a positive alternative then this may indicate a lack of personal stability or security within this particular area of emotional response.
2. Place the words on cards and place the cards in random order face down on a flat surface. Without looking at the words draw a doodle, a picture or a design on the clear side of one or more of the cards. When the drawing activity has been completed, turn the card over and consider how the drawing relates to the negative emotional word. If the drawing relates to disturbed feelings and emotional aspects described by the word then you can choose to explore what you might draw that represents the required healing process. When the drawing of the healing process has been completed, remove the card from the rest of the word cards and fold it up in the positive healing picture and place a card with the opposite positive feeling word back into the original pack of feeling words.
3. Using the emotional feeling word list sort the words in three groups under the three headings: ISOLATION EXCLUSION SEPARATION
When the lists have been completed choose three key words from each list and create a positive affirmation for each of the three headings. For example if the three chosen words for EXCLUSION are Defensive, Broken-Hearted, Jealous. Each of these words is then associated with a positive opposite word or phrase, e.g. Accepting, Inner Joy, Willing to Share. Finally these positive feeling words are then used to create an affirmation that can help to heal emotions associated with feelings of EXCLUSION. E.g. Myinner joy gives me the ability to accept that it is safe to share with others.
4. Find positive words/affirmations for the emotional words listed above; then choose some of these and make your own pack of angel cards. On each angel card write the positive word and draw an accompanying picture on one side and leave the other side blank so that these cards can also be used for activities such as those described above.