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Ok, so it’s that holiday time of year again. You’re feeling all excited because you’re off to a fantastic destination and you can’t wait to be free from your usual responsibilities. But wait, there’s a bit of a niggle going on. In fact, it’s more than a niggle. It’s a feeling of absolute dread…having that realisation that I have to fly…oh my!
Well wait there just a minute… You don’t have to feel the fear anyway. You don’t have to feel that dread, grin and bear it, take Valium, grit your chattering teeth, get drunk or any other manner of ways you normally deal with it. There is a simple way to clear your fear of flying. It’s EFT…Emotional Freedom Techniques or tapping as it is commonly called.
Now there could be many different things that cause your fear. These are the different aspects of your fear. Like different parts of a jigsaw puzzle as it were. Here are some of the common ones:
- Being in a confined space
- Noise of the engines
- Feeling out of control
- Vibration of the engines
- Feeling trapped
- Heights
- Turbulence
- Taking off
- Landing
- Fear of crashing
- Not being able to see ahead
- Not being able to see the ground
- Fear of dying
Now that list is not exhaustive. So think about what it is that does it for you. If you start feeling a knot in your stomach, a tightness in your chest or throat or your palms starting sweating just thinking about it…tap right away, right now, go on, you’ll feel better I promise you.
Fear of flying
Here is a generic tapping script that you can tap along to. Rate your score first on a scale of 0 – 10 where 10 is maximum intensity (fear).
- Even though I’m so scared of flying, I hate feeling out of control, I accept myself anyway
- Even though I’m so scared of flying, my palms sweat, I get a tight chest and I feel frozen with terror, I’m ok
- Even though I have this fear of flying, I’m open to letting this go now
Eyebrow: I’m so terrified of flying
Side of Eye: My palms sweat just thinking about it
Under Eye: I love to go on holiday, I just hate getting there
Under Nose: I’m so scared of flying
Chin: I feel so out of control
Collarbone: My chest gets tight as soon as I get to the airport
Under Arm: My palms sweat the whole flight
Top of Head: Flying terrifies me
Eyebrow: I feel frozen with terror the whole flight
Side of Eye: This fear really puts me off going on holiday
Under Eye: I hate having this fear
Under Nose: I wish I didn’t have to fly
Chin: But flying is so quick and convenient
Collarbone: I hate feeling out of control
Under Arm: I’m really terrified of flying
Top of Head: I feel so terrified my palms sweat and my chest gets tight
Eyebrow: I’m open to changing this feeling today
Side of Eye: Maybe I can let this fear go now
Under Eye: What if I could feel calm
Under Nose: Letting it be safe for me to let this fear go
Chin: Maybe I can feel calm and safe
Collarbone: I’m open to feeling differently
Under Arm: Letting it be safe, easy and comfortable for me to fly
Top of Head: Maybe I can relax and feel calm
I hope the script helped. Remember to work on all the bits of your jigsaw puzzle to fully clear your fear for ever. There may also be specific memories for you to work on. If there are then use the movie technique for each mental movie that has contributed to your fear. See my previous post for details how.
Keep on tapping
Louise
louise@freeflowingenergy.co.uk
07866 013 637
With any problem we always try to get to the underlying core issue. There are a number of ways of getting there of course through questioning, deep listening and observing our client’s reactions e.g. strain in the voice, change of breathing, flushing of skin and the most obvious – a release of tears.
One of the core issues that often comes up is feeling worthless. You can address this by working on specific memories that made you feel worthless. You will probably need to address the events, situations and people who made you feel worthless too. For this I recommend the movie technique (see previous blog post). I also recommend working with an experienced Emotional Freedom Techniques practitioner on core issues.
Below is a generic tapping script for feeling worthless. Rate your score on a scale of 0 – 10 (10 is maximum intensity) before tapping.
- Even though I feel really worthless, I’m open to accepting myself anyway
- Even though I feel so worthless, nothing I do is ever right, I’m ok
- Even though I feel worthless, I don’t count, I never have, I accept all of my feelings anyway
Eyebrow: I feel really worthless
Side of Eye: I’m worthless
Under Eye: Nothing I ever do is right and it makes me feel I’m worthless
Under Nose: I can’t do anything right
Chin: I feel so worthless
Collarbone: I always get things wrong
Under Arm: Nothing I do or say is worth anything
Top of Head: I was always told I’m worthless so I must be
Eyebrow: I’m so worthless
Side of Eye: I never contribute anything worthwhile
Under Eye: I feel so worthless
Under Nose: No-one values me
Chin: I feel so worthless
Collarbone: I don’t value myself
Under Arm: I’m really worthless
Top of Head: I’ve felt worthless all of my life
Eyebrow: I’m open to changing this feeling today
Side of Eye: Maybe I can value myself
Under Eye: What if I am worth something
Under Nose: Letting it be safe for me to change this feeling
Chin: Maybe I can contribute value
Collarbone: I’m open to learning to value myself
Under Arm: Letting it be safe, easy and comfortable to value myself
Top of Head: Maybe I am worth something
Remember to keep tapping until this feeling of worthlessness has come down to 0. Use the movie technique to work on specific memories, situations and feelings that led to you feeling worthless. With core issues like this it is always best to work with an experienced EFT practitioner.
Keep on tapping
Louise
louise@freeflowingenergy.co.uk
07866 013 637
Ok so you’ve booked your summer holiday. Got your bags packed, your tickets and passport at the ready. You get to the airport in plenty of time and that’s where it all starts to go wrong! Your flight has been delayed and you begin to feel the stress kick in.
Departures
Several years ago this exact thing happened to me. I must admit that I completely freaked out and didn’t handle it at all well! Our flight was delayed which meant we missed our connecting flight. We then had to fly a different route with an extra stop over. I was really stressed by this stage and didn’t handle all the extra security at Miami airport at all well. By the time we reached our destination, we were 12 hours late and our luggage was missing. We had 2 hours sleep before starting our tour and I was in a right mood! My boyfriend managed to calm me down (God bless him!). We were without our luggage for 3 days and it took me until the end of the holiday to see the funny side. It would’ve been a whole lot easier if I had had EFT to calm myself down. Well thankfully now I do! My boyfriend is very grateful too!!!
You can stay calm and enjoy your holiday even though it doesn’t go exactly as you planned it would. You just need to do a bit of tapping.
Tap on each individual thing that could go wrong with your holiday. Starting with the one that would stress you or upset you the most.
Examples include:
- Stressing whilst packing
- Getting lost on the way to the airport
- Arriving late at the airport
- Flight being delayed or cancelled
- Missing your connection
- Lost luggage
- Missing the bus to the resort
- The hotel not being what you expected
- Getting food poisoning
Use a different setup statement and reminder phrase for each of these different aspects and keep tapping until you have covered them all.
Here is a tapping script that covers the flight being delayed, your luggage going missing and the hotel being sub-standard. These are some of the most common things that can go wrong and stress you out before your holiday has really begun.
Setup:
Tap on the Karate Chop whilst repeating three times:
- Even though I really want the whole holiday to go smoothly and it will stress me out if anything goes wrong, I’m open to the possibility that I can remain calm no matter what happens
- Even though I want this holiday to be perfect, I’ve been waiting all year for it and I just can’t handle anything going wrong, I accept myself and my feelings anyway
- Even though I want the holiday to go smoothly and that there are no flight delays, lost luggage or sub-standard accommodation, I’m open to dealing with any mishaps calmly and rationally
Eyebrow: I want this holiday to be perfect
Side of Eye: I’ve waited the whole year for this holiday
Under Eye: It’s so important that I be able to relax on this holiday
Under Nose: If anything goes wrong it will spoil it all
Chin: I hope the flight is on time
Collarbone: It will stress me out if it is delayed
Under Arm: It has to go perfectly otherwise I can’t switch off
Top of Head: If my luggage goes missing, I’ll feel so anxious I won’t enjoy my holiday
Eyebrow: I just can’t cope if the accommodation isn’t what I expected
Side of Eye: If my bags get lost I’ll stress right out
Under Eye: I want this holiday to go smoothly otherwise it’ll be ruined
Under Nose: I hate it when something goes wrong
Chin: If the hotel isn’t up to my standards, I’ll want to go home
Collarbone: It’s so frustrating if the flight is delayed
Under Arm: If the holiday doesn’t start perfectly I’ll feel stressed and I won’t enjoy myself
Top of Head: I get so upset if the flight is delayed
Eyebrow: I’m open to remaining calm no matter what
Side of Eye: What if I could just relax if the flight was delayed
Under Eye: Maybe I can enjoy my holiday if my luggage goes missing
Under Nose: Maybe the flight being delayed just won’t affect me
Chin: What if I could remain calm even if my luggage went missing
Collarbone: Maybe I can cope if the hotel isn’t up to my standards
Under Arm: What if I can relax and enjoy this holiday even if it isn’t perfect
Top of Head: I’m sure I can focus on having a good time anyway
Use your words where appropriate to really tune in to how you feel. Remember to keep tapping until the issue has fully resolved.
Beautiful beach
Now please, enjoy your stress free holiday!
Keep on tapping.
Louise
louise@freeflowingenergy.co.uk
07866 013 637
How often do you end up focussed on the negative stuff in your life?
Do you wish you had an easy way to focus on the positives instead?
You can easily use positive situations, events, memories etc to create a positive repository for those days when it seems everything is going wrong or the whole world is against you.
We have so many fleeting positive experiences and we just don’t acknowledge them or relish them, so they are lost.
This technique draws heavily on resource states from NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). Dr Patricia Carrington (EFT Master) utilised NLP resource states and added tapping to create a very powerful technique.
I love using this technique – it is very easy and quick to do. It is wonderful to have a positive memory bank to tap into whenever you feel you need a bit more positivity in your life.
Here’s what to do:
Think of a positive situation, event, memory etc. It could be eating lunch with your best friend, the time you won a 10k race, feeling a summer breeze whilst sat by a river. Now as you think of that positive memory, turn up the colours, make the pictures brighter, enhance the sounds and really feel those good feelings as if it were happening right now.
Now come up with a statement that sums up your experience, e.g. winning my 1st 10k race, gentle summer breeze caressing my face etc. Now use EFT to tap that experience in. Tap through the points starting at the eyebrow:
Eyebrow: Winning my 1st 10k race
Side of eye: Winning my 1st 10k race
Under eye: Winning my 1st 10k race
Repeat until you finish at the top of your head.
This is now a powerful resource state you can use in the future. Any time you want to re-experience this lovely memory, just tap on the points starting at the eyebrow and repeat your statement, e.g. winning my 1st 10k race, finishing at the top of your head.
It can be really helpful to enhance this process even more by writing down your resource statements in a journal or on flash cards and carrying them with you. Any time you feel you need a boost, get out your journal/cards and tap in those wonderful positive experiences!
I hope you enjoy using Emotional Freedom Techniques in this way – I certainly do!
Keep tapping.
Louise
louise@freeflowingenergy.co.uk
07866 013 637
The movie technique is a fantastic EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) tool. It is used to reduce the emotional pain felt by working on certain issues. There was a tendency in the past for people to push through the pain and to be “brave”. With this technique there is no need for that. It is very gentle.
Movie Technique
The movie technique is also perfect if you find your tapping statements to be too global. By creating the movie – you automatically get down to the details. This technique is a very gentle way of working with EFT on difficult issues.
So how do you go about this movie technique? We start with the question:
If it was a movie, how long would it last?
Now, the answer should be minutes not hours or days – if it is the latter then this is still too global and you should break up the movie into smaller ones and work on them in turn.
Next we ask:
What the title of the movie would be?
This should be something specific again e.g. “when I crashed my car at the roundabout” or “the fight I had with my sister at Christmas”.
Next run through the movie in your mind and state the intensity you feel NOW as you imagine it on a scale of 0 – 10. If you feel that doing that will upset you then you can GUESS the intensity level instead. Remember we want this a pain-free as possible! Write this number down – this is your starting intensity level.
Ok, now start it’s time to start tapping! Tap using the statement:
-
Even though I have “this___________ movie”, I deeply and completely accept myself anyway
Example:
-
Even though I have “this fight with my sister at Christmas movie”, I deeply and completely accept myself anyway
Repeat 3 times and tap through the points using “this___________ movie”
Repeat several times until your intensity has come down to low numbers or zero.
Now start playing the movie from the beginning until the end. Stop immediately if you feel any intensity. This is very important.
Use EFT on the bit of the movie that caused your intensity being as specific as possible. When you feel that part is down to zero then continue playing the movie and stop again if you feel any intensity. Keep repeating this process until you reach the end of the movie. It doesn’t matter how many times you have to stop – you want this to be as painless as possible and doing it this way ensures that.
Ok, so now play through the movie again and try to exaggerate the pictures, sounds, colours, turn up the feelings etc and try to get upset about it. If you feel some more intensity then repeat the steps above until you can play the entire movie and there is no emotional charge.
This technique has the added benefit that you don’t need to reveal to a practitioner or someone you are working with the content of your movie.
I hope that you find this technique as useful as I have. I’d love to hear how the movie technique has helped you. Get in touch.
Keep tapping!
Louise
louise@freeflowingenergy.co.uk
07866 013637
A really powerful way of working with EFT is to use the Choice Method. This method was developed by Dr Patricia Carrington, a clinical psychologist. This method is great to do when your intensity level has dropped to 3 or below (that way most of the negative has already been dealt with).
Firstly choose a statement that you would like to believe that is related to the problem that you are working on. For example, if you were working on your fear of public speaking then you could choose to feel calm and confident. So the set up statement could be:
- Even though I’m nervous about speaking in front of people I choose to remain surprisingly calm and confident (repeat 3 times)
Then during the tapping phase you can either tap on each point repeating the problem (negative) e.g. nervous speaking in front of people, or repeat the choice statement (positive) e.g. I choose to remain surprisingly calm and confident.
You can also do the Choices Trio:
- Round 1 – repeat the negative reminder phrase on each point (e.g. nervous speaking in front of people)
- Round 2 – repeat the positive reminder phrase on each point (e.g. I choose to remain surprisingly calm and confident)
- Round 3 – alternate. Repeat the negative first starting at the eyebrow (EB), then repeat the positive starting at the side of the eye (SE) and keep swapping negative, positive until you end on the crown of the head with a positive.
When creating your positive statements always ensure the following:
1. Be specific in what you want
2. Create pulling choices e.g. I choose to surprise myself by …… or I choose to find it surprisingly easy to believe in myself
3. Go for the best possible outcome
4. Always state your choice in the positive (i.e. don’t use I choose to not get upset)
5. Do not choose for others – this is about you! It’s an expression of your free will. e.g. I choose to feel appreciated by my boss rather than I choose for my boss to appreciate me
6. Make choices that are easily pronounced (and preferably not too long)
If you find yourself saying “ah yes but….” to a choice you have made then use EFT to tap on these negatives or deal with the “yes but” in the choice.
Choices are a powerful way of working with EFT, I hope you enjoy using them as much as I do.
Keep tapping!
Louise Woods
louise@freeflowingenergy.co.uk
07866 013 637
Here are 3 ways to Enhance Your Sports Performance:
- Release the negatives
- Tap in the positives
- Aid your recovery
1. Release the Negatives
We all know that what we think about our performance, affects our performance. So you’ve got to get into your thinking and discover what it is that you are thinking before your event.
Do you visualise yourself winning or succeeding?
If not – then why not? What are you visualising instead?
Do you picture yourself failing? Do you think I didn’t do too well last time? Do you dwell on your mistakes or failures? If so, you are setting yourself up for more of the same!
I’d like to show you a way of using EFT or Emotional Freedom Techniques to really empower yourself for winning and success.
Firstly, address your negative thoughts, self doubts, mistakes etc. Now this stage could take some time – so don’t rush it. Try writing down all of the things you think, feel and picture and work on them one by one. Here are some examples to get you started.
- Even though I always focus on what I did wrong during my last race, I’m open to accepting myself anyway
- Even though that last game I played, I didn’t do my best, I accept myself anyway
- Even though I keep playing over that last race in my mind and everything I did wrong, I’m open to releasing this and focussing on what I did right
Ok, I hope you get the idea. Tap on all the negatives until you have cleared them all. It really is a good idea to write a list down and work your way through it to ensure you get everything.
2. Tap in the Positives
Now, focus on creating a positive visualisation of you in the future. Visualise your race, event, game etc going the best it possibly could. Turn up the colours and make them bright and vivid. Increase the sounds around you if they are important (e.g. cheering from the audience). Turn up the feelings in your body. Make them intense so you really feel good.
Now come up with a summary of your positive visualisation e.g. My perfect race, my game going just as I planned etc. You can now use EFT to tap in the positive visualisation. Repeat the tapping starting at the eyebrow and finishing on top of your head:
Eyebrow: My perfect race
Side of Eye: My perfect race
Under Eye: My perfect race
Etc
My Perfect Race
Use this visualisation and tapping routine often!
3. Aid Your Recovery
If you have an injury then you can use Emotional Freedom Techniques to help your body recover. If there are any negative emotions associated with your injury then work on those. You can also work on your physical injury using EFT being as specific as possible. So if you have strained your gluteal muscle then tap on that. E.g.
- Even though I have strained this gluteal muscle and it’s causing me pain, I accept myself anyway
- Even though I have this strained gluteal muscle, I deeply and completely accept myself anyway
- Even though this right gluteal muscle is hurting like hell, I accept myself anyway
You can also address any frustrations that you have about your injury. E.g.
- Even though this strained gluteal muscle is frustrating me because I can’t train and I really want to get back to my program, I accept all of me anyway
- Even though this gluteal muscle is taking way to long to heal, I accept my body is trying it’s best
Keep on tapping until you have fully recovered. Please be sensible and allow yourself to recover from your injuries rather than trying to use EFT to dull the pain and doing it anyway.
Enjoy your enhanced sports performance!
Happy tapping!
Louise
Many people ask this when they are new to EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques). The answer is no. There are many ways of doing EFT and it really is a very flexible technique. The best answer is – experiment with what works best for YOU!
You can try speaking normally. If you are in public (e.g. feeling stressed at your desk at work) you can tap quietly whilst repeating your setup phrase and reminder phrases just in your mind. You can even just tap on your Karate chop point or your fingertips under your desk if you don’t want anyone to see you tapping!
If you are at home and you are not getting results you can try shouting out your setup & reminder phrases and really putting some emphasis into them.
You can whisper them and even hum them! EFT really is that flexible. What you want to do is figure out which method works best for you. Or use the method that is appropriate to where you are. So you could do the silent method at work and speak normally at home.
I use a combination of methods myself, depending on the situation.
Have fun with trying out these different methods. If you’d like some help with EFT, please email me for a free initial consultation.
Happy tapping.
Lou
