Autumn Cleanse: 2. How to eliminate toxic emotions with EFT
In the last blog we looked at how we eliminate toxic emotions unconsciously through practising Mindfulness. While we don’t generally choose to work on a specific emotion if an emotion does happen to arise during your Mindfulness practice you can then work on it consciously. I will be covering how to work with emotions as they arise on the Autumn Cleanse holistic detox weekend.
With EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) or ‘tapping’ you consciously choose the emotion you want to work on. (If you’re new to EFT check out the link at the end of the blog which will take you to my website for more information on EFT and how to start tapping.) Once you’ve chosen the emotion you can approach it in one of two ways: top down or bottom up. You can either focus on the emotion itself (top down) or you can choose to work on specific events in your life that caused you to experience that emotion (bottom up).
Bottom Up – Specific Events
Being as specific as possible is very much encouraged in EFT because it produces such quick and visible results, which of course encourages you to continue tapping!
For example if you chose to work with anger – start by making a list of all the experiences you can remember that caused you to feel angry. Then working with each one in turn begin by assessing on a scale of 0 to 10 (where 10 is really angry and 0 there is no anger remaining) how much anger still remains today when you think of that specific event. Run through the event in your mind in detail to find any specific nuances that still cause the anger to spike – it may be what someone did, their tone of voice, their words, a look etc. Once you have the specifics, start tapping.
For example: ‘Even though I’m so angry, how dare he talk to me in that sneering tone of voice, I deeply and completely love and accept myself and how I feel’.
While you tap, don’t hold back – allow yourself to rant and really vent your feelings. But remember to keep tapping all the while, if you rant and vent without tapping you will just be feeding the anger!
Top Down – Emotions: Metaphors and Sensations
But if you are new to EFT or the thought of making a list is daunting and you don’t even know where to start, you may prefer to focus on the emotion itself. It can be very powerful to tap using a metaphor like the one mentioned in my previous blog or, even better, to create your own metaphor. Choose the emotion you want to work on and then start by asking yourself on a scale of zero to ten how full your ‘sack’ is, where ten is totally full and zero is completely empty. Then begin to tap. For example ‘Even though my anger sack is full to overflowing! I deeply and completely love and accept myself and how I feel’.
Another powerful way to work with emotions is to notice where in your body you feel the anger and the sensations it produces and use those words as you tap. For example ‘Even though I have this red hot anger churning away in my stomach, I deeply and completely love and accept myself and how I feel’.
If you are actually in a situation that is provoking a very strong emotion you can even tap without words, because the words are there primarily to keep you focused on the emotion. Sometimes it can be really helpful to excuse yourself and go somewhere private to tap on the emotion. When you return you will be in a much better frame of mind to deal with the person or situation in a more positive way.
To help us on our journey to reach Emotional Freedom Gary Craig, the creator of EFT, came up with what he calls the Personal Peace Procedure (PPP). You start by listing every experience in your life that has left you with any kind of negative emotion. Working on one experience at a time (for the more traumatic ones you may need the help of a therapist) you tap away each and every one of the negative emotions that that experience still evokes in you today. You work on them one by one until they are completely cleared and you can think of that specific experience without any negative emotion whatsoever.
Meditating on a daily basis and using EFT whenever you experience negative emotions is a fantastic way to invest in your emotional wellbeing. Starting work on your Personal Peace Procedure will put you firmly on your path to Emotional Freedom.
For more information about how to start tapping, visit my website http://www.getenergised.com/ENGLISH-EFT.html. There is also a link where you can download a free EFT manual. Gary Craig’s website http://www.emofree.com/ is a mine of information and you can find more about the Personal Peace Procedure here http://www.emofree.com/eft/peace.html.
Autumn Cleanse: a holistic detox for the mind, body and spirit. Enjoy a weekend in magical Tarifa with EFT, Mindfulness, energy exercises and simple healthy food and juices that will leave you feeling amazing!
For more information and a full daily schedule http://www.getenergised.com/Autumn-Cleanse.html