Chapter 4: EFT Basics
In the last chapter we learned that EFT is a type of psychological acupressure. Acupressure theory says that a disruption in the flow of the body’s energy known as chi will be experienced as discomfort – either physical or emotional. Remember that the EFT treatment is designed to correct an imbalance in the flow of chi. Chi is the subtle energy that flows throughout the body, the energy that is treated by Traditional Chinese Medicine doctors. You’ve already experienced a shortcut EFT procedure, assuming you did the demonstration exercises in the previous chapter. If you didn’t do the exercises, I strongly recommend that you take a few minutes and go back to that chapter now and work through those exercises to get an experience of this procedure. Otherwise, this chapter will just be an intellectual exercise. Words can guide you, but words don’t teach; experience teaches. Go back and do the exercises.
Step 1 – Tune In
The first step in an EFT treatment is to tune in to, or focus on, the problem and assign a name or label to it to be used in the remaining steps. The label can be as long as needed to keep you on track. Here are some examples. If you have a headache with the pain located behind your right eye, your label could be “pain behind my right eye.” If you’re standing on the tee with water on the left and all you can think about is “Don’t hit it in the water!” your label could be "fear of hitting in the water.”