I want to make one rather BIG and important addition.
In Step 5, last 2 sentences Andy writes, "For example: “Even though they are looking critically at me, I accept myself and how I feel”, etc. The aspect may yield to simple tapping or you may need to track back to memories of similar feelings to neutralise the source of the aspect."
The Set-up statement he uses as his example is, IMHO, still wayyyyyy too broad to be tapped on. It is imperative to "track back to memories" to get the tapping job done effectively.
If a client came to me and told me that exact same sentence "they are looking critically at me," wanting to tap on that issue, I would continue questioning the client asking, "When was a time when you felt as though someone was looking at you critically? Give me a concrete example."
That should afford the client the opportunity to respond with a statement such as, "Well, when I was 13 years old I had to stand up in class, and Mrs. Schmidt gave me the evil eye while I gave my report on the Battle of Gettysburg."
That's a pretty specific time "when" the client thought she was looked upon critically. I might even go on further to get even more specific by asking, "How do you feel now when thinking about that evil eye back then?" or "What exactly did Mrs. Schmidt evil eye look like to you and did you feel about that?"
When tapping we are digging for "emotions" to tap about? Facts are good, but facts aren't feelings, they are facts! Always, always ask yourself (or the client) how they "FEEL" about something they have just told you. They hopefully can tell you 2 things: (1) give the "feeling" an emotional name, such as sadness, anger, remorse, guilt, disdain, discouraged, dismissed, un-validated, ignored, etc. Most anything can be a "feeling" by simply adding the word "feeling" to the client or your words! (2) Hopefully the client (or yourself) can tell you WHERE (gut, head, eyes, shoulder, thigh, chest, heart, etc.) in their body they feel the "feeling" or emotion resides.
This information is ALL that is necessary for tapping specificity.
Here's what my classroom report Set-up and tapping might look like using the steps above:
"Even though I remember the time when I was 13 and I gave that Gettysburg report in Mrs. Schmidt's class, and she gave me the evil eye, right now I feel anger in my left chest, a tightening feeling, I deeply and completely, etc. - finish the acceptance statement. THAT IS SPECIFIC!
The reminder tapping statements would simply be: "this anger" or "this anger in my chest." Continue tapping those simple reminder statements on the acupuncture spots until the SUDS drops out to zero!
Go onto the next memory of the time when you felt you were looked at critically, and repeat the process.
When a client or yourself comes in with a broad statement such as "I'm looked at critically" there is probably a huge core issue underneath around self-esteem, etc.
Core issues take more work than just a few individual memories because a client's entire life viewpoint could well be built around that one thought (and sadly many of us have dozens of core issues we need to work on!)
That example I just typed about being 13 years old should give any experienced self-tapper or EFT Practitioner plenty of tapping material if the client has a core issue around the example.
There are probably 100s of other questions that can be asked. It's detective work! But the questions need to be specific while digging for feelings.
Once this memory/incident is tapped to a 0 SUDS, ask yourself or the client, "Do you have another memory of a time when you got a critical look, or a time when something similar happened?"
You continue to repeat this process until the problem is no longer the problem!
I will admit, and this is WHY I've written 4 EFT for Christians books, that any tapping questioning can go in a multitude of directions whereby you find dozens of other thoughts/feelings/events in life that need to be tapped about.
Sometimes the line of questioning gets bogged down or the client/yourself shuts down, and then you can use the advice I give you that I have already written out in detail in the EFT for Christians books.
Wonderfully written article by Andy. My opinion is the more specific we get in our tapping makes EFT so very much more effective.
God be praised!
Remember, EFT is NOT a substitute for sound medical or psychological advice, so contact your own personal physician if you have such needs as these!
