Gary Craig describes Emotional Freedom Technique as "A universal healing aid." I had the pleasure of meeting him at a lecture in Boulder, Colorado the summer of 2009.
Let's start with Craig's background.
"I was born April 13, 1940 and have been intensely interested in personal improvement via psychology since age 13. That was when I recognized that the quality of my thoughts was mirrored in the quality of my life. Since then I have been self taught in this field, seeking only those procedures that, in my opinion, produced results. EFT is my latest finding, the core of which I learned from Dr. Roger Callahan. For the average person, Callaghan's stuff was too complex."
Since Craig was educated at Stanford University as an engineer-and what engineers do is take things apart, see how they work, and try to make them work more efficiently-that is what he did with Callaghan's work, which is how EFT was born. Craig is also is an ordained minister and a certified Master Practitioner of NLP.
What exactly is EFT? According to Craig, "EFT is based on a new discovery about the body's subtle energies. Simply stated, it is an emotional version of acupuncture, except needles aren't necessary. Instead, you stimulate well established energy meridians on your body by tapping on them with your fingertips. The process is easy to memorize and is portable so you can do it anywhere. People who are persistent and tap frequently obtain dramatic results."
Craig went on to say, "We are conditioned in the U.S. to take a pill or have surgery to take care of problems. If we were raised in China, we would be more conditioned to working with the energy meridians and chakras. It's all in how we were conditioned. It doesn't have anything to do with the 'woo-woo factor'-it's just how it is in comparison to something else."
Craig added, "Humor is very important." It is therapeutic in and of itself. Humor helps you test how the work is going so far. Craig uses humor because that's his style. However, you don't have to have a sense of humor to do EFT.
EFT can be applied to many issues. During his Boulder seminar, Craig spoke about some different situations where he used EFT. He talked about Becky, a lady deathly afraid of rats. Even the thought of a rat anywhere in the vicinity made her hyperventilate. Craig sent a person out to find a rat and put it in a cage. After a short session of EFT, she was able to put her finger in the cage and pet the rat. Then there was David who had a strong fear of water. After some "tapping" (another name for EFT), David was not afraid of water.
"I didn't 'get' the connection between the emotional self and the physical self until I worked on people with major physical issues," Craig said specifically mentioning MS. He showed a number of videos and one highlighted a lady who suffered from MS, walked on crutches and was severally disabled. Craig worked with her using EFT. By the end of the session, the lady was able to walk without the crutches, and she did a few jumping jacks, something she hadn't been able to do for years.
Probably the most memorable videos were ones taken of military veterans who suffered Traumatic Stress Disorder (TSD). At his own expense, Craig brought these vets together so he could work on them using EFT. Their symptoms ran from depression, suicidal thoughts, hyper-vigilance to night terrors. In order to relieve the intense emotions he felt while working on these men, Craig did some tapping on himself. It was a very emotionally stirring experience for everyone at the presentation. Each of the men Craig worked with showed remarkable improvement.
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