The cat and the hair dryer

By Maureen Cram, EFT therapist Level 3

(Add or view comments at the bottom of the page.)

I decided I would try EFT on one of my cats, Matewis (it is an Afrikaans word and is pronounced Ma-teeah-vis) for her fear of the hair dryer.

In the past, when I went into the bedroom and opened the dresser where the dreaded hair dryer lives, she would leap off our bed in absolute panic, even if she had been asleep, and fly out of the room as fast as she could.

Like many of us, we use EFT for ‘big things’ but on small things such as Matewis’ fear of the hair dryer it had not occurred to me to help her fix her fear.

I started off by not even opening the drawer in the dresser but watched her asleep on the bed and started tapping for her.

Even though I hate that black thing: the noise it makes: it really hurts my ears: I am a great cat.
Even though that black thing is out to get me, I am a great cat.
Even though that black thing makes a terrible noise and I can’t stand it: I am a great cat.

EB: I hate that black thing
OE: I can’t stand the noise
UE: I know it is out to get me
UN: How come the other cats sleep through it?
UC: It must hurt their ears
CB: Maybe I am more sensitive than they are
UA: I am the only girl around here
TOH: I hate the noise it makes

Then I did another round (while she was still sleeping on the bed)
Even though I feel embarrassed when I leap off the bed and rush off, I am still a great cat
Even though even Uti** is OK with the black thing and I can sit outside in the thunder and he can’t, I am still a great cat.
(** our ginger cat and the one who has had the most EFT as he had the most issues in the past)

EB: I feel embarrassed about this
OE: I am supposed to be the queen cat and look at me
UE: I need to do something about this but what?
UN: Maybe I can ignore the noise
UC: Maybe I can act like the other cats and ignore that nasty black thing
CB: I can do anything I want to, I am the great Matewis
UA: I am in control here
TOH: I can safely ignore the black thing

I then opened the drawer and carefully took out the hair dryer. Matewis opened her eyes and looked at me. Then she closed them again and went back to sleep. Great improvement! I waved the hair dryer around: nothing happened. I plugged it in: turned it on low by the side of the bed away from her and she looked up. Then she stretched and walked off the bed and sauntered out of the bedroom.

Round one to EFT!

She is not always in the bedroom asleep when I want to dry my hair but over a period of a week or so I would continue to tap on her when she was on the bed. The next time I took out the hair dryer and placed it on the bed. She just sat and looked at it. I went and tapped on her between her eyebrows, saying:

Even though I don’t like that black thing I am the brave Matewis
Even though I was embarrassed by the black thing I can ignore it and the noise it makes
Even though I am the only one who seems bothered by the black thing, what if I wasn’t?

I then tapped on me for the points
EB: I am the brave Matewis
OE: I can do whatever I want
UE: I can safely ignore the black thing
UN: I am just as good as the other cats so I can do the same as they do
UC: I know the black thing will not get me
CB: It hasn’t got me yet
UA: It hasn’t got any of us
TOH: I can do this right now

I plugged in the dryer and began to dry my hair. She sat there and during the course of drying my hair three other cats got up and sauntered off and Matewis did the same.

The last lot of EFT I did for her was as follows:
Even though I’m still not sure about that black thing, I am the great Matewis
Even though I wish it would go away, I am the great Matewis
Even though it might get me one of these days, I can decide to be in control here

Then I did the points tapping on what my EFT therapist had tapped with me on when I had a fear of claustrophobia about putting on my dry suit for water skiing in cold water. She used the words ‘the dry suit is my friend’ and that worked really well.

EB: The black thing is my friend
OE: I am fine with the black thing now
UE: The black thing is my friend
UN: I am in control
UC: The black thing is my friend
CB: I can safely tune out and ignore the noise
UA: The black thing is my friend
TOH: It is easy and safe for me to ignore the black thing right now

Today I opened the drawer, took out the hair dryer, put it on the bed. She meowed hello at me so I patted her and told her how brave she was. She sat there and I plugged it in. I sat on the bed, petting her with one hand and turned on the hair dryer with the other. She was fine. I stopped petting her and kept the dryer on. She looked at me, tucked her paws under her and went back to sleep while I finished drying my hair.

Later I was using my electric razor in the bedroom and she actually came back into the room, jumped on the bed and went to sleep while the razor whined on!

I continue to be amazed at the ‘things’ EFT can do!

View All Articles by this Author

Author's Bio:

Maureen is a surrogate animal intuitive and energy therapist who uses EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) and meridian tapping techniques to help any any animal in need.

She is a business owner, cat lover (she and her husband live with six rescued cats), educator on benefits of energy therapy, EFT trainer for humans and animals.

1 Comment

Heather
Posted February 27, 2010 12:17 AM

Such a lovely article! What a precious cat. Hope you listened this week to the Tapping Summit and Gwen - she had some good ideas for pets. She was saying the spine is a good place. I have two dogs who I am trying this out on. But I agree, surrogate tapping is always good.

Leave a Comment

Disclaimer: All information on this website is for educational purposes only, and the content is not intended to suggest that it is a substitute for proper medical care or good common sense.

While EFT has produced remarkable clinical results, it must still be considered to be in the experimental stage and thus practitioners and the public must take complete responsibility for their use of it.

In addition, the articles on this site represent the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the founder of EFT, Gary Craig, nor the owner of this web site, Stefan Gonick.