A Common EFT Mistake

Advice for new EFT practitioners

By Suzanne Zacharia

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Years ago, I made an EFT mistake that I now use to teach my workshop attendees about. I hope it helps you or those who look up to you for guidance. 

I was a good EFT practitioner but still relatively new with six months' experience. And I attended an EFT workshop at what is now usually called Level 3. In the workshop, another attendee started to abreact, and I was very impressed with how the presenter quickly brought calm to this situation. The presenter said reassuringly that the attendee had been carrying too much responsibility in childhood, and that that was unfair. This brought a peaceful realisation to the attendee and an almost instant peace to the situation. I understood what the presenter said to have been just a general-knowledge reassurance.

Naturally, not realising this was not part of the tuition, I took this demonstration on board and kept it in mind when needed. A situation arose a few weeks later when I said what I thought was a similar statement to a client. Only what I said was mistaken for voicing an opinion and trying to foist it on the client. The result was that the client wrote to me afterwards saying that they obtained great relief from that session and were grateful for what I had done but would not be seeing me again because I should not have voiced an opinion. I apologised and explained that what I had said was simply reiterating general knowledge purely for presenting the average person's point of view and showing the client that they were a good person. The client did see me again but I learned an invaluable lesson from the experience.

I sat down and re-examined why it was good for the presenter at the workshop to use this verbiage but not me. And then it dawned upon me. The presenter was a trained counsellor and was using carefully-chosen counselling words. I was not a trained counsellor. I was trained in NLP in my hypnotherapy diploma course but not counselling, and I should have used NLP statements rather than attempt to use a technique I knew nothing about. By attempting a counselling approach, it was easy to get it wrong.

There are many Youtube videos about EFT. And there are copies of the original EFT DVDs. It is easy to misunderstand the flowing-style tapping statements used in these for simply talking freestyle. But they are not just talk. They are carefully-chosen phrases derived through the presenter's training in a specific talk technique. I now pass this knowledge onto my EFT workshop attendees and explain that unless they are fully conversant in a free-flowing technique, such as by learning some NLP or counselling, it is best not to try the free-flowing style on their clients.

Although it may seem boring to repeat the same Setup and Reminder style over and over again, it works. And there is wisdom in the old saying of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". The EFT formula is a wonderful formula for almost every condition. If you or someone you care for is new to using EFT, celebrate the wonders of this amazing method! It is beautiful just as it is.

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Author's Bio:

© Suzanne Zacharia 2010.  My name is Suzanne Zacharia and I am committed to spreading the word about health options. I believe that the more and better options one has, the more choice there is. 

A virus caught along with 5 other students at university at the end of 1986, plus medical negligence, meant that I got smokers lung at a relatively young age.  In desperation for help with my symptoms and quality of life, I turned to complementary therapy, and I have outlived one doctor's prognosis by many years now.

I am now a complementary therapist, author and trainer specializing in energy healing.  Want to use this article?  You can, as long as you credit me with it and invite your readers to get my FREE e-book "EFT How-To For You" at http://www.EFT-Scripts.com

2 Comments

Trish Moran
Posted February 12, 2011 05:12 AM

I believe that Gary Craig, a master at free flowing EFT, only had NLP. As far as I know he wasn't trained in any counselling or talk therapy. Perhaps I'm wrong.

Suzanne Zacharia
Posted February 12, 2011 04:09 PM

Hi Trish,

I believe you are right.

The presenter I was talking about had counselling training and was using their counselling skills for a free-flowing style. I was not a trained counsellor and mistakenly thought that I had to do the same. I thought it was part of my training that I talk like that, but I did not know that this was a structured way of talking that I would have needed 2 years' training to achieve. In the same way, some people without NLP training whatsoever watch the original EFT DVDs and think they have to talk like Gary, only without the NLP training. The result can be upsetting to the client, as it would not be NLP and usually comes out all wrong.

It is best for relatively new practitioners to stick to the basics until they have more experience and skills.

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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.