I am describing two sessions with my client Ria (name changed), who is currently undergoing EFT therapy from me for panic attacks and varied emotional problems. One of the tremendous benefits of phone session with her has been the tapping that we did on her panic symptoms while she was experiencing them. She has been an ardent EFT follower and has managed to stop her last panic attack from becoming full blown, by tapping on her own (using the affirmations I gave her for emergency panic attack tapping). She was always scared of being alone lest the panic symptoms strike again.

In this session I asked Ria to ask her friend(who was staying with her) to be out of the house for awhile but be within reach so that Ria could call her on her cell if an emergency arose. This phone session with Ria gave her the faith that she could rely on EFT when alone and also deal successfully with the panic symptoms as and when they arose. (Note: We had already worked on many emotional issues, previous panic attacks and psycho-somatic symptoms before this session).

Even though I have this fear because my friend has stepped out and I am alone...

The intensity was at 8; she felt a murmuring in her heart and her heart beat was on the verge of increasing. In panic symptoms, generally the increase in heart beat signals danger for people. They fear that they might have a heart attack. We had already worked on this aspect, in the earlier sessions.

Even though I feel murmuring in my heart and my heartbeat is about to increase, I know that I'm safe and I know that nothing will happen.
Her heartbeat returned to normal but the symptoms shifted and she felt tightening of her jaws.
Even though my jaws are getting tight...
Even though I still have fear and anxiety...

Her jaws relaxed but fear decreased only from 8 to 6.

Even though my friend has gone a little further away and I am tensed...
Even though I don't know the route my friend has taken and am anxious about that...

This was a core aspect since she said that she would feel better had she known the route; At this point she said that she felt like running out of the house.

Even though I have this URGE TO ESCAPE from this situation I love and forgive myself. Her fear reduced from 6-0 on a scale of 0 to 10 after 2 rounds.

After this, she was relaxed and calm. I asked her to call me if she felt any fear. She did not call that day. The next day, she said that she did not experience any anxiety or fear during the time she was alone and went about doing her chores. In fact she felt so good about herself and emboldened that since then she has frequently arranged these little trips that her friend makes so that she can be alone. We also had some tapping sessions while she went out of her house alone (she never ventured out alone earlier).

I give full credit to Ria for having resisted the psychiatric drugs that people so often take for the panic attacks and also, for applying EFT persistently on the problems. It was her choice to resist taking the drugs. Sometimes there is a lot of 'chasing the pain' involved and persistence is the key to this.

This other session with Ria demonstrates 'chasing the pain'. She was having severe migraine (mostly pain on her right side) for 2-3 days and tapping on her own didn't help. She had to travel somewhere and the travel anxiety coupled with fear of getting a migraine attack in the bus was aggravating the pain. She reported that a lot of fear surrounded her travel plans. Her level of intensity was 10 on a scale of 0 to 10.

Even though I have a lot of fear coming up and I don't know why...
Even though I have this pain on my right side of the face...
Even though fear may be causing this pain on my right side of the face...

The pain went from 8 to 6 out of 10 and moved to the back of her head:

Even though the pain has moved to the backside of the head...
Even though I have pain on the backside of the head...
Even though fear of traveling is causing this pain...

The pain moved to right ear where she had inflammation.

Even though I have inflammation behind the ear...
Even though I have pain along the hairline behind the right ear...
Even though I still have throbbing pain in the right side of my face, I choose to release the pain.

Even though I'm scared because I may have the migraine attack in the bus, I choose to be able to handle it. I asked her to say this aloud and report what she felt. She said that a voice is screaming inside her - NO, I can't handle that! She also, developed a burning sensation on the top of her head.

She tapped on this tail ender - Even though I hear screaming inside me when I say that I can handle the migraine in the bus...

She felt better after 2 rounds and said that she might be able to handle the attack.

Even though I am fearful of traveling on Wednesday night because I may get a migraine attack on the bus, I choose to release this fear.

The burning sensation went away after this. Her pain subsided. I gave her a few homework affirmations for tapping before the bus journey.

Ria has suffered from Panic attacks for the past 6 years. After starting the EFT therapy she has not had a single severe panic attack. Twice she has stopped the panic attacks from becoming severe by tapping on the symptoms as they emerged. Each time she has been free of the symptoms after tapping. In panic attacks the difference between real and imagined danger is blurred.

The brain signals an alarm stage every time any symptom arises. For Ria, tapping on the following also

Even though my brain is unable to distinguish between real and imagined danger...
Even though I am afraid of the symptoms, I know that they indicate no real danger.

Thanks,
Puja

EFT is such a versatile tool that it can be used for everything. Given below are 2 cases which aptly demonstrate this.

Weight gain

People generally apply EFT for weight loss. However, EFT can also be used for weight gain. I had a client who came to me with alcohol addiction problem. He was also very unhappy with his thin body. He desperately wanted to gain weight. He had tried numerous ways to gain weight but nothing worked. He believed that he would never gain weight.

His alcohol addiction started after his dad's death as he felt very guilty about being a bad son. His dad was a strict disciplinarian due to which they fought over a lot of issues. He had also abused drugs when he was a teenager. He was drinking 8 bottles of beer daily when he first started the therapy sessions and was smoking one pack of cigarettes per day.

His self image was extremely low and he didn't socialize at all. He worked from home and it involved a lot of stress. He had paranoia and very low self confidence. We did all the sessions online over Skype. We dealt with all the significant negative events from the past and also addressed the core issues for alcohol addiction, possible reasons for drug abuse in the past, reasons for not socializing, low self image, withdrawal symptoms, betrayal over money matters by his friends etc. I am outlining the affirmations for a few issues -Guilt about dad's death:

Even though I had to face discipline at home...
Even though dad would get very angry when I would be home late...
Even though I was frustrated because I had to get back home before 8 o clock everyday...
Even though I feel guilty about my dad's death...
Even though I feel guilty because I have been a bad son...

Alcohol addiction
Even though I started taking alcohol to cope with the guilt...
Even though I took up alcohol to deal with my sadness after papa's death...
Even though I feel guilty for I am still drinking when I no longer have any serious problems to cope with as I had earlier like guilt... (This is after his guilt was completely resolved. It was a step by step process)
Even though I am scared of my addictive personality...
Even though I feel that my addictive personality is the road to ruin...

Betrayal
Even though my friend conned me with a lot of money...
Even though I was hurt that he conned me despite being my friend...
Even though I feel angry that he betrayed me...

His underweight problem was linked with self consciousness and low self image. He felt that everyone was making fun of him because he was so skinny. He was afraid to look into people's eyes because he believed that he would see mockery there. Since I combine counseling/ psychotherapy with EFT, I explained to him that what others think of him does not matter; what he thinks of himself is important. "You have to choose what you want for yourself otherwise others will choose it for you."

I used a two step EFT application process - Firstly, self acceptance for the way one is; using EFT for being comfortable with oneself. Secondly applying EFT to remove the blocks to achieving what one wants; these blocks are generally the specific beliefs that are hardwired since childhood. Some of the affirmations used for weight gain were:

Even though I am underweight...
Even though I believe that I will never gain weight...
Even though I believe that I will never gain weight because I have tried different techniques for weight gain and all of them have failed...
Even though since I was a kid my relatives have been telling me that I will never gain weight...
Even though I get self conscious because I think that the whole world is looking at my skinny self when I go out...
Even though I think and feel that the whole world is looking at me when I go out, I choose to stop caring about this that the whole world is looking at me.
Even though I have the image of people looking at my thin legs and getting shocked or making fun of me or talking about me...
Even though I have this image of people looking at me, I choose to change this image.
Even though I dislike my skinny self, I choose to appreciate my good looks (face).

Within a month of starting therapy his weight increased by 2 kg; this was the first weight gain in the past 2 years. He also gave up his alcohol addiction. It's been 3 weeks now without relapse. He smokes 2 cigarettes now daily and will be giving that up eventually as well. He is able to meet people with very less anxiety now and is able to bring down his work related stress by doing EFT. I will be getting a feedback from him again after one month.

GC COMMENT: Nice result. In addition to the above, you can increase the odds of a permanent improvement by aiming EFT at specific events during childhood that may be underlying the problem. This might be considered in future sessions.

Here is a short case about using EFT for holding water before Ultra sound

One client of mine was very scared of going for ultra sound scans. She had developed this fear because holding water before ultras sounds was very difficult for her. She would start panicking whenever she went for a scan. We did one online EFT session for this problem. The next day when she went for a scan, she kept doing EFT mentally as she was drinking water and used the affirmations that I had given her.

Even though I am feeling very full, I choose to be relaxed.
Even though I am scared that I will not be able to 'hold water'...
Even though I am still scared, I choose to feel safe with 'holding water'.

After a few rounds she was much more relaxed. However, when she entered the scan room, her anxiety resurfaced. She started tapping silently again and within a few minutes was able to relax. Her ultra sound went smoothly and now she is no longer scared of going for further scans.

EFT helps tremendously in achieving a positive transformation and can be used for anything. Also, I feel that grammar does not matter in EFT. One should use words and sentences which one identifies with and not necessarily words or sentences that are grammatically correct.

Thanks,

Puja