By Dr. Claudia Karam
At The Morrison Center, we believe our emotional and physical health are closely linked. Traditional eastern cultures such as the Chinese have long understood this connection and believe that emotions directly correlate to specific organs and disease states.
In the west, the field of mind-body medicine is exploding to further explore this important connection. It is now well established that stress and negative emotions are associated with a myriad of diseases such as heart disease, stroke, fibromyalgia, autoimmune disease, and even cancer.
So what can we do about it?
Besides being mindful of such a connection and trying to foster healthy work and home environments, eating healthy, and incorporating helpful practices such as exercise, yoga and meditation… you can learn to do EFT.
Out of all the emotional tools I have researched and tried in practice, I have found EFT to be the fastest and most effective in terms of long lasting results. Many patients can experience this in their very first session! This technique takes minutes to perform, can be done practically anywhere, and once you learn how to do it, you alone can be in control of your emotional health!
What is EFT?
Emotional Freedom Technique, also frequently known as “tapping,” literally involves using two fingers to tap on different points on the body while recalling an emotional experience or feeling. As we go through different sequences, many patients report that while the memory does not fade, the emotions associated with that experience do and it remains just that, a memory. As a result of this, emotions previously attached to these experiences, such as anger, guilt, and hate, can be replaced with more neutral or even positive feelings of calm, peace, and even compassion, which are more healing to the body.
Who can benefit from EFT?
Anyone who can benefit from a stress relieving technique…basically everyone! While some may benefit from just having a quick tool to deal with everyday stressors as they come up, others will have a specific trauma or issue they know they need to heal. Yet, others may have more repressed emotions that they are not consciously aware of or are buried in a deeper layer. EFT can be helpful in all of these scenarios.
Over the years of doing this, I have learned that none of us are immune to life, that we are all affected whether we realize it or not by all of our past and present experiences. And while we cannot reverse the clock, we can go back and heal those memories.