EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques)

By asking the right questions, Edith Howell helps her client release an overwhelming pain which was not shifting. Her anger with her son is the key which allows her to release the pain. E-mail Edith and visit Edith's website.

By Edith Howell, EFT Cert-1

I have been conducting telephone sessions with a client named April, to help increase her confidence.  This time, she said that she had been having overwhelming pain in her hips for the last few days, and there was no way that she could focus her attention on confidence when her pain was so severe.  She felt she could not sit on her couch for very long; she would alternate standing up, and laying down on her bed to try to get some relief.  I asked her if she had had an accident, maybe falling down?  She said no, she could not think of anything that could have caused her this pain.  April then said: "Maybe, I am too old, maybe it is arthritis."

I asked April to describe her hip pain for me, and where exactly she felt it; she mentioned that it was a sharp pain, very annoying and limiting and she felt it all over her hips. Of course, the intensity of the pain was a 10, on the 0-10 intensity scale. We started tapping on the physical pain...

"Even though I am suffering this hip pain, it is a 10 and I really feel pain all over my hips..."

"Even though I am having this overwhelming pain in my hips..."

"Even though I don't really know how I got this sharp pain in my hips and I cannot stand it..."

I told April to take a slow healing breath and relax. I then asked her how she felt after

this tapping, she said that maybe it was a 9, she really did not experience much change, so we continued:

"Even though I cannot let go of this hip pain, I am too old to be happy and pain free..."

"Even though I am too old, and pain comes with age, that is what "they" told me..."

"Even though this pain might be arthritis, it is really annoying and I can't do what I want to do..."

After the tapping, I asked her to scan her hips for pain, she said that it was an 8; since we did not have a dramatic change in the intensity scale, I then decided to look for emotional contributors to her hip pain. I said to April: "You mentioned  before that this hip pain is annoying and limiting," What does this remind you of? (one of Gary Craig's questions to help us dig deeper into the issue).  April said that it was strange, because this annoying pain was reminding her of her grown up son, who still lives at home, and at the present time was not contributing financially to the household. He would spend his money buying stuff for other people or getting drunk, but she did not get a dime from him.

I asked her what emotion she thought was behind this hip pain.  April said that it was anger, and the intensity of the anger was like a 9.

"Even though I am so angry at my son and it is a 9 anger..."

"Even though I am so angry at my son, who does he think he is? He never helps me with money, but I am expected to wait on him, cook for him, get his clothes clean and ready for work, I am fed up, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and I accept the fact that I am having this problem with my son and maybe I could have a little bit of peace.”

"Even though I am really angry at my son, he never helps me with money and I do so much for him, I deeply and completely love and forgive myself for having these feelings about my own son, and I want to forgive him for not recognizing what I do for him."

I asked April if these statements were right for her, and she said that they were right on, so we did some tapping using these phrases.  When we were done, her anger had gone down from a 9 to a 5, and she said her pain was not sharp anymore, it was more like a dull pain and maybe it was a 6.

We continued tapping:

"Even though I still feel this anger towards my son, he is clueless, he never realizes all I do for him. I recognize that this anger is really hurting me and it does not let me achieve my goals."

"Even though I am still angry at my son, I am tired of doing so much for him, and he does not even give a dime, I want to calm down so I can let this anger go."

"Even though I have this remaining anger at my son, I am giving myself permission to let it go, I don't need to be angry anymore, I deserve to be pain free so I can do the work that

I want to do, I really want to explore my own interests."

"Even though I still have this remaining dull pain in my hips, and it is reminding me of the dullness in my life, I am really tired and bored, I am O.K. and I prefer to be pain free so I can do the work that I love."

We tapped like that, until her intensity was down to a 2. I then asked April: "Is your son really that bad?  Doesn't he ever do anything nice for you?  April said, actually, at the beginning of the month, he gives me a coupon from work, that I can use to get groceries, and he just bought me my favorite cold cream, and some soft leather shoes. Then, April told me to wait, because the television noise was bothering her.  I overheard her over the phone, screaming: "Oh my God, I just ran up the stairs."  When she came back she told me that the television was upstairs, and that she had run up easily. She said, she did not need to do EFT anymore, but I insisted on tapping, just in case there was any intensity left:

"Even though I might still have some remaining pain in my hips and all that it means, I am  letting it go completely, I deeply love myself and my son and I am really grateful for my healing and for my son, because he does the best that he can".

We then agreed that she will do her EFT daily, to clear any stress or anxiety or any negative emotion that might show up for her during the day.

Best Regards,

Edith Howell, EFT Cert-1

www.eftmindandbody.com