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Category: Stories

Healing Story: When “Not Good Enough” Becomes a Deadline Healing the Childhood Memory Behind Performance Anxiety “I’m in trouble.”

By Dawson Church,

Those three words summed up the overwhelming feeling Melissa experienced whenever she thought about an approaching certification deadline. The due date was still weeks away, yet every time she imagined pressing the “Submit” button on her case histories, her heart raced and her anxiety soared to an 8 on the 0–10 Subjective Units of Distress (SUD) scale.
Like many high-achieving professionals, she assumed her stress was simply about having too much work to do. But Clinical EFT often reveals that present-day anxiety is fueled by much older emotional experiences.
Starting with the Present
Rather than discussing the deadline in general terms, I asked Melissa to think of one specific moment that captured her anxiety.
She immediately pictured herself clicking the “Submit” button after uploading her session notes.
As she imagined that moment, she could feel her heart pounding. Along with the physical sensation came thoughts like:
“There’s not enough time.”
“I’m in trouble.”
“This is too much.”
After one round of EFT, her intensity dropped noticeably. We then became even more specific, focusing on the last time she had actually submitted a set of session notes.
Now the emotional intensity centered on two distinct aspects. First was the physical sensation of her heart leaping in her chest as she pressed “Submit.” Second was the belief that she might overwhelm her mentor with her work.
After two rounds of tapping, including the full Basic Recipe with the 9 Gamut procedure, both aspects fell to zero.
Finding the Real Source
Although the recent event no longer carried emotional charge, one statement still stood out.
“I’m in trouble.”
I asked Melissa to notice where she felt those words in her body and then asked a simple question:
“When was the first time you remember feeling this same way?”
Without hesitation she was back in a high school geography classroom.
She remembered the exact moment her teacher handed back an exam with a failing grade.
Her emotional intensity immediately jumped to an 8.
One Memory, Three Aspects
As often happens with Specific Events, the memory contained several different emotional aspects.
The first was the look of disappointment on the teacher’s face. As she remembered it, she felt a vice-like grip around her heart.
After one round of tapping, the emotional charge vanished completely.
To test the result, I asked her to vividly imagine the scene again. The teacher’s face no longer bothered her.
But as she replayed the event in more detail, another aspect emerged.
She suddenly heard the teacher’s voice saying:
“Not good enough.”
Speaking those words exactly as he had said them immediately brought her distress back to a level 3.
We tapped specifically on those words, using several more rounds of the Basic Recipe along with the 9 Gamut procedure. Before long, she could repeat the teacher’s words without any emotional reaction.
A Different Perspective
Once the emotional intensity had dissolved, Melissa began making spontaneous cognitive shifts.
“He was like that with everyone.”
“It wasn’t personal.”
“My mentor isn’t anything like that.”
Those insights weren’t forced through positive thinking. They emerged naturally once the emotional charge surrounding the childhood memory had been neutralized.
Testing the Results
We thoroughly tested both memories.
Melissa imagined receiving the failing paper again.
Nothing.
She replayed the teacher’s disappointed expression.
Nothing.
She repeated his harsh words aloud.
Still nothing.
Finally, she imagined submitting her certification notes again.
The fear that had originally dominated the experience was gone. Instead of anticipating criticism, she now recognized that her current mentor was supportive and encouraging—not the harsh teacher from decades earlier.
Why Specific Events Matter
This session illustrates one of the central principles of Clinical EFT.
Present-day stress is often maintained by unresolved emotional memories from the past. What appears to be anxiety about a deadline may actually be the nervous system reacting to an old experience of criticism, rejection, or shame.
By identifying the precise childhood event, separating it into its individual aspects, and tapping each one until it reached zero, the present-day trigger also lost its emotional intensity.
The deadline itself hadn’t changed.
Melissa had changed.
Instead of reliving an old story of “not good enough,” she could finally approach her work from a place of confidence and calm.

Healing Story: Working Gently with Early Trauma using the Full Basic Recipe with Containment Imagery

By Grace Beeler,

A client in later adulthood sought EFT to address long-standing emotional distress that continued to interfere with confidence and personal growth. Although the client had experienced numerous difficult events earlier in life, we agreed to work with only one memory using a gentle, trauma-informed approach that would allow them to maintain complete privacy throughout the session.
 
My goal was to help reduce the emotional intensity while avoiding unnecessary exposure to overwhelming material.
 
Beginning with a Title
 
Rather than asking the client to describe the memory, I invited them to give it a simple title.
 
After a moment of reflection, they chose:
 
“The Broken Instrument.”
 
Simply saying the title produced a Subjective Units of Distress (SUD) rating of 8.
 
I then asked where the emotional charge was experienced in the body. The client noticed two distinct sensations: tightness across the upper back and shoulders (SUD 6) and a feeling of warmth and pressure in the upper abdomen (SUD 7).
 
Because the title itself carried the greatest emotional intensity, we completed a Full Basic Recipe round, including the 9 Gamut procedure, while focusing only on the title.
 
After one round, the emotional charge decreased noticeably. The title dropped to a SUD of 5, while both physical sensations fell to approximately 4.
 
Creating Emotional Distance
 
Although the intensity had begun to decrease, I wanted to continue working slowly and respectfully.
 
I asked whether it would feel safe to imagine placing the memory somewhere secure instead of holding it directly.
 
The client imagined placing it inside a sturdy wooden chest and storing it safely in a quiet garden shed.
 
I then asked whether it felt comfortable to leave the chest closed while knowing the memory remained safely contained inside.
 
The client agreed.
 
We completed another Full Basic Recipe round followed by a Basic Recipe round while focusing on the image of the closed chest resting undisturbed in the shed. Our language acknowledged both the existence of the memory and the client’s ability to remain safely separate from it.
 
After these rounds, the title had decreased to a SUD of 2. The tension across the shoulders was also a 2, while the warmth in the abdomen had fallen to 3.
 
A Spontaneous Shift
 
Because the emotional intensity had reduced significantly, I gently asked whether the client would like to imagine opening the shed door and simply noticing the chest from a distance.
 
Instead of following my suggestion, the client smiled and said,
 
“I don’t think it belongs there anymore.”
 
In their imagination, they picked up the chest, carried it to a nearby river, opened it, and watched the contents drift peacefully downstream.
 
The image emerged entirely from the client without prompting.
 
When I invited them to think once more about the title, the SUD had decreased to 1.
 
They reflected quietly,
 
“It isn’t mine to carry anymore.”
 
The statement arose naturally rather than through deliberate reframing, suggesting a genuine shift in perspective.
 
Closing the Session
 
Because we were nearing the end of our scheduled time, I chose not to continue exploring additional memories.
 
Instead, we reinforced the client’s sense of safety and choice by acknowledging that if they ever wished to revisit this material in the future, they could do so at a pace that felt right for them. The imagery emphasized that they remained in control of the process and could return to the memory only if and when they chose.
 
The session concluded with the client feeling calm, grounded, and noticeably lighter than when we had begun.
 
Reflections
 
This session reinforced one of the principles I value most in trauma-informed EFT practice: clients do not have to recount painful experiences in detail in order to experience meaningful change. Throughout the session, I never learned what “The Broken Instrument” represented, nor was that information necessary for effective treatment. The title, accompanying body sensations, and symbolic imagery provided sufficient access to the emotional material while preserving the client’s privacy.
 
Another important lesson was the value of allowing therapeutic imagery to emerge naturally. Although I introduced the idea of safely containing the memory, I did not suggest releasing it. That decision came entirely from the client, who transformed the image of a closed chest into one of letting go. Because the metaphor originated within the client’s own experience, the resulting cognitive and emotional shift appeared authentic and deeply meaningful.
 
This case strengthened my appreciation for gentle approaches when working with highly charged memories. By combining the Full Basic Recipe with containment imagery, respecting the client’s boundaries, and following their symbolic process rather than directing it, substantial emotional relief occurred without requiring disclosure of the underlying trauma. The experience reinforced my confidence that safety, pacing, and client autonomy are often just as important as the specific tapping protocol itself.

Healing Story: The Cat Feeder

By Dawson Church,

Sometimes seemingly minor issues carry high SUD scores. This is usually an indication that major long-term issues lie beneath the surface. My session with “Daisy” illustrates this.
 
It began by asking her to identify a recent emotionally triggering event. She described an incident involving a faulty automatic cat food dispenser. She and her husband had left for the weekend, relying on the dispenser to feed their cat while they were away. When they returned, they discovered that no food had been dispensed.
 
Although the event seemed minor on the surface, it clearly carried significant emotional charge for Daisy. She said her cat Mocha experiences food anxiety, and it was clear to me that Daisy’s anxiety was elevated too. When asked for an initial Subjective Units of Distress (SUD) rating, Daisy reported a level of 5.
 
To assess the somatic component of her distress, I asked where she felt the emotion in her body. She identified pressure behind her eyes and tension in her jaw. These physical sensations became important indicators throughout the session, helping us track progress as the emotional intensity shifted.
 
I chose to use the Silent Movie Technique, in which the client mentally reviews the event, scene by scene. We first identified an emotionally neutral starting point. She selected the moment before the trip, when she and her husband were packing and feeling excited to leave. Beginning from this calm reference point, she told the story.
 
The first moment of emotional intensity occurred around her husband setting up the feeder before they left. She was worried about the cat, felt distrust of her partner, and was uncertain about whether the device would function properly. Her SUD for this aspect was 5.
 
As she reflected further, she recognized that she had chosen the feeder herself after researching it online and reading positive reviews. She wanted to trust both the company and her partner, yet she had felt that something would go wrong. This uncertainty increased the distress to a SUD of 6 as she recalled looking at the screen with the reviews.
 
We tapped on this emotional peak and incorporated the 9 Gamut Procedure, after which Daisy’s distress dropped from a 6 to a 1.
 
I had her tell the story from the neutral point again, and a new emotionally charged moment came up: leaving the house while fearing the cat would be upset or distressed. This memory carried a SUD of 8. When asked again about her bodily sensations, Daisy described feeling “angry, hurt, and a sinking feeling in my jaw,” with the physical sensation rated at a SUD of 6.
 
As we tapped and again used the 9 Gamut Procedure, her jaw distress reduced to a 1, and the fear associated with leaving the house dropped to 0.
 
Because testing is an essential part of Clinical EFT, I then asked her to retell the story from beginning to end without interruption. As she reviewed the entire sequence, no part of the narrative rose above a SUD of 1, indicating that the major emotional charge for each of the parts of the event had been successfully cleared.
 
Her closing statement captured the cognitive and emotional shift that had taken place: “Mocha the cat has two loving parents. He’s going to be alright.”
 
This was her first EFT session and our time was limited. We focused on resolving the immediate presenting issue gave Daisy confidence in the tapping process. By the end of the session, Daisy not only experienced relief regarding the cat feeder incident, but also gained confidence in EFT as an effective tool.
 
It was clear to me that this even was connected to broader themes of fear and betrayal in other areas of Daisy’s life. There wasn’t time to explore them in this brief session, but they would be the focus of long-term work.

Healing Story: Five Years of Hip Pain Disappears After Tapping on “Panic in the Plane”

By Hari Lubin,

What we think of as purely physical pain can sometimes have surprising emotional roots. When we identify and resolve the underlying experience, even pain that has persisted for years may shift dramatically.
Dave, a 60-year-old man, had been experiencing persistent knee pain for five years. At the beginning of our session, I asked him to rate the intensity of the pain on a scale from 0 to 10. He rated it a 7 out of 10.
Because the pain had begun five years earlier, I asked Dave a simple question:
“What was happening emotionally in your life around the time this pain began?”
He immediately identified a frightening event that had occurred shortly before the onset of the pain.
Dave had been a passenger on a commercial flight that was approaching the runway for what appeared to be a normal landing. Then, without warning, the plane abruptly pulled up and climbed steeply.
Something was clearly wrong.
Dave remembered hearing the engines roar as the aircraft suddenly accelerated upward. The pilot initially gave the passengers no explanation. Fear gripped the cabin.
I wanted to identify the different aspects of the traumatic memory rather than simply tap on the general event. I asked Dave to go back in his mind to the moment when he first realized something was wrong.
One phrase captured the emotional charge for him:
“Panic in the plane.”
When I asked him to rate the emotional intensity of those words, he gave them a 5 out of 10.
I then asked him to identify the most intense part of that memory.
Dave immediately remembered the woman sitting across the aisle from him. She completely lost control and went into a full-fledged screaming panic attack.
That became our next tapping target.
We tapped specifically on “the lady across the aisle” and the panic he had witnessed. We also performed the 9 Gamut Procedure several times while focusing on the phrase “panic in the plane.”
As Dave performed the eye movements used in the 9 Gamut Procedure, I noticed something interesting. His eyes seemed to skip or hesitate when moving through one particular quadrant of his visual field.
I had him repeat the eye movements through that quadrant several times. Eventually the skipping stopped.
That was my cue to ask Dave about the emotional intensity of the memory again. It had fallen from a 5 to just 1 out of 10.
Then I asked about his knee.
The pain that had been a 7 at the beginning of the session was now also just 1 out of 10.
At this point, Dave experienced an important cognitive shift. Looking back at the event from his new perspective, he said:
“I succeeded in not getting infected by the panic of the other passengers.”
Instead of experiencing himself simply as someone trapped in a terrifying situation, he could now recognize his own resilience. Despite the fear spreading through the cabin, he had maintained his composure.
There was still one more aspect I wanted to explore.
When people have experienced chronic pain for years, they may develop an underlying belief that the pain is permanent. Even when the original emotional trigger has been resolved, part of the mind may still be expecting the pain to return.
So I asked Dave whether he believed his knee pain could actually go away.
He replied that he believed it might.
We tapped on both possibilities:
“My pain might go away.”
“My pain might not go away.”
We alternated between these two possibilities for several rounds, allowing to accept himself fully with or without any particular outcome. We then performed the 9 Gamut Procedure again while focusing on these phrases.
Finally, I asked Dave to check his knee pain once more.
Zero.
The pain that had persisted for five years and had been a 7 out of 10 at the beginning of the session was now completely gone.
I also asked him to return mentally to the frightening experience on the airplane and check his reaction to the phrase:
“Panic in the plane.”
That was also zero.
This case illustrates the extraordinary connection between mind and body. Physical pain can have many causes and persistent pain should always be appropriately evaluated by a qualified healthcare professional. Yet sometimes an unresolved emotional experience can keep a pain pattern active long after the original event has passed.
By carefully identifying the specific aspects of Dave’s frightening flight—the sudden aborted landing, the unexplained climb, the panic spreading through the cabin, and especially the screaming woman across the aisle—we were able to use EFT to reduce the emotional charge associated with the memory.
As the emotional intensity disappeared, so did his physical pain.
The body and mind are not separate systems. When we follow a physical symptom back to the associated emotional experience, we discover a doorway to healing that has been waiting there for years.

Healing Stories: A Life Transformed Through EFT You never know where EFT might find you!

From Tears in a Jacuzzi to UC Davis Graduate: A Life Transformed Through EFT

Dear EFT Community,

EFT practitioner Inna Alper shares the remarkable story of a longtime friend whose struggles with English, confidence, and independence appeared connected to painful emotional experiences reaching back to childhood. Through several EFT tapping sessions, they explored the feelings and memories beneath those struggles. What followed was a dramatic transformation that eventually included learning English, earning two associate degrees, and continuing her education at UC Davis.

– EFT Universe

By Inna Alper, EFT Universe Certified Practitioner

An Emotional Block Revealed in an Unexpected Place

Representational image symbolizing confidence, education, and personal transformation through EFT

You never know where EFT might find you! One afternoon, my friend and I were relaxing in the jacuzzi of a Korean sauna when she suddenly broke down in tears, sharing her deep frustrations. She had been living in the U.S. for five years since moving from Azerbaijan but still struggled with English.

Despite all her efforts, she had been unable to attend any ESL classes or even book private lessons. This language barrier held her back in many areas of her life – she couldn’t pass her driving test, engage in meaningful conversations, or move freely on her own.

The weight of these frustrations left her feeling stuck, and right there, surrounded by steam and the comforting warmth of the jacuzzi, she cried. I felt her pain, and knowing EFT’s power, I asked if she would be willing to try tapping.

She agreed, desperate for a way out of her emotional block. We turned her back to the others in the sauna, and I began leading her through a round of tapping. It was an unplanned, spur-of-the-moment session that would change everything for her.

Tapping has been my self-help tool since 2010, and I became an EFT Practitioner certified through EFT Universe in 2022. I’ve worked with many people over the years, but this was a case close to my heart. We’d been friends for a long time, and I had seen her struggle.

What followed was one of the most transformative EFT journeys I’ve ever witnessed, and it’s a story I have to share.

Beginning With EFT’s Basic Recipe

After just four or five tapping sessions, her entire life shifted dramatically. We began with the Basic Recipe, focusing on her present emotional struggles. I mirrored her words, addressing the feelings and physical sensations in her body.

As we tapped, she acknowledged the trembling in her knees and legs, which had been present for years.

Our Setup Statement was simple but powerful:

“Even though I feel my knees and legs trembling and twisting, I love, accept, and forgive myself.”

Her SUD (Subjective Units of Distress) dropped to 6.

Connecting the Present Emotion to an Earlier Childhood Memory

Then I asked her to recall an earlier time when she felt these same sensations.

This led us to a memory from her first day of school, when her mother had left her alone in a classroom full of unfamiliar faces. Her knees and legs trembled just as they did now, and she had wanted to run away but couldn’t.

We tapped on the emotions and sensations tied to this event:

“Even though I was left alone and wanted to run, but couldn’t, I choose to honor and accept myself and how I feel.”

Her SUD dropped to 5.

Offering Comfort to Her Younger Self

As we worked through this memory, I improvised – though I now recognize it as one of the energy psychology techniques, at the time I simply followed my intuition, and it worked beautifully.

I invited her to imagine her adult self stepping into the scene, offering comfort to her younger self. They had a conversation, and her adult self reassured her little self that she loved her, offering comfort and even conjuring up her favorite toy and candies.

This playful and healing exchange was incredibly empowering.

We closed the session with the affirmation:

“Even though I still have some remaining emotions, I have enough time, tools, and space to work on them later.”

By the end of the session, her SUD had dropped to 2.

Addressing Shame, School Experiences, and Family Memories

That was just the beginning.

Over the next few sessions, we addressed other painful memories from her school days, including being labeled an “F” student, feelings of shame, bullying from teachers, and unresolved family dynamics.

Each time, we tapped away the emotional charge attached to these events, replacing fear with confidence and shame with self-acceptance.

From Struggling With English to Tutoring Other Students

The results were nothing short of extraordinary.

Within a year, she passed her driving test and earned her first U.S. driver’s license. She enrolled in ESL classes and began attending live yoga sessions.

By 2015, she had even started college to study English. To my amazement, she began tutoring other students in English shortly after!

This was the same woman who had struggled for five years to communicate.

Becoming an “A” Student

But the story doesn’t end there.

She continued working on her emotional growth with EFT and therapy, and in 2018, she graduated from college with an AA degree. In every class she took, she was an “A” student.

“All my life, I was a bad, shameful ‘F’ student, but in the U.S., I became an ‘A’ student, and now I won’t settle for anything less.”

Her transformation was even more remarkable considering that she had struggled academically in her home country, even in her native language.

Here, in a foreign land, mastering a foreign language, she not only succeeded but thrived. She earned two AA degrees – one in Liberal Arts and Communications and another in Psychology Transfer.

Continuing Her Journey at UC Davis

And she’s still going strong!

Today, she is an Honors student at UC Davis, working towards her next big academic goal of becoming a psychologist.

EFT was the catalyst that helped her break through emotional blocks that had limited her for years. Now, she’s living life fully, setting new goals, and achieving them with confidence and joy.

It has been a privilege to witness this incredible transformation, and I am grateful to share it with the EFT community.

May her story inspire others to embrace the power of EFT and open the door to their own limitless possibilities.

Healing Story: From Deadline Panic to Inner Peace Healing the Hidden Roots of Performance Anxiety with EFT

By Dawson Church,

A woman in her 30s came to session feeling intense anxiety about an upcoming professional deadline. She needed to submit certification case histories by March 1st, and although highly motivated, she felt overwhelmed each time she thought about it. She rated her distress as an 8 on the 0–10 Subjective Units of Distress (SUD) scale.
When asked what happened in her body as she imagined the deadline, she said, “My heart is jumping out of my throat.” We began with a round of general EFT tapping using the setup phrase:
“Even though my heart is jumping out of my throat thinking of the March 1st deadline, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
As we tapped, we included the thoughts fueling her stress: “There are only four weeks left,” “It’s not enough time,” “I’m in trouble,” and “That’s only days away.” After one round, her SUD level dropped from 8 to 5.
Finding the Real Trigger
Rather than the date itself, it soon became clear that what most distressed her was the act of submitting the session notes. I asked her to picture the last time she had pressed “submit.” Immediately, her anxiety rose again.
We focused on a recent specific event: submitting notes the previous Saturday. Her SUD was 8. As she described the moment, several aspects emerged. The first was the physical sensation of pressing submit and feeling her heart leap. The second was a thought: “It’s too much for her. It might overwhelm her.”
We tapped through these aspects using the Basic Recipe. After one round, distress around the physical sensation dropped sharply. A second round, combined with the 9 Gamut process and additional calming points, brought the remaining distress to 0.
Though the immediate trigger was cleared, I wanted to test whether deeper roots remained. I asked her to repeat the phrase, “I’m in trouble,” and notice how it felt in her body. Instantly, the same constriction returned.
Then I asked: “What’s the first time you remember feeling this way?”
Without hesitation, she said, “Geography class.”
The Childhood Event Beneath the Present Problem
She recalled a moment in high school when a teacher handed back a test marked with an F. The emotional charge was immediate: SUD 8.
Because time was limited, I asked which part felt worst. She said it was the disappointed look on the teacher’s face. She described feeling a vice grip around her heart. We tapped one round on that image, and the distress dropped to 0.
To test the result, I asked her to vividly imagine the scene again. She remained calm. But when I invited her to reenact the moment more fully, another memory surfaced: the teacher saying, “Not good enough.”
This phrase carried fresh emotional intensity. Her SUD rose to 3, and she again felt activation in her chest and throat. We tapped several more rounds, including a full Basic Recipe with the 9 Gamut process. I asked her to repeat the words in the teacher’s tone of voice, allowing the emotional charge to surface fully while tapping.
Within minutes, the intensity dissolved completely.
Cognitive Shifts and Reframing
As the charge released, new perspectives emerged naturally.
“He was mean to everyone,” she said. “It wasn’t personal.”
She then laughed and added, “My mentor is nothing like that now.”
This was the key shift. Her nervous system had been reacting to the present-day deadline as though it were another moment of criticism, failure, and humiliation. Once the original memory was neutralized, the current task no longer felt threatening.
When we revisited the recent event of submitting notes, she felt no distress at all. The earlier panic had been replaced with calm and perspective.
Reflections
This case illustrates how present-day anxiety is often not about the current situation at all. A deadline, an email, or a form to submit may simply activate unresolved emotional memories from the past. The mind sees today’s task; the nervous system remembers yesterday’s pain.
By using EFT to address both the immediate trigger and the earlier formative event, the client was able to move from dread to peace in a single session.
For homework, she was encouraged to continue tapping on other memories involving critical teachers or authority figures, reinforcing the freedom gained in session.

Healing Story: Healing Old Embarrassment and Family Conflict with EFT

By: Anonymous Practitioner

 
Presenting Issue:
Difficulty communicating with her live-in granddaughter.
 
Client Background:
“Margaret,” a woman in her 60s, shared that her relationship with her two granddaughters had become tense. They often corrected her for “interrupting” or scolded her for small household issues. Though she loved them deeply, these interactions left her feeling unheard and disrespected. She said, “I feel like I can’t do anything right.” This was her first EFT session.
 
Specific Event:
Margaret described a recent conflict involving one granddaughter’s dog. She had found the dog’s mess on the floor, cleaned it with bleach, and left the solution to sit for a few minutes. When her granddaughter came home, she yelled at her for “leaving bleach on the floor.” The other granddaughter remained silent. Margaret’s stress level (SUD) was 10 as she recalled the scene—the raised voice, the smell of bleach, and her sense of being unfairly blamed.
 
EFT Process:
After a brief explanation of EFT and the tapping points, we began with the setup statement:
“Even though I came home and there was poop on the floor that I tried to clean up, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
Using reminder phrases such as “poop on the floor” and “I cleaned it up,” we tapped through two rounds of the Basic Recipe. Her SUD dropped from 10 to 3. A second round focusing on “I feel guilty if I don’t clean up” and “my granddaughters should train their dogs” reduced her distress to 2.
 
As we continued tapping, Margaret reflected, “I always feel like I’m wrong.” This opened a connection to an early school memory.
 
Childhood Core Event:
She remembered being in grade school, standing to answer a question. Her answer was correct, and the teacher said, “Everyone listen to her—she’s right.” The entire class turned to look. What might have been praise instead felt humiliating. Her SUD rose again to 10.
 
We tapped using the setup statement:
“Even though everyone was looking at me and the teacher told them to listen to me because I was right, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
After three rounds, her SUD dropped to 0. She noted, “I don’t feel that embarrassment anymore.” When invited to sense any remaining emotion in her body, she couldn’t locate any tension.
 
We tapped once more on the phrase, “Even though I was embarrassed, I’m okay now,” bringing a mild residual SUD of 7 down to calm neutrality.
 
Session Outcome:
The session ended with “Sneaking Away,” acknowledging that we would continue the work next time. We tapped together using the phrase, “Even though there’s more to do, I’m safe and okay until next time.” Margaret smiled and said, “I feel wonderful!”
 
Practitioner’s Reflection:
This first EFT session helped Margaret release the emotional charge of both the present conflict and its deeper roots in childhood embarrassment. Her demeanor softened noticeably. Though more work remains, she left the session relaxed, hopeful, and intrigued by EFT’s power to dissolve lifelong patterns of self-blame and guilt.

Healing Story: Releasing Deadline Anxiety and Discovering the Root of “Not Good Enough”

By: Christine Delgado

 
GL, a woman in her 30s, came to her first EFT session feeling anxious about a looming March 1st deadline for submitting her certification case histories. Although she was familiar with EFT and Energy Psychology techniques, she described her anxiety as “heart-jumping-out-of-my-throat” intensity—rating it an 8 on the SUD scale. The thought of falling short on time filled her with dread and self-doubt.
 
The Immediate Trigger: “Submitting the Notes”
 
To begin, we tapped on the immediate stressor—the act of submitting her notes. Using the Setup Statement, she said,
“Even though I feel my heart jumping out of my throat thinking about the March 1st deadline, I accept myself.”
We included several of her anxious thoughts, such as “Four weeks left,” “It’s not enough time,” and “I’m in trouble.” After one round, her SUD score dropped from 8 to 5.
 
When I asked what she visualized as she thought about the deadline, she said she saw herself pressing the “Submit” button on her session notes. We tapped on this image using the Basic Recipe, addressing both the physical sensation (“heart leaping”) and the cognitive thought (“It’s too much for her; it might overwhelm her”). After one round, her SUD decreased from 7 to 3. A second round with the 9 Gamut and alternate points brought it to zero.
 
She felt calmer and more grounded. To test, I asked her to imagine pressing “Submit” again. No emotional charge remained.
 
The Deeper Root: “I’m in Trouble”
 
When I asked her to say the phrase “I’m in trouble” and notice what arose in her body, she immediately reported a sinking feeling in her chest and recalled a childhood memory: receiving an “F” on a geography test in high school.
 
We tapped on this event—“That one time when I got an F in geography class.” The initial SUD was 8. I invited her to identify the most distressing aspect. She said it was the disappointed look on her teacher’s face. “It felt like a vice grip around my heart.”
 
After one round of tapping on the visual image of that expression, the SUD dropped to zero. Testing with vivid imagination—recalling the look, the classroom, the paper in her hand—still produced no charge. Then she remembered hearing the teacher’s words: “Not good enough.” Saying the phrase aloud raised her SUD to 3.
 
We did two more rounds of the Full Basic Recipe, including the 9 Gamut and alternate points, focusing on the auditory aspect—the exact tone of the teacher’s voice. Afterward, the SUD dropped to zero.
 
Cognitive Shifts and Integration
 
As the emotional charge dissipated, GL experienced spontaneous reframes. She realized, “He was mean to everyone—it wasn’t personal.” She laughed and added, “My mentor now isn’t anything like that!” These cognitive shifts marked a clear release of old associations between evaluation and shame.
 
We used Sneaking Away and Reframing to help her consolidate the insight and recognize how her current situation differed from the past. She noted feeling lighthearted and even amused by how strongly that old school memory had been coloring her present-day anxiety.
 
When we revisited the original stressor—submitting her certification notes—she reported complete peace. “It feels neutral now,” she said. “I can just do it.”
 
Follow-Up and Homework
 
I suggested she continue tapping on memories involving “mean teachers” or times she had to submit work under pressure. These represented similar patterns of fear of judgment and not measuring up. She agreed that recognizing these echoes from childhood made the current deadline feel far less intimidating.
 
Reflections on the Session
 
This session demonstrated how quickly EFT can resolve anxiety when a specific event is identified. In less than an hour, GL’s SUD scores dropped from 8 to zero on both the recent and childhood events. The presenting issue—deadline anxiety—was completely neutralized after linking it to the earlier core belief, “I’m not good enough.”
 
The most striking moment came when she realized the power of that old geography classroom memory. What had once felt like life-or-death judgment was now simply a long-ago experience of a stressed teacher. Her physiology and emotions responded immediately to the shift in perception.
 
Had time permitted, we might have explored additional early experiences of criticism to further reinforce her sense of confidence. Still, the outcome was clear: GL ended the session calm, self-accepting, and ready to meet her deadline without fear.
 
Client Results Summary
 
Presenting Issue: Anxiety about meeting a professional deadline
 
Initial SUD: 8
 
Final SUD: 0
 
Key Cognitive Shift: “It wasn’t personal.”
 
Primary Techniques Used: Basic Recipe, Full Basic Recipe with 9 Gamut, Reframing, Sneaking Away, Vivid Imagination Testing
 
Outcome: Complete resolution of anxiety and newfound self-compassion around performance and evaluation.

Healing Story: When a Deadline Awakens an Old Voice of “Not Good Enough”

By: Dawson Church

 
“Gina,” a woman in her 30s and an experienced practitioner-in-training, sought an EFT session to address intense anxiety related to an upcoming certification deadline. Although highly familiar with Emotional Freedom Techniques and energy psychology methods, she found herself feeling increasingly distressed as the March 1 submission date approached. Simply thinking about the deadline triggered a strong physiological response, which she rated as an 8 on the Subjective Units of Distress (SUD) scale.
 
Her anxiety centered not just on the date itself, but on the act of submitting her session notes. She described a sudden “heart-leaping” sensation and intrusive thoughts such as, “There’s not enough time,” “I’m in trouble,” and “This is too much.”
 
Initial EFT Work: The Presenting Problem
 
We began with a round of general tapping on the immediate distress:
 
“Even though my heart feels like it’s jumping out of my throat when I think about this deadline, I accept myself.”
 
After one round of tapping on the physical sensations and associated thoughts, Gina’s SUD level dropped from an 8 to a 5. To become more specific, I asked what she was visualizing when she thought about the deadline. She clarified that the most charged moment was pressing “submit” on her session notes.
 
Using the Basic Recipe, we targeted a recent event: submitting session notes on a prior occasion. Several aspects emerged, including the bodily jolt when clicking “submit” and the thought, “This might overwhelm my mentor.” After two rounds of tapping—one incorporating the 9-Gamut procedure and additional calming points—the SUD level for these aspects dropped to 0.
 
Bridging to the Past
 
Although the immediate anxiety had resolved, a core belief remained. When I asked her to say the phrase “I’m in trouble” and notice what she felt in her body, Gina immediately connected with a familiar emotional pattern. Without hesitation, she recalled a specific memory from high school: receiving a failing grade in geography.
 
The distress around this childhood event registered as an 8 on the SUD scale.
 
Childhood Event: The Original Imprint
 
Using the Tell the Story approach, we identified the most emotionally charged aspects of the memory. Three stood out:
 
The disappointed look on the teacher’s face (visual aspect, with a “vice grip” sensation around her heart).
 
The implication that she hadn’t tried hard enough (cognitive aspect).
 
The teacher’s exact words: “Not good enough” (auditory aspect).
 
We began by tapping on the visual aspect. After one round, the SUD dropped from 8 to 0. Testing with vivid imagination confirmed the emotional charge had cleared. However, when Gina reenacted the teacher’s voice saying “not good enough,” a residual SUD of 3 surfaced.
 
Two additional rounds of EFT were applied, using the Full Basic Recipe with the 9-Gamut procedure and alternate tapping points. I invited her to repeat the phrase exactly as she remembered hearing it. This time, the emotional intensity dropped to 0, accompanied by spontaneous cognitive shifts. Gina noted that she could now see the teacher’s behavior as impersonal and harsh toward many students, rather than a reflection of her own worth.
 
Reframing and Integration
 
We concluded with reframing and the Sneaking Away technique to consolidate gains and gently acknowledge additional memories she might choose to address in the future. Gina clearly differentiated between the past authority figure and her present mentor, observing with relief that “This situation is nothing like that one.”
 
A final check confirmed that both the childhood memory and the recent submission event carried no emotional charge. Although we did not formally re-rate her anxiety about the upcoming deadline, Gina reported a lingering sense of calm and confidence.
 
Outcome and Follow-Up
 
By tracing present-day deadline anxiety to an earlier experience of shame and perceived inadequacy, EFT enabled a rapid and lasting shift. What initially appeared to be time pressure was revealed as an old emotional imprint activated by evaluation and authority. Gina was encouraged to continue tapping on similar memories involving critical teachers or evaluative situations as homework.
 
This session illustrates how even seasoned practitioners can carry unresolved emotional learning—and how quickly those patterns can dissolve when the true root event is addressed with precision EFT.

Fear of the Dentist

Fear of the Dentist

by Ivana Solar

My daughter is 11 years old and not a fan of tapping. She would say it was stupid and it didn’t work for her.

She was extremely afraid of visiting the dentist and would sob in the dentist chair.

We had several sessions before going over the specific aspects of visiting the dentist—smell of the office, keeping her mouth open, dentist’s hand approaching her mouth. In those sessions, the SUD level went down to almost 0, but when she went to the dentist, it didn’t go well.

Before the session I’m writing about here, we watched a video in which a mother did EFT with her daughter about the same age as my daughter. We also watched a video in which a woman tapped on her dog (we also have a dog).

We started with the body sensations and she said she only felt the fear in her head, at SUD 10. We did a round of the Basic Recipe on fear, beginning with “Even though I am afraid of going to the dentist and I feel this fear in my head, I am OK.” We used “I am OK” instead of “I love and accept myself.”

The Reminder Phrase was: “this fear I feel, fear in my head.”

Nothing much changed. The fear was still there in her head at SUD 9. She rolled her eyes, telling me this was not going to work. It occurred to me to address her resistance and the fact that she didn’t think it was going to work for her.

We didn’t measure the SUD on that but just started sneaking up on it, doing the Basic Recipe. The Setup Statement this time was: “Even though I am afraid of going to the dentist and this will never go away, and I will be afraid of going to the dentist’s forever, I am OK.”

The Reminder Phrase was: “I will always be afraid, this will never go away, this is not helping me, this doesn’t work for me.”

After this, the SUD on fear went down to 7. We continued using the same words and the SUD went down to 5.

Then we changed the Setup: “Even though I feel a bit less afraid, it was 10/10 and now it is 5/10, but I still don’t think this is helping and there is nothing that can work for me, I am OK.”

The Reminder Phrase was: “It was 10/10 and now it is 5/10, nothing can work for me, there is nothing to help me with this, I will always be afraid, going to the dentist is scary, nothing can change that, I might die in the chair.” The SUD on fear was 3.

I suggested she take a plush toy with her so the toy could keep the fear for her. We changed the Setup again: “Even though this might be a bit helpful, and I am a little less afraid, but I will always feel fear of going to the dentist, and now I also have my toy with me, I am OK.”

The Reminder Phrase was: “I will always be afraid, I have my toy, this doesn’t help me, this helps me a bit.” The SUD was 0.5 and that was the end.

The session lasted for about half an hour. She visited the dentist’s office twice after this session and it went better than ever. She didn’t cry and she felt much better. On the last visit, she had her tooth taken out and another tooth taken care of which otherwise would have taken two to three visits each.

Ready to Become a Certified EFT Practitioner? General Enrollment opens on Oct 13, 2026.

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