By Kandi Eden
When Liz (not her real name) started this session with me, she was not feeling her chronic, lower back pain, but it could debilitate her when she was dishwashing or gardening.
She moved to a new country about three years ago and had been happy with the neighbors much of the time. Recently, however, particularly since the COVID-19 virus had caused her to work from home, one set of her neighbors had become abusive and threatening. They had shouted at her about something that was not her fault or responsibility. She had started feeling unsafe in her own home.
I wondered if there was a link connecting the lower back pain to the feeling of insecurity and decided to start with the somatic symptom to see where it would lead. As she did not have the pain at the time, I asked her if she could create an image to represent the pain so that she could visualize it to see if it would change with Emotional Freedom Techniques.
She imagined a ball of fire in her lower back at an intensity of 8 out of 10. The intensity did not drop much, but the image moved to her stomach. Chasing the Pain, we followed it, using the Full Basic Recipe, until the size and brightness was reduced to 4 out of 10.
It was at this time that she mentioned that her neighbors had become abusive and she felt unsafe in her home. We directed the tapping with the following Setup phrases:
Even though I feel unsafe in my own home…
Even though I feel locked into my home…
Even though I don’t feel welcome here…
She began to cry, so I had her continue tapping on the side of her hand and I suggested using a gentle technique. She chose to go ahead with the method we were using, saying, “I can’t feel any more in danger that I do already.” The intensity was 10 out of 10.
We tapped on security at home:
Even though I am not welcome here…
Even though I feel trapped at home…
When the SUD was at 5, she told me that she had been a sick child from birth and wished she had never “decided” to come and take on a body and that she had never felt welcomed by her body. The SUD level was 8.
So we focused on that:
Even though I am not welcome in this body…
Even though I feel trapped in this body…
Even though I don’t want to be in this body…
As the SUD level dropped to 3, we started to alternate the phrases with positive and negative statements and the conflict between them.
Even though my body doesn’t welcome me…
I am welcome in this body, I am not welcome
I don’t want this body, I welcome this body
I could see her face brighten and, at the end of a round of the Full Basic Recipe, she said she felt a huge shift. The SUD level was 0. She realized that her body represents her home and the idea of insecurity was a reflection of how she felt inside.
We ended with a positive round, “I honor my body, I feel comfortable in my body, I flow together.” She felt that the neighbors were feeling trapped too and directing their frustration at her. She could forgive and ignore them.
