Dear Readers,
Rob Nelson says of his client, “After a few rounds of this, her pain was down to zero. Judy was astonished! She began moving her head from side to side, cautiously at first and then swinging it all around wildly. I was alarmed by this, but Judy was ecstatic–pain free for the first time in years.” Email Rob and visit Rob’s website.
-David MacKay
By Rob Nelson
For many years I had a massage therapy practice, and every so often I still see a few of my old clients.
“Judy” had been coming to me for about nine years. She had been injured doing assembly work in a factory, and every few months her neck and shoulders would get so tight she’d end up with terrible headaches. When the pain was too intense she’d come to me for massage and that would usually do the trick for about six weeks or so.
One day Judy showed up for a massage in just terrible shape. Her neck was so stiff she couldn’t even turn her head from side to side–she had to move her whole torso. Her pain was about a 9 out of 10. She was in such distress I decided we should try some tapping before the massage. I had no idea whether it would really help–she’d once told me about seeing the damage to her neck on x-rays, but I knew we should try it.
I had Judy tap on her karate chop point and repeat: “Even though I have this neck pain, I deeply and completely accept myself”. I had her say this three times, then we went through the full basic recipe, with the 9 gamut and all, using “this neck pain” as the reminder phrase. Her pain level dropped pretty quickly down to a 6 or 7. That got her attention!
We followed up with “Even though I still have some of this neck pain” with the reminder phrase “this remaining neck pain”. This dropped the pain level down to about a 4, then another round got it down to a 3. At this point progress seemed to stall, so I asked if she thought there was an emotional contributor to the pain. Judy didn’t blink an eye “Oh yes!” she said, “anger!”.
So next we tapped on:
“Even though this pain has kept me from living the life I wanted to live.”
“Even though I’m angry at my supervisor for not protecting me.”
“Even though I’m angry at the company for trying to deny my disability claim”
“Even though I’m totally sick of this pain and angry it won’t get better”
“Even though I’m angry at my body”.
After a few rounds of this, her pain was down to zero. Judy was astonished! She began moving her head from side to side, cautiously at first and then swinging it all around wildly. I was alarmed by this, but Judy was ecstatic–pain free for the first time in years.
I had been watching the clock and in just ten minutes we’d accomplished far more than 75 minutes of intensive massage therapy. This was one of those genuine “ten minute miracles” you hear about. They certainly don’t happen every time (and expecting them to probably leads to disappointment and giving up), but they really do happen sometimes, and it’s a wonderful experience.
I told Judy that I didn’t know if we’d solved the problem forever, but if it came back then she’d be able to tap on the pain as soon as it was noticeable, and before it got very bad. She loved the idea of being in control of the situation, after so many years of feeling victimized by the injury.
I saw Judy one last time, about four months later. She called for a massage and I assumed her neck had started hurting again, but she said no. It was just a little tension in her lower back from doing yoga. I think she’d almost forgotten she’d had a chronic neck problem.
So this is how I lost a regular massage client to EFT, but I’m not complaining! It’s an incredible joy to see someone heal like that. I’m so grateful to all my teachers for this wonderful healing miracle.
