As mentioned, positive results can be experienced the first time you use EFT. Since problems tend to have many aspects to them, however, it’s more likely that you’ll have to use it over time to achieve the results you seek, especially if you’ve had the problem for a long time.  Problems may seem to be one thing, but, as you begin to work with them, you may discover that they have layers to them, like an onion.  For example, if you happened to witness a pregnant woman experiencing morning sickness at a time when you were particularly impressionable, you may have developed a subconscious belief that the sickness must occur in your pregnancy as well.  By tapping on the issue of the morning sickness, you may be able to uncover that memory of witnessing someone else with it, tap on that memory, and, by so doing, realize that it’s perfectly possible to have a sickness-free pregnancy.

You can use EFT at any time during your pregnancy, and meditation can help to solidify its healing effects.  Read my other blog post entitled Using Guided Meditation to Thrive in Pregnancy and Postpartum, for details on how. After any session of EFT, it can be even more helpful to utilize a guided meditation in which you imagine your life the way you want it to be.  Both EFT and guided meditation are very effective techniques.  Let’s say that you’re experiencing back pain associated with pregnancy, and you’d like to use EFT to alleviate it.  Of course, always check first with your doctor to make sure there isn’t a bigger problem, but if it’s simply a matter of releasing pain, EFT is a great way to do it.

The first step is to write down a few details about the problem you want to release.  While you’re using EFT, you speak phrases about the problem, and it’s easier to see them in print before you than to come up with them as you tap.  As specifically as possible, write about where the pain (if it’s pain) is, what you think the cause may be, and any other details you know.

Next, choose a number from one to ten that represents how distressing the problem is to you.  That’s called the Subjective Units of Distress or SUDs number. Chances are pretty good that, if it’s bad enough that you want to change it, it will be higher than a five.  If it doesn’t seem to be especially bad when you have time to tap, but it did on another occasion, try to remember what that felt like, and choose that number.  The higher the number you start with, the more progress you will make.  Be honest.  It won’t help to choose a high number just for the sake of doing so.

When you’ve chosen the number, write a Setup Statement.  This is a specific-to-you version of, “Even though I [have this problem], I deeply and completely love, accept and forgive myself.”  If you’re having back pain, you might write, “Even though my back is in terrible pain, I deeply and completely love, accept, and forgive myself.”  You’ll either repeat this phrase two times during EFT, or, if you want, you can write three versions of it.  For example, the one above, plus, “Even though the pain is awful, I deeply and completely love, accept, and forgive myself,” and, maybe, “Even though this back pain keeps me awake at night (if that’s true), I deeply and completely love, accept, and forgive myself.”

Then you begin tapping.  The first place you tap is the outside, fleshy part of your hand, called the Side of Hand point.  You tap there long enough to say your Setup Statement three times or to speak each of your three phrases.  When that’s done, you tap the other points:  Eyebrow, which is the inside beginning of your eyebrow; Side of Eye, the bone at the side of your eye; Under Eye, the bone under your eye; Under Nose, the area just below your nose, so you feel it in your top gum; Chin, just below your bottom lip, so you feel it in your bottom gum; Collar Bone, about an inch below and out from your clavicle bump; Under Arm, about a hand’s width below your armpit; and Top of Head, the crown of your head.  You can tap points on either side, left or right, or both sides. As you tap on each point, speak a Reminder Statement, such as “All this back pain,” “The pain is awful,” “It’s so bad, it keeps me up at night,” and so on. 

Tap enough rounds that you begin to feel relief.  One round equals the three Set-Up Statements, plus five or six rounds of Reminder Statements.  When you feel some relief, stop tapping, take in a long, slow, deep breath, and reassess the SUDs number.  It should be lower.  If it isn’t, tap more.  The goal is to tap enough that you get your number down to a one or two, and maybe even zero.  If you use the process every day, you can make great improvement in a short time.  If you’re interested in pregnancy meditation classes with Emotional Freedom Technique, contact me for private coaching sessions.  We can create one that will really help you.