When I first started using EFT, I used it exclusively on myself for about 1 year and a half on various issues (both physical & emotional). Soon, I built up my confidence in the technique I started using it privately with friends & family members, and I introduced EFT to my own children.
When my six year old would fall and hurt his knees, I would gently tap under his collarbone to calm him down. I also got great results with EFT and earaches at night, when I would tap on my children in order to help them go to sleep despite a sore ear.
I then taught the tapping routine to my eldest son (he was 8 at the time) and started working with him on other issues maybe a bit more demanding or tricky to deal with than a simple physical pain. Each night I would help with any of the day's events that might have negatively affected my children's day. They would often mention a particular problem themselves. They might feel unjustly treated compare to their siblings, or upset at the loss of a toy or of the family cat, etc.
Sometimes I would tap on them directly; sometimes they would tap themselves. Children tend to find it very funny and enjoy the tapping as if it were a game.
One issue which I have dealt with using EFT is thumb sucking.
When my second child was 7 years old, my husband grew increasingly annoyed at the fact that he was still sucking his thumb. Personally, it did not bother me so much as I still saw him as "my baby", but what started to irritate me (and my child) was my husband's reaction to this habit. So I decided to sort out the problem once and for all.
It took me a whole of 10 minutes of tapping one night when I was putting my son in the bed. We tapped on the following:
Even though I don't want to give up sucking my thumb because I like it too much and it tastes lovely, I am a great kid anyway.
Even though I love sucking my thumb and I just don't want to give it up because it is a great comfort to me, I know I am a cool dude anyway.
Even though I will be lost if I cannot suck my thumb any more, I choose to relax and let it be easy to go without it no matter what.
We did about 3 full rounds of tapping on the above affirmations. And that was it... he never sucked his thumb again, and my husband stopped nagging him ;-) My son is now in his teenage years and never went back to the thumb after that night.
Recently, I had to deal with yet again a thumb sucking issue with 10 year old Fionn*. Fionn came to me as he was actually desperate to give up the thumb. He had tried many times and failed and was at a point where he thought he would never succeed… He was desperate to stop as the sucking was having a negative effect on his front teeth which had started to protrude. They were now so much out that Fionn’s father had booked him to see the orthodontist. Fionn’s dad kept telling him that if he did not stop the sucking, the orthodontist would refuse to put the much needed braces on his teeth as there would be no point doing so. Fionn, who could not help sucking, had started hiding his “bad” habit from his parents and had become very anxious about the whole issue which was now a point of contention in Fionn’s home.
So when I first used tapping with Fionn, I worked on the “usual suspects” (as this had worked so well when helping my own son) i.e. the anxiety that “stopping the thumb” would bring: the loss of comfort, the fear of going without, the loss of his “best friend”, etc.
After a few rounds of tapping, Fionn felt more relaxed about the whole issue but I could tell he was still troubled. After a bit of investigation, he told me that he was actually really scared of having to wear braces. He thought that “people” would laugh at him and bully him. When I asked who these “people” would be he said “other children” but that also his friends would eventually join them in laughing at him. So, he had worked out that, if he carried on sucking his thumb, the orthodontist would not give him the braces and there would be no laughing, nor bullying….
Once we tap on all these aspects, Fionn relaxed and for the first time since he had arrived in my office, he started smiling. After a few minutes of tapping, he completely changed his rationale about the issue. His fear of wearing braces vanished. He was no longer anxious at the prospect of being laughed at & bullied. He told me: “Actually, it is not that difficult to give up. I am sure I can do it this time.”
Since our session, Fionn has stopped sucking his thump. Bed time was a “bad” time for him as he was going to the thumb like “automatically”, not even realizing what he was doing. A few days after our session, as he was having breakfast, Fionn was delighted to tell his mum: “My thumb is “bone dry”!!!” At the time of writing this article, Fionn has been without the thumb for over 8 months now.
One aspect of my energy healing practice which I particularly like is finding out the underlying feelings behind the issues that people bring to me. Over the years, I have dealt with many similar “cases”, however each have been different in their own ways. Anxiety can take so many diverse forms. We are all different and feel things very differently. I am so grateful for EFT! It makes it so easy to solve issues that often seem impossible to resolve. It is such an elegant modality, especially when dealing with children. When I can put a smile back on my clients’ face - that makes my days.
