The Emotional Freedom Technique is a method
developed by Gary Craig. It is based on the work of Roger
Callahan, EFT is a simple method of tapping on certain meridian
points of the body while saying a phrase that goes something
like this
"Even though I have this (condition,
pain, sickness or whatever) I deeply and completely accept
myself.
It can be used on yourself or with massage
clients to enhance their massage sessions. You can also teach it
to clients to do on themselves or refer them to the emofree.com
website to download the free manual and purchase the training
materials. It isn't psychotherapy and it should not be
confused as such.
As with anything, you need to have proper
training and EFT offers a certification program. That does
not mean you will be able to practice it under your massage
license so you will need to check to see if it is within your
scope of practice.
You can compare the work to
other forms of massage and bodywork that use talk as part of the
massage such as Hellerwork who uses the Voice Dialogue Method,
Hakomi or Rosen Method or Rubenfield synergy method.
Working with clients using verbal interactions
requires that you know your boundaries around what comes up and
always keep the session focused on the client and the physical
body. If material from the past comes up you can redirect
them to their body and where they are feeling it. Staying
in the present moment and not going into the past with the
person requires that you do your own healing work and be able to
have your feelings without having to do anything about them.
It is important to get training in that and also get regular
supervision sessions to support you on your path of being
present.
Update: 07/09 - There may be some
confusion surrounding scope of practice and doing EFT.
Recently I was contacted and told that a massage therapist
practicing EFT on a client was sued for doing so saying that it
was outside of their scope of practice. Without knowing
the details of the case all I can say is be sure of what you are
doing and know what is required in your state to practice EFT as
Gary Craig recommends on his website :
By comparison to almost any other process, EFT is quite
gentle and rarely has any serious side effects. It is often
used instead of other procedures, such as EMDR, TIR or
"Flooding" because of its gentle nature. In 1997, an
informal questionnaire was put out to 250 therapists asking
for descriptions of significant abreactions with EFT or TFT.
Out of an estimated 10,000 applications of these energy
tapping procedures only 20 such cases were reported. This
approximates 2/10 of 1%. This informal questionnaire is not
put forward as an official study and therefore does not
suggest that there is minimal risk involved. Anyone using
EFT must assume full responsibility for their results and is
advised to mention to clients the possibility of abreaction
or other negative effects.
Using EFT with Massage on
Emofree.com
EFT to increase Range of Motion
Can EFT be combined with other therapies?
