|
 Editor's
Note:
This
month our columnists give you some simple and efficient techniques
to help you with your "stuff." Alex adds a new dimension to
tapping. Dave and Rehana each give us an NLP technique that
is easy and quick to help us change states, and Tom provides
us with an Energy Medicine Exercise to help fine-tune our bodies.
By the time we've tried out these great suggestions we'll all
be feeling better!
Tapping
with Intent
by Dr. Alexander R. Lees
Last
month in Reflections Berit mentioned Lynne McTaggart's
book, The Intention Experiment. Within its pages you
will find plenty of evidence regarding the importance of intention
and its power to influence outcomes.
This month I'd like to talk about intent and/or intention and
tapping, but I'd like to backtrack for a moment, just for a
more clear understanding. Over the years of teaching EFT to
thousands of people I have received feedback attesting to its
power in dealing with a variety of issues, both big and small.
I've also received feedback from frustrated and/or disappointed
individuals wondering why it wasn't working for them.
If I were to sum up the one issue offering the most "resistance"
for a person when they are tapping (be it as a practitioner
or on yourself) it seems to be intention. What do I mean by
that? Let's begin with a definition of the words:
Intent:
a purpose; resolved, determined; attentively occupied
Intention:
a thing intended; an aim or purpose
One area that may be the cause for "it's not working" could
have to do with how you answer the following questions:
- What
specifically is your aim or purpose when tapping?
-
What is the outcome you are focussing your attention on while
you're tapping?
-
Have you thought about how you intend to go about tapping?
-
Are you attentively occupied on the tapping, or
- are
you wondering if you're doing "it" right?
- are
you concerned about how many times to tap each point?
- how
about the amount of pressure you are using?
-
are you simply hoping it works?
If any of these questions (these are only some examples, and
I'm sure there are many more) are floating in and out of your
thoughts while tapping yourself or someone else, then your ability
to focus your attention, and achieve your desired outcome, will
be compromised.
The
reason is that this interference will in turn affect your intention,
and the compromised intention can and will affect the outcome
of the tapping.
Let's have a look at an example of how to use intention with
the tapping.
Once you have clarified what, specifically you are going to
be tapping on, that is the removal of some unwanted emotional
response, or to tap in a resource (i.e., “I choose to
be more comfortable when ‘X’ situation occurs.”) it is then
very useful to take a moment to breathe, and turn your attention
inwards.
As you do this - turn your attention inwards - take a moment
to form a clear representation of the outcome you desire from
the tapping.
By way of example, let's suppose you have decided to remove
a fear of dogs. I was going to say "widgets" but feel that the
poor widgets have been maligned and overly picked on. So, this
time it's dogs. Take a moment, turn your attention inwards and
imagine what it would be like to be free of your fear of dogs.
By this I mean imagine yourself, for a moment, in the presence
of a dog that you used to be afraid of. Now see yourself
looking comfortable with that same dog. This represents the
intention.
For some, making this image will be easy. For others, saying
something like, "Imagine being free of this fear," or "Imagine,
feeling what it would feel like to be able to
be with a dog free of fear." This same concept applies for your
client, if you are working with one.
Some may wonder how sharp the image should be, or how loud the
voice, or even how strong a feeling is needed to do it right.
While there is no argument that addressing these issues may
help, it is useful to remember the intention is the key.
The more clearly you can represent being free of the fear of
dogs, (either you being free, or representing your 'client'
being free of it) the clearer your intention is, and the more
you have enhanced your ability to achieve it.
To repeat: Once you have a sense (intention) of the outcome,
you can now repeat a reminder phrase such as, "This fear of
dogs" whilst holding the intended outcome in the back of your
mind.
Again, spending some time to relax, then form a clear internal
representation of the desired outcome (intention) will go a
long way to upping the possibilities of achieving it, so make
a promise to yourself, and practise, practise, practise. Then
surprise and delight yourself with your ever increasing success
rate.
P.S. On one feedback sheet, a workshop participant stated: "Thank
you for mentioning intention to us during one of our practise
sessions. I tapped in 'I choose to have a clearer and more precise
intention when tapping myself or others.' It worked!"
|
Note
for Drivers
DRIVERS: If a car breaks down or stalls in front of you,
beep your horn and wave your arms frantically. This should
help the car start and send them on their way
|
 Contributing
Columnist Dave Marshall is retired and lives in Spain. Before
his retirement he taught NLP (he's an NLP Master Trainer)
and now has a website with lots of free information on NLP.
You can contact Dave at www.nlpman.eu
_______________________________________
Something
to do before you get out of bed!
by David Marshall
Have
you ever had one of those times when something didn't go right
and you felt very uncomfortable about it? Well this happened
to a friend of mine, he had just run a course for a client
that didn't go well because the audience were too experienced
for that level of training. This happened because of incorrect
publicity material distributed by the client. It had happened
two weeks before we met and he was still feeling quite upset
about it.
This reminded me of something that I had learnt on the NLP
Master Practitioner training that I had attended in Hawaii.
It was there I met a Puerto Rican guy called Ray. He had been
a Major in the US army and had many tales to tell. On this
occasion, Ray asked me if I remembered the eye movement theory,
which of course I did, because it was a really interesting
part of NLP Practitioner level training. You may know that
the theory says that the way people move their eyes is an
indication to how they are thinking (seeing images, hearing
sounds, talking to themselves or getting a feeling). Although
many studies have failed to conclusively prove this, it still
seems to have some interesting effects.
Ray asked me to remember an unpleasant experience. Immediately
I had a flash back to the worst boss I ever had and I had
that feeling you get when someone criticises you unjustly.
Ray watched my eye movements and said, "That's interesting,
your eyes went up to your left and then down to your right."
According to eye movement theory that meant I had recalled
something visually and then got a feeling. I said that was
absolutely right and he said, "See what happens if you do
this, watch my finger."
He held his finger in front of my face and moved it from the
centre diagonally to my left, back to the centre, horizontally
to the left, back to centre, diagonally down to the left,
and back to centre, diagonally down to the right, back to
centre, horizontally to my right, and back to centre, and
finally, diagonally to my right and which point I started
laughing! I was amazed at that! Now I thought that the old
boss was just a stupid man who lacked knowledge of the subject
being discussed. What Ray had just demonstrated was what became
known as "breaking a synaesthesia" and has been developed
further into a useful therapy called Eye Movement Desensitization
Routine (EMDR) which is now used a lot in the treatment of
PTSD. It is particularly good because there is very little
talking involved.
It is a really good way of getting rid of unwanted feelings
which you can do for yourself, and that includes getting rid
of the curse of the modern society - stress! You can even
use it in a preventative fashion. So that, let's say, you're
expecting to have a meeting with someone, or you have do something,
that you feel uncomfortable about. Some time before the event,
even before you get up in the morning, just lie in bed and
think about the meeting. Maybe get a visual image of the person
or thing causing the problem, and, purposefully move your
eyes around the positions. You can do this in almost any way
you like or you can move them from your upper left to your
lower right and your upper right to your lower left and horizontally
from left to right. I always used to go round in circle, like
Ray did when showed me, but it seems that an X pattern, a
square pattern or even random movements will work. You need
to do the movements from 5 to 10 times quite quickly and the
feeling should become disconnected from the thought that it
is connected to, and you will probably find that the visual
image changes as well. You can even do it as a simple exercise
to start the day.
So when I asked my fellow trainer if he wanted to get rid
of the bad feeling he had about the course he had just run,
he said yes. So I did exactly what Ray had shown me - just
one round and he laughed and said, "It's not my bloody fault
they sent the wrong people".
So, can it really be that easy to change the way you think
about something? Yes, it can!
 Contributing
Columnist Rehana Webster (in New Zealand) is an EFT Master and
NLP Master Practitioner, and also conducts seminars/workshops
internationally.
You
can contact Rehana at webstar@ps.gen.nz
or visit her website at www.behaviourchanges.com
Change
Physiology, Change Emotions
by Rehana Webster
I
had heard about this NLP technique but didn't have the opportunity
to do it or use it until recently. It has got to be one of the
easiest ways to bring about deep change in a persons feelings
and behaviors, and in a very short time. I have been using it
with 99% of my clients with great results.
So, what is it? Well, let me take you through a session so you
can get a feel for how it is applied.
I ask the client for a "feeling" that they want to change. Then
I ask them to demonstrate to me somehow what its like for them
when they are feeling that unwanted feeling. For example a recent
client wanted to change how she felt about how she relates to
men that she is in a relationship with. Upon questioning we
decided that she gives her power away by not being herself and
not knowing how to act around the significant men. I asked her
where she had learned to do this and no surprise it was trying
to please her father as a little girl. Only if she behaved in
a certain way she may get his attention and even that was not
a given. He was a difficult man to please. So, she (let's call
her Alice) said that in ALL her relationships with men, she
didn't know how to act and therefore wasn't being her authentic
self. This makes her feel disappointed in herself and very confused.
In demonstrating to me her 'confused' feelings around men, I
noted her body language which was hunched over, hand over throat,
head down and posture shrunk in. This posture was enough to
bring tears to her eyes.
I asked her what feeling she would like to replace this with.
Was there times and situations where she just knew how to act
in a confident and powerful manner around people. Of course
she did. As she told me about this other feeling, her body language
changed completely, her posture changed and her head came up
and she beamed a lovely smile.
Having clearly determined the problem state and the solution
state, I told her that we needed to help her neurology change
just like Pavlov did with his dogs. The result would be as soon
as the trigger (bell for the dogs and the problem state for
Alice) appeared, we would swish to the solution state (the dogs
would salivate and Alice would feel confident). Repetition was
the way to retrain her neurology.
At the first 10 repetitions I had Alice start in the solution
(body posture) and then take a breath when she was in the peak
of the feeling. At this point I would ask her some absurd question
like, "Are those your shoes?"' to break her state. Then I had
her emulate the positive state where she flung out her hands
and laughed with confidence saying, "I know how to do this."
The next 10 repetitions were with breaking state between the
negative and positive feelings but going as quickly from one
to the other simply by changing posture. I tested to see how
she was making out and Alice was finding it harder to access
the negative state already. She was amazed.
Finally the last 10 repetitions were a bit more physical. I
had her go into the negative state just for a second and then
leap out of her chair, taking a few steps forward and accessing
the positive state by flinging out her arms and saying the related
phrase.
At the conclusion of this session, Alice was flying and ready
to take off. Her face was lit up and eyes sparkling. Quite a
different person from when she arrived for her session. This
is when the cognitive shifts also occurred for her. She realized
that she had been trying to please the men in her relationships
and of course they were impossible to please, just like her
father. As she left she said, "It's their stuff not mine and
I don't have to please them."
Her homework is to do the technique twice daily with 10 repetitions
to make sure her neurology has changed and continues to maintain
the new associations between the old triggers to activate the
new feelings automatically.
Next week I was planning to have her do some EFT tapping on
father issues however I have a sneaking suspicion that we just
won't need to go there.
|
You
may have to be over the age of 60
to appreciate this one :-)
Two elderly women were out driving in a large car - both
could barely see over the dashboard. As they were cruising
along, they came to an intersection. The stoplight was
red, but they just went on through. The woman in the passenger
seat thought to herself "I must be losing it. I could
have sworn we just went through a red light." After a
few more minutes, they came to another intersection and
the light was red again. Again, they went right through
The woman in the passenger seat was almost sure that the
light had been red but was really concerned that she was
losing it. She was getting nervous. At the next intersection,
sure enough, the light was red and they went on through.
So, she turned to the other woman and said, "Mildred,
did you know that we just ran through three red lights
in a row? You could have killed us both!" Mildred turned
to her and said, "Oh, crap, am I driving?"
|
 Our
guest Contributing Columnist is Tom Dorzab. Tom is a retired
biologist from Kansas and now lives with his wife in Spain.
Tom followed his passion and is now an energy medicine practitioner
specializing in Eden Energy Medicine.
You
can contact Tom at tomdorzab@ya.com
Energy Exercises for Everyday
Living
by Tom Dorzab
Here's
to your health
In case some of you haven't noticed, life today has become very
fast paced compared to the "good old days". Sometimes it seems
like an everyday race that never ends. I also understand that
many of us in this work-a-day world have to-do lists that rival
such works as War and Peace in length and complexity. Just living
a normal life today can be quite a challenge. Throw in a couple
of children, and overwhelming is the only way to describe it.
As a former single parent myself, believe me, I understand when
clients with children tell me they didn't have time to do the
exercises I suggested, even though it often only takes about
five minutes. The reality of it is though, that by doing a few
simple energy exercises, our energy systems can be strengthened
giving us more energy to get through the day, we can gain more
clarity of thought to think our way out of the modern boxes
we have built around ourselves and we can enhance our immunity
so we don't get sick as often and when we do succumb to the
occasional bug, we tend to recover faster.
Just as we can tune a musical instrument, we can also tune our
bodies to operate at a healthier frequency. Our tune up could
include hundreds of energy techniques as there are many to choose
from and we could easily spend many hours each day fine tuning
ourselves. Some of those techniques would be invaluable, while
others may do very little depending on our individual needs
that day. Fortunately, there are a few exercises we can do that
take only about five minutes that tend to help almost everybody
stay in a more finely tuned state. They don't provide everything
everybody needs, but for the time spent, they are a great investment.
This is the beginning of a series of articles highlighting some
of the most helpful energy exercises for all of us.
The
first energy exercise that should become a daily habit is the
following
Tapping the Kidney 27 points
Whenever we tap on our bodies, an electrical signal is generated.
It's arguably beneficial no matter where we tap. There are certain
points, however, that really tend to supercharge the effect.
One of those points is the 27th points of the Kidney Meridian.
These points are important because, in today's world, we often
do much more than we really want to do. In this regard, we would
be better off to follow the lead of our pets, cats for example.
When a cat has been busy playing, hunting or whatever, and it
gets tired, what does it do? It has the good sense to take a
nap, whenever and wherever it is. When we get tired, what do
we do? All too often, we have to take the kids to school, cook
supper, work on the computer, go to a meeting or any number
of things other than sleeping. Our bodies have a way of letting
us know what they need. In this case, when we get tired, the
normal flow of energy in our meridians begins to flow backwards
as a way to force us to slow down. Unfortunately, most of us
do not have the luxury of stopping what we are doing to take
a nap.
If you don't believe me, try this little experiment. The next
time you are feeling tired at work, simply tell your boss, "my
meridians are running backwards right now so I'm going to the
lounge to take a little nap. Could you please wake me in about
45 minutes"? You may find that you have much more time to rest
than you were expecting!
After a while, our bodies get more insistent in their message
and the next thing we know, we get colds, we get depressed,
we catch the flu or we are given any number of other clues in
their attempts to slow us down. An interesting effect of this
backwards movement of energy in the meridians, is that when
you walk backwards you are strengthened according to an energy
test, but when you walk forwards, you are weakened. Obviously,
we cannot go on forever without getting the rejuvenating sleep
we need, but by tapping our Kidney 27 points, we can postpone
the inevitable, allowing us to function at a higher level for
a while longer. Or, you could just walk backwards all day. This
is another real boss pleaser. Recent scientific discoveries
have validated this ancient practice of tapping points. It has
been found that our connective tissue acts as a liquid crystal
among its other functions. As a liquid crystal, whenever pressure
is applied to it, as happens when you tap it, a small electrical
impulse is generated. This piezoelectric effect sends an electrical
signal to other parts of your body, which in this case, causes
your body to wake up for a while longer. The meridians are returned
to their normal direction of flow and more of your systems begin
functioning at a higher level.
Since there are right and left Kidney Meridians, we will tap
in two spots. You can find the spots by locating the collar
bones and following them to where the joints meet in the upper
center of the chest. Drop down just below the bones and move
out to each side slightly. Most people will have a depression
here. These are your Kidney 27 points.
How do you know when you need to tap those Kidney 27 points?
-
When you are feeling sleepy.
-
If you are unable to concentrate.
-
If you tend to forget what you have just read.
-
In the case of students, when you lose focus when shifting
your eyes from the chalkboard to your desk. This exercise
helps keep you more focused.
The next time you're feeling sleepy and can't take the time
to sleep, try this one out for size. In most cases, you'll notice
the difference. Better yet, starting today, make this part of
a daily habit.
In the next issue we'll discuss other energy exercises that
can help you keep your energy systems tuned up and running smoothly.
|
A
dog is truly a man's best friend. If you don't believe
it, just try this experiment.
Put your dog and your wife in the trunk of the car for
an hour.
When you open the trunk... who is really happy to see
you?
|
Berit's
Corner
Thanks
to all of you that did my "intention" experiment re our new
book that I wrote about in the last edition of Reflections.
I would love to say the emails flooded in, but the reality was
just the opposite. Emails stopped arriving, almost completely!
Emails from people that know our email address still arrived,
but there wasn't one email from a stranger writing to inquire
about our book, subscribing to our newsletter, or inquiring
about our services.
I hadn't really tuned into this fact right away, I was busy
catching up on lots of stuff and having my Inbox fairly light
seemed like a blessing because I was accomplishing so much.
About a week went by and a flicker of light went off in my brain.
I had the thought, "Not many emails arriving." That thought
popped into my head a number of times over the next few days,
but it wasn't until a week ago that I finally tuned in and it
was only because I was speaking to a woman about attending one
of our workshops. She casually mentioned, "I thought I'd better
phone you 'cause I kept trying to contact you through your Contact
Us page on your website and a message popped up each time saying
this page is not available."
Upon hearing that, the light bulb not only went off in my brain,
it exploded. "That's it! We're not getting emails because the
page isn't available." If the woman had been standing beside
me I would have hugged her. Instead, I thanked her and told
her she'd made my day!
Now, not getting any emails is hardly the end of my life as
I know it, and something else happened during that time of no
emails that I think is far more important. One of our long-time
subscribers to our newsletter ordered our book, and also sent
us a lovely note saying how much she enjoyed receiving Reflections.
I wrote her back thanking her and asked for a review of the
book, if she was so inclined. We exchanged a few more emails
and I enjoyed getting to know this lovely woman named Bernice
(in Australia).
When I wrote about our "intention experiment" re the book, Bernice
wrote and said she'd done what I asked. She also briefly mentioned
that she'd had a distressing week. I wrote her back saying I
didn't want to pry but maybe I could help. I didn't like the
sound of the word "distressing" and thought maybe I could offer
a tapping tip, or just lend an ear.
Bernice wrote back and explained what had happened. My article
about "intention" re our book had some unintended consequences
and they were wonderful consequences. Here is what Bernice wrote
(reprinted here with her permission).
I
would also like to share an "intention" of my own, which of course
can not be proved or disproved. This last week has been incredibly
distressing. My daughter-in-law gave birth to a healthy baby girl
on Wednesday morning, but the placenta didn't come away easily
and she bled heavily. Her haemoglobin went down to 32, which is
seriously life-threatening. Added to this is the fact that due
to her and my son's devout religious beliefs (which I do not share)
she would not accept a blood transfusion. She was given a 25%
chance of surviving.
I stayed at the hospital for hours, privately doing tapping
for the situation. I then decided I would go to our EFT group
meeting that evening, and told the caring people gathered
there of my personal distress. We all did surrogate tapping,
and then I returned to the hospital. When I arrived, my son
said that within the last hour (around the time we tapped)
there had been some stabilizing of his wife's condition. Her
breathing was calmer; her blood pressure (although still dangerously
low) was gradually increasing, etc.
Over the last few days she has continued to slowly but steadily
improve, and as of yesterday has haemoglobin of 54, with the
Drs. expressing optimism now.
It's been quite a week and one during which I was very grateful
that I had heard of the concept of tapping with "intention."
After reading Bernice's email I was deeply moved. #1 - Bernice
had shared her experience with me, and #2 - how a connection
between two strangers can have such a powerful result. I wrote
about "intention" in one context and Bernice used it in another,
with great results.
I agree with Bernice when she says it can neither be proved
or disproved that having all her friends tap, with intention,
for her daughter-in-law helped. I don't think that's important
in any case. All that matters in my opinion is that her daughter-in-law
was getting better! How she gets better is not the issue. Getting
better is.
The fact that I do believe the tapping with intention helped
makes me feel good. It re-enforces my belief that we do have
the power within us to make things better. We just need to tap
into that force more often and when we apply the power of our
intent, the sky's the limit!
I'm going to play around with this "intent" stuff some more
and see what happens. Hopefully there will be lots more unintended
consequences that turn out to be as helpful as the last time.
Now, my intention for all of you is to have a long, lazy, and
fun summer!
Till next month,
Take care.
P.S. Alex and I have decided to do the big marketing push for
our book in the Fall. Summer is here... well, it's almost here,
and we have a few other things to attend to. We'll plot and
make plans while we're taking a bit of time off and enjoying
the sun. Then we'll be energized and ready to go in September!
|
Mensa's
Artificial Word List 2008
The
Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again asked
readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it
by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply
a new definition.
Here are some of this year's winners. Read them carefully.
Each is an artificial word with only one letter altered
to form a real word. Some are quite innovative.
1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund,
which lasts until you realize it was your money to start
with.
2. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic
wit and the person who doesn't get it.
3. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when
you are running late.
4. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.
5. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease.
6. Decafalon (n.): The gruelling event of getting
through the day consuming only things that are good for
you.
7. Arachnoleptic fit (n): The frantic dance performed
just after you've accidentally walked through a spider
web.
8. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding
half a worm in the fruit you're eating
And our personal favourite... maybe it's because Alex
and I are Baby Boomers :-)
Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending
off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like,
the Earth explodes and it's, like, a serious bummer.
|
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