EFT for Painful Cramping

Although I have practiced as a therapist for many years, EFT has helped to improve my therapeutic skills significantly. The EFT community provides rich information through the DVD’s and newsletters that are available. From watching Gary Craig on his DVD’s, I was able to observe EFT being used on everything. The newsletters on the website add techniques that have been developed by other people that have been found useful to help clear issues. Developing EFT as a tool for pain management has been a focus that has been rewarding for my clients and me. EFT can be used to complement other therapies or by itself.

“Sabrina” presented for a session complaining of cramps related to her menstrual cycle. She admits that she considered canceling our appointment because her cramps were constant. Doing anything became an effort for her during her cycle. Within minutes of walking into my office, she began to tense her body with pain from her cramps. I instructed her to just begin tapping on the different points of her body. No set up was necessary since she was already tuned into the pain. We did several rounds of just tapping until her cramps began to subside.

Sabrina talked about her cramps becoming successively worse after each of her children were born. She focused on trying to have a natural birth and eventually having a C-section with each of her children. Sabrina was angry at her uterus because she did not experience natural childbirth. We began to tap on her anger toward her uterus.

Setup: Even though I had C-sections and am angry at my uterus for not being able to have a normal delivery, I deeply and completely love and accept myself and forgive myself for any pain I might have caused to my body.

Eyebrow: I am angry at my uterus

Side of eye: My uterus failed me

Under eye: My uterus was not strong enough for natural childbirth

Under nose: My uterus did the best it could given the circumstances

Chin: My uterus was a brave warrior

Collarbone: My uterus was tired from such long labors

Under Arms: My uterus fought as hard as possible to have a natural childbirth

Top of head: I appreciate my uterus for being strong and doing the best it could

After that round Sabrina noted that the cramps were less frequent. She began to focus on the complications of her birth experiences and ending up with a punctured uterus. Since Sabrina is a very visual woman, I asked Sabrina to close her eyes and visualize her uterus. She saw her uterus as being angry, red and having dark scars. I decided to do the Choices Method developed by Pat Carrington to release some of her anger.

Setup: Even though I have an angry red uterus, I choose to appreciate my strong body and to feel peace with my uterus.

We initially tapped on her angry red uterus. Then we tapped on the desire to be at peace with herself and gratitude for having a strong body. Finally we combined the negative and the positive statements, ending with gratitude for having a strong body and being at peace with her uterus.

I checked in with Sabrina to see if anything resonated with her during that round of tapping. She stated that she felt more calm and found that her breath was more relaxed as well. She visualized her uterus once again and stated that it turned to purple and looked as if it was dying. At this point, Sabrina disclosed prior pregnancies that did not come to term. She stated she first became pregnant as a teenager. She felt very sad and disappointed with herself.

Setup: Even though I am sad and disappointed with my choices as a teenager and knew that I was not ready to become a mother since I could barely even take care of myself, I forgive my 16y/o for any pain that I might have caused to my body and myself. Given the circumstances I was doing the best I could to survive at that time in my life.

When Sabrina checked in again and visualized her uterus she saw it as being yellow and calm. She was amazed at the fact that she had stopped having any more cramps during the remainder of the session. We talked about how her body held the memories of her pregnancies although she had not thought about them for a long time. Sabrina was aware that she might continue to have cramps, but that she can tap on them. She found that the liver point worked best for her and helped remind her to breathe during the cramps. I gave Sabrina some positive affirmations to tap on about having a strong healthy body that was resilient and brave.

Using EFT in my practice has helped to bring relief to my clients in a fraction of the time when compared to traditional talk therapies. nn