Healed by Time... Not!

The insides of our own minds
are the scariest things there are. --Robin McKinley

One of the basic premises of Energy Psychology is that all negative emotion is caused by a disruption in the human vibrational matrix [composed of the biofield, the chakras and the meridians]. Among the negative emotions, we certainly can include anxiety, worry, nervousness, apprehension, unease and preoccupation.

Notice that this premise does NOT say that thoughts, beliefs and memories are the cause of negative emotions. Thoughts, beliefs and memories cause a disruption in the human vibrational matrix which in turn gives rise to all sorts of negative or unwanted emotions.

And what do we do then? We talk about them and endlessly rehash them round and round in our minds, hoping that all this talking will get rid of the unwanted state. When this doesn't work, we learn to live with this energy disruption, in a heightened state of stress and wonder why we have so little energy.

We tell ourselves that time will heal everything, but in truth, time just passes and we have to heal ourselves. Locking away an unpleasant experience, thought or memory is a survival skill, and wonderful when you are trying to keep afloat during a traumatic experience. But then it just lies there, and starts festering. Sometimes we really can't connect the feeling to what it was that caused this disruption in the first place. At other times we do know, but that doesn't change anything. The good thing about Energy Psychology tools (EFT, TAT, GSH, HBLU, IET, etc.) is that they smooth out the energy disruption –at times very quickly and at other times after some detective work and persistence—and the thought, belief or memory simply loses its charge. Aaahhhh! What a relief!

"Connie" was a good example. When pregnant for the first time, 22 years ago, she had wanted a homebirth and had ended up with a caesarean. She had been upset and angry at the time. She thought she "was over it," but discovered she still had strong feelings about this experience as soon as she mentioned it. She had fought a losing battle with her doctor throughout her pregnancy about when she had gotten pregnant. She and the doctor had different opinions about her due date and she had felt he put down her intuition. The last straw was when he announced he was leaving on vacation days before her official due date.

When she started telling me this experience, she immediately went back 22 years reliving the situation. The disruption in her energy field was plain to see: her breathing was agitated, her voice was shrill, she had heart palpitations and she had a sinking sensation in her stomach.

We worked with EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), one of the Energy Psychology tools in my "tool belt." After an hour of tapping, her intensity was gone. Her breathing was calm, her voice was back to normal, her heart was beating normally, her color was even and her stomach felt fine. Her energy field was balanced once more. She looked back at the experience and laughed: "It certainly wasn't how I had imagined it would be, but I have a wonderful, healthy son. I guess maybe today the doctor would pay more attention to my intuition, he was doing his best."

EFT involves tapping –or rubbing, or touching at the same time as you breathe in and out—specific meridian points in the face and body while repeating affirmations out loud. We could also have done chakra work, or TAT ® (Tapas Acupressure Technique).

Energy Psychology tools and techniques look deceptively simple, and the basics are very simple to learn. Like everything else, it's an art form, one that brings real relief.