Why Isn’t EFT Working for Me?
What if you find that EFT works for other people and not you? Before I answer that, I’ll make the assumption that you’ve done all the things you need to do to learn EFT. See the EFTzone article, Learning the ABCs of EFT. You’ll want to see examples of EFT in action. The best way is to see Gary Craig, the founder of EFT, doing some of his masterful work. If you can find them, get a set of his videos. After that, it’s a matter of practicing and doing EFT. Part of the process for mastering anything is going through our share of mis-takes or as Gary says, “discovering which door(s) to open.” If you’re still not getting results for yourself, most likely you’re thinking globally instead of acting locally. Let me tell you what I mean.
I was listening to a teleconference call yesterday that Angela Treat Lyon had with Gary Craig as her guest. There were about 150 people on the call. One of the first things Gary mentioned was that if people weren’t getting results with EFT, the most common reason is they are using EFT on too global of an issue instead of getting down to specific events behind the issue. His analogy is using EFT on a few trees instead of the whole forest. You’ll want to read Quality Advice for EFT Newbies.
Steve Wells and Dr. David Lake recently did a survey on What is Your Biggest Challenge in Using EFT? Here are their results on the top challenges on using EFT on yourself. Just doing it! Getting yourself to tap regularly and consistently on your own issues.
- Identifying and treating your own core issues.
- Identifying underlying emotions to work on and tapping when the emotions
are difficult to identify. - Not getting results.
- Dealing with deep feeling.
- Dissociation.
- Using EFT for miscellaneous issues
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Perhaps you’re trying to hard to make it happen. See this previous article from the EFTzone, Don’t Push the River. When we try to get rid of something we automatically create a resistance. Have the intention of using EFT to understand your problem’s subconscious purpose or reason for continuing to be there. When you acknowledge it or let it be, you create the opportunity for letting it go. One of the precepts of the Sedona Method is allowing or embracing any resistance felt. It’s a step to dissolving limiting feelings and energies.
Another reason is you may be expecting a dramatic or instantaneous shift. After all, you’ve heard about EFT “one minute wonders.” Often EFT produces subtle changes, even changes you may not notice until later.
One good solution may be to team up on an issue by doing EFT with a partner or experienced EFT practitioner. This can make a big difference in getting at core issues.
For whatever reasons you may not getting the results you want from EFT, make the effort to use some of the solutions recommended. Be gently persistent. After that, trust your intuition on what to do next.
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I’ve been trying EFT for eight weeks. I got great results, but lately I have been noticing not much improvement as I did before. Why is this? I am forced to go back on antidepressants. Will it interact with EFT now?
Frank,
Your mental and emotional well-being are paramount. If you are on antidepressants, you shouldn’t try EFT or any healing procedure without the guidance of a qualified health professional such as a therapist or physician. Given that, if you’ve been doing EFT for eight weeks and had good results, there could be a variety of things in play. It could be a new “aspect” showing up. Or, perhaps you haven’t gotten to the core issue(s).
I suggest reading this EFT Website section that covers articles “When EFT Doesn’t Seem to Work” http://tinyurl.com/EFTnotwork
Lastly, I’m not aware of any serious side effects or negative interactions of EFT and medications.
I’ve tried tapping as well-definitely believe in in but I obviously am not getting to the core issue.
My issue is I have a hard time comprehending and remembering what I read. I’ve had this problem all my life and would love to overcome this.
If anyone has any suggestions, ideas, PLEASE, help!
Thank-you!
Robbie,
Here are a couple of ideas. Before you do anything, be sure to benchmark on a scale of one to ten how you feel about this issue. Write it down so you can note any changes as you do rounds of tapping. To uncover a limiting block or a belief, my first suggestion is to tap on the different EFT points. While doing so, relax and ask your subconscious or creative mind what the block might be. Keep doing rounds of tapping and pay attention to a thought or feeling that might bubble up. See this article:
http://tinyurl.com/EFTlimitingbeliefs
Also, often a way to “unlock” or loosen up being stuck is to tap on opposites. Alternate tapping on these two setup phrases:
Even though I have a hard time comprehending and remembering what I read, I deeply and completely accept myself. [If this doesn’t feel 100% believable, add “as best I can.” So it would be, “I deeply and completely accept myself as best I can.”]
Even though I’m surprised how I’m finding it easy to comprehend and understand what I read, I deeply and completely accept myself.
After that, do rounds of tapping on this:
Even though in the past, I’ve had a hard time comprehending and remembering what I read, I’m now finding reading easier and more fun somehow.
Read this article on adding the word, “somehow.”
http://tinyurl.com/EFTsomehow
There are many doors to doing EFT. I encourage you to “play” with doing EFT rather than try to make anything happen. Let it happen through you not by you.
Robbie, you are enough as you are, and you’re in the exciting process of becoming even more. Here’s to you.
Thank you for your words. I deeply and completely, appreciate your reply. 🙂
Blessings!
Could it be that if someone is desperate to get EFT to work, it creates a resistance? Is this issue tappable? Could you tap on the resistance or desperate desire to “make it work” and move forward? Maybe you have to put concious effort and faith in the process to move past these obstacles.
Christa,
You’re exactly right. I wrote a post several years ago called, “Don’t Push the River.” When you do EFT, do it in the same vein as voice teacher Bruce Schoonmaker explains about teaching people to sing. He says:
The kind of energy necessary for singing, for expressing music in a meaningful way, is the energy of a three-year-old, completely engrossed in his endeavor, completely at ease, and completely vulnerable. This is, in fact, the nature of Zen, becoming so engrossed in what you are doing that you no longer focus on doing it, you only do it. The three-year-old is not saying to himself, “Now I am building a house with blocks.” He simply does it. He does not think, “What is the best technique for using these blocks?” He relies on a part of himself that makes the proper decisions.
When you push to make something happen, as you say, you create a resistance. Tap away and allow things to flow forth. And yes, you can tap on your desire to “make it work, just like other physical and emotional issues with EFT. Let it go. Let it flow.
I am finding that EFT promises much but delivers little and I have become quite worn out from using it. I have tried a hundred different healing methods to deal with my financial indebtedness to try and create a new abundant mindset over ten years – all to no avail. I thought EFT was shifting a few things, I started to feel better: not discernible change in my circumstances, but at least I felt optimistic. A few opportunities arose, so I gladly pursued them and worked hard to take the appropriate action. I even tested with muscle testing techniques to see that the issues were clear on many occasions (positive results) and yet three times the contracts I felt were about to manifest feel through. This has happened time and time again, that I am now desperate to know what to do. I cleared issues of disappointment, timing, impatience (I think 10 years is patient enough!) relaxation, Theta healing, talking to God, and all I am finding is a worsening situation, cynicism and a delaying of any changes at all. So I have worked on those too! Nothing. Nothing seems to change, So I worked on that belief too! I’ve checked polar differences, not pushing the river, blah! blah! Why are the results either short lived or nothing at all, or is it the case for EFT is yet another over-exaggerated panacea like Theta Healing? Please help me DO something that helps me finally change my circumstances-I’m running out of ideas. With grateful thanks, TJ.
TJ,
First, I appreciate that you want to change your situation and you have consciously acted trying “a hundred different healing methods,” including EFT and Theta Healing. What comes across to me in your words are feelings of frustration, exasperation, and desperation.
In a great little book by Stuart Wilde, “The Trick to Money is Having Some,” he says, “Abundance will never be a factor of how much money one has. Rather it is always a factor of how on FEELS about what money one does have.”
Here’s what I suggest: 1) Pick one healing modality and stay with it 2) Go to Carol Look’s website http://www.attractingabundance.com and read some of her excellent articles including, “Drop the Drama,” “Happy While You Wait,” and “Choose a New Ending” 3) Don’t go it alone. Collaborate with an EFT Practitioner or someone else.
Lastly, you use words like “worked hard, appropriate action, do something.” Often, attracting abundance is about doing “no thing.” It’s more about being than doing. It’s about letting go and approaching problems in a looser, playful way.
Be kind and gentle on yourself. “Even though ____________________________, I deeply and completely accept myself and my circumstances as best I can right now.”
I have bneen doing EFT everyday for maybe a two months and on and off for a year before that and can’t achieve any results on core issues which are mainly mental abuse. It happened over 10 years ago and I had not thought about it in 7 years but I got CFS and I’ve been told my unresolved emotions are preventing me recovering all my tests are normal, only EFT just will not reduce any experience.
I have tapped sometimes 2 hours a day, or seen practitioners who don’t think my problem is very big but I have massive psychological reversal. No matter how I try to combat the PR I still can’t reduce anything down to a even an 8.
I have tapped on hurt, hate, betrayal, fear and been very detailed, even trying the movie technique.
Anyway I’m going to keep trying because its all I have really and I’m trying some bach flowers.
I have tapped on resistance and even though this is not working etc.
I’m getting sucked into horrible CFS and deression and there is nothing I can do about it.
Chris,
First, good for you. You’re tenacious. You’ve been consistently tapping and consciously doing something to create an internal change. If you’ve been doing EFT with practitioners who don’t think your problem is very big, see someone else. Any experienced and skilled EFT practitioner that I know would not diminish a client’s issue.
Next, if you’ll look at some of the other comments to this post, you’ll find some links that may be helpful. I updated the links from Gary Craig’s old site to his archived articles at EFT Universe. Also, there are a couple of articles that I think may be of great value to you. Start with reading EFT Master Practitioner, Maggie Adkins, article, Addressing the “Why Bother?” Syndrome. You said that you have massive psychological reversal. The most knowledgeable person I know about PR is Lindsay Kenny. See her article, How to Identify and Correct Psychological Reversals. I trust that these tips will be of help.
I think people are discovering that EFT really works.
Hi,
Thanks for your advice to others. I was bit nervous about the “EFT isn’t working for me.” I was doing two mistakes.
1) I was expecting results too fast on weight loss )( global issue)
2) Often verified my weight (crosschecking the result of EFT)
But aftr reading your posts, it helped me a lot.
Thanks a lot,
Leena
EFT does not work for most people that it has been recommended for. As a CYC, I have seen this technique recommended to clients with no positive results realized. There is no such thing as a technique that heals all-simple as that.
I find it interesting when a person makes a universal statement like “EFT does not work for most people that it has been recommended for.” First, how many people is “most people.” Two, ten, two thousand? Also making the statement, “I have seen this technique recommended to clients with no positive results.” Is this firsthand experience? Also, what is the skill level of the EFT practitioner? Lastly, some therapies work better for some than others. That’s why there’s Cognitive therapy, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Gestalt, Jungian, Transactional Analysis, Psychoanalysis and more.
There are many examples on this blog where people have used EFT very effectively. EFTuniverse.com has several hundreds of real case stories. I’ve been doing EFT for a decade with well over 500 people with a variety of physical and emotional issues and 95% of the time the results have been positive. I’ve taught EFT anger management classes to prisoners. I’ve taught EFT to veterans with PTSD. In both instances, I’ve seen EFT work magnificently.
I have no problem with people commenting negatively about EFT. It’s healthy to have divergent views. However, specifics are believable and generalities are not.
Hello Ron
I wanted to know if eft can cure anxiety and gastric issues
Bye
If you search the EFTzone you’ll find articles on anxiety. As we say in EFT, “Try it on everything.” Use the same “recipe” for any specific gastric issues.
EFT has worked brilliantly for me, I do it alongside having acupuncture and after I have had a session of acupuncture sometimes I am scared what is going to come up that I have bottled up, I ask my primitive brain and my inner self to speak to me, it tells me eventually and then i do tapping until I realise I can feel the serge of releasing unwanted stress….. I usually get a bodily function after I have done eft, like coughing, sneezing, even running to the toilet then I know my stress is gone…..I can’t praise it enough…Thank you for EFT x