A Supplement to the book

EFT for Sports Performance

by Dawson Church

EFT for GOLF

EFT for Golf

Copyright © 2013 by Dawson Church

This supplement, which describes Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), accompanies the book EFT for Sports Performance by Jessica Howard, published in 2014 by Energy Psychlogy Press.

Edited by CJ PuotinenCover design by Victoria Valentine

Energy Psychology Press3340 Fulton Rd., #442, Fulton, CA 95439www.EFTUniverse.com

!is book demonstrates an impressive personal improvement tool. It is not a substitute for training in psychology or psychotherapy. !e author

urges the reader to use these techniques under the supervision of a quali"ed therapist or physician. !e author and publisher do not assume

responsibility for how the reader chooses to apply the techniques herein. !e ideas, procedures and suggestions in this book are not intended as a substitute for consultation with your professional health care provider. If you have any questions about whether or not to use EFT, consult your

physician or licensed mental health practitioner. !e information in this book is of a general nature only, and may not be used to treat or diagnose any particular disease or any particular person. Reading this book does not constitute a professional relationship or professional advice or services. No endorsement or warranty is explicit or implied by any entity connected to this book, and there is no guarantee that you will have the same results.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from Energy Psychology Press, with the exception of

short excerpts used with acknowledgement of publisher and author.

Important note: While EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) has produced remarkable clinical results, it must still be considered to be in the experimental stage and thus practitioners and the public must take complete responsibility for their use of it. Further, Dawson Church is not a licensed health professional and offers the information in this book solely as a life coach. Readers are strongly cautioned and advised to consult with a physician, psychologist, psychiatrist or other licensed health care professional before utilizing any of the information in this book. The information is based on information from sources believed to be accurate and reliable and every reasonable effort has been made to make the infor-mation as complete and accurate as possible but such complete-ness and accuracy cannot be guaranteed and is not guaranteed. The author, publisher, and contributors to this book, and their successors, assigns, licensees, employees, officers, directors, attorneys, agents and other parties related to them (a) do not make any representations, warranties or guarantees that any of the information will produce any particular medical, psycho-logical, physical or emotional result, (b) are not engaged in the rendering of medical, psychological or other advice or services, (c) do not provide diagnosis, care, treatment or rehabilitation of any individual, and (d) do not necessarily share the views and opinions expressed in the information. The informa-tion has not undergone evaluation and testing by the United States Food and Drug Administration or similar agency of any other country and is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, mitigate or cure any disease. Risks that might be determined by such testing are unknown. If the reader purchases any services or products as a result of the information, the reader or user acknowledges that the reader or user has done so with informed consent. The information is provided on an “as is” basis with-

out any warranties of any kind, express or implied, whether warranties as to use, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or otherwise. The author, publisher, and contributors to this book, and their successors, assigns, licensees, employees, officers, directors, attorneys, agents and other parties related to them (a) expressly disclaim any liability for and shall not be liable for any loss or damage including but not limited to use of the information; (b) shall not be liable for any direct or indirect compensatory, special, incidental, or consequential damages or costs of any kind or character; (c) shall not be responsible for any acts or omissions by any party including but not limited to any party mentioned or included in the information or other-wise; (d) do not endorse or support any material or information from any party mentioned or included in the information or otherwise; (e) will not be liable for damages or costs resulting from any claim whatsoever. The within limitation of warran-ties may be limited by the laws of certain states and/or other jurisdictions and so some of the foregoing limitations may not apply to the reader who may have other rights that vary from state to state. If the reader or user does not agree with any of the terms of the foregoing, the reader or user should not use the information in this book or read it. A reader who continues reading this book will be deemed to have accepted the provi-sions of this disclaimer.

Please consult qualified health practitioners regarding your use of EFT.

Contents

Introduction ..............................................................1How to Use This Book .......................................6

Chapter 1: How to Do EFT: The Basic Recipe ......7Testing .............................................................. 12The Setup Statement ....................................... 15Psychological Reversal .................................... 16Affirmation ....................................................... 18Secondary Gain ................................................ 21How EFT Corrects for Psychological Reversal ............................... 23The Sequence ................................................... 24The Reminder Phrase ...................................... 26If Your SUD Level Doesn’t Come Down to 0 ................................................... 28EFT for You and Others ................................. 29

EFT !"# G"$!vi

The Importance of Targeting Specific Events ........................................... 29Tapping on Aspects .......................................... 31Finding Core Issues ......................................... 33The Generalization Effect ............................... 35The Movie Technique and Tell the Story Technique ............................ 38Constricted Breathing ...................................... 43The Personal Peace Procedure ....................... 44Is It Working Yet? ........................................... 47Saying the Right Words .................................. 48The Next Steps on Your EFT Journey ......... 49

Chapter 2: Adapting EFT to the Game of Golf ... 52Start with the Basics ........................................ 52Tap for Your Body ........................................... 54Tap for the Golf Course ................................... 56Tap for Emotions ............................................. 57Revise Your Comfort Zone ............................. 61Discover Stored Emotions .............................. 64What’s Really Happening? .............................. 67Tail-enders and Specific Events ...................... 69

Chapter 3: Case Histories of EFT on the Golf Course ........................................... 74

EFT for the Yips .............................................. 74EFT for the Golfing Yips ................................ 77Golfing and EFT .............................................. 79

Contents vi i

Overcoming a “Worry in the Neck” Injury ... 82EFT for Improved Golf Commitment ............ 84A Miniature Golf Success Story ..................... 88EFT and My Golf Game ................................. 90Grandmother Type Helps a Golf Pro ............. 91EFT in the Golf Cart ....................................... 93A First Attempt at Helping a Golfer .............. 98Resolving Childhood Memories Improves Score .......................................... 99Clearing Previous Memories of Failure ....... 101Demonstrating EFT’s Effectiveness for Golf 103Golf Studies .................................................... 107Golf, EFT, and the Law of Attraction .......... 109Golf Coach Produces 36-percent Improvement ............................................ 114Using EFT with Professional Golfers .......... 124An Illness That Interfered with Golf ............ 128Achieving a Fluid Swing in Golf .................. 132

Chapter 4: Taking the Next Steps ...................... 135Resources.............................................................. 138References ............................................................ 139

Introduction

“What’s that young man doing?” asked a puzzled ESPN commentator as he watched his monitor. Along with an audience of millions, the commentator was watch-ing a young baseball player, Jorge Reyes, tapping on EFT acupressure points in the dugout during a 2006 game. Jorge Reyes became a star athlete and helped his team at Oregon State University win the national college baseball championship. He was named Most Valuable Player. Still tapping, the team won the championship a second straight time the following year, an unprecedented event. Dan Spencer was the pitching coach for the team, and brought in EFT practitioner Greg Warburton to train them. After these victories Dan was named Pitching Coach of the Year by Collegiate Baseball Magazine. He said, “The methods helped them keep their heads out of the way so that their bodies could do what I had trained them to do.”

During the Four Nations Rugby Cup in Europe, the perpetual last place finisher Italy suddenly surged in

EFT !"# G"$!2

2012, and came within one goal of winning the cup. The cameras captured the entire team tapping as they ran out of the locker room at half time. EFT tapping can be found in virtually very sport. Olympic wrestlers are using it. Professional baseballers are tapping. It’s invaded the National Football League and National Hockey League. Some of the surprising turnrounds you read about in the sports pages are due to an athlete learning to tap.

In a feature story, Golfweek magazine said, “this tap-ping revolution is occurring within the ranks of very seri-ous golfers.” The magazine described the work of tapping coach Stacey Vornbrock, and quoted several prominent golfers who’ve improved after tapping.

Greg Warburton is a noted sports performance men-tal training consultant in the EFT world who only teaches methods that he personally uses and know work well for most people. In 2013, he decided to compete in a fundrais-ing event, even though he hadn’t played a round of golf in over a year. Though he plays infrequently, he knows he can still consistently play with a relaxed body and calm mind. On the day of the competition, he began by doing EFT for nerves as one aspect of his mental-training preparation. Then, after achieving a relaxed body and calm mind, Greg then shifted his mental focus to exactly how he wanted to play: “club head square to the ball and straight up through with my swing for all golf strokes today.” Greg did EFT occasionally during the round of golf, especially whenever he noticed nervousness and doubt about a shot.

Introduct ion 3

As a recreational golfer, Greg typically plays only “bogey golf.” However, for this 18-hole game, Greg sank three 10 -15 foot birdie putts to help his team in the 5-man best ball 18-hole competition and consistently hit the golf ball to target throughout his round of golf. Even know-ing the immediate usefulness of EFT for consistent sport performance under the pressure of competition, he was pleasantly surprised with his performance in the first 18 holes of golf he had played in over a year.

EFT has been the subject of several scientific studies, and they quantify the improvements brought about by tap-ping. In 2008, Greg arranged for me to conduct research with the Oregon State University basketball team. We did a randomized controlled trial, and found that after just 15 minutes of EFT, the tapping group performed 38% bet-ter at free throws than a placebo control group (Church, 2009). These results were replicated by my friends Tam and Mair Llewellyn-Edwards in England (Llewellyn-Edwards & Llewellyn-Edwards, 2011). They taught a ladies’ soccer team EFT, after which their free kick perfor-mance improved substantially. The team became the best in their league.

Graduate student Darlene Downs studied women’s volleyball players at Ursuline College, and I analyzed the results (Church & Downs, 2011). We showed that their level of confidence improved significantly, and both physical and emotional stress declined. When they were again examined after a follow-up period, the results had held. EFT has been shown to improve anxiety such as performance anxiety and test anxiety in many other stud-

EFT !"# G"$!4

ies, and you can read them at Research.EFTuniverse.com. How can these outstanding results be applied to your golf game? This book shows you exactly how to practice EFT, applies it to golf, gives you real-life stories from athletes who’ve used it, and shows you the next steps you can take to further improve your game.

Golf is a very old sport. In fact, it’s so old that histo-rians can only speculate about its origins, and some trace it back to ancient Rome. Its modern incarnation dates to the 12th Century in Scotland. Three hundred years later, King James of Scotland banned the sport because it kept his archers from practicing. But golf continued to spread, and the first British Open was played in Scotland in 1860. Canada’s first permanent golf club, founded in 1873, was soon followed by clubs throughout the United States and around the globe.

Today, with an estimated 60 million players, golf is one of the world’s most popular sports. There are an estimated 7 million golfers in Europe, 14 million in Asia, 2 million in Australasia, 1 million in South America, and 500,000 in South Africa.

Of America’s 30 million golfers, approximately 22 percent are women, 33 percent are over age 50, and 45 percent are between the ages of 18 and 39. Florida leads the United States with over a thousand golf facilities, fol-lowed by California, Texas, Michigan, and New York.

Golfers in the U.S. spend more than $25 billion per year on green fees and dues, plus another $5 billion on clubs, balls, bags, gloves, shoes, and other equipment. No matter how you look at it, golf is a very big business!

Introduct ion 5

All serious golfers recognize that there are two major components of the game. The first is technique, that is, understanding the game, having the right equipment, and using it properly. But the second component, the mental/emotional part, is just as important. Annika Sörenstam, one of the world’s greatest female golfers with over 90 tour wins, is famous for saying, “Golf is 99 percent in your head.” It is the mental/emotional game that EFT address-es, and as the mental game improves, so does technique.

Many professional athletes attribute part of their performance success to mental rehearsal, including Tiger Woods, basketball stars Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and pitcher Roy Halladay. Here’s what golfer Jack Nicklaus says in his book Golf My Way: “I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head. It’s like a color movie. First, I ‘see’ the ball where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes and I ‘see’ the ball going there: its path, trajec-tory, and shape, even its behavior on landing. Then there’s sort of a fade-out, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality. Only at the end of this short, private, Hollywood spectacular do I select a club and step up to the ball” (Nicklaus, 2007). EFT reinforces the mental rehearsal you’ll do as a competent golfer.

This EFT golf guide is a supplement to the book EFT for Sports Performance. (Howard, 2014). Please refer to that book and to The EFT Manual (Church, 2013) for step-by-step instructions for using EFT. You are also welcome

EFT !"# G"$!6

to visit the EFT archives at www.EFTUniverse.com, where you can download an EFT starter pack at no cost, watch EFT demonstrations, find practitioners certified in Clinical EFT, and explore dozens of other EFT-related resources.

How to Use This BookHere’s how to get the most out of EFT for Golf. If

you already know how to do EFT, including identify-ing specific events, finding aspects (parts of an event), and testing your results, you can skip Chapter 1. If not, read Chapter 1, since it describes how to do Clinical EFT. Clinical EFT is the standardized form of EFT that has been validated in dozens of scientific studies. When you’re doing Clinical EFT, you know you’re using a method that has been proven to work by millions of people and scores of researchers, rather than a similar method that might or might not be effective.

In Chapter 2, I’ll describe how to apply Clinical EFT to the game of golf. Chapter 3 is filled with stories of intrepid golfers who’ve used EFT on the course. What they do and how they do it is inspiring, and worth study-ing for tips you can incorporate into your own practice.

Chapter 4 gives you the next steps to take, like using the Tap Along videos in the EFT archive at EFT Universe, taking a Clinical EFT workshop to obtain hands-on instruction, and using the services of a certified practitioner.

1How to Do EFT: The Basic Recipe

Over the past decade, EFT has been the focus of a great deal of research. This has resulted in more than 20 clinical trials, in which EFT has been demonstrated to reduce a wide variety of symptoms. These include pain, skin rashes, fibromyalgia, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most of these studies have used the standardized form of EFT found in The EFT Manual. In this chapter, my goal is to show you how to unlock EFT’s healing benefits from whatever physical or psychological problems you’re facing. I have a pas-sionate interest in relieving human suffering. When you study EFT, you quickly realize how much suffering can be alleviated with the help of this extraordinary healing tool. I’d like to place the full power of that tool in your hands, so that you can live the happiest, healthiest, and most abundant life possible.

If you go on YouTube or do a Google search, you will find thousands of websites and videos about EFT. The

EFT !"# G"$!8

quality of the EFT information you’ll find through these sources varies widely, however. Certified practitioners trained in EFT provide a small portion of the information. Most of it consists of personal testimonials by untrained enthusiasts. It’s great that EFT works to some degree for virtually anyone. To get the most out of EFT and unlock its full potential, however, it’s essential that you learn the form of EFT that’s been proven in so many clinical trials. We call this Clinical EFT.

Every year in EFT Universe workshops, we get many people who tell us variations of the same story: “I saw a video on YouTube, tapped along, and got amazing results the first few times. Then it seemed to stop working.” The reason for this is that a superficial application of EFT can indeed work wonders. To unleash the full power of EFT, however, requires learning the standardized form we call Clinical EFT, which has been validated, over and over again, by high-quality research, and is taught systemati-cally, step by step, by top experts, in EFT workshops.

Why is EFT able to affect so many problems, both psychological and physical? The reason for its effec-tiveness is that it reduces stress, and stress is a compo-nent of many problems. In EFT research on pain, for instance, we find that pain decreases by an average of 68% with EFT. That’s a two thirds drop, and seems very impressive. Now ask yourself, if EFT can produce a two-thirds drop in pain, why can’t it produce a 100% drop? I pondered this question myself, and I asked many therapists and doctors for their theories as to why this might be so.

How to Do EFT 9

The consensus is that the two thirds of pain reduced by EFT is due largely to emotional causes, while the remaining one third of the pain has a physical derivation. A man I’ll call “John” volunteered for a demonstration at an EFT introductory evening at which I presented. He was on crutches, and told us he had a broken leg as a result of a car accident. On a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being no pain, and 10 being maximum pain, he rated his pain as an 8. The accident had occurred two weeks earlier. My logical scientific brain didn’t think EFT would work for John, because his pain was purely physical. I tapped with him anyway. At the end of our session, which lasted less than 15 minutes, his pain was down to a 2. I hadn’t tapped on the actual pain with John at all, but rather on all the emotional components of the auto accident.

There were many such components. His wife had urged him to drive to an event, but he didn’t want to go. He had resentment toward his wife. That’s emotional. He was angry at the driver of the other car. That’s emotional. He was mad at himself for abandoning his own needs by driving to an event he didn’t want to attend. That’s emo-tional. He was upset that now, as an adult, he was reen-acting the abandonment he experienced by his mother when he was a child. That’s emotional. He was still hurt by an incident that occurred when he was five years old, when his mother was supposed to pick him up from a friend’s birthday party and forgot because she was social-izing with her friends and drinking. That’s emotional.

Do you see the pattern here? We’re working on a host of problems that are emotional, yet interwoven with the pain. The physical pain is overlaid with a matrix of

EFT !"# G"$!10

emotional issues, like self-neglect, abandonment, anger, and frustration, which are part of the entire fabric of John’s life.

The story has a happy ending. After we’d tapped on each of these emotional components of John’s pain, the physical pain in his broken leg went down to a 2. That pain rating revealed the extent of the physical compo-nent of John’s problem. It was a 2. The other six points were emotional.

The same is true for the person who’s afraid of public speaking, who has a spider phobia, who’s suffering from a physical ailment, who’s feeling trapped in his job, who’s unhappy with her husband, who’s in conflict with those around him. All of these problems have a large com-ponent of unfinished emotional business from the past. When you neutralize the underlying emotional issues with EFT, what remains is the real problem, which is often far smaller than you imagine.

Though I present at few conferences nowadays because of other demands on my time, I used to present at about thirty medical and psychological conferences each year, speaking about research and teaching EFT. I presented to thousands of medical professionals dur-ing that period. One of my favorite sayings was “Don’t medicalize emotional problems. And don’t emotionalize medical problems.” When I would say this to a roomful of physicians, they would nod their heads in unison. The medical profession as a whole is very aware of the emo-tional component of disease.

How to Do EFT 11

If you have a real medical problem, you need good medical care. No ifs, ands, or buts. If you have an emo-tional problem, you need EFT. Most problems are a mixture of both. That’s why I urge you to work on the emotional component with EFT and other safe and non-invasive behavioral methods, and to get the best possible medical care for the physical component of your problem. Talk to your doctor about this; virtually every physician will be supportive of you bolstering your medical treat-ment with emotional catharsis.

When you feel better emotionally, a host of positive changes also occur in your energy system. When you feel worse, your energy system follows. Several research-ers have hooked people up to electroencephalographs (EEGs), and taken EEG readings of the electrical energy in their brains before and after EFT. These studies show that when subjects are asked to recall a traumatic event, their patterns of brain-wave activity change. The brain-wave frequencies associated with stress, and activation of the fight-or-flight response, dominate their EEG readings. After successful treatment, the brain waves shown on their EEG readings are those that characterize relaxation.

Other research has shown similar results from acu-puncture. The theory behind acupuncture is that our body’s energy flows in twelve channels called meridians. When that energy is blocked, physical or psychological distress occurs. The use of acupuncture needles, or acu-pressure with the fingertips, is believed to release those energy blocks. EFT has you tap with your fingertips on

EFT !"# G"$!12

the end points of those meridians; that’s why it’s some-times called “emotional acupuncture.” When your energy is balanced and flowing, whether it’s the brain-wave energy picked up by the EEG or the meridian energy described in acupuncture, you feel better. That’s another reason why EFT works well for many different kinds of problem.

EFT is rooted in sound science, and this chapter is devoted to showing you how to do Clinical EFT yourself. It will introduce you to the basic concepts that amplify the power of EFT, and steer you clear of the most com-mon pitfalls that prevent people from making progress with EFT. The basics of EFT are easy to use and quick to learn. We call this EFT’s “Basic Recipe.” The second half of this chapter shows you how to apply the Basic Recipe for maximum effect. It introduces you to all of the concepts key to Clinical EFT.

TestingEFT doesn’t just hope to be effective. We test our

results constantly, to determine if the course we’re tak-ing is truly making us feel better. The basic scale we use for testing was developed by a famous psychiatrist called Joseph Wolpe in the 1950s, and measures our degree of discomfort on a scale of 0 through 10. Zero indicates no discomfort, and 10 is the maximum possible distress. This scale works equally well for psychological problems such as anxiety and physical problems such as pain.

How to Do EFT 13

SUD scale (intensity meter)

Dr. Wolpe called this rating SUD or Subjective Units of Discomfort. It’s also sometimes called Subjective Units of Distress. You feel your problem, and give it a number on the SUD scale. It’s vital to rate your SUD level as it is right now, not imagine what it might have been at the time in the past when the traumatic event occurred. If you can’t quickly identify a number, just take your best guess, and go from there.

I recommend you write down your initial SUD number. It’s also worth noting where in your body the information on your SUD level is coming from. If you’re working on a physical pain such as a headache, where in your head is the ache centered? If you’re working on a traumatic emotional event, perhaps a car accident, where in your body is your reference point for your emotional distress? Do you feel it in your belly, your heart, your forehead? Write down the location on which your SUD is based.

A variation of the numeric scale is a visual scale. For example, if you’re working with a child who does not yet

024

6810 Highest level

of distress

No discomfort

EFT !"# G"$!14

know how to count, you can ask the child to spread his or her hands apart to indicate how big the problem is. Wide-open arms means big, and hands close together means small.

Whatever means you use to test, each round of EFT tapping usually begins with this type of assessment of the size of the problem. This allows us to determine whether or not our approach is working. After we’ve tested and written down our SUD level and body location, we move on to EFT’s Basic Recipe. It has this name to indicate that EFT consists of certain ingredients, and if you want to be successful, you need to include them, just the way you need to include all the ingredients in a recipe for chocolate chip cookies if you want your end product to be tasty.

Many years ago I published a book by Wally Amos. Wally is better known as “Famous Amos” for his brand of chocolate chip cookies. One day I asked Wally, “Where did you get your recipe?” I thought he was going to tell me how he’d experimented with hundreds of variations to find the best possible combination of ingredients. I imagined Wally like Thomas Edison in his laboratory, obsessively combining pinches of this and smidgeons of that, year after year, in order to perfect the flavor of his cookies, the way Edison tried thousands of combinations before discovering the incandescent light bulb.

Wally’s offhand response was, “I used the recipe on the back of a pack of Toll House chocolate chips.” Toll House is one of the most popular brands, selling millions of packages each year, and the simple recipe is available

How to Do EFT 15

to everyone. I was astonished, and laughed at how differ-ent the reality was from my imaginary picture of Wally as Edison. Yet the message is simple: Don’t reinvent the wheel. If it works, it works. Toll House is so popular because their recipe works. Clinical EFT produces such good results because the Basic Recipe works. While a master chef might be experienced enough to produce exquisite variations, a beginner can bake excellent cook-ies, and get consistently great results, just by following the basic recipe. This chapter is designed to provide you with that simple yet reliable level of knowledge.

EFT’s Basic Recipe omits a procedure that was part of the earliest forms of EFT, called the 9 Gamut Procedure. Though the 9 Gamut Procedure has great value for cer-tain conditions, it isn’t always necessary, so we leave it out. The version of EFT that includes it is called the Full Basic Recipe (see Appendix A of The EFT Manual).

The Setup StatementThe Setup Statement systematically “sets up” the

problem you want to work on. Think about arranging dominoes in a line in the game of creating a chain reac-tion. Before you start the game, you set them up. The object of the game is to knock them down, just the way EFT expects to knock down your SUD level, but to start with, you set up the pieces of the problem.

The Setup Statement has its roots in two schools of psychology. One is called cognitive therapy, and the other is called exposure therapy. Cognitive therapy consid-ers the large realm of your cognitions—your thoughts,

EFT !"# G"$!16

beliefs, ways of relating to others, and the mental frames through which you perceive the world and your experi-ences.

Exposure therapy is a successful branch of psycho-therapy that vividly exposes you to your negative experi-ences. Rather than avoiding them, you’re confronted by them, with the goal of breaking your conditioned fear response to the event.

We won’t go deeper into these two forms of therapy now, but you’ll later see how EFT’s Setup Statement draws from cognitive and exposure approaches to form a powerful combination with acupressure or tapping.

Psychological ReversalThe term Psychological Reversal is taken from ener-

gy therapies. It refers to the concept that when your ener-gies are blocked or reversed, you develop symptoms. If you put the batteries into a flashlight backward, with the positive end where the negative should be, the light won’t shine. The human body also has a polarity (see illustra-tion). A reversal of normal polarity will block the flow of energy through the body. In acupuncture, the goal of treatment is to remove obstructions, and to allow the free flow of energy through the 12 meridians. If reversal occurs, it impedes the healing process.

The way Psychological Reversal shows up in EFT and other energy therapies is as a failure to make progress in resolving the problem. It’s especially prevalent in chronic diseases, addictions, and conditions that resist healing. If

How to Do EFT 17

The human body’s electrical polarity (adapted from ACEP Certification Program Manual, 2006)

you run into a person who’s desperate to recover, yet who has had no success even with a wide variety of different therapies, the chances are good that you’re dealing with Psychological Reversal. One of the first steps of EFT’s Basic Recipe is to correct for Psychological Reversal. It only takes a few seconds, so we include this step whether or not Psychological Reversal is present.

EFT’s Setup includes stating an affirmation with those elements drawn from cognitive and exposure thera-pies, while at the same time correcting for Psychological Reversal.

++__

++_ _

+

EFT !"# G"$!18

AffirmationThe exposure part of the Setup Statement involves

remembering the problem. You expose your mind repeat-edly to the memory of the trauma. This is the opposite of what we normally do; we usually want an emotional trauma to fade away. We might engage in behaviors like dissociation or avoidance so that we don’t have to deal with unpleasant memories.

As you gain confidence with EFT, you’ll find your-self becoming fearless when it comes to exposure. You’ll discover you don’t have to remain afraid of old traumatic memories; you have a tool that allows you to reduce their emotional intensity in minutes or even seconds. The usual pattern of running away from a problem is reversed. You feel confident running toward it, knowing that you’ll quickly feel better.

The EFT Setup Statement is this: Even though I have (name of problem), I deeply and completely accept myself.

You insert the name of the problem in the exposure half of the Setup Statement. Examples might be:

Even though I had that dreadful car crash, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though I have this migraine headache, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though I have this fear of heights, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though I have this pain in my knees, I deeply and completely accept myself.

How to Do EFT 19

Even though I had my buddy die in my arms in Iraq, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though I have this huge craving for whiskey, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though I have this fear of spiders, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though I have this urge to eat another cookie, I deeply and completely accept myself.

The list of variations is infinite. You can use this Setup Statement for anything that bothers you.

While exposure is represented by the first half of the Setup Statement, before the comma, cognitive work is done by the second half of the statement, the part that deals with self-acceptance. EFT doesn’t try to induce you to positive thinking. You don’t tell yourself that things will get better, or that you’ll improve. You simply express the intention of accepting yourself just the way you are. You accept reality. Gestalt therapist Byron Katie wrote a book entitled Loving What Is, and that’s exactly what EFT recommends you do.

The Serenity Prayer uses the same formula of accep-tance, with the words, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.” With EFT you don’t try and think positively. You don’t try and change your attitude or circumstances; you simply affirm that you accept them. This cognitive frame of accept-ing what is opens the path to change in a profound way. It’s also quite difficult to do this in our culture, which

EFT !"# G"$!20

bombards us with positive thinking. Positive thinking actually gets in the way of healing in many cases, while acceptance provides us with a reality-based starting point congruent with our experience. The great 20th-century therapist Carl Rogers, who introduced client-centered therapy, said that the paradox of transformation is that change begins by accepting conditions exactly the way they are.

I recommend that you use the Setup Statement in exactly this way at first, but as you gain confidence, you can experiment with different variations. The only requirement is that you include both a self-acceptance statement and exposure to the problem. For instance, you can invert the two halves of the formula, and put cogni-tive self-acceptance first, followed by exposure. Here are some examples:

I accept myself fully and completely, even with this miserable headache.

I deeply love myself, even though I have nightmares from that terrible car crash.

I hold myself in high esteem, even though I feel such pain from my divorce.

When you’re doing EFT with children, you don’t need an elaborate Setup Statement. You can have chil-dren use very simple self-acceptance phrases, like “I’m okay” or “I’m a great kid.” Such a Setup Statement might look like this:

Even though Johnny hit me, I’m okay.

The teacher was mean to me, but I’m still an amaz-ing kid.

How to Do EFT 21

You’ll be surprised how quickly children respond to EFT. Their SUD levels usually drop so fast that adults have a difficult time accepting the shift. Although we haven’t yet done the research to discover why children are so receptive to change, my hypothesis is that their behav-iors haven’t yet been cemented by years of conditioning. They’ve not yet woven a thick neural grid in their brains through repetitive thinking and behavior, so they can let go of negative emotions fast.

What do you do if your problem is self-acceptance itself? What if you believe you’re unacceptable? What if you have low self-esteem, and the words “I deeply and completely accept myself” sound like a lie?

What EFT suggests you do in such a case is say the words anyway, even if you don’t believe them. They will usually have some effect, even if at first you have difficul-ty with them. As you correct for Psychological Reversal in the way I will show you here, you will soon find yourself shifting from unbelief to belief that you are acceptable. You can say the affirmation aloud or silently. It carries more emotional energy if it is said emphatically or loudly, and imagined vividly.

Secondary GainWhile energy therapies use the term “psychological

reversal” to indicate energy blocks to healing, there’s an equivalent term drawn from psychology. That term is “secondary gain.” It refers to the benefits of being sick. “Why would anyone want to be sick?” you might wonder.

EFT !"# G"$!22

There are actually many reasons for keeping a mental or physical problem firmly in place.

Consider the case of a veteran with PTSD. He’s suf-fering from flashbacks of scenes from Afghanistan where he witnessed death and suffering. He has nightmares, and never sleeps through the night. He’s so disturbed that he cannot hold down a job or keep a relationship intact for long. Why would such a person not want to get better, considering the damage PTSD is doing to his life?

The reason might be that he’s getting a disability check each month as a result of his condition. His income is dependent on having PTSD, and if he recovers, his main source of livelihood might disappear with it.

Another reason might be that he was deeply wounded by a divorce many years ago. He lost his house and chil-dren in the process. He’s fearful of getting into another romantic relationship that is likely to end badly. PTSD gives him a reason to not try.

These are obvious examples of secondary gain. When we work with participants in EFT workshops, we uncov-er a wide variety of subtle reasons that stand in the way of healing. One woman had been trying to lose weight for five years and had failed at every diet she tried. Her secondary gain turned out to be freedom from unwanted attention by men.

Another woman, this time with fibromyalgia, dis-covered that her secret benefit from the disease was that she didn’t have to visit relatives she didn’t like. She had a ready excuse for avoiding social obligations. She also got sympathetic attention from her husband

How to Do EFT 23

and children for her suffering. If she gave up her pain-ful disease, she might lose a degree of affection from her family and have to resume seeing the relatives she detested.

Just like Psychological Reversal, secondary gain pre-vents us from making progress on our healing journey. Correcting for these hidden obstacles to success is one of the first elements in EFT’s Basic Recipe.

How EFT Corrects for Psychological ReversalThe first tapping point we use in the EFT routine is

called the Karate Chop point, because it’s located on the fleshy outer portion of the hand, the part used in karate to deliver a blow. EFT has you tap the Karate Chop point with the tips of the other four fingers of the opposite hand.

Repeat your affirmation emphatically three times while tapping your Karate Chop point. You’ve now cor-rected for psychological reversal, and set up your energy system for the next part of EFT’s Basic Recipe, the Sequence.

The Karate Chop (KC) Point

EFT !"# G"$!24

The SequenceYou now tap on meridian end points in sequence. Tap

firmly, but not harshly, with the tips of your first two fin-gers, about seven times on each point. The exact number is not important; it can be a few more or less than seven. You can tap on either the right or left side of your body, with either your dominant or nondominant hand.

First tap on the meridian endpoints found on the face. These are: (1) at the start of the eyebrow, where it joins the bridge of the nose; (2) on the outside edge of the eye socket; (3) on the bony ridge of the eye socket under the pupil; (4) under the nose; and (5) between the lower lip and the chin.

EB, SE, UE, UN and Ch Points

Then tap (6) on one of the collarbone points (see illustration). To locate this point, place a finger in the notch between your collarbones. Move your finger down about an inch and you’ll feel a hollow in your breastbone. Now move it to the side about an inch and you’ll find a deep hollow below your collarbone. You’ve now located the collarbone acupressure point.

How to Do EFT 25

The Collarbone (CB) Points

About four inches below the armpit (for women, this is where a bra strap crosses), you’ll find (7) the under the arm point.

Under the Arm (UA) Points

EFT !"# G"$!26

The Reminder PhraseEarlier, I emphasized the importance of exposure.

Exposure therapy has been the subject of much research, which has shown that prolonged exposure to a problem, when coupled with techniques to calm the body, effec-tively treats traumatic stress. EFT incorporates exposure in the form of a Reminder Phrase. This is a brief phrase that keeps the problem at the front of your mind while you tap on the acupressure points. It keeps your energy system focused on the specific issue you’re working on, rather than jumping to other thoughts and feelings. The aim of the Reminder Phrase is to bring the problem viv-idly into your experience, even though the emotionally triggering situation might not be present now.

For instance, if you have test anxiety, you use the Reminder Phrase to keep you focused on the fear, even though you aren’t actually taking a test right now. That gives EFT an opportunity to shift the pattern in the absence of the real problem. You can also use EFT during an actual situation, such as when you’re taking an actual test, but most of the time you’re working on troublesome memories. The Reminder Phrase keeps you targeted on the problem. An example of a Reminder Phrase for test anxiety might be “That test” or “The test I have to take tomorrow” or “That test I failed.” Other examples of Reminder Phrases are:

The bee sting

Dad hit me

Friend doesn’t respect me

How to Do EFT 27

Lawyer’s office

Sister told me I was fat

Car crash

This knee painTap each point while repeating your Reminder Phrase.

Then tune in to the problem again, and get a second SUD rating. The chances are good that your SUD score will now be much lower than it was before. These instructions might seem complicated the first time you read them, but you’ll soon find you’re able to complete a round of EFT tapping from memory in one to two minutes.

Let’s now summarize the steps of EFT’s Basic Recipe.1. Assess your SUD level.2. Insert the name of your problem into the Setup

Statement: “Even though I have (this problem), I deeply and completely accept myself.”

3. Tap continuously on the Karate Chop point while repeating the Setup Statement three times.

4. While repeating the Reminder Phrase, tap about seven times on the other seven points.

5. Test your results with a second SUD rating.

Isn’t that simple? You now have a tool that, in just a minute or two, can effectively neutralize the emotional sting of old memories, as well as help you get through bad current situations. After a few rounds of tapping, you’ll find you’ve effortlessly memorized the Basic Recipe, and you’ll find yourself using it often in your daily life.

EFT !"# G"$!28

If Your SUD Level Doesn’t Come Down to 0Sometimes a single round of tapping brings your

SUD score to 0. Sometimes it only brings it down slight-ly. Your migraine might have been an 8, and after a round of EFT it’s a 4. In these cases, we do EFT again. You can adjust your affirmation to acknowledge that a portion of the problem sill remains, for example, “Even though I still have some of this migraine, I deeply and completely accept myself.” Hear are some further examples:

Even though I still feel some anger toward my friend for putting me down, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though I still have a little twinge of that knee pain, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though the beesting still smarts slightly, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though I’m still harboring some resentment toward my boss, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though I’m still somewhat frustrated with my daughter for breaking her agreement, I deeply and com-pletely accept myself.

Even though I’m still upset when I think of being shipped to Iraq, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Adjust the Reminder Phrase accordingly, as in “some anger still” or “remaining frustration” or “bit of pain” or “somewhat upset.”

How to Do EFT 29

EFT for You and OthersYou can do EFT on yourself, as you’ve experienced

during these practice rounds. You can also tap on others. Many therapists, life coaches, and other practitioners offer EFT professionally to clients. Personally I’m far more inclined to have clients tap on themselves during EFT sessions, even during the course of a therapy or coaching session. While the coach can tap on the client, having the client tap on themselves, along with some guid-ance by the coach, puts the power squarely in the hands of the client. The client is empowered by discovering that they are able to reduce their own emotional distress, and leaves the coaches office with a self-help tool at their fingertips any time they need it. In some jurisdictions, it is illegal or unethical for therapists to touch clients at all, and EFT when done only by the client is still effective in these cases.

The Importance of Targeting Specific EventsDuring EFT workshops, I sometimes write on the

board:

The Three Most Important Things About EFT

Then, under that, I write:

Specific Events

Specific Events

Specific Events

It’s my way of driving home the point that a focus on specific events is critical to success in EFT. In order to

EFT !"# G"$!30

release old patterns of emotion and behavior, it’s vital to identify and correct the specific events that gave rise to those problems. When you hear people say, “I tried EFT and it didn’t work,” the chances are good that they were tapping on generalities, instead of specifics.

An example of a generality is “self-esteem” or “depression” or “performance problems.” These aren’t specific events. Beneath these generalities is a collection of specific events. The person with low self-esteem might have been coloring a picture at the age of four when her mother walked in and criticized her for drawing outside the lines. She might have had another experience of a schoolteacher scolding her for playing with her hair dur-ing class in second grade, and a third experience of her first boyfriend deciding to ask another girl to the school dance. Together, those specific events contribute to the global pattern of low self-esteem. The way EFT works is that when the emotional trauma of those individual events is resolved, the whole pattern of low self-esteem can shift. If you tap on the big pattern, and omit the spe-cific events, you’re likely to have limited success.

When you think about how a big pattern like low self-esteem is established, this makes sense. It’s built up out of many single events. Collectively, they form the whole pattern. The big pattern doesn’t spring to life fully formed; it’s built up gradually out of many similar experi-ences. The memories engraved in your brain are of indi-vidual events; one disappointing or traumatic memory at a time is encoded in your memory bank. When enough similar memories have accumulated, their commonali-

How to Do EFT 31

ties combine to create a common theme like “poor self-esteem.” Yet the theme originated as a series of specific events, and that’s where EFT can be effectively applied.

You don’t have to use EFT on every single event that contributed to the global theme. Usually, once a few of the most disturbing memories have lost their emotional impact, the whole pattern disappears. Memories that are similar lose their impact once the most vivid memories have been neutralized with EFT.

Tapping on global issues is the single most common mistake newcomers make with EFT. Using lists of tap-ping phrases from a website or a book, or tapping on generalities, is far less effective than tuning into the events that contributed to your global problem, and tapping on them. If you hear someone say, “EFT doesn’t work,” the chances are good they’ve been tapping globally rather than identifying specific events. Don’t make this elemen-tary mistake. List the events, one after the other, that stand out most vividly in your mind when you think about the global problem. Tap on each of them, and you’ll usually find the global problem diminishing of its own accord. This is called the “generalization effect,” and it’s one of the key concepts in EFT.

Tapping on Aspects EFT breaks traumatic events and other problems

into smaller pieces called aspects. The reason for this is that the highest emotional charge is typically found in one small chunk of the event, rather than the entirety of the event. You might need to identify several different

EFT !"# G"$!32

aspects, and tap on each of them, before the intensity of the whole event is reduced to a 0.

Here’s an example of tapping on aspects, drawn from experience at an EFT workshop I taught. A woman in her late 30s volunteered as a subject. She’d had neck pain and limited range of motion since an automobile accident 6 years before. She could turn her head to the right most of the way but had only a few degrees of movement to the left. The accident had been a minor one, and why she still suffered 6 years later was something of a mystery to her.

I asked her to feel where in her body she felt the most intensity when recalling the accident, and she said it was in her upper chest. I then asked her about the first time she’d ever felt that way, and she said it was when she’d been involved in another auto accident at the age of 8. Her sister had been driving the car. We worked on each aspect of the early accident. The two girls had hit another car head on at low speed while driving around a bend on a country road. One emotionally triggering aspect was the moment she realized that a collision was unavoidable, and we tapped till that lost its force. We tapped on the sound of the crash, another aspect. She had been taken to a neighbor’s house, bleeding from a cut on her head, and we tapped on that. We tapped on aspect after aspect. Still, her pain level didn’t go down much, and her range of motion didn’t improve.

Then she gasped and said, “I just remembered. My sister was only 15 years old. She was underage. That day, I dared her to drive the family car, and we totaled it.” Her guilt turned out to be the aspect that held the most emotional charge, and after we tapped on that, her

How to Do EFT 33

pain disappeared, and she regained full range of motion in her neck. If we’d tapped on the later accident, or failed to uncover all the aspects, we might have thought, “EFT doesn’t work.”

Aspects can be pains, physical sensations, emotions, images, sounds, tastes, odors, fragments of an event, or beliefs. Make sure you dig deep for all the emotional charge held in each aspect of an event before you move on to the next one. One way of doing this is to check each sensory channel, and ask, “What did you hear/see/taste/touch/smell?” For one person, the burned-rubber smell of skidding tires might be the most terrifying aspect of a car accident. For another, it might be the smell of blood. Yet another person might remember most vividly the sound of the crash or the screams. For another person, the maximum emotional charge might be held in the feeling of terror at the moment of realization that the crash is inevi-table. The pain itself might be an aspect. Guilt, or any other emotion, can be an aspect. For traumatic events, it’s necessary to tap on each aspect.

Thorough exploration of all the aspects will usually yield a complete neutralization of the memory. If there’s still some emotional charge left, the chances are good that you’ve missed an aspect, so go back and find out what shards of trauma might still be stuck in place.

Finding Core IssuesOne of my favorite sayings during EFT workshops is

“The problem is never the problem.” What I mean by this is that the problem we complain about today usually both-

EFT !"# G"$!34

ers us only because it resembles an earlier problem. For example, if your spouse being late disturbs you, you may discover by digging deep with EFT that the real reason this behavior triggers you is that your mother didn’t meet your needs in early childhood. Your spouse’s behavior in the present day resembles, to your brain, the neglect you experienced in early childhood, so you react accord-ingly. You put a lot of energy into trying to change your spouse when the present-day person is not the source of the problem.

On the EFT Universe website, we have published hundreds of stories in which someone was no longer trig-gered by a present problem after the emotional charge was removed from a similar childhood event. Nothing changed in the present day, yet the very problem that so vexed a person before now carries zero emotional charge. That’s the magic that happens once we neutralize core issues with EFT. Rather than being content with using EFT on surface problems, it’s worth developing the skills to find and resolve the core issues that are at the root of the problem.

Here are some questions you might ask in order to identify core issues:

• Does the problem that’s bothering you remind you of any events in your childhood? Tune into your body and feel your feelings. Then travel back in time to the first time in your life you ever felt that same sensa-tion.

• What’s the worst similar experience you ever had?

How to Do EFT 35

• If you were writing your autobiography, what chapter would you prefer to delete, as though it had never happened to you?

If you can’t remember a specific childhood event, simply make up a fictional event in your mind. This kind of guessing usually turns out to be right on target. You’re assembling the imagined event out of components of real events, and the imaginary event usually leads back to actual events you can tap on. Even if it doesn’t, and you tap on the fictional event, you will usually experience an obvious release of tension.

The Generalization EffectThe generalization effect is a phenomenon you’ll

notice as you make progress with EFT. As you resolve the emotional sting of specific events, other events with a similar emotional signature also decrease in intensity. I once worked with a man at an EFT workshop whose father had beaten him many times during his childhood. His SUD level on the beatings was a 10. I asked him to recall the worst beating he’d ever suffered. He told me that when he was 8 years old, his father had hit him so hard he had broken the boy’s jaw. We tapped together on that terrible beating, and after working on all the aspects, his SUD dropped to a 0. I asked him for a SUD score on all the beatings, and his face softened. He said, “My dad got beat by his dad much worse than he beat me. My dad actually did a pretty good job considering how badly he was raised.” My client’s SUD level on all the beatings

EFT !"# G"$!36

dropped considerably after we reduced the intensity of this one beating. That’s an example of EFT’s generaliza-tion effect. When you knock down an important domino, all the other dominos can fall.

This is very reassuring to clients who suffered from many instances of childhood abuse, the way my client at that workshop had suffered. You don’t need to work through every single horrible incident. Often, simply col-lapsing the emotional intensity behind one incident is suf-ficient to collapse the intensity around similar incidents.

The reason our brains work this way is because of a group of neurons in the emotional center of the brain, the limbic system, called the hippocampus. The hippocampus has the job of comparing one event to the other. Suppose that, as a 5-year-old child in Catholic school, you get beaten by a nun. Forty years later, you can’t figure out why you feel uneasy around women wearing outfits that are black and white. The reason for your adult aversion to a black-and-white combination is that the hippocam-pus associates the colors of the nun’s habit with the pain of the beating.

This was a brilliant evolutionary innovation for your ancestors. Perhaps these early humans were attacked by a tiger hiding in the long grass. The tiger’s stripes mim-icked the patterns of the grass yet there was something different there. Learning to spot a pattern, judge the differences, and react with fear saved your alert ances-tors. They gave birth to their children, who also learned, just a little bit better, how to respond to threats. After

How to Do EFT 37

thousands of generations, you have a hippocampus at the center of your brain that is genetically engineered to evaluate every message flooding in from your senses, and pick out those associated with the possibility of danger. You see the woman wearing the black-and-white cocktail dress at a party, your hippocampus associates these colors with the nun who beat you, and you have an emotional response.

Yet the opposite is also true. Assume for a moment you’re a man who is very shy when confronted with women at cocktail parties. He feels a rush of fear when-ever he thinks about talking to an attractive woman dressed in black. He works with an EFT coach on his memories of getting beaten by the nun in Catholic school, and suddenly he finds himself able to talk easily to women at parties. Once the man’s hippocampus breaks the con-nection between beatings and a black dress, it knows, for future reference, that the two phenomena are no longer connected.

This is the explanation the latest brain science gives us for the generalization effect. It’s been noted in EFT for many years, and it’s very comforting for those who’ve suffered many adverse experiences. You may need to tap on some of them, but you won’t have to tap on all of them before the whole group is neu-tralized. Sometimes, like my client who was beaten repeatedly as a child, if you tap on a big one, the general-ization effect reduces the emotional intensity of all simi- lar experiences.

EFT !"# G"$!38

The Movie Technique and Tell the Story TechniqueWhen you take an EFT workshop, the first key

technique you learn is the Movie Technique. Why do we place such emphasis on the Movie Technique? The rea-son for this is that it combines many of the methods that are key to success with EFT.

The first thing the Movie Technique does is focus you on being specific. EFT is great at eliminating the emo-tional intensity you feel, as long as it’s used on an actual concrete event (“John yelled at me in the meeting”), rather than a general statement (“My procrastination”).

The Movie Technique has you identify a particular incident that has a big emotional charge for you, and sys-tematically reduce that charge to 0. You picture the event in your mind’s eye just as though it were a movie, and run through the movie scene by scene.

Whenever you reach a part of the movie that carries a big emotional charge, you stop and perform the EFT sequence. In this way, you reduce the intensity of each of the bad parts of the movie. EFT’s related technique, Tell the Story, is done out loud, while the Movie Technique is typically done silently. You can use the Movie Technique with a client without them ever disclosing what the event was.

Try this with one of your own traumatic life events right now. Think of the event as though it were a scary movie. Make sure it’s an event that lasts just a few min-utes; if your movie lasts several hours or days, you’ve probably picked a general pattern. Try again, selecting

How to Do EFT 39

a different event, till you have a movie that’s just a few minutes long.

One example is a man whose general issue is “Distrust of Strangers.” We trace it to a particular childhood inci-dent that occurred when the man, whom we’ll call John, was 7 years old. His parents moved to a new town, and John found himself walking to a new school through a rough neighborhood. He encountered a group of bullies at school but always managed to avoid them. One day, walking back from school, he saw the bullies walking toward him. He crossed the street, hoping to avoid their attention. He wasn’t successful, and he saw them point at him, then change course to intercept him. He knew he was due for a beating. They taunted him and shoved him, and he fell into the gutter. His mouth hit the pavement, and he chipped a tooth. Other kids gathered round and laughed at him, and the bullies moved off. He picked him-self up and walked the rest of the way home.

If you were to apply EFT to John’s general pattern, “Distrust of Strangers,” you’d be tapping generally—and ineffectually. When instead you focus on the specific event, you’re honing in on the life events that gave rise to the general pattern. A collection of events like John’s beating can combine to create the general pattern.

Now give your movie a title. John might call his movie “The Bullies.”

Start thinking about the movie at a point before the traumatic part began. For John, that would be when he was walking home from school, unaware of the events in store for him.

EFT !"# G"$!40

Now run your movie through your mind till the end. The end of the movie is usually a place where the bad events come to an end. For John, this might be when he picked himself up off the ground, and resumed his walk home.

Now let’s add EFT to your movie. Here’s the way you do this:

1. Think of the title of your movie. Rate your degree of your emotional distress around just the title, not the movie itself. For instance, on the distress scale of 0 to 10 where 0 is no distress and 10 represents maximum distress, you might be an 8 when you think of the title “The Meeting.” Write down your movie title, and your number.

2. Work the movie title into an EFT Setup Statement. It might sound something like this: “Even though [Insert Your Movie Title Here], I deeply and com-pletely accept myself.” Then tap on the EFT acu-pressure points, while repeating the Setup Statement three times. Your distress level will typically go down. You may have to do EFT several times on the title for it to reach a low number like 0 or 1 or 2.

3. Once the title reaches a low number, think of the “neutral point” before the bad events in the movie began to take place. For John, the neutral point was when he was walking home from school, before the bullies saw him. Once you’ve identified the neutral point of your own movie, start running the movie through your mind, until you reach a point where the emotional intensity rises. In John’s case, the first

How to Do EFT 41

emotionally intense point was when he saw the bul-lies.

4. Stop at this point, and assess your intensity number. It might have risen from a 1 to a 7, for instance. Then perform a round of EFT on that first emotional cre-scendo. For John, it might be, “Even though I saw the bullies turn toward me, I deeply and completely accept myself.” Use the same kind of statement for your own problem: “Even though [first emotional crescendo], I deeply and completely accept myself.” Keep tapping till your number drops to 0 or near 0, perhaps a 1 or 2.

5. Now rewind your mental movie to the neutral point, and start running it in your mind again. Stop at the first emotional crescendo. If you sail right through the first one you tapped on, you know you’ve really and truly resolved that aspect of the memory with EFT. Go on to the next crescendo. For John, this might have been when they shoved him into the gut-ter. When you’ve found your second emotional cre-scendo, then repeat the process. Assess your intensity number, do EFT, and keep tapping till your number is low. Even if your number is only a 3 or 4, stop and do EFT again. Don’t push through low-intensity emo-tional crescendos; since you have the gift of freedom at your fingertips, use it on each part of the movie.

6. Rewind to the neutral point again, and repeat the process.

7. When you can replay the whole movie in your mind, from the neutral point, to the end of the movie when

EFT !"# G"$!42

your feelings are neutral again, you’ll know you’ve resolved the whole event. You’ll have dealt with all the aspects of the traumatic incident.

8. To truly test yourself, run through the movie, but exaggerate each sensory channel. Imagine the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and other aspects of the movie as vividly as you possible can. If you’ve been run-ning the movie silently in your mind, speak it out loud. When you cannot possibly make yourself upset, you’re sure to have resolved the lingering emotional impact of the event. The effect is usually permanent.When you work through enough individual movies

in this way, the whole general pattern often vanishes. Perhaps John had 40 events that contributed to his distrust of strangers. He might need to do the Movie Technique on all 40, but experience with EFT suggests that when you resolve just a few key events, perhaps 5 or 10 of them, the rest fade in intensity, and the general pattern itself is neutralized.

The Tell the Story Technique is similar to the Movie Technique; usually the Movie Technique is performed silently while Tell the Story is out loud. One great benefit of the Movie Technique done silently is that the client does not have to disclose the nature of the problem. An event might be too triggering, or too embarrassing, or too emotionally overwhelming, to be spoken out loud. That’s no problem with the Movie Technique, which allows EFT to work its magic without the necessity of disclosure on the part of the client. The privacy offered by the Movie Technique makes it very useful for clients who would rather not talk openly about troubling events.

How to Do EFT 43

Constricted BreathingHere’s a way to demonstrate how EFT can affect

you physically. You can try this yourself right now. It’s also often practiced as an onstage demonstration at EFT workshops. You simply take three deep breaths, stretch-ing your lungs as far as they can expand. On the third breath, rate the extent of the expansion of your lungs on a 0 to 10 scale, with 0 being as constricted as possible, and 10 being as expanded as possible. Now perform several rounds of EFT using Setup Statements such as:

Even though my breathing is constricted...Even though my lungs will only expand to an 8...Even though I have this physical problem that pre-

vents me breathing deeply...

Now take another deep breath and rate your level of expansion. Usually there’s substantial improvement. Now focus on any emotional contributors to constricted breathing. Use questions like:

What life events can I associate with breathing problems?

Are there places in my life where I feel restricted?

If I simply guess at an emotional reason for my constricted breathing, what might it be?

Now tap on any issues surfaced by these questions. After your intensity is reduced, take another deep breath and rate how far your lungs are now expanding. Even if you were a 10 earlier, you might now find you’re an 11 or 14.

EFT !"# G"$!44

The Personal Peace Procedure The Personal Peace Procedure consists of listing

every specific troublesome event in your life and system-atically using EFT to tap away the emotional impact of these events. With due diligence, you knock over every negative domino on your emotional playing board and, in so doing, remove significant sources of both emotional and physical ailments. You experience personal peace, which improves your work and home relationships, your health, and every other area of your life.

Tapping on large numbers of events one by one might seem like a daunting task, but we’ll show you in the next few paragraphs how you can accomplish it quickly and efficiently. Because of EFT’s generalization effect, where tapping on one issue reduces the intensity of similar issues, you’ll typically find the process going much faster than you imagined.

Removing the emotional charge from your specific events results in less and less internal conflict. Less inter-nal conflict results, in turn, in greater personal peace and less suffering on all levels—physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. For many people, the Personal Peace Procedure has led to the complete cessation of lifelong issues that other methods did not resolve. You’ll find sto-ries on the EFT Universe website written by people who describe relief from physical maladies like headaches, breathing difficulties, and digestive disorders. You’ll read other stories of people who used EFT to help them deal with the stress associated with AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and cancer. Unresolved anger, traumas, guilt, or grief contributes to physical illness, and cannot be medicated

How to Do EFT 45

away. EFT addresses these emotional contributors to physical disease.

Here’s how to do the Personal Peace Procedure:1. List every specific troublesome event in your life that

you can remember. Write them down in a Personal Peace Procedure journal. “Troublesome” means it caused you some form of discomfort. If you listed fewer than 50 events, try harder to remember more. Many people find hundreds. Some bad events you recall may not seem to cause you any current dis-comfort. List them anyway. The fact that they came to mind suggests they may need resolution. As you list them, give each specific event a title, like it’s a short movie, such as: Mom slapped me that time in the car; I stole my brother’s baseball cap; I slipped and fell in front of everybody at the ice skating rink; My third-grade class ridiculed me when I gave that speech; Dad locked me in the toolshed overnight; Mrs. Simmons told me I was dumb.

2. When your list is finished, choose the biggest domi-noes on your board, that is, the events that have the most emotional charge for you. Apply EFT to them, one at a time, until the SUD level for each event is 0. You might find yourself laughing about an event that used to bring you to tears; you might find a memory fading. Pay attention to any aspects that arise and treat them as separate dominoes, by tapping for each aspect separately. Make sure you tap on each event until it is resolved. If you find yourself unable to rate the intensity of a bad event on the 0-10 scale, you might be dissociating, or repressing a memory.

EFT !"# G"$!46

One solution to this problem is to tap ten rounds of EFT on every aspect of the event you are able to recall. You might then find the event emerging into clearer focus but without the same high degree of emotional charge.

3. After you have removed the biggest dominoes, pick the next biggest, and work on down the line.

4. If you can, clear at least one of your specific events, preferably three, daily for 3 months. By taking only minutes per day, in 3 months you will have cleared 90 to 270 specific events. You will likely discover that your body feels better, that your threshold for getting upset is much lower, your relationships have improved, and many of your old issues have disap-peared. If you revisit specific events you wrote down in your Personal Peace Procedure journal, you will likely discover that the former intensity has evapo-rated. Pay attention to improvements in your blood pressure, pulse, and respiratory capacity. EFT often produces subtle but measurable changes in your health, and you may miss them if you aren’t looking for them.

5. After knocking down all your dominoes, you may feel so much better that you’re tempted to alter the dosages of medications your doctor has prescribed. Never make any such changes without consulting with your physician. Your doctor is your partner in your healing journey. Tell your doctor that you’re working on your emotional issues with EFT, since

How to Do EFT 47

most health care professionals are acutely aware of the contribution that stress makes to disease.

The Personal Peace Procedure does not take the place of EFT training, nor does it take the place of assis-tance from a qualified EFT practitioner. It is an excel-lent supplement to EFT workshops and help from EFT practitioners. EFT’s full range of resources is designed to work effectively together for the best healing results.

Is It Working Yet?Sometimes EFT’s benefits are blindingly obvious.

In the introductory video on the home page of the EFT Universe website, you see a TV reporter with a lifelong fear of spiders receiving a tapping session. Afterward, in a dramatic turnaround, she’s able to stroke a giant hairy tarantula spider she’s holding in the palm of her hand.

Other times, EFT’s effects are subtler and you have to pay close attention to spot them. A friend of mine who has had a lifelong fear of driving in high-speed traffic remarked to me recently that her old fear is completely gone. Over the past year, each time she felt anxious about driving, she pulled her car to the side of the road and tapped. It took many trips and much tapping, but subtle changes gradually took effect. Thanks to EFT she has emotional freedom and drives without fear. She also has another great benefit, in the form of a closer bond to her daughter and baby granddaughter. They live 2 hours drive away and, previously, her dread of traffic kept her from visiting them. Now she’s able to make the drive with joyful anticipation of playing with her granddaughter.

EFT !"# G"$!48

If you seem not to be making progress on a particu-lar problem despite using EFT, look for other positive changes that might be happening in your life. Stress affects every system in the body, and once you relieve it with EFT, you might find improvements in unexpected areas. For instance, when stressed, the capillaries in your digestive system constrict, impeding digestion. Many people with digestive problems report improvement after EFT. Stress also redistributes biological resources away from your reproductive system. You’ll find many stories on EFT Universe of people whose sex lives improved dramatically as a by-product of healing emotional issues. Stress affects your muscular and circulatory systems; many people report that muscular aches and pains dis-appear after EFT, and their blood circulation improves. Just as stress is pervasive, relaxation is pervasive, and when we release our emotional bonds with EFT, the relaxing effects are felt all over the body. So perhaps your sore knee has only improved slightly, but you’re sleeping better, having fewer respiratory problems, and getting along better with your coworkers.

Saying the Right WordsA common misconception is that you have to say

just the right words while tapping in order for EFT to be effective. The truth is that focusing on the problem is more important than the exact words you’re using. It’s the exposure to the troubling issue that directs healing energy to the right place; the words are just a guide.

How to Do EFT 49

Many practitioners write down tapping scripts with lists of affirmations you can use. These can be useful. However, your own words are usually able to capture the full intensity of your emotions in a way that is not possible using other people’s words. The way you form language is associated with the configuration of the neural net-work in your brain. You want the neural pathways along which stress signals travel to be very active while you tap. Using your own words is more likely to awaken that neural pathway fully than using even the most eloquent words suggested by someone else. By all means use tap-ping scripts if they’re available, to nudge you in the right direction. At the same time, utilize the power of prolonged exposure by focusing your mind completely on your own experience. Your mind and body have a healing wisdom that usually directs healing power toward the place where it is most urgently required.

The Next Steps on Your EFT JourneyNow that you’ve entered the world of EFT, you’ll

find it to be a rich and supportive place. On the EFT Universe website, you’ll find stories written by thou-sands of people, from all over the world, describing success with an enormous variety of problems. Locate success stories on your particular problem by using the site’s drop-down menu, which lists issues alphabetically: Addictions, ADHD, Anxiety, Depression, and so on. Read these stories for insights on how to apply EFT to your particular case. They’ll inspire you in your quest for full healing.

EFT !"# G"$!50

Our certified practitioners are a wonderful resource. They’ve gone through rigorous training in Clinical EFT and have honed their skills with many clients. Many of them work via telephone or videoconferencing, so if you don’t find the perfect practitioner in your geographic area, you can still get expert help with remote sessions. While EFT is primarily a self-help tool and you can get great results alone, you’ll find the insight that comes from an outside observer can often alert you to behavior pat-terns and solutions you can’t find by yourself.

Take an EFT workshop. EFT Universe offers more than a 100 workshops each year, all over the world, and you’re likely to find a Level 1 and 2 workshop close to you. You’ll make friends, see expert demonstrations, and learn EFT systematically. Each workshop contains eight learning modules, and each module builds on the one before. Fifteen years’ experience in training thou-sands of people in EFT has shown us exactly how people learn EFT competently and quickly, and provided the background knowledge to design these trainings. Read the many testimonials on the website to see how deeply transformational the EFT workshops are.

The EFT Universe newsletter is the medium that keeps the whole EFT world connected. Read the sto-ries published there weekly to stay inspired and to learn about new uses for EFT. Write your own experi-ences and submit them to the newsletter. Post comments on the EFT Universe Facebook page, and comment on the blogs.

How to Do EFT 51

If you’d like to help others access the benefits you have gained from EFT, you might consider volunteering your services. There are dozens of ways to support EFT’s growth and progress. You can join a tapping circle, or start one yourself. You can donate to EFT research and humanitarian efforts. You can offer tapping sessions to people who are suffering through one of EFT’s humani-tarian projects, like those that have reached thousands in Haiti, Rwanda, and elsewhere. You can let your friends know about EFT.

EFT has reached millions of people worldwide with its healing magic but is still in its infancy. By reading this book and practicing this work, you’re joining a heal-ing revolution that has the potential to radically reduce human suffering. Imagine if the benefits you’ve already experienced could be shared by every child, every sick person, every anxious or stressed person in the world. The trajectory of human history would be very different. I’m committed to helping create this shift however I can, and I invite you to join me and all the other people of goodwill in making this vision of a transformed future a reality.

2Adapting EFT to the Game of Golf

Now that you understand the fundamentals of EFT, it’s time to apply them to your golf game. This means defining a problem and measuring its intensity on the 0-to-10 scale, creating a Setup Phrase that describes it, then tapping your Karate Chop point while reciting the Setup Phrase three times, and finally tapping the sequence of EFT points while you repeat a Reminder Phrase that helps you focus on the problem. I recommend repeating the tapping sequence so you do two full rounds of tapping before taking another look at the problem’s intensity on the 0-to-10 scale

Start with the BasicsYou may already know what you’d like to fix when it

comes to golf, but if not, take a minute to consider your game. Where is it strong? Where is it weak? Think back on observations made about your game by instructors,

Adapt ing EFT to the Game of Gol f 53

Adapting EFT to the Game of Golf

golf pros, or fellow players. Try tapping for things like your grip, stance, swing, and posture.

Even though my chip shots are the weak part of my game and I never manage to hit the ball correctly, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though I stand with my feet too wide and just don’t feel comfortable standing with my feet where they should be…

Even though my club always points to my left at the top of my swing…

Even though I keep lifting my head while putting, and I just can’t relax and hold my head steady…

Even though I always hit the ball thin on lob shots…

Even though my wedge was designed to do the work for me but I just can’t get the hang of it…

Even though my elbow keeps bending and narrowing the arc of my swing…

Even though my grip is too tight and my thumb rotates too far to the right…

Even though it’s hard for me to relax and let my thumb stay in its proper position…

Even though I keep forgetting to accelerate my swing when I hit the ball…

Even though my weight keeps shifting from the balls of my feet back to my heels, and that throws my whole swing off…

EFT !"# G"$!54

Take any problem that you’re having trouble correct-ing and turn it into an EFT Setup Phrase that you recite three times while tapping the Karate Chop point. Then tap the EFT points in sequence while saying an appropri-ate Reminder Phrase. By repeating this simple procedure as needed, many golfers have improved their scores.

Tap for Your BodyIf your body is aging, if you have been diagnosed with

a specific condition, if you are recovering from an injury or illness, if your range of motion is restricted in any way, or if you’re simply tired from overwork or lack of sleep, tap for those symptoms. The game of golf is itself injuri-ous because of the way it requires you to tilt your spine at an unnatural angle as you address the ball, then it cre-ates an unnatural compression force on the downswing, rotates the axis of your spine, and compresses the lumbar spine as you follow through. It isn’t surprising that so many golfers complain of back pain.

When it comes to shoulder injuries, women are more susceptible than men, and amateur women golfers have more shoulder problems than women who are profes-sionals. Rotator cuff injuries are more common among older golfers, as are elbow problems, while hip and knee injuries can afflict golfers of all ages.

EFT has a terrific track record in relieving pain resulting from inflammation, arthritis, pulled muscles, trauma injuries, surgery, illnesses, and accidents, as well as restoring energy and stamina. For detailed informa-tion, see my book EFT for Back Pain.

Adapt ing EFT to the Game of Gol f 55

You can tap for any specific symptom, such as in these examples:

Even though the bursitis in my shoulder prevents me from swinging the club well, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though there’s this feeling in my chest right when I swing…

Even though my heart is pounding and I can’t catch my breath…

Even though my knee injury keeps me from balanc-ing my weight evenly…

Even though I can’t control the yips, and it’s incred-ibly frustrating…

Even though I’m getting old and arthritis is interfer-ing with my game….

Even though recovering from surgery has left me feeling tired and weak…

Even though I’m overweight and don’t have much stamina…

Even though it’s hard for me to focus on the ball and my gaze keeps drifting….

Even though my back is so sore that I can’t stand up straight…

Even though my life has been way too sedentary…

Even though my abdominal muscles are weak, and this contributes to my back pain and my messed-up swing…

EFT !"# G"$!56

Tap for the Golf CourseIf a particular golf course, hole, equipment problem,

or weather condition is your downfall, tap on it. Most golfers play the same course over and over again, and they develop a relationship with it. They know even before they put their ball on the tee that they will have a hard time with the tenth hole or that a certain sand trap is just waiting to grab the ball.

The third hole at Stanford University’s golf course is a par-three hole. The green is elevated up beyond a great big ravine with a creek running through it, and whenever I golfed there as an undergraduate, that third hole “had my number.” Like many golfers, I made things worse by saying over and over in my mind, Don’t go in the creek. Don’t go in the creek. As result, I almost always landed in the creek.

It finally occurred to me that focusing on the problem made it inevitable. It was as though I was instructing my mind to be sure to put the ball in the creek. I decided to try a different strategy and instead of visualizing the ball in the creek, I focused on seeing it on the green. I didn’t begin to swing until I could clearly see the green in my mind’s eye. As soon as that happened, the ball sailed past the ravine as though it was nothing. Of course, if EFT had existed in those days, I could have saved myself a lot of aggravation, just as you can by using Setup Phrases that apply to you.

Even though I have a miserable time every time I play this course, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Adapt ing EFT to the Game of Gol f 57

Even though on this hole I always seem to slice off to the right…

Even though parring this hole is my biggest problem on earth…

Even though the water trap to the right of the fair-way always does me in and I just can’t imagine hitting the ball straight…

Even though the green is so small I can barely see it and always miss it by a mile…

Even though the wind is blowing hard out of the southwest and it’s difficult to compensate…

Even though I’m just not comfortable with my two-iron…

Even though it’s raining and I hate to play in the rain…

Even though everyone has problems with this hole, even professional golfers, so there’s no way I can expect to do well, this hole is a lost cause, I might as well just give up now…

Tap for EmotionsAlmost every accomplished athlete will tell you that

the difference between an average performance and a superior performance is “in my head.” I can personally attest to this, having spent my earlier years running up and down football fields, playing baseball and basketball, and running track. I wish I had known then what I know now about the all-important mental/emotional side of the game.

EFT !"# G"$!58

When it comes to neutralizing emotions that interfere with golf, nothing beats EFT. The damaging emotions golfers report include anxiety, frustration, anger, embar-rassment, humiliation, fear, disappointment, depression, guilt, and envy—and there are dozens more. Any negative emotion can weaken muscles, distract the mind, and add strokes to your game.

I have always been fascinated by the conversations I hear on golf courses: conversations among players, conversations between players and themselves, and con-versations with equipment, to name a few. Players talk to their golf balls, tees, clubs, swings, sand traps, water hazards, and heavenly bodies. They get excited. They get depressed. There’s a temper threshold in golf. Players get angry. They beat themselves up, call themselves all kinds of names, and curse and carry on. It’s a psychological eye-opener, to say the least.

I remember playing a practice round with a fraternity brother on the Stanford golf course. He was a much bet-ter golfer than I was, and he had a really nice swing. We were on the eleventh hole, and when he teed off, the ball flew into the rough. He muttered to himself and set a new ball on the tee to try again, and that ball also flew into the rough. Then he tried a third time and the same thing hap-pened. That annoyed him so much that he took his driver, started yelling every obscenity in the book, and flung that thing as far and as high as he could. It landed way up in a tree, where it might be to this day, and he had to play the rest of the course without his driver, which upset him even more.

Adapt ing EFT to the Game of Gol f 59

Golf can be a very punishing game. I don’t think many golfers would phrase it this way, but I believe some of them keep coming back to an endlessly frustrating experience because its punishment is somehow addictive. The ball goes off into the brush and they get mad as a wet hen. Then they try to hit it out and it only goes three feet and that costs them another stroke, and they go from one hole to the next experiencing one frustration after another. For some golfers, there is definitely a reward-and-punishment thing that goes on with the game of golf. Fortunately, every emotion you can experience on the golf course can fit into a Setup Phrase. For example:

Even though I’m playing badly and it’s embarrass-ing, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though I keep losing my temper…

Even though I feel anxious putting with all those people watching…

Even though I never play well with my nephew, he just annoys me no end…

Even though I hate being judged, and I’ve never been able to relax and enjoy a lesson, it always seems as though the golf pro is just waiting to pounce on my latest mistake…

Even though John is always in a hurry and he fidg-ets and makes me nervous…

Even though this charity tournament is confusing with all the noise and distractions…

Even though I feel sick with disappointment about botching that last shot…

EFT !"# G"$!60

Even though I’m jealous of Sue and her perfect stroke and perfect equipment…

Even though the seventh hole always fills me with fear and I’m terrified of landing in the bunker…

Even though I feel guilty about disappointing every-one who was expecting me to do well…

Even though I’m so disappointed in my score that I may give up the game altogether…

Several years ago I spoke with Ron Johnson, a golfer from Seattle, Washington, who used EFT to go from being a 95-100 golfer to one who has had many rounds in the 70s. This level of improvement rarely happens with conventional instruction and thus sticks out like a moun-tain on a prairie.

While Ron used EFT consistently on the golf course for each part of his game, he often zeroed in on particular types of shots and on the emotions they generated. Ron’s Setup Phrases usually began:

Even though putting is extremely frustrating, I still completely accept myself.

He would practice on the putting green with ten 20-foot putts, ten 10-foot putts, and ten 5-foot putts. Each time, he would go through the EFT Basic Recipe with the same Setup Phrase:

Even though these putts are nerve-wracking, I still completely accept myself.

Ron found that he began to feel much more confident over the putts and some actually went in the cup. Three-

Adapt ing EFT to the Game of Gol f 61

putts to get the ball in the hole began to disappear and, within three months, his average scores went from 95-100 down to 85-90. “I’ve had many rounds in the 70s during the past year,” he said, “and I am now setting a goal of shooting below 70. The process works equally well with each shot in the game, not just the putter. In fact, I now use the process before beginning the round.”

Even though I am filled with apprehension on this round, I completely and totally accept myself.

Ron also coached other golfers using EFT. One of his students dropped his “average putts per round” from 37 to 29 while a lady golfer knocked an average of 5 to 6 strokes per round off of her score.

Revise Your Comfort ZoneAnother important concept in improving your golf

game, just as in other sports, is changing your comfort zone. Your comfort zone is your usual scoring range, that familiar place where you “belong.”

This explains why even if you knock a dozen points off your score by improving your putting, you aren’t likely to keep that reduced score for long. Your long shots will begin to suffer, or something else will happen to bring your score back into your comfort zone.

But by using EFT to improve your comfort zone, you can pave the way toward a new—and comfortable—scoring range.

Even though I’ve never scored less than 100, I deeply and completely accept myself.

EFT !"# G"$!62

Even though it’s impossible to imagine hitting in the mid-80s…

Even though I’ve never been able to shoot at par or lower…

Even though I can’t imagine keeping up with Tim and his friends because they’re all so competitive…

Even though if I shoot in the 70s, I would feel uneasy about being among the elite players at my club…

Even though I’m afraid of having a lower handicap because then I will have to maintain it…

Even though I may have barriers to shooting in the 70s…

Even though breaking the 100 barrier seems too big for me, and I’m sure I don’t have what it takes to be a better golfer and move into the double digits…

Even though golfers my age never shoot below 90…

Even though shooting consistently below 90 would require more practice time away from my job and fam-ily…

For best results, build into your Setup Phrase an improvement that is believable or just about believable to you, something within the realm of possibility. Someone who has never shot below 110, for example, will no doubt get better results from a Setup Phrase that talks about shooting in the high 90s rather than in the low 70s. Even a modest goal may seem unlikely at first, but once EFT removes the energy blocks that interfere with improve-ment, modest improvements will be easy to achieve and surpass.

Adapt ing EFT to the Game of Gol f 63

One often-overlooked aspect of the comfort zone, which I think is important, is its social benefits. If you golf with the same friends every week, the outing is as much a social event as it is a sport. You really enjoy your Saturday afternoons with your buddies. If you suddenly become a whole lot better—or, for that matter, a whole lot worse—you won’t fit so comfortably in the group any more. If you’re serious about improving your game, you’ll eventually have to move on. I think that in many cases, social pressures interfere with golfers getting bet-ter. They can improve a little with everyone’s blessing, but if they get a lot better, especially if they do it quickly, their new competence can create discomfort for everyone in the group.

What each golfer has to decide is how important the camaraderie of friends is compared to his or her desire to be a better golfer. For some, there’s no contest. They’ll say they have to shoot in the mid-70s or low 80s for busi-ness reasons, to advance in competition, or for their own ego reasons, but for others, losing the group’s support is stressful. I would go so far as to say that for many golfers, their foursome’s social aspects are actually part of their comfort zone. If this is a dilemma for you, EFT can help resolve it.

Even though if my game improves, my friends won’t be comfortable playing with me any more and I probably won’t be comfortable playing with them, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though my friends matter to me, and the only time I get to see them is on the golf course…

EFT !"# G"$!64

Even though it’s hard to decide what’s the best thing to do and what improvement goals are best for me…

Using Setup Phrases that address these issues will help you decide where your “best” comfort zone might be —and, after you decide, EFT can help you relax and feel comfortable within that zone.

Discover Stored EmotionsGolf is a game of inches. More accurately, it’s a game

of fractions of an inch. Consider the effects of even a slight stress that weakens or tightens a muscle. This can cause your clubhead to be modestly off center and that is all it takes to send your ball into the rough or a sand trap. Being off 1/8 of an inch will do this.

What might the problem be? It’s tempting to focus on technique, but the real issue may have nothing to do with your grip or your follow-through. As far-fetched as this sounds at first, the real reason you just played a terrible game might be because you stored an argument in your elbow. Or maybe your financial worries are in your shoulder. The most effective EFT practitioners and performance coaches look for emotional factors and the events that led up to them. All of these are treatable with EFT.

Before your next game, practice round, or session at the driving range, fill in these blanks and tap on whatever issues come to mind.

Even though I’m still mad because___, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Adapt ing EFT to the Game of Gol f 65

Even though I’m worried about ____, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though I’d rather not think about____, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though it’s upsetting to realize ___, I deeply and completely accept myself.

In each case, measure your discomfort or emotional intensity on the 0-to-10 scale, say your Setup Phrase three times while tapping on your Karate Chop point, then tap through the sequence of EFT points while saying a Reminder Phrase that helps you focus on the problem. The whole procedure shouldn’t take more than a minute. After one or two rounds of tapping, check the 0-to-10 measurement again and see whether your discomfort or emotional intensity has disappeared. If not, do another round while adding “still have” and “this remaining” to your Setup and Reminder Phrases.

We store all kinds of emotions in our bodies, and our subconscious minds are often clever about hiding them. This is why being a good detective will improve your EFT results. The more hidden emotions you uncover and neutralize, the more quickly and efficiently you’ll improve your golf game and everything else in your life.

One way to find stored emotions and hidden events is to ask yourself questions like:

This is a familiar feeling. I’ve had it before. When exactly did I have it?

Where was I? What was going on in my life then?

EFT !"# G"$!66

Another way to find stored emotions is to ask your-self:

If there was a specific emotional event contributing to this feeling of discomfort, what could it be?

What does this emotional issue remind me of?

If I could live my life over again, what person or event would I just as soon skip?

What is this problem protecting me from? How would my life change in a difficult way if I became a bet-ter golfer, or if I solved this problem?

One of my favorite ways to find the events that mat-ter is called the Personal Peace Procedure. On a blank sheet of paper or at your computer, write a list, as fast as you can, of all the unhappy memories you can think of. Give each one a title, as though it were a book or a movie. Include childhood issues as well as golf disasters and dis-appointments, then include everything else you can think of. If you can’t list at least 50 specific events, you are either going at this half-heartedly or you have been living on some other planet. Many find hundreds.

While making your list you may discover that some events don’t seem to cause you any current discomfort. That’s OK. List them anyway. The mere fact that you remember them suggests a need for resolution.

When the list is complete, pick out the biggest red-woods in your negative forest (the ones closest to 10 on the 0-to-10 scale ) and apply EFT to each one of them until you either laugh about them or just can’t think about them any more. Be sure to notice any related issues

Adapt ing EFT to the Game of Gol f 67

that may come up and consider them separate trees in your negative forest. In EFT, we call these related issues “aspects.” Apply EFT to them accordingly. Be sure to keep after each event until it falls to zero. After the biggest redwoods are removed, look for the next- biggest, etc.

Work on at least one movie per day, preferably three. It takes only a few minutes per event. In three months at this rate, you will resolve the emotional charge surround-ing 90 to 270 specific events. Then notice how your body feels better. Note, too, how your threshold for getting upset is much lower. Note how your relationships are better and how many annoying or distracting issues just don’t seem to be there any more. Revisit some specific events and notice how those previously intense incidents have faded into nothingness. Note other improvements in your life, especially on the golf course. You will find it easier to focus on your game, ignore distractions, incorpo-rate the recommendations of trainers and instructors, and bounce back from disappointing games or situations.

What’s Really Happening?Some time after my son was filmed at a three-par

nine-hole golf course for one of our EFT videos, he told a golf pro who worked there about EFT’s benefits. At the pro’s invitation, I went to the course to introduce him and one of his students to EFT. The idea was that they would play a round of golf and I would show them how to use EFT to improve their technique and lower their scores.

EFT !"# G"$!68

Before we started, I did some general Setup Phrases that set the stage, and then we went out on the course. But instead of getting the results I expected, they both did significantly worse. The pro usually shot par, but he had a terrible day and shot four over par, even though we tapped all the time. His student, meanwhile, was about 10 strokes worse than before, and this was on a nine-hole course. They were just awful. I stood there scratching my head trying to make sense of it because I expected both of them to be blown away by their improvements.

So I started asking questions and finally figured out what had happened. The golf pro was stressed because he was the only one running the shop, and a new employee who was supposed to come early and learn what to do hadn’t even shown up when it was time for us to tee off. As a result, the pro spent his entire game worrying about the shop.

Because I knew nothing about this, I didn’t tap on anything relating to his main concern. The other fellow also had a tapping ailment that I didn’t tune into. He was so nervous about playing with and competing against the pro that he couldn’t think about anything else—I’m golfing with the pro, I’m golfing with the pro—and he was totally distracted. There I was tapping for things like getting onto the green in one shot, and there they were having nervous breakdowns about completely differ- ent issues.

It’s easy to assume when we use EFT to help oth-ers that we understand their problems and know how

Adapt ing EFT to the Game of Gol f 69

to address them, and much of the time that’s true. But if we take the time to find out what distresses or distracts a person right now, instead of just assuming that we know, we’ll save time and get much better results.

Tail-enders and Specific EventsPeople often ask whether there’s a place for affirma-

tions in EFT, and I would say yes, but not in the way affirmations are usually used. Traditionally, affirmations or positive goal statements are repeated constantly, the theory being that with repetition, they replace whatever limiting thoughts are part of the subconscious mind’s pro-gramming. Some golf-related examples might be “I easily shoot 65 on this round,” “I win Saturday’s tournament with ease,” or, “I have a relaxing day playing golf with Tim and his friends, and I beat them all.”

If you’re like most golfers, and if these events are well out of your comfort zone, you’ll respond to statements like these with disbelief. You might hear a voice in your head saying, “Sure, when pigs fly,” or, “Get real, that will never happen and you know it.” Interestingly, these “tail-enders” become the true affirmations and cause people to become uncomfortable with this form of positive self-talk.

Whenever a goal seems unlikely or even impossible, experienced EFT’ers welcome the tail-enders that result. Tail-enders are the “yes, but” statements that pop into your mind the minute you imagine moving out of your comfort zone. Unaddressed, tail-enders have the power to sabotage any goal you try to achieve. On the bright side,

EFT !"# G"$!70

tail-enders point directly to issues you can disarm with EFT, thus removing their power.

The secret to using tail-enders this way is to think back to the recent or distant past, looking for a memory —a specific event—in which something happened that reminds you of your present concern. Once you identify a specific event that may be contributing to your sports performance problem, simply tap while telling the story of the event until its emotional intensity is gone. To be more effective, identify which emotions you felt during the event as well as now and address them individually. For example, if you are a novice golfer, you might feel uncomfortable because of something that happened dur-ing your first practice round.

Even though I’m still embarrassed about hitting a tree not once but twice and my friend said I might as well quit, I deeply and completely accept myself.

While tapping the EFT points, use “this embarrass-ment” or simply the word “embarrassed” as your Reminder Phrase. Once the emotional intensity for embarrassment is released, substitute anger, hopelessness, or any other feeling that you experienced and address it next.

I consider affirmations and positive goal statements powerful tools in our search for core issues. Pay attention to the part of you that feels uncomfortable when you call yourself a success. Think about where the negative self-talk comes from and see if you can follow it to a specific event in your past. Sometimes the specific event hap-pened recently, as in the example above, and sometimes it

Adapt ing EFT to the Game of Gol f 71

goes all the way back to childhood. As soon as you find it, tap on it until it’s just an old memory, nothing more.

The 0-to-10 intensity scale can be used to measure discomfort, pain, and emotions like fear or anxiety, and it can also be used to measure the truth of self-talk state-ments such as, “I’ll never win on this course,” or, “Winning on this course will be easy and fun.” If you rate the first state-ment at a 10 on your personal truth scale and rate the sec-ond statement at a zero, a win is unlikely. This method of testing the truth or believability of positive and negative statements is another way to zero in on specific events from your past. Why does it feel as though you will never win on this course? What thoughts or memories come to mind? What events from your past seem to verify your conviction?

I have been beating the drum for many years about being specific with EFT, urging EFT’ers to break emo-tional issues into the events that underlie them. When we do this, we address true causes and not just symp-toms. While there is a skill to doing this, those who take this approach have watched their success rates climb impressively. They are also doing deeper, more meaning- ful work.

I have found, and demonstrated consistently, that applying EFT to the smallest component of a bothersome memory almost always works. This idea has the potential to substantially improve EFT’s success rate and pave the way for improvement in areas previously thought dif-ficult or impossible.

EFT !"# G"$!72

One important question to ask yourself whenever you tune into an uncomfortable emotion is:

What does this remind me of?

It might remind you of something that happened when you were nine years old in Mrs. Smith’s classroom, or something your father said or did, or something that made you angry or sad. Whatever the event, turn it into a Setup Phrase and tap on it until its emotional charge has fallen to zero.

Even though my friends laughed when I knocked over the hurdle in ninth grade gym class, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though my mind went blank when I was stand-ing onstage in my senior year and could not remember my lines, I deeply and completely accept myself.

We’re all different, and what matters to you may seem trivial to your best friend, and vice versa. That’s why preprinted EFT scripts don’t work—or, more accurately, they don’t work nearly as well as Setup Phrases that are custom made just for you and your unique situation.

Even though I fear my brother’s reaction if I shoot better golf than he does, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though I’m afraid that my uncle will ridi-cule me and try to make my life miserable if my score improves…

Even though I take out my anger at my boss by swinging too hard, imagining that it’s his head I’m whacking, which of course sends the ball too far…

Adapt ing EFT to the Game of Gol f 73

Even though that little cup represents my inad-equate feelings around Betty, no wonder I can’t get anywhere…

Even though I try too hard at this game, and every-thing else, just like my father pushed me to do…

Even though being the worst player in my golfing group helps me keep all my friends…

Even though if I get any better I’ll be playing at my instructor’s level and I can’t stand him…

The connections between past events and your pres-ent-day golf score may be hard to comprehend, but these are exactly the connections that cause the energy blocks that interfere with success.

Tap every day, several times a day, for everything you can think of and you can’t help but feel better. Your golf game is bound to improve, and so will every other aspect of your life and health.

If necessary, see your physician. If you are taking prescription medications, you may feel so good that you want to reduce your dosages. It is essential that you not alter or discontinue any medication unless advised by your physician. Be safe, and be smart, on your journey of emotional and physical performance.

3Case Histories of EFT on the Golf Course

This book would not have been possible without the contributions of hundreds of athletes who have contrib-uted stories to the EFT archives at EFTuniverse.com. In the pages below, their stories demonstrate the many prac-tical ways they’ve discovered to apply EFT to their golf games. You’ll find thought-provoking tips and inspiring anecdotes that will encourage you to break through your limitations and achieve a whole new level of performance.

EFT for the YipsIn the 1920s and ‘30s, professional golfer Tommy

Armour dominated the game, winning the U.S. Open, the British Open, and many other tournaments. Armour is credited with inventing the term “the yips” to describe the neuromuscular condition that forced him to retire from competitive golf. Armour wasn’t alone, for the yips have afflicted thousands of golfers, including champions like

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 75

Case Histories of EFT on the Golf Course

Ben Hogan, Sam Sneed, Johnny Miller, and Bernhard Langer.

The yips are involuntary wrist spasms or twitches that occur as the club meets the ball, especially in putting. The yips can affect any golfer, men and women alike, but the main risk factors are age, experience, and the stress of competition. The majority of yips sufferers are over 40 and have been avid golfers for years. Many are champi-ons or professionals.

According to one theory, the psychological pressures that surround an important golf shot, such as a game-winning putt or the combination of a public audience, a significant cash prize, and the adrenaline rush of competi-tion, can cause a golfer to lose focus, resulting in an invol-untary twitch that sends the ball wide. Many experienced golfers have experienced the yips during high-stakes games, and nearly 50 percent of all professional golfers have reported at least one incident of the yips.

Another theory considers the yips a type of repetitive motion injury called focal dystonia, a condition in which the overuse of certain muscles causes involuntary con-tractions during a particular movement. Studies of body mechanics have shown that some professional golfers assume awkward putting positions that could trigger a cramp or muscle spasm at a critical moment.

Although the yips are usually associated with putting, many golfers report interference from the yips on other strokes, including their first drive off the tee.

The yips may be synonymous with golf, but they occur in other sports that involve hand coordination,

EFT !"# G"$!76

including cricket, darts, basketball, baseball, and ten-nis. Professional basketball players Charles Barkley and Chuck Hayes suffered from the yips during important free throws and other precision shots. The yips affected the throwing arms of baseball pitchers Steve Blass and Mike Pelfrey as well as second basemen Chuck Knoblauch and Steve Sax. Among tennis players, the yips affected Guillermo Coria and Elena Dementieva. And you don’t have to be an athlete. The yips take a toll on musicians, dentists, surgeons, and writers.

Golf instructors and performance coaches who use EFT have been helping golfers with this problem for years just by teaching them to tap.

In 2004, EFT practitioner Lynn Francis, who lives in the U.K., recruited five golfers who suffered from the yips and documented their performance before and after using EFT to address their symptoms and emotional issues. All were quickly relieved, and statements signed by the par-ticipants two years later confirm that this relief has lasted. The British magazine Golfers Chronicle described Francis’s experiment in detail and a year later featured a follow-up article describing another yips-afflicted golfer’s relief (Golfer’s Chronicle, 2004). Other golfers and performance coaches have written books and articles about using EFT to relieve the yips. If the yips are your problem, they will likely be history soon—and the same is true of any chronic problem that interferes with your game.

A study of the yips was performed by Lynn Francis’s academic colleagues (Rotherham, Maynard, Thomas, Bawden, & Francis, 2012). They used sophisticated

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 77

motion analysis equipment at the lab at Sheffield Hallam University to analyze the swing of a golfer with the yips. They found that his hands shuddered in a predictable pattern just before hitting the ball. After four 2-hr EFT sessions, working on emotional memories, the yips were gone, and when the golfer went back on the course, the improvement transferred successfully to his game.

In addition to the yips cases described in the book EFT for Sports Performance (Howard, 2014), here is a report from Debbie Falzon from Australia explaining how she helped her client with the golfing yips. Just as importantly, she describes how her client mis-reported her successes. Forms of this mis-reporting happen in many facets of EFT and an understanding of this phe-nomenon is important for serious EFT students.

EFT for the Golfing Yipsby Debbie Falzon

A couple of years ago I worked with a lady who suffered with the yips. She was an extremely good golfer with a handicap of 3, but she had experienced the yips on short putts for 18 years. It had gotten progressively worse over the past eight or nine years to the point where she yipped almost every short putt. She’d tried a number of things over this time such as new putters, new ways to grip, PGA professional help, and medication, all without success.

She experienced freezing, which she rated at a 10 on the 0-to-10 scale, and jerking, which she also

EFT !"# G"$!78

rated at a 10 on short putts. We worked on what she was experiencing physically as well as her thoughts, beliefs, and embarrassment, but as we weren’t on the golf course, I wasn’t able to test the results. At the end of our session I had her close her eyes and visualize her short putts. There was discomfort or intensity on a few aspects so we applied EFT until she was able to visualize herself making a smooth, focused putt.

She was to play in a tournament that week so I asked her to phone me to let me know how she did. I was quietly confident that she would have a good result. When she phoned and I asked her how it went and whether she yipped it, she said she had. She also said she wasn’t sure whether she had received any benefit from our session. She sounded really disap-pointed and so was I.

Actually, I felt deflated. It was only one 90-minute session, but I was shocked that she hadn’t had any result at all. I had also taught her how to use EFT to calm herself prior to and during tournaments, and she said she that yes, she had tapped. I then asked her a few direct questions such as how many holes did she actually yip on her short putts and she said, “Two.” By my calculations there was potential for her to have upwards of 30 yips on 18 holes of golf.

I said, “Maybe I’ve misunderstood and I apologize if I have, but my recollection is that you’ve experi-enced the yips for the past 18 years and over the past eight to nine years you’ve experienced it on almost every short putt, and nothing you’ve tried to date has

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 79

helped. Is that correct or have I got things mixed up?” There was silence on the end of the phone and then she said, “That’s correct.”

On further questioning she said she was using EFT in between each hole, but she also said the two times she yipped, “I knew I was going to yip it” and she was mad at herself. I think she expected to be completely “yip-free” after our session and was just disappointed and beating herself up about it. She certainly seemed a lot happier at the end of our con-versation than she was at the beginning.

It’s amazing, but this happens so often that I always ask questions and bring my clients back to where they started so they can examine their results realistically.

* * *

In addition to helping golfers via teleseminars, Brad Yates, an EFT practitioner in Sacramento, California, has worked with individual golfers who used EFT to improve their scores and restore their enjoyment of the game.

Golfing and EFTby Brad Yates

My first golfer, “Brendon,” was in his middle twenties and was in the process of becoming a profes-sional when he came to see me. He didn’t have any particular problem, but he hadn’t finished Q School yet and he wanted to break through to a higher level.

EFT !"# G"$!80

So we tapped for golf in general, for his technique, and for emotional issues. After two sessions, he went out to play a practice round and said it was the easiest 64 he’d ever played.

Another client was a gentleman in his late seven-ties or early eighties. He had been an excellent golfer years before, but now he felt anxious about golf and no longer enjoyed playing because the yips had ruined his putting. We did one or two sessions in which we zeroed in on a specific event, and that was a tourna-ment he had played in many years before, where he’d choked on the green. He had gotten tense, lost all concentration, and blew every shot. That humiliating experience kept coming back to haunt him, although he didn’t consciously realize it until we started tap-ping. After using EFT to remove the emotional charge of that memory, not only did his hands remain still so the yips were no longer a problem, but he felt a lot calmer and, best of all, he rediscovered his love of the game.

Just last month I worked with a man in his thir-ties who had been a very strong golfer in college. He was a really powerful striker but not so good on the green. That’s what always held him back and kept him from making the cut.

We did one session focusing on his problems with Setup Phrases for his technique and his feelings about the game, after which he decided to get some addition-al coaching. He went to a well-known putting coach who always starts his work with an assessment test.

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 81

After administering the test, the coach said to my client, “You think of yourself as a really strong striker, don’t you?” My client agreed. “But you think your short game is terrible, don’t you?” Again, he agreed. Then the coach said, “I have given this assessment to hundreds and hundreds of golfers, from complete amateurs to people on the pro circuit to top golfers, and you scored higher than anyone I’ve ever tested.”

When he told me this, my client concluded, “I have to rethink who I am.” EFT can definitely help him do that!

Overall, my experience has convinced me that the major problem shared by golfers at all levels is their negative self-talk. They may have had lots of great shots, but instead of remembering those, they focus on their few discouraging situations or their one spectacular failure, and they let those events define them. The negative self-talk becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. They say things like:

I’ll never really be good.

It would be bad if I beat this person.

If I make this shot, how will I justify not turn- ing pro?

I can’t control my wrist, and it jumps all over.

The game just isn’t fun any more.

Any self-doubting statement can be turned into an EFT Setup Phrase. Just write down what you’re saying to yourself, put “Even though” in front of the sentence, and start tapping.

EFT !"# G"$!82

EFT can help any golfer move to a higher level of play, reduce stress and anxiety on the golf course, and make the game a lot more fun.

* * *

As noted earlier, we store emotions in our bodies. Here licensed massage practitioner Roseanna Ellis helps a 50-year-old athlete recover from a painful neck injury. Most physical problems can disappear just as quickly using EFT, especially if you zero in on the emotions stored in the injured area. Neck and shoulder problems are so common among golfers that it pays to ask yourself what emotions you’re storing there.

Overcoming a “Worry in the Neck” Injuryby Roseanna Ellis

It always amazes me how people over 40 panic when they become injured. They fear that their age inhibits recovery. I explain the energy theory and quantum healing, saying that healing is an innate gift we were born with.

I bring them back to when they were very young and how they used to play hard and injure themselves all the time. Then the body healed quickly because there was no stress or fear involved in the injury. Their thoughts were on healing quickly in order to play with their friends again.

Now that they are older and there is a lot more stress in their lives, an injury creates worry, they get angry at themselves, and they fear losing their ability

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 83

to play sports again. All this, I explain, disrupts the energy system and healing becomes compromised. Once they realize that the body heals itself whether young or old and that it is the emotions that delay or stop recovery, they begin to understand.

George, who is 50, came today for treatment of his neck. He had injured it while lifting weights at the gym six days ago. He rated his pain as a 9 on the 0-to-10 scale, which increased to a10 with any motion. His neck range was restricted by 60 percent in all directions.

We performed EFT on his complaints, such as:

Even though this neck pain is a 9 on the 0-to-10 scale, I deeply and completely accept myself.

That simple Setup Phrase and a round of tapping brought the pain down to a 2.

Even though I have this neck tightness and can’t move my neck, I deeply and completely accept myself.

This problem didn’t respond right away. Even after four rounds of tapping, the tightness remained. I asked what he thought was stopping his neck from wanting to move, and he answered, “A wall.”

Even though there’s this wall that prevents my neck from moving, I deeply and completely accept myself.

We tapped for “this wall” until he gained 90 per-cent movement.

I asked, “How did you feel when you first got the injury?”

EFT !"# G"$!84

He replied, “I was so scared when I became light-headed, I was afraid I’d faint.”

Even though I was scared that I was going to faint, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

That did the trick, The pain decreased to zero. We tapped again for “this tightness, this restriction” a few more times. He regained full range of motion.

The EFT treatment lasted 25 minutes. Then I stretched him for 30 minutes. He was very pleased and surprised, admitting that he had been sure the EFT would not work.

* * *

Performance specialist Steve Wells got behind a golf-er’s resistance to commitment and substantially improved his performance. This is an important message for any-one who is serious about enhancing performance. Those “subtle stoppers” that get in our way can be discovered and eliminated with EFT.

EFT for Improved Golf Commitmentby Steve Wells

Commitment is the quality that sets an amateur apart from a professional. Things come to those who are committed that will never come to those who are just interested.

If you are divided within yourself, you cannot easily achieve your goal. When you concentrate your power and focus, all of a sudden it is not only possible, it becomes inevitable. EFT can help us by dealing

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 85

with the divisions within ourselves which prevent us from making the commitment to our own success. We can deal with the negative associations towards what-ever actions we need to take to achieve it.

Over the past year, I have worked with a very good amateur golfer who aims to make it into the professional ranks. We have worked through several specific performance areas, beginning with his chip-ping onto the green. After using EFT to deal with his fear of embarrassment over publicly making a mis-hit, his confidence expanded significantly.

We then looked at his ultimate goals, which are quite high. Each fortnight, we get together and review his progress, apply EFT to areas of concern, and design the next steps. Although we made steady progress, his rate of progress was frustratingly slow— until we looked at the area of commitment.

When I asked how strongly he was committed to achieving his ultimate goals, he blushed and was unable to maintain eye contact. After a session where we looked at what would have to be happening for him to be totally committed to his goals, he realized that he was spending too much time and energy in a job that he hated and that was taking away from his ability to give 100 percent to his golf. He decided that to really commit to his goal, he would need to give up the job and focus entirely on developing his golf game.

In practical terms, this would necessitate ask-ing his father for a loan of about $20,000 to support

EFT !"# G"$!86

him for the next year and to enable him to attend the required tournaments to become professional. This was a big request and, as you can imagine, he had a significant amount of fear over taking this step.

We did a lot of EFT work on the thought of asking his father for the money, the feeling of obliga- tion this would bring, and his concerns over how his father might respond to the request. In the mean-time, his performances were just average and he even began to wonder whether this is what he was meant to be doing.

We also worked on his fear of taking the plunge. As with most aspiring high-achievers, this young man suffered from fear of success as well as fear of failure. We worked on this as we continued to work on his fear of asking his father for the loan. I had him cre-ate in his mind the images of ultimate success—with him inside the picture—and apply EFT to the tension these images created inside him. We did the same thing with the fears over how his dad might respond to his request for money and to the feelings of obliga-tion that borrowing the money created for him.

I didn’t see him for three or four weeks. When he returned, he had asked his dad for the money, and his father had willingly obliged. He was ready to go forward and succeed.

Having thus given himself a signal to mark out his commitment, this young man has now started to move ahead in leaps and bounds. In the past two months, he has finished second in two local tournaments,

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 87

achieved a top-five placing in an international tourna-ment (where he finished 12 under par), beaten several players ranked above him (who previously would have intimidated him big-time), and managed to post some incredible scores: 64, 65, 67, 69, etc.

He is not only looking forward to the upcoming tournaments that are crucial to his professional goals but, when focusing on them and talking about them, he exudes a feeling of calm confidence that is not easily shaken. Of course, I do all I can to shake his confidence by provocatively playing devil’s advocate (while remaining on the side of the angels!), diligently seeking out additional aspects to which we can apply EFT. Each time we find an area of concern, we target it with EFT, and then he goes home and continues the tapping work on a daily basis.

We consider every possible pressure situation and I have him create visual associated images (where he is in the picture inside his own body experiencing the situation) and tap on whatever emotion comes up. There are many of these and, as we tap away the ten-sion, we can be confident that if and when they occur he will be well prepared to handle them. He actively seeks out experiences that will stretch him beyond his previous comfort zone and develop him into the player he ultimately knows he can be. Will he suc-ceed? Is there any doubt?

This is the power of commitment. And EFT was crucial in helping this young man to achieve it. Used diligently and persistently on whatever prevents you

EFT !"# G"$!88

from total commitment to your goal, EFT reunites the flow in your energy, allowing you to move forward with absolute alignment, all parts of you working in unison, to the achievement of your dreams.

What do you need to commit to? Why not start tapping on it NOW!

* * *

Anne Presuel gives us an excellent example of how to use EFT on the spot for a performance issue. While upping your miniature golf game may not be high on your list, the ideas presented here are useful for most perfor-mance problems, including your “serious” golf game.

A Miniature Golf Success Storyby Anne Presuel

I was attending my oldest nephew’s wedding a couple of years ago, and my youngest nephew sug-gested we go play miniature golf. Unbeknownst to me, my brother and his youngest son often played miniature golf, while I had played it only five times in the past 20 years. Our family all went out to this beautiful course and began to play.

Well, let me tell you, it wasn’t long before some old childhood competition began to arise in me (my brother is older than I and used to “cream” me at numerous games we played together). By the third hole, my score was way over what I wanted it to be. While my brother was playing quite nicely at this golf course, I was three to five strokes over par at each

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 89

hole. I was not happy, to say the least. And while I knew it was just a game, I really didn’t like making a fool of myself.

After I finished hitting the ball all over the third hole while getting frustrated, I remembered tapping! I thought, “It can’t hurt!” Because my brother thinks I’m unusual enough, I was not about to openly tap while standing there on the golf course! I decided to take a deep breath and I imagined myself tapping on the points while saying to myself:

Even though I’m feeling frustrated at how I’m play-ing, it’s OK. It’s just a game, and it’s just for fun.

Even though I’m really wanting to do better, and I haven’t been, I think I can, if I just relax a little bit.

Even though I’m feeling like a bit of a fool here, hit-ting the ball all over the place, it’s OK. It really will be fine, no matter what happens.

I just tapped in my imagination on whatever the feelings were at the moment. It was my turn again. I got beside the ball and hit it. I made par on that hole! And the next! And the next! And then on the next one, I made a hole in one! From that point on, I made either under par, par, or just barely over.

At the very end of the game, I was the only one who hit the ball into the almost impossible shot (at the “19th hole”) to win a free game. I proudly handed the coupon to my brother, and thanked EFT in my heart!

* * *

EFT !"# G"$!90

Ellen Sirlin, who spends her winters in Florida, took an EFT workshop and put what she learned to use dur-ing her next golf game—and she has been tapping on golf courses ever since.

EFT and My Golf Gameby Ellen Sirlin

I enjoy golf and I use EFT all the time when I play. As a result, I am thrilled with my golf game. Through the years my game has gotten better, even though I don’t care all that much about the score. I care more about the enjoyment of being out there playing the game with people I like. I realize that I will never be a pro and make my living from this. I love walking on the course and enjoying the day.

Once when I just had learned EFT, my husband and I went to a beautiful hotel and golf course at Peninsula Papagayo in Costa Rica. It was a breath-taking course with such amazing scenery. The first day we were there, my game was awful. I was really annoyed at myself and felt so bad about it. The next day our friends from home were coming and I thought that I would be too embarrassed with my game to even play with them. So I started tapping. I said:

Even though my golf is really bad, I deeply and com-pletely accept myself, and I will enjoy the surroundings and the people we are with.

I did a few rounds of EFT and then forgot all about it. The next day when we played with our

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 91

friends, I shot my all-time best. That’s when I broke 90 for the first time. Now EFT is part of every game, and I could not be more pleased.

* * *

Leslye Caulley, who has no golf experience whatso-ever, and who doesn’t even know the lingo, made a “cold call” on a golf pro and helped improve his putting. As she discovered, if you know how to use EFT, you don’t have to understand a thing about golf in order to help an expert improve his game.

Grandmother Type Helps a Golf Proby Leslye Caulley

I had some time a few days ago between appoint-ments and decided to just drop in at a nearby golf course to see what it’s like. (I’m not a golfer or an athlete of any kind.) The people working there were quite friendly, and one person volunteered that “the pro is a lousy putter.” I asked if he’d introduce me and if I could quote him. Yes and yes. I told the pro I could help his putting, mentioned something about acupressure meridians, and asked if he was game to try it. We went to his office for a few minutes of introduction.

We were out on the green in short order. (I could hardly believe we were walking out there, this young golf pro and grandmother-type non-golfer, to tap and putt.) We established sort of a baseline. He hit a lot of balls into the cup in three and occasion-

EFT !"# G"$!92

ally four strokes from a distance of 13 to 16 feet. He verified that he was putting this day about like he usually does. Then we tapped, and as he addressed the ball but before he hit it, he said, “I’m very calm.” I checked with him occasionally, and he reported he was consistently calmer than usual throughout this entire experiment.

We treated his putting eight or nine separate times, especially paying attention to overshoots, because he said it would take two to get it in the cup when recov-ering from an overshoot. By the time we quit, he was getting putts from 13 to 16 feet in two strokes and sometimes one, and the second of the two-hit ones he called “gimmies,” which I learned is when it’s so close you just use one hand on the club to tap (!) it in. He said he was very pleased.

At one point from 13–16 feet, three balls in a row rolled over the edge of the cup in exactly the same spot on the right rim. We were amazed, tapped, and then two went over the same spot again and one went over the corresponding spot on the left rim. We tapped some more and then two out of three went straight in from 13–16 feet.

He’s playing in a tournament this weekend. He said he’s going to work with me again. It was such fun for me. I can’t believe I did such a thing! I learned that you don’t have to know a thing about golf to help an expert improve his game.

* * *

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 93

Here is an interesting report from Jeanine Crombé, an EFT instructor in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Jeanine has never held a golf club and knows nothing about the game, but she has helped several clients improve their scores by 10 percent or more. By focusing on each player’s emotions and tracking them back to specific events, Jeanine does what I wish every EFT user would do—trace emotions and damaging self-talk back to the core issues that caused them, then neutralize their emo-tional impact with EFT.

EFT in the Golf Cartby Jeanine Crombé

About four years ago, I began advertising EFT for golf, and all of my resulting clients were women. This observation might be true for men as well, but I can tell you that for women, the game of golf is not about golfing. It’s about their personal issues.

I worked that golfing season with eight clients, each once a month, for a total of 50 sessions on the golf course. Each session went like this. We would go to the golf course and I would drive the cart. I would stay with the cart while my client played with three other people, and when they finished one hole, we would drive to the next. While in the cart, and therefore away from her fellow players, we would tap on whatever issues came up. Because I was driving, my client had her hands free for tapping. My clients always went to these big, huge golf courses, so there was lots of time for driving and talking.

EFT !"# G"$!94

I had my clients keep track of their scores, both before we began working together and throughout our monthly sessions. In between sessions I gave them homework. This way, they could continue to improve by themselves. These were avid golfers. Some of them played three times a week.

Right before and after the first hole, I would ask my client about the players in her foursome. Who are these other people? Do you like them? Not like them? Are they better golfers than you? Do they talk a lot? Do you feel relaxed around them? Anxious? Nervous? Self-conscious? Are you annoyed because the people ahead of you are taking forever, or the people behind you are impatient? Are you too fast? Are you too slow? Whatever interfered with my cli-ent feeling relaxed and comfortable was something to tap on.

I should mention that my clients were all ambitious businesswomen who worked for large corporations or ran their own companies. They were competitive. They were always well-dressed and concerned about their appearance, and they used the best equipment.

Golfers strike me as a superstitious group. My clients were always going through certain rituals, and at each hole they would have something to say about what they expected. We would drive up and I would ask, “OK, what’s the story with this one? Do you like this hole? Do you not like it? What’s going to hap- pen here?”

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 95

My clients never had to stop and think. They already knew. “On this hole, I always slice the ball.” “On that hole, I always wind up in the sand.” “On the next hole, I’m never able to shoot past the water.”

We tapped on these beliefs because they inter-fered with the game. Once those beliefs were gone, everything started to improve. My clients were not sensational golfers but they liked the game and they enjoyed improving their scores. At the beginning of our golf season they all shot over 100, and as they used EFT, their scores improved by at least 10 per-cent and in some cases much more.

I would wait by the cart while my client played the next hole, and as soon as she came back, I would ask, “OK, how was it?” We would tap on different aspects of the game, how she was upset over her swing or the way the ball hooked or her putting problems, but after a few minutes on those issues, I always asked, “What is distracting you today? What does this remind you of? What has happened in the past that seems similar to this feeling?”

My goal was to get my clients thinking about specific events that were somehow connected to the present moment, and out would pour all kinds of com-plaints and problems that had nothing to do with golf. They had to do with their husbands or boyfriends, kids, parents, jobs, co-workers, and things that hap-pened long ago. We tapped for mother issues, child issues, marriage issues, everything. I always carried Kleenex with me. They would remember childhood

EFT !"# G"$!96

experiences or something an ex-husband said or did. Whatever they talked about, we tapped for, but the issues were always personal and emotional. One exclaimed, “I had no idea that golf is such a metaphor for my personal life!”

After we got their negative thinking out of the way, I would introduce affirmations, like, “This hole is easy for me. I enjoy sending the ball right past the sand trap. I feel confident and relaxed.”

Because we had already cleared out their mental obstacles, my clients usually responded well to these statements, which inspired them and gave them an extra boost of confidence. But sometimes they would disagree. The statements just didn’t feel true. That gave us a perfect opportunity to search for core issues, to go back into the past, to find a time when someone said something or something happened to make them doubt their abilities. As soon as we discovered an underlying cause, we would tap on it.

It is exciting to tap on positive goals and affirma-tions after you have done the groundwork of remov-ing the emotional charge that’s connected with old problems. At first it’s erase, erase, erase, and then it’s replace, replace, replace. There is much less competi-tion in the subconscious mind if we first create space so the affirmations can work.

In addition to improving their golf scores and enjoying the game more, all of these women increased their income and business success. I attributed these changes to the improvement in their self-confidence

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 97

and self-esteem. One goal they shared was a desire to do well in corporate golf tournaments and to golf as well as the men they worked with, and this is what happened.

I no longer conduct EFT sessions on the golf course. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it, but it was very time-consuming. Another reason is that I never attracted many new clients. Almost all my EFT cli-ents are women, and I have always found them to be generous with their friends. They are eager to share information about a new weight loss technique or things that make them look and feel better, but when it came to golf, I never got a referral. My clients were happy, but they never told anyone what they were doing. EFT was their secret weapon. I didn’t expect this reaction, but then, I didn’t know how competitive golfers can be, whether they’re playing for money or in a tournament or just to impress each other.

I have never picked up a golf club and I know nothing about the game, but all of my clients experi-enced permanent and lasting improvements, both in their golf game and in their personal and professional lives. I think of the golf improvements as a side effect of the other positive changes in their lives that they experienced through EFT.

* * *

Here’s another non-golfer story. By showing her how to tap, Sharon O’Hara helped a friend improve her golf.

EFT !"# G"$!98

A First Attempt at Helping a Golfer by Sharon O’Hara

My first attempt at helping a golfer with EFT was a big success! I snuck away from work with a friend, and she got a bucket of golf balls at the nearby driving range. She picked out four of her favorite clubs and set up a base line by hitting four balls with each club, “messing up” about two-thirds of the time. She defines messing up as not hitting the ball straight or very far.

I asked her what she wanted to improve, and she said, “Hitting it straight and far.” I had her say:

Even though I have this tension about hitting the distance, I deeply and profoundly accept myself.

She said the Setup Phrase three times, then tapped the Basic Recipe. She then hit four balls with each club, and with each new club I repeated the EFT sequence. She noticed right away that she was more relaxed and she immediately started hitting the ball farther and straighter. She “messed up” only about one-fourth of the time. She was amazed. So was I. A few times when she “messed up,” she said, “I felt myself tense up right before I hit that shot.” The tapping made her more aware of her alignment and helped her correct these and similar problems by put-ting them into Setup Phrases.

She said that it was her best day on the range. We had fun, and she agreed to write my first testimonial.

* * *

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 99

Our unresolved emotional issues show up in Technicolor on the golf course. Our angers, guilts, stress-es, frustrations, and the like affect the “inner game” that goes on in all sports. Alyson Raworth from Scotland rec-ognized this in her golfing client and they collapsed some childhood issues. The result? An improved golf score.

Resolving Childhood Memories Improves Scoreby Alyson Raworth

An acquaintance was having a golf putting prob-lem. He kept having three putts per hole and couldn’t get his head around the problem. The more he wor-ried, the worse it got. I said I would “have a bash at it” and that if it didn’t improve, he would get a full refund. (Yes, I was confident!)

The problem started when he was playing in a medal (competition) and he “let someone down” by missing an easy putt. It wasn’t helped by the other golfer, who remonstrated with him and proceeded to tell the whole clubhouse how he had been let down. The thought of that incident alone made him anx-ious and his 0-to-10 intensity level was at an 8. We tapped for:

Even though I let people down, made my partner look a numpty (foolish), made myself look foolish, everyone looking at me, my ears turning red, feeling ashamed, and being in the spotlight, I deeply and com-pletely accept myself.

EFT !"# G"$!100

His intensity level went down from 8 to 4 to zero. Yes!!

But we weren’t finished there. We found that there was a childhood incident where he was picked upon and made the focus of attention. He could feel his face burning with embarrassment. He said the feeling was the same as when he had played in the medal. We then went through many childhood incidents, all relating to being embarrassed and letting people down.

One tapping sequence I suggested was that he had maybe let himself down! That got a big reaction!

Even though I can’t be perfect all the time, I always try my best and if my best isn’t good enough for any- one I forgive them. I forgive myself, and I love and accept myself.

His intensity level on that aspect went down to zero. Now it had to be put to the test!

During the next two weeks, his putting was great, but a couple of shanks while driving reminded him to tap for driving “straight down the middle” while feel-ing comfortable.

Four weeks after our first session, his demeanor had changed, he was more positive, and he could think about how his comfort zone affected his game. After his last good game, I suggested going to sleep with that positive game in his mind and that he focus on all the good shots he had had.

At last! Two months after his first visit, he reports that he taps on a daily basis and is very happy with his golf—and his handicap is down.

* * *

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 101

Past disappointments can linger in our minds, pre-venting us from succeeding in the present. Here’s a story by Greg Warburton about working with a golfer for the first time, and finding that she’s still harboring regret about not winning the previous tournament. They clear out that old energy to help her succeed in her current golf game.

Clearing Previous Memories of Failureby Greg Warburton

In the fall of 2012, I worked with a female professional golfer who told me she was cautious about working with another sport psychologist. Nevertheless, we started working together and she later thanked me for teaching her how to develop her mental and emotional self-management skills. Later, she sent me text messages to let me know she appreci-ated that I didn’t try to analyze her, but instead taught her what to do during tournament play to relax her body and calm her mind fast. Even though we had only talked once via telephone and met face-to-face once, she is getting the results she wants using my mental-training system, including EFT tapping.

Following our first EFT session, she said to me, “I can be pretty talkative during rounds; however, I was so focused I just let my mind rest.” She was playing in a 54-hole tournament soon after we began working together. After the first round, she said, “I shot the lowest single-round score of my professional career this past weekend.” She shot 66 in the opening

EFT !"# G"$!102

round. She shot 69 in the second round and was lead-ing the tournament. She was still in the lead going into the back nine of the final round, had a couple of bad holes and finished the tournament tied for third place. As we talked later and she prepared for her next tournament, she had the thought still on her mind, “I should have won.” And she tapped the EFT points for that thought, which turns into emotional energy that will get trapped in her body and interfere with her physical performance unless she clears it out.

I taught her that she can repeat her phrase silently in her mind or say it out loud; adding, I’ve observed that saying it out loud is most effective for maintaining focus. Her script went something like this:

Tap the eyebrow point while saying I should have won.

Tap the side of the eye point while saying I should have won.

Tap under the eye while saying I should have won.

Tap under the nose while saying I should have won.

Tap under the mouth while saying I should have won.

…and so forth through the rest of the energy points on upper torso and hands.

As frequently happens in tapping the energy points to clear out blocked emotional energy, she had a mental shift and new awareness arose. She said,

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 103

“Now I feel my focus has changed,” adding, “It’s like it’s coming up out of me instead of lurking inside,” implying that she had cleared out the upset emotional energy block of not having won the tournament.

* * *

Statistics can be fascinating, especially if they describe the improvement of your golf game. Dave MacDonald from the U.K. helps us keep our personal research on track.

Demonstrating EFT’s Effectiveness for Golfby Dave MacDonald

Here are two tests that demonstrate ways in which the assistance of an EFT practitioner can sig-nificantly improve not only the score of a gofer but also his or her enjoyment of the sport.

Our first test involves pain or stiffness. It is accepted knowledge in modern medicine that many symptoms we feel in the form of pain are in fact due to an emotional response. EFT can remove the emotional obstacle behind the pain as well as relieve symptoms. The benefit to the golfer of course is a more fluid swing and a more enjoyable round, with (one hopes) the added benefit of a good score.

To document pain or stiffness, write down the date, describe the discomfort, and rate its intensity on the 0-to-10 scale. Tap for the symptom and any emotional factors that might be a factor. Golf can be affected by any pain, but the knees, shoulders, and

EFT !"# G"$!104

neck are common problem areas. In addition to mea-suring pain, measure your range of motion.

After a few rounds of tapping, check the pain or stiffness level and range of motion. Most people experience significant relief with just a few rounds of EFT. As soon as the pain or stiffness decreases or disappears, your increased flexibility should produce a smoother and more fluid motion.

The next test is the score, and to measure EFT’s effect on that we need to address specific aspects of the game. These can include “first tee nerves,” slic-ing, hooking, general frustration, or whatever else might be bothering you, including driving, long irons, medium irons, short irons, chipping, bunkers, the rough, or putting.

If you tackle your own specific issues, then an overall improvement in score should be the result. We can demonstrate this by working around the green practicing putting or chipping.

Chose which of these two options you want to work on and select twelve golf balls. Number them 1 to 12.

Go to the green and place the balls evenly around the hole at approximately 10 meters for putting, or 5 meters off the edge of the green for chipping. Position the balls around the circle corresponding to the num-bers on a clock, with ball number 3 at far right, 6 at the bottom, 9 at far left, and 12 at the top.

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 105

Putting Green Diagram

Playing three balls at a time from different thirds of the green or as listed on the table below, note the score taken for each shot. As you do so, explain how you are feeling about the shots and what is making it difficult for you. Then work on these issues using EFT’s Basic Recipe.

Ball Number Pre EFT

After First Treatment

After Second Treatment

After Third if Required

1

5

9

2

6

10

3

7

11

4

8

12

Total

EFT !"# G"$!106

As you play the second round, repeat the process of explaining how you feel and this is again recorded in the table.

Most cases will not require a third round, but the table is here in case.

You should now be able to look at the scores for the chipping or putting and see a direct improvement. Translated onto the course, this would result in lower scores and happy golfers. Most people have more than one problem area in their game, and each of them can be addressed as described above.

* * *

Problem described during first roundWhat could be the underlying reason behind this issue

Initial Score

Final Score

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Problem described during second roundWhat could be the underlying reason behind this issue

Initial Score

Final Score

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 107

Dr. Jack Eason Rowe is a retired psychology profes-sor and EFT practitioner who coaches golfers and other athletes on the mental game. He has written two books for golfers—EFT and Golf: The New Mental Game Manual (Rowe, 2009) and Energy Psychology and the Yips Cure and Prevention (Rowe, 2003). His methods are being used by golfers at all levels from the beginner to the top touring professionals.

Here he describes two studies he conducted with golfers.

Golf Studiesby Jack Eason Rowe, Ph.D.

I did a putting study with 37 golfers testing the effect of EFT on putting. Data were collected at several sites. Fifteen mini-courses were marked off on the practice green. Each golfer warmed up, then putted one ball at each mini-course. Each putt was rated on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being perfect. Each

Problem described during third roundWhat could be the underlying reason behind this issue

Initial Score

Final Score

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

EFT !"# G"$!108

golfer rated his or her own putt; therefore, the ratings were subjective. The golfers were then taught EFT. They were instructed to repeat the putting test on the green using a quick shortcut EFT routine before each putt. The putts rated 8, 9, or 10 were counted and compared against the putts rated 7 or less.

Before using EFT, there were 241 putts rated 8, 9, or 10. After using EFT, there were 329 putts rated 8, 9, or 10, a 37-percent increase of highly rated putts.

I also did a full-swing (driver) study with 21 golfers, collecting data at several sites. Each golfer warmed up, then hit 15 balls on the driving range, rat-ing each shot on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being per-fect. Again, each golfer rated his or her own shot. The golfers were then taught EFT. They were instructed to repeat the full-swing test on the range using a quick shortcut EFT routine before each shot. Shots rated 9 or 10 were counted and compared against the shots rated 8 or less.

Before using EFT, there were 71 shots rated 9 or 10. After using EFT, there were 135 shots rated 9 or 10, a 90-percent increase of highly rated shots.

Number of Putts

Before EFT

After EFT Increase

Rated 8, 9, 10 241 329 88

Rated 7 or less 305 217 -88

Number of Shots

Before EFT

After EFT Increase

Rated 9 or 10 71 135 64

Rated 8 or less 244 180 -64

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 109

* * *

Chip Engelmann muses humorously about the game of golf and intersperses some useful ideas involving EFT and the Law of Attraction. At its most basic, the Law of Attraction says that whatever you focus your mind on is what you attract. Chip also says, “I’m going to come out and boldly state that you can go from never having played golf to being a scratch golfer in seven weeks if you follow the suggestions below, guaranteed.” A scratch golfer has a zero handicap, so that’s quite a claim. I will leave that guarantee between you and Chip. Personally, I would expect substantial results, but a golf guarantee from me wouldn’t be quite as bold as Chip’s.

Golf, EFT, and the Law of Attractionby Chip Engelmann

It seems to me no game is more closely tied to the Law of Attraction than golf. This is true if you are a scratch golfer, 20 handicapper, or you just play Whack-a-Mole with a Titleist.

If you want to learn the Law of Attraction, take up golf. If you want to get better at golf, use EFT. It doesn’t matter what type of golfer you are, the way you feel affects your game. The Law of Attraction (which says that like creates like) reigns. If you are feeling frustrated, you will find trees, divots, and skunk scratchings for your ball to land in.

Your ball will hook, slice, catch the wind, or bounce inexplicably 45 degrees when it hits the

EFT !"# G"$!110

green. And when you do finally make that perfect shot up onto the green, the ball quivers, starts rolling, picks up speed, and ends up in that steep bunker that can only be escaped by hitting away from the hole.

But when you feel good, your shots get better and better. The shots you chunk or push end up in perfect lies, where the green is clearly visible and reachable.

In fact, how you feel determines whether, when you hit a tree, the ball lands in the middle of the fair-way or lands so close to the tree that you have to hit left-handed with your wedge upside down just to get it into the rough.

EFT can help change how you feel when you play and, in doing so, help improve your score.

At the start of the game, you want to be in the optimum state for playing your best, happy and relaxed. You can imagine the shot, line up next to the ball, and let the club do its magic. Nice work when you can get it. But what about when you are feeling frustrated with your game? EFT can help on many levels.

Tap on the frustration you feel on the course, relieve the stress, and turn your game around. I hope you won’t feel like too big an idiot tapping on your face and under your arm. Most people have a single point that releases more emotional energy than the others, such as the under-eye or collarbone spot. Mine is under the nose. Experiment and see if one spot seems to release more emotion than others. Try to find a single point that can be worked into your Setup

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 111

routine without anyone taking much notice. People do a lot of silly things when preparing to strike a ball. Your silly thing just helps you hit more greens and fairways.

At home you can work on the emotions that typically abound on your bad golf days. Work on self-directed anger, frustration, disappointment, etc., by imagining the situation while tapping. You can replay a bad game in your head while tapping. You can tap on rushing your putts. You can tap on slow-ing down your back swing. You can work on feeling nervous about the club scramble coming up. If you can imagine what you have felt or will feel, you can relieve it with EFT.

You may also want to search out the core issues that cause your negative emotions on the course. Look at how you have been frustrated in the past. Look at the shame you felt when you failed to per-form. Look at the patterns that cause you to beat yourself up when you don’t live up to your expecta-tions. There are people who claim that using a little EFT takes ten strokes off their game.

Likewise, you can use Law of Attraction prin-ciples to turn around a bad game or a streak of poor play. When you notice that you are feeling bad, frus-trated, angry, etc., turn your game around. Look at what you don’t want. Are you hitting the ball thin or fat? Pushing your putts? What? Then, pivot. When you can identify what you don’t want, you can identify what you do want. You want to make solid contact. You want to putt where you aim. So visualize

EFT !"# G"$!112

hitting the ball straight. Imagine how it feels to hit the ball solidly. Imagine how it feels when you stick it on the green. Now relax and take your shot.

When everything is going wrong, imagine that there is a reason for it—one that benefits you. Say to yourself, “Everything works out for me.” Then allow for the good to emerge.

Recently, I shot my worst score ever! Nothing went right. I was topping the ball, hitting the ground before the ball, so when I did connect, it went left.

Any effort to fix the problem made the problem worse. By the eighth hole I was a nervous wreck and ready to give up. I tapped to relieve the frustration, but my shots kept turning out badly.

Then I thought about what I wanted and what I didn’t want. I started reminding myself that every-thing always works out for me. The game did not get any better for a while. Then, at about the 16th hole, I noticed that when I swung the club, my natural move-ment was to close the club and hit the ball left. What I had been doing is using my hands during the swing to compensate for closing the club. When I thought about it I realized I had been doing it for months, because whenever I missed my shots they always flew a particular angle to the left. I learned that by moving my grip a little weaker, my club stayed straight.

My shots took a new ease I had never experi-enced. Once I figured this out, the next few holes went smoother. I played three extra holes to build muscle memory of this new stroke. Since that

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 113

day of the horrible score, my level of play has ad- vanced considerably and I now play with a newfound confidence.

Had I remained frustrated or started playing better, I might not have been open to the change. I needed the poor play to increase my desire to take my game to the next level.

In a way, golf is a macrocosm of life. It is about our relationship with ourselves. When we are relaxed and confident, we play well. Sure, the golf course and opponents add stress, but ultimately the game is about how we maintain our relaxed composure and execute a stroke we’ve done many times before. EFT is a powerful tool we can use to get our emotions out of the way of our game.

Now, please excuse me while I check how well EFT works on poison ivy.

* * *

In his office and on the putting greens of four local courses, Ohio golf coach Stephen Ladd shows amateur and professional golfers how to eliminate stress, anxiety, and poor swing habits with EFT. He tracks their prog-ress, and one group of 31 golfers improved their scores by an average 36 percent in record time. That’s an unheard-of result in conventional coaching circles.

“Most golfers never reach their true potential,” he says. “Traditional positive-thinking programs simply do not help, and practice does not make perfect. In fact, practice often makes things worse. But by using EFT,

EFT !"# G"$!114

golfers at every level can leave their problems behind, eliminate fear and doubt, and never choke again, ever.”

Stephen recently asked clients to rate their results. “Of the 103 golfers who did so,” he says, “59 reported excellent results, 32 had good results, 10 reported fair results, and only two had disappointing results.” After years of tracking EFT results, I have found that in most cases, about 80 percent of those who try the technique experience significant improvement, and if a skilled practitioner is involved, the results are even better. In Stephen’s group of 103, 91 reported excellent or good results, which is an 88-percent success rate.

Stephen considers the most meaningful improve-ment in golf a reduction of the player’s handicap. “I asked my golfers for their average round before and after learning and applying EFT,” he says. “Of the 31 golfers who supplied these statistics, all (100 percent) report-ed improvement, and their improvements averaged 36 percent. A few reduced their handicaps by as much as 55 to 75 percent.”

Golf Coach Produces 36-percent Improvementby Stephen Ladd

My entry into energy work with golfers was a natural progression of my ten years experience as a strength and conditioning coach. At the time I had a large number of golfers in my conditioning programs. In addition, I also had the trust and respect of many top golf instructors in the area. These relationships made it substantially easier to introduce EFT.

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 115

The vast majority of my work with golfers takes place one-on-one, in person. The first session is in my office, or, in the case of teaching professionals, it may be out on the putting green.

The session starts with an intake interview gath-ering specifics about the client’s golf game, such as years played, handicap, instructor(s), strong/weak part of the game, best/worst moment on a golf course, physical discomforts, etc. Golfers love to talk shop, so letting them talk a bit helps to build rapport. I also sneak in some seemingly non-golf-related inquires concerning relationships, starting with, “Does your spouse play golf?” I also inquire (indirectly at first) about the person’s job, belief systems, and other per-sonal information.

Next I move right into a visualization demonstra-tion of EFT. It doesn’t matter to me if the client is familiar with tapping or not, I just want them to feel it. In brief, I have the client visualize the most chal-lenging golf shot/situation he or she has ever encoun-tered and measure its intensity on the 0-to-10 scale. Then I tap with them using the shortcut Basic Recipe.

I actually tap on them for the first round or two, as I have found that it is easier for clients to stay focused on the issue or memory when they don’t have to watch and mimic me in terms of tapping locations. I also don’t insist that they actually say a reminder phrase, but rather encourage them to just “tune into the issue” in whatever way they prefer.

EFT !"# G"$!116

It usually only takes one to three rounds of tap-ping to bring the 0-to-10 intensity level down to a zero on any particular issue. Of course there are exceptions that require a bit more detective work, but I try not to get too “far out” in the first session. I have found it helpful to build a bit more trust before diving head first into abstract core issues, such as how the anger they harbor for an ex-spouse may be causing the yips.

Once clients actually experience a shift in inten-sity, they are usually quite open to the idea of “comfort zone” work. After explaining the basic concept and doing some preliminary testing, I assign homework using several chapters of my book Tap In Golf: The Ultimate Mental Game Mastery System. I have experi-enced a dramatic increase in compliance with home-work assignments with the publication of my book, as compared to simple handouts. This supports Gary’s recommendation of becoming an authority.

Before leaving the first appointment, I secure a date and time for the next appointment. Often this will be at one of the country clubs or at the driving range.

I like to get the client out to the putting green on the second or third session in order to see a more objective improvement. If the client has been out playing rounds after our first session, the improve-ment is already underway. In my experience, it works well to take golf instructors out to the putting green on the first session. This may be because the in- structor (like a highly skilled golfer) can feel sub-

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 117

jective improvements and other subtleties in his or her putting stroke, and we can simultaneously “score” the putts.

Here is a simple exercise you can do on your own. Head out to the putting green with five golf balls. Pick a single hole to be used for the duration of this experiment. Begin practicing from about 20 feet at four different locations.

Make sure you are completely warmed up and have a good idea of the breaks in the green from each position. This will help insure that the improvement you experience after the tapping routine will not be attributed to simply getting a feel for the green.

Next, you are going to hit five puts from each of the four locations. Each putt will be graded by you, using the score card shown here.

Name: ___________________________________

BEFORE AFTER

ACE ACE

GOOD GOOD

FAIR FAIR

POOR POOR

It is helpful to decide in advance what constitutes each rating. For example, Ace is obviously “in the hole,” Good is a “tap-in” within 1.5 feet, Fair lands between 1.5 and 3 feet of the hole, and Poor is more than 3 feet away.

EFT !"# G"$!118

Adjust the above criteria to match your current putting skill level. Just be sure to use the same criteria for the before and after rounds.

In addition to this objective scoring system, make a mental note of how you feel while you are putting.

Hit all 20 putts, five from each of the four loca-tions, and grade them accordingly.

Now perform the EFT Basic Recipe for “tension” or any specific negative feeling or emotion you may be experiencing.

Take a deep breath.

Putt five balls from location #1, and mark down the appropriate score for each one. Move to location #2 and repeat the short cut routine again. (Come on, it only takes 30 seconds!) Now stroke the next five putts and score each one accordingly. Repeat this same procedure for locations # 3 and # 4.

Now it is time to compare the before-and-after scores. The chances are extremely good that you will see an improvement, often times a dramatic one. Below is the score card of PGA Teaching Professional Dave Proffitt, reprinted with his permission.

Name: __________Dave Proffitt_______________

BEFORE AFTER

ACE | ACE |||

GOOD |||||| GOOD |||||||||||||

FAIR ||||||||| FAIR ||||

POOR |||| POOR

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 119

I have been able to secure relationships with three golf courses which allow me to conduct playing lessons. This was not easy at first. Two of the clubs eventually allowed me to work there because I coached several of their more prominent members. The third course recently cut a deal with me to do small instructional sessions once a month for their members in exchange for playing lesson privileges. This will work out well for me as I will certainly gain more clients—and sell more books.

My on-the-course playing lessons have become quite popular—and profitable. I offer six- or nine-hole formats and on occasion a full 18-hole round.

Before the round we work on “clearing” (this word seems to be innocent enough for most golfers) any par-ticular element of the client’s game that is causing con-cern, such as putting. We also address any comfort zone issues and then review EFT’s Basic Recipe for stress or tension.

While on the course I usually have the client tap frequently, but on a limited number of points. For example, I often skip the Setup entirely and just use the Collarbone and Under Eye points. I started implementing this approach after many of my advanced players naturally came to this formula on their own. It has also been my experience that some golfers get overwhelmed initially with too much on-the-course tapping. Obviously there is a great deal of variation among individuals, which is what makes coaching so much fun.

EFT !"# G"$!120

One of my favorite methods for finding “what” to tap on is to have clients simply tell me what they are thinking. I’m constantly asking them, “What do you think about this shot?” or, “How do you feel about it?” and so on. I’m quite a nag, or so I am told. At first I was a bit worried about talking too much and getting them “out of the zone.” But then I started to question my own belief that “the zone” was so fragile—says who? Why is it that golfers need it to be so quiet? My answer is that it is purely tradition, highbrow tradition at that. And tradition has never seemed a good validation to me. I mean really…hitting a base-ball is a much more challenging feat than hitting a stationary golf ball, but you don’t see baseball players asking everyone to quiet down. But I digress….

To make matters even worse (or better, depending on your perspective), I often employ some provocative questions such as those used by Australian EFT prac-titioner Steve Wells. Thanks to Steve for validating this style and allowing me to fully explore that which comes rather naturally with my personality.

Here are some real examples from last week:

Wow, that’s a horrible lie, isn’t it?

Are you sure that’s enough club to clear the water?

Driver on this hole is a gutsy call.

The golfer will usually say something like, “Yes, I hate lies like this.” “It really doesn’t feel like enough club, but I hate my longer iron.” “You’re right, but I feel like a wimp using my three wood.”

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 121

These responses provide great material to tap on, both in the moment and off the course. I take notes to create homework assignments.

On the other hand, I sometimes get more “posi-tive” reactions, such as a funny look and a laugh, a hand waving me away, the middle finger (and a smile), or something along the lines of, “I feel good.” And if they feel good, then I feel good.

It is important to note that I only use this approach once I have developed a strong rapport with the client, which usually happens rather quickly. However, there have been a few clients where it just wouldn’t mesh well with their personalities.

I stay in touch with my golfers, checking in with them about once a month to see how they’re doing and to see if they have questions. To keep track of their improvements, I designed a simple evaluation form. In the last one and a half years, 103 golfers have filled out this evaluation, which produced the following results: 59 reported excellent results, 32 good results, 10 fair results, and 2 not so good. Those are great statisitics, but in my experience, by far the most meaningful measure to golfers is the reduction of their handicap.

Below is information on a number of golfers whose start and end dates I could verify. Although I asked for the reduction of each golfer’s handicap, it has been my experience that a relatively small percentage of golfers have an “official” handicap. It is probably more common among very good golfers,

EFT !"# G"$!122

but I know several who routinely shoot in the upper seventies and don’t bother with the official procedure. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the United States Golf Association system, it is a rather complex calculation (done by a computer) that uses the 10 best scores from the last 20 rounds played on specific courses which have a “slope rating” (difficulty level). Honestly, it’s been explained to me several times and I still don’t completely understand it.

Despite the fact that only a modest percentage of my golfers follow the system, many of them answer the “handicap reduction” question. This leads me to believe that they are actually answering the ques-tion, “What was your average round before and after learning and applying the tapping techniques?”

For example, if they normally shoot 90, they would consider their handicap to be 18. Then after tapping they might normally shoot 80 and would say they have an 8 handicap. Therefore the following data sheet it show a handicap reduction from 18 to 8, even though it was not an “official USGA handicap.” Subsequent inquiry among of my clients has verified that this is most often the case.

Also note that some of my golfers started in the winter months in Ohio, so there could be a delay in getting out on the links after learning the techniques. In other words, this data would not be solid enough for a graduate level dissertation. Nonetheless, I hope that it is helpful or interesting in some way.

* * *

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 123

Name Begin Handicap

Date End Handicap

Date % Improvement

Albert C 20 1/4/2005 11 6/22/2005 45%

Tom H 14 2/2/2005 8 6/14/2005 43%

Sandy R 7 3/1/2005 4 5/2/2005 43%

John K 30 3/17/2005 17 7/10/2005 43%

Mari R 11 4/2/2005 8 7/1/2005 27%

Stan G 4 4/2/2005 2 8/21/2005 50%

Susan H 22 4/10/2005 18 6/17/2005 18%

James K 16 4/11/2005 9 7/21/2005 44%

Dianne C 12 4/12/2005 7 8/7/2005 42%

Jessica B 33 4/12/2005 24 9/2/2005 27%

Nathan S 10 5/3/2005 7 8/28/2005 30%

Matt B 8 5/21/2005 7 7/1/2005 13%

David R 6 6/14/2005 3 10/10/2005 50%

Ruth L 24 6/28/2005 18 8/18/2005 25%

John A 18 7/5/2005 12 10/2/2005 33%

Nancy D 28 7/11/2005 21 9/14/2005 25%

Mark F 15 8/10/2005 10 8/18/2005 33%

Ken S 10 8/29/2005 6 11/2/2005 40%

Steve Y 17 9/10/2005 10 4/17/2006 41%

Patrick S 11 9/15/2005 5 3/18/2006 55%

Doug K 9 9/24/2005 6 10/29/2005 33%

Berry W 31 10/1/2005 23 4/2/2006 26%

Shari W 32 10/1/2005 28 2/11/2006 13%

Todd B 7 11/6/2005 4 3/4/2006 43%

Mark T 11 3/7/2006 8 5/2/2006 27%

Bill N 4 3/14/2006 1 5/11/2006 75%

Jim C 23 3/19/2006 16 5/20/2006 30%

Garret F 17 4/4/2006 11 5/15/2006 35%

Tony M 29 4/7/2006 20 5/21/2006 31%

EFT !"# G"$!124

Special thanks go to Dr. Brent Thomson, who spe-cializes in sports performance, for sharing how he used EFT with two professional golfers.

Using EFT with Professional Golfersby Brent Thomson, Ph.D.

My work setting is an exercise and personal fitness training studio in the metropolitan area of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. At this loca-tion I have a private practice where I see children, adolescents, and adults as counseling clients, as well as interact with professional trainers. As a result of this collaboration, I have received many sports refer-rals. Without fail, EFT has proven to be a foundation skill for relieving and eliminating mental and physical stress for athletes.

One such referral was my first professional golf client. This individual went on to win the Minnesota PGA Senior State Match Play tournament in 2001, and he attributed his win to using EFT both before and during the tournament.

I also recently worked with a club professional who made the cut to participate in the 2002 U.S. Open

Name Begin Handicap

Date End Handicap

Date % Improvement

Jill A 6 4/10/2006 4 5/28/2006 33%

Seth A 19 4/10/2006 12 5/28/2006 37%

Total Average: 36%

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 125

at Hazeltine Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, largely due to EFT. I would like to relate in this article how I worked with these golfers and what areas we worked on. Hopefully, this will provide some useful informa-tion for you to use in your own training efforts.

The problem that usually needs to be worked on first is to expand one’s comfort zone. We have a tendency to build in lots of unconscious self-limits and self-defeating beliefs that can sabotage our per-formances.

The way that I addressed this issue with both golfers was to say something on the order of:

Even though I may have barriers to shooting consis-tently at par or lower, especially in tournaments, I deeply and completely accept myself.

We would continue doing EFT till it registered zero on the 0-to-10 intensity scale. I then instructed them on using an appropriate positive statement, such as, “I choose to see myself being confident, relaxed, and powerful on the golf course at all times, especially in tournaments.”

I then used use a 0-to-10 scale with 10 indicating total belief in the statement to find out how much they believed that the statement was true for them. With this baseline, I had them repeat the statement three times at each tapping point, starting at the eyebrow point and finishing at the underarm point. I asked them to take their time saying their statements while utilizing imagery to “see themselves becoming” the statement on the golf course. We would then take a

EFT !"# G"$!126

0-to-10 rating after each round to see how much they now believed in their statement, and we continued this process until they felt a 9 or 10.

I then turned my attention to individual negative feelings, both physical and emotional, that were get-ting in the way of peak performance. These feelings usually revolve around frustration, anxiety, fears, physical tensions or pain. In the fear category, they often experienced fear of failure, fear of making mis-takes, fear of embarrassing themselves, and fear of playing in front of a large gallery of spectators. We also tapped for physical tension or pain in the muscles while playing, specifying the location and type of pain, plus frustration after missing a shot, losing focus, anxiety about hitting the distance, mental ten-sion, fuzzy thinking or confusion, and disappointment when playing poorly.

We then proceeded to “chop down those emotion-al and physical trees” until they no longer presented a problem and registered as zero on the 0-to-10 intensity scale. At this point, I would again turn to writing out a coping self-statement for each emotional or physi-cal tree that we chopped down in order to affirm and build the positive. There’s an old saying in cognitive therapy that says, “What you choose to focus on, you tend to energize.” EFT does such an outstanding job of chop-ping down the emotional and physical trees. It really helps smooth the way for planting new behavior and defining new goals, and it makes it much more likely that these behaviors and new beliefs will be realized.

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 127

An example of this would be, “I see myself main-taining my focus during my round and at the same time remaining relaxed.” We would then continue to plant this positive statement until it registered a 9 or 10 on the 0-to-10 believability scale.

Finally, I would turn my attention to any prob-lems with specific aspects of the game and start to tap them down. Potential targets included lack of confidence with using woods, problems with using irons, problems with putting, problems in using the sand wedge, and difficulty playing in poor weather conditions. For example:

Even though I’m having a lot of problems with put-ting lately, I deeply and completely accept myself.

After tapping this discomfort down to zero, I would select a positive statement, such as, “I choose to see myself draining my putts with consistency,” and tap until the golfer’s belief in that statement registered a consistent 10.

* * *

All kinds of illnesses and physical conditions can interfere with golf. EFT can often make a difference, especially if you trace symptoms to core issues, which we define as past events that are somehow connected. There is a great deal of research showing that EFT improves both physical and mental health symptoms, many of which can be traced to adverse childhood events.

There are three EFT principles involved in this excel-lent article by Aileen Nobles: the link between emotions

EFT !"# G"$!128

and physical ailments; the importance of aiming EFT at specific events; and the tendency of related issues to collapse as soon as a few similar problems are addressed individually. This report deserves your attention even if you don’t have the same medical condition as Aileen’s client.

An Illness That Interfered with Golfby Aileen Nobles

When Tamar first came to me for EFT, she was suffering from an eczema-like rash nearly all over her body. It was painful and embarrassing, and because perspiration aggravated the condition, it interfered with her love for playing golf. She would end up with red painful weeping sores. She also had a strong allergic reaction to wheat that aggravated her skin condition.

I asked her when it first began and she mentioned that she had a mild outbreak in college. She was under great stress, drinking large amounts of caffeine, using drugs and drinking, and she also spent many sleepless nights studying. It later emerged full-blown when she was going through a divorce.

I asked her if she could remember any traumatic incident that revolved around eating as a child. Tamar remembered eating wheat pasta one evening with her family. She got into an argument with her mother at the table, and her mother leaned over and hit her in the mouth. Her father started shouting at her and

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 129

raised his fist as if he was also going to hit her, too. She was terrified and in shock. She was forced to sit at the table and continue eating her pasta while trying to hold back tears and anger. This seemed like a good place to begin. We tapped on:

Even though when I was eating dinner with my family, my mother hit me in the mouth, I deeply and completely accept myself.

I had her continue tapping while she told the whole story:

My own mother hit me in the mouth, I thought my father was going to hit me too. How could she do that to me? It was such a shock to my system. I didn’t want to cry, but it hurt so much. I remember I was eating pasta. I have this poisonous memory in my system. Some part of me remembers and connects wheat foods with trauma. It was a bad experience, and now every time I get near wheat I have a bad reaction. But it’s all about the emo-tions connected with that experience. How dare she hit me, she’s my mother! I tried to hold my tears in and I was so angry and shocked. I’ve held in a lot of tears over the years, and it could be it erupts on my skin.

We did a complete basic round using the Reminder Phrases:

Tears and irritation.

All of these emotions are now being released.

Then we switched to a new Setup Phrase:Even though my mother hit me in the mouth and I

was eating wheat, it’s now safe for wheat to become my friend.

EFT !"# G"$!130

Whole wheat is full of nutrition and my body will now happily accept it as a nutritious delicious part of many foods.

I forgive my mother and know she was doing the best she knew how with her limitations.

By our next session Tamar had eaten wheat with no negative reaction appearing on her skin. Although her eczema had not completely gone, it was improved. She was returning to Australia in a few days so this issue needed to be resolved. We got to work on releas-ing pent-up tears and anger. Rarely did Tamar cry. She held the emotion in and pushed it down inside her. She felt it was weak to cry, and she had been pun-ished and belittled as a child whenever she showed emotion.

Even though I have so much pain inside that I never expressed…

Even though it wasn’t safe to cry…

Even though I have to be brave and stuff it inside…

Even though I’m so angry that I can’t speak up and I’m so sad I can’t express it…

We diffused two particularly painful memories of being emotionally abused and humiliated until the intensity went down to zero. This was one of those cases where emotional abuse was a way of life, but by diffusing two of the situations, a lot more seemed to collapse (the legs of the table). Tamar started cry-ing and crying. I tapped on myself as she cried and I continued to say the words. As she became calm, her

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 131

facial expression changed, as did her energy field. We continued tapping.

Even though I have been expressing my tears and anger through my skin…

We did a complete round of basic tapping on this one statement. When her distress fell to a zero, we added these positive statements:

Now it’s safe to let go of this pain I don’t need it to erupt on my skin anymore.

I thank my physical body for showing me all these years that inner healing needed to take place.

Now I understand and no longer need my skin to remind me.

I am ready to be healed whole, joyful and peaceful.

I deserve clear and healthy skin.

I allow healthy skin, and I allow myself to be out in the sunshine absorbing vitamin D, having a wonderful time playing golf.

I then had Tamar imagine herself on the golf course in the sun with her skin feeling and looking healthy. She tapped on her Karate Chop point as she did this and had a wonderful smile on her face.

She e-mailed me a few days later to say that her skin was almost back to normal and she had eaten foods containing wheat and had no reaction what-soever. A couple of weeks later she told me her skin looked wonderful. She had also improved her golf score! Although this traumatic event happened ear-

EFT !"# G"$!132

lier in her life and had festered for years, it probably came to the surface when Tamar was under great stress in college, and later with her divorce.

Our bodies are always giving us messages, and if we tune in and listen, and clear what need to be cleared, healing most often happens on the mental, emotional and physical levels.

* * *

Every golfer on the planet would love to have a bet-ter swing. Some golfers work on this perpetually but, George, a client of Roseanna Ellis, achieved this in one session with some simple applications of EFT for pain and emotional issues.

Achieving a Fluid Swing in Golfby Roseanna Ellis

George, age 50 came to see me for a stretching ses-sion. He complained of severe back pain, which he rated at a 7 on the 0-to-10 intensity scale whenever he rotated his waist to perform a golf swing. This problem caused him to stop playing golf.

He also complained of hamstring tightness at a dis-comfort level of 10. Upon inspection, his hamstrings were 60/90, or 30 degrees below their normal range of motion.

He complained of severe pain when he attempted to bend over. He could only touch his knees then the pain would shoot up to a 10. He stated with sadness, “I am one bad move away from being bent over.” When I asked how upset he was at saying that, he replied 9 out of 10.

Case Histor ies of EFT on the Golf Course 133

We tapped for:

Even though I’m one bad move away from being bent over, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though I have this pain in my lower back…

Even though I have this tightness in my back…

The pain went down to zero within 15 minutes.

He tapped on his hamstring tightness while I per-formed stretching techniques, until his range was 95/90, which is above average, and that took about 15 minutes.

He still felt tightness in his back so I asked what in his life was causing his muscles to be so tense. He said, “ My job is causing me a lot of stress.” We tapped on the job stress until it fell to zero.

Then I made him twist as if he was swinging a golf club. The pain increased to a 6. We tapped on the issues he identified, which included fear of hurting myself, fear of getting old, and fear of not being able to play again.

We continued tapping after each attempt to swing to the right and the left until he reached full pain-free range of motion.

At the end of the one-hour session he had full range of motion in his hamstrings. He could perform a full swing to the right and left without pain through full 100-percent range. He could bend over to touch the floor with ease and without pain.

His homework was to go home to think and become forty years old again, and to play golf to his heart’s con-

EFT !"# G"$!134

tent…. He smiled and promised. The next day he played golf. And a few days later he said in an e-mail:

I need to tell you after last week’s appointment I had a round of golf Wednesday with my usual group. Everyone commented on how “fluid” my swing was. That’s exactly what I was hoping to accomplish by com-ing to you. I can’t wait until our next session, so let me know when I can come in.

* * *

Taking the Next Steps

4

Can EFT improve your golf game?

I know it can. It has already been used by people of all ages and all levels of skill and experience with excel-lent results. It’s hard to imagine a situation anywhere on the golf course or in life in which it can’t make a positive difference.

That’s because:

• The game that matters is the one in your head, and your greatest opponents are your own self-limiting beliefs.

• Your self-limiting beliefs didn’t come out of nowhere —they came from past experiences and events.

• Tapping on the emotions that those past experiences and events still generate, thus reducing their power, is the fastest way to transform your self-talk at its source.

EFT !"# G"$!136

• Once self-limiting beliefs are neutralized, they can longer interfere with performance or anything else, allowing you to relax and enjoy every aspect of your sport with significantly improved results.

As you consider the changes or improvements you’d like to make, pay attention to your self-talk. Follow it back to the source, the events and experiences that cre-ated it in the first place.

Then focus on your feelings. Think about how you feel now about whatever happened then. Measure your anger, frustration, embarrassment, fear, or other emotions on the 0-to-10 scale. EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Techniques, and our target is always the emotions.

You’ll find detailed examples of EFT at work in the book EFT for Sports Performance (Howard, 2014). They illustrate the use of different EFT strategies and tech-niques to uncover core issues and neutralize the emotional charge they carry. It is this emotional charge that inter-feres with your golf swing and all the other problems you encounter in your life.

If you break a problem into its parts or aspects, if you focus on specific events, if you pay attention to the feel-ings and emotions those events generate, and if you tap on each aspect until you have neutralized its emotional charge, the problem will either disappear or shrink to the point that it no longer interferes with your performance.

To get the most out of EFT, I recommend you take a Clinical EFT workshop, where you will learn the effective and evidence-based method that’s been proven in many scientific studies, including several on sports

Taking the Next Steps 137

performance. You’ll also derive insights and make faster progress using the services of one of the hundreds of practitioners certified in Clinical EFT. You’ll find the sto-ries of dozens of sportspeople in the EFT archives, as well as free tap-along videos that allow you to watch others while being guided to release your own limitations.

Now that you’ve learned the basics of EFT, many of the emotional issues that have held you back are gone. Apply EFT not just to your golf game, but to all facets of your life, and you’ll find your personal horizons expand-ing, and your potential blossoming.

Please write to us at EFT Universe to share your golf-ing success stories. We’ll post them in our newsletter and help you to inspire others. Thanks for joining me on this journey of discovery, and I celebrate with you the success you’ll have as you apply EFT now and in the future!

Resources

EFT Research Bibliography: Research.EFTUniverse.com

Sports Performance Archive: SportsStories.EFTUniverse.com

EFT for Sports Performance by Jessica Howard

The EFT Manual by Dawson Church

References

Achenbach, J. (2006). Golfers tap into psychology. Golfweek, March 25, 60.

Church, D. (2009). The effect of EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) on athletic performance: A randomized con-trolled blind trial. Open Sports Sciences, 2, 94–99.

Baker, A. H. (2010). A re-examination of Church’s (2009) study into the effects of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) on basketball free-throw performance. Energy Psychology: Theory, Research, & Treatment, 2(2), 39–44.

Church, D., & Downs, D. (2012). Sports confidence and criti-cal incident intensity after a brief application of Emotional Freedom Techniques: A pilot study. Sport Journal, 15, 2012.

Church, D. (2013). The EFT Manual (3rd Ed.). Santa Rosa, CA: Energy Psychology Press.

Golfers Chronicle (2004). Lynn Francis cures the yips: A golfer’s story. December.

Howard, J. (2014). EFT for Sports Performance. Santa Rosa, CA: Energy Psychology Press.

U! "#$ EFT %&' B()* P("#140

Llewellyn-Edwards, T., & Llewellyn-Edwards, M. (2012). The effect of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) on soc-cer performance. Fidelity: Journal for the National Council of Psychotherapy, 47, 14–21.

Nicklaus, J. (2005). Golf My Way. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster

Rotherham, M., Maynard, I., Thomas, O., Bawden, M., & Francis, L. (2012). Preliminary evidence for the treatment of type I ‘yips’: The efficacy of the Emotional Freedom Techniques. Sports Psychologist, 26(4), 551–570.

Rowe, J. E. (2009). EFT and Golf: The New Mental Game Manual. Bradenton, FL: Booklocker.

Rowe, J. E. (2003), Energy Psychology and the Yips Cure and Prevention. Chula Vista, CA: Aventine.

Warburton, G. (2013). Warburton’s Winning System. Corvallis, OR: Outskirts Press.