Energy Therapy and Sports

Richard I Jontry, Ph.D., MAC, CAC Diplomate
This article first appeared in Stableviews

Tony Robbins speaks about the WEIT (whatever it takes) mind set in his book Awaken the Giant Within. Several key pieces of this mind set include the following attitudes and beliefs:

• There are no failures, only results or outcomes.
• I learn from every outcome.
• I am committed to unconscious competence rather than conscious understanding.
• An example of this attitude in action is not having to consciously understand all the physics and mechanics of how a car works in order to drive well.
• The meaning of my communication is the response it gets.
• If I'm not getting the response I want from Jack then its about my communication, not about jack.
• With this in mind I knew that Lori wanted the quickest method she could find to get past her “problem” and get the responses she was after from Jack. Therefore I decided to teach Lori some of the elements of what are being called Energy (or Power) Therapies. The energy therapies grew out of the work of George Goodheart who developed Applied Kinesiology in the 60's and Roger Callahan, Ph.D. Callahan's work, and the work of several others who followed him [1] , has now grown into a large body of material and has been used successfully by thousands of people. While most of the other techniques are fast, easy to do, and once learned can be used on a variety of emotional “problems;” some require careful screening and the skills of a trained practitioner, especially EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro and have the most research data behind it). Others can more easily be taught and utilized by the lay public. EFT, described below, was developed with the general public in mind.
• All of the energy therapies have in common the presupposition that emotional distress is felt when energy is blocked somewhere in the body. Oriental medicine has long viewed illness as a result of stuck energy. Acupuncture being a clear example. The acupuncturist places needles in specific points along the bodies energy meridians to free the energy and get it moving again. Similarly, the energy therapies use the same meridians, but instead of needles you use one or two of your fingers and tap specific points along the meridians.
• Several of the Energy Therapies either have specific points to tap for different emotional conditions, or specific diagnostic methods for deterring which points to tap in any particular case. Gary Graig, who developed what is called EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) has put together a tapping sequence that utilized key points on all the major meridians. The EFT sequence has been used by thousands of individuals who have reported improvement in dealing with an incredibly wide variety of emotional situations or problems. These therapies have also been used by thousands of individuals without any reported psychological or emotional problem, who were seeking improved performance or personal growth. This appears to result from decreased anxiety and improved ability to visualize.
• Identifying and treating Psychological Reversals is important in several of the “tapping” therapies. The phenomenon of Psychological Reversal. uncovered by Roger Callahan, Ph.D., is the frustrating experience many people have of putting a lot of energy into changing something about themselves only to find that either they can't seem to get the change to take effect, or it works for a little while and then goes back to the way it was. Certainly many people have had that experience with their New Year's resolutions. It happens with many other decisions we make to change the way we go about things or feel about things.
• A Core Belief is a fundamental we have about ourselves or the world. Examples of some positive core beliefs include:
• “I am a capable and competent person.”
• “I can achieve anything I set my mind to doing.”
• “I deserve to succeed.”
• “I am a worthwhile human being.”

Examples of negative core beliefs would include the same statements in reverse. For example, “I am neither capable nor competent.” You'd be surprised at how many individuals do not test strong (more about that in a later article) for holding positive core beliefs. Most of us are walking around believing deep down inside that we are not capable, not worthy, and not deserving.

Identifying and changing negative Core Beliefs grew out of Callahan's work. What Callahan discovered was that if you could identify the belief keeping you stuck in the feeling or behavior, you could do something to change that belief. The something to do is either to tap the “karate spot” (the soft spot on the underside of your hand. The spot you would hit a board with if you were going to karate chop the board), or rub the sore spot on the top portion of your chest. Everyone has a spot that is more tender than the rest of the upper chest area. Usually the spot is a few inches below the shoulder and about a third of the way in from the side of the chest.

The procedure is simple, though admittedly a little “out of the box.” Let's say you were working to get over fear and identified the belief “I will never get over this fear.” You would then either tap the karate spot or rub the sore spot and say “I deeply and profoundly love and accept myself even though I have this fear.” Repeat the statement three times, out loud, while continuously rubbing or tapping.

Now you may very well be asking “Why on earth would I do that? That's weird? What could that possibly do?” What that appears to do is remove the energy that is holding the belief in place. Once that energy is free, the work you do to change the situation or problem has more of a chance of being effective. Sometimes it is hard to uncover the belief. Therefore, when doing energy therapy many people simply assume a negative belief is in place and institute the change belief sequence as the first step in their work. It can't hurt anything, and most of the time will help achieve the result you are after.

Since EFT has the easiest and most broadly applicable sequence it appears to be a good place to start when you don't have a professional guiding you along.

The sequence is the following:

1. Rate your problem or level of discomfort on a scale of 1 - 10 with 1 being no problem.

2. Correct for psychological reversal. Rub the sore spot and say (3 times) “I deeply and profoundly love and accept myself even though I have this ______ (fill in the blank: problem, fear, emotion, etc.)”

3. Begin the tapping sequence below. When you start tapping at a new spot say the word you filled in the blank with to yourself. If your word was fear, say the word “fear” as you begin tapping at a new spot.

a. The beginning of your eyebrow

b. The side of your eye (the side closest to your ear)

c. Under your eye (on the bone under your eye)

d. Under the nose

e. Under the lower lip

f. Collarbone point (feel for your two collarbone points under your neck. Locate one of those points and tap 1 inch under the point and 1 inch towards the outside of your chest.

g. Under your arm (about four inches below your armpit - also at the bra line)

h. Karate Chop point

If this tapping sequence doesn't lower your discomfort level you might add the following tapping points. While most people don't need them, certain problems do require their addition.

After (g) Under arm, go to

h. Outside nail cuticle on thumb

i. Nail cuticle on index finger (side of nail closed to thumb)

j. Nail cuticle on middle finger (side of nail closed to thumb)

k. Nail cuticle on little finger (side of nail closed to thumb)

l. Then the karate spot

4. 9-Gamut sequence (To involve both left and right sides of brain)

While tapping continuously just behind the knuckles of your ring finger and little finger...

a. Close your eyes.

b. Open your eyes

c . Look down to the left

d. Look down to the right

e. Roll your eyes in a complete circle

f. Roll them in the opposite direction

g. Hum a few bars from a tune you know

h. Count to five outloud

i. Hum again

5. If it has gone down a few points do the Psychological Reversal sequence but change your words to:

“I deeply and profoundly love and accept myself even though I still have some of this________.”

6. Repeat steps 2-4 until your level of discomfort is not down to 1 or zero.

Thousands of individuals have reduced anxiety and improved their performance using EFT and the other therapies. Thousands have also reduced their emotional discomfort, distress, or emotional problem by using EFT. [2]

Using EFT or any of the Energy Therapies in conjunction with relaxation, goal setting (notice any core beliefs here), visualization, and self-talk can greatly assist you in taking charge of the changes you want to make.

REFERENCES

Callahan, Roger, Five Minute Phobia Cure. Wilmington, DE. Enterprise Pub. 1985

Diamond, John. Life Energy. New York, NY. Dodd Mead. 1985

Durlacher, James V. Freedom From Fear Forever. Tempe, AZ.Van Ness Publishing. 1991.

Gerber, Richard, Vibrational Medicine. Santa Fe, NM. Bear and Co. 1988.

Robbins, Anthony, Awaken the Giant Within. New York, NY. Simon & Shuster. 1991.

Web sites:

EFT Home page - http://www.emofree.com/

Energy Therapy Home Page - http://home.att.net/~tom.altaffer/index.htm

Roger Callahan's home page - http://www.tftrx.com/

Footnotes

[1] Fred Gallo, Gary Craig, James V. Durlacher Tapas Fleming, among others

[2] Disclaimer: While there have been no known reports of any negative effects using either EFT, people who have a preexisting psychological or psychiatric condition should not attempt these procedures without a trained therapist. This material is provided for educational purposes only. Anyone interested in using EFT without a therapist should consult their physician or psychotherapist before attempting these procedures or if in doubt.

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