Fear
           
Alison has always been very afraid of bees. If one came near her, she would scream and run. I did some tapping with her around this fear and then forgot about it. Several weeks later we were having lunch outdoors and a bee landed near her. She said, “The tapping must have worked – I am not screaming and running away.” Although she still does not like to be around bees, the fear has been diminished.

Disappointment

Several years ago I attended a seminar at the airport hotel of a city in California. I went to the ladies’ room (public bathroom) and while I was in the stall I heard someone crying. After I washed my hands, I turned to the two young ladies sitting on the bench in the ladies’ room – one continued to cry and the other was holding her hand. I explained that I knew a technique that might make her feel better and it involves tapping on acupressure points and she agreed. I didn’t know the issue, but I saw that it was very intense for her. After several rounds, she had stopped crying and had calmed down. I asked if she wanted to share what was wrong. She was attending a young people’s conference of several thousand and had run for office and had lost by a few votes. This young girl was devastated and the tapping helped her feel better.

Frustration

For many years I was in relationship with David, and I often got triggered. One specific memory stands out. We were in the car discussing an emotional issue. I tried explaining myself over and over again but, for some reason, David was not getting what I was trying to communicate. I was on the verge of tears. Instead I said, “Give me a minute.” I then did a round or two of tapping. It calmed me down enough to not only be able to discuss the issue again, but also to do it in a way that I was understood.

Embarrassment

I was standing in line at a breakfast buffet chatting with the woman in front of me when suddenly there was a loud crash.
“Oh my,” she exclaimed. “My younger son just dropped his whole tray and he will be devastated. He is very sensitive and this will really upset him. He is not like my older son who could handle this, now he will be upset all day.”
She and I both walked over to the sobbing little boy (about 6). I asked the mom if I could tap on some acupressure points to help him calm down if he was okay with it. She agreed and so did the youngster.
The boy was sobbing as I touched the points on his head….but by the time I got to the collarbone point he had taken a deep breath, had stopped crying, and was calm. I later stopped by his table where he had finished eating. He was talking and laughing with his family. I showed him some of points to tap whenever he felt upset. He practiced a bit and his mom seemed quite pleased.

Physical Pain

My friend Carol had just returned home after having had knee surgery. Since she was feeling good and a new mattress was to be delivered, she decided to vacuum the carpet inside the bed frame. Unfortunately, she tripped over the frame and ended up on that knee. In excruciating pain, she drove herself to the emergency room and I met her there. When I saw the pain she was in, I asked her if she wanted to try tapping and she said, “Yes, anything.”
Sometimes when working with physical pain, I work around the pain, so I said to her, “What is your voice telling you about the accident?”
“I can’t believe how stupid I am” she replied.
And so we tapped on “Even though I can’t believe how stupid I am, I want to totally and completely accept myself.”
After several rounds, Carol had stopped berating herself and the pain had diminished considerably!

Working with Children

I picked up my granddaughter from her kindergarten class one afternoon and she was visibly upset. When I inquired about the tears she told me that her best friend had taken her picture and destroyed it. I asked my granddaughter, “Show me how bad you feel,” and used my palms facing each other as a measurement.  “Do you feel a little bad?” and showed her my palms facing each other close together, or “Real bad?” and separated my hands about 12 inches apart.   “I feel this bad” she said and spread out her arms as far as they would go.
          
After a round of tapping the tears had stopped and she was much calmer. (Note: When I work with adults I show them where to tap; with my granddaughter I actually did the tapping on her). I asked her to show me again with her hands how she felt. Totally ignoring my question she smiled and said, “That felt good….do it again, Nanny!”

Phobias— (several examples)

I was out on a first date with a gentleman, at a local restaurant, and he asked what kind of work I do. So, not being shy, I told him and asked if he wanted to try some tapping. We quickly worked through an issue he brought up and then he said, "I would really believe this stuff (tapping) if it could do something about my fear of snakes. I hate to go into the garage, if a snake is on the television screen I have to change the channel, just the thought of snakes makes me sweat. I know it seems stupid, that a big man like me is afraid of even non-poisonous snakes, but I hate them and never want to see them!"          

When I inquired, “If 0 is no fear and 10 is intense, what is your level?” he said he was only about a 3 at that moment. So I decided to find a prop and went to the front of the restaurant where they sell books, to look for one with a picture of a snake. Instead of a book, I came back to our table with a stuffed animal (toy) snake. I explained that we both knew it wasn't real and this might not work, but what was his fear level now. It was about a 6. After three rounds it was a zero. We both weren't sure if it would hold when he saw a real snake.

Since he was new in town, I asked him if he wanted to meet me at a pot luck dinner that I had been invited to the next night. When I arrived, he met me at the door asking, "Is this a set up?" I didn't know what he was talking about until he took me into the homeowner's den (a home I had never been in) and there were TWO TERRARIUMS WITH LIVE SNAKES!         
As he stood there looking at the snakes, I commented that it was amazing that he could be so near snakes since he had had such a fear of them and he replied, "I guess it is just a case of mind over matter" and didn't correlate it to the tapping we did the day before. This is not that unusual. Since the often rapid effects of tapping are sometimes so hard to believe, the person occasionally attributes the release of feelings to something else! *   *   *   *   *

My associates and I were on the phone doing a radio interview and explained EFT and RITT. We asked callers to call in....and worked with a gentleman who was terrified of snakes. After two or three rounds his level of fear was at a zero and he was feeling calm and peaceful. The interviewer knew the caller and reported that she spoke to him a few days later and he was amazed and delighted that he still had no fear about snakes! *   *   *   *   *

A few days later at a networking breakfast, a woman asked about my work. I told her the story about being on the air with a caller and tapping down his snake phobia. She said she was terrified of snakes, too. I asked her if she wanted to experience the tapping for herself to release the fear, and she agreed. Then I said, "What is your level of emotional discomfort when you think of a snake." And she shuddered and said, "No, no, I don't want to even think of them." We proceeded immediately to do the tapping, and after three rounds she was able to think of snakes without any fear.
*   *   *   *   *

I also have worked with several people around their fear of creepy, crawly, things--like spiders, roaches, and other "ugly" bugs. A few years ago, at a workshop in Texas, a woman reacted very strongly when a roach ran across the floor. That evening, I asked her if she wanted some relief from her fear of bugs, and she agreed.  
                 
We started with a little piece of paper to represent the bug, and her fear level was about an 8. After we tapped it down to a 0, I said let's look for a real bug.....and her fear that I would find one was up to a 10. She reported that her heart was pounding and had sweaty palms. So we tapped. Once it was at a zero, and not seeing any bugs around, I asked her to let me know what her reaction was if she saw another bug. The next day she called me over and said that she had seen another roach and, although she didn't want to touch it, it was no big deal!

Several Feelings

Sometimes I work with people on the phone, such as Joe. I had never met Joe but he heard that I might be able to help him feel better and arranged for a phone session. Joe explained that his wife of 10 years had just left him for another man. He was feeling angry, devastated, hurt, sad and more.  I explained the tapping points with him, and then proceeded to do two rounds of RITT. At the end, Joe was not only feeling better he was able to admit that a part of him was actually relieved that she was gone.

PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)

Several years ago my best friend and business associate Robin and I attended a workshop in Mexico presented by Mary Manin Morrissey. Although Robin and I were both there as attendees and not as presenters, we ended up demonstrating the tapping techniques. Mary spoke about forgiveness and how important it was to forgive anyone whom we thought had harmed us. Pam, the woman seated next to Robin, raised her hand and said that some people can never be forgiven. When Mary asked for more details, Pam began sobbing and said she had been gang-raped thirteen years earlier and the terrible memories still haunted her. Robin knew this was an “invitation” to do some work with her. Robin worked with Pam privately in her hotel room for about a half hour using energy psychology techniques. Coming back into the room, Pam was no longer crying but appeared calm and even radiant. She told the group about the incident (talking about it no longer brought up the feelings), and how the tapping technique allowed her to release the feelings and come to a place of forgiveness. Pam was totally amazed -- although she had seen many therapists, nothing else had worked. She told us that she had lived with hate and bitterness that grew every day for 13 years and that it had affected her health, marriage, and her relationship with her children. One year later we spoke with Pam and she was still clear, enjoying life without the horrendous weight of the past trauma.

NOTE: Not all cases respond as rapidly -- some require many, many sessions.