This case by Philip Davis from the United Kingdom illustrates a solid approach to his client’s shoulder pain. The same EFT Tapping procedures can be used for almost any kind of pain.
by Philip Davis MIPTI EFT-Adv
I am an EFT practitioner who has been practicing for some years here in England. I would like to tell your readers about a case where I removed someone’s shoulder pain with EFT. This is not an outstanding case in the EFT greater scheme of things as I am sure that many of your readers achieve such results with great regularity.
However, it once again underlines the fact that you can get to all kind of dis-eases by attacking the emotional roots and also it shows that when you are using EFT on a physical issue such as pain, seeing how fast the 0-10 intensity drops when using EFT on the pain issue alone, gives you a clue as to the way to proceed.
The lady in question was attending one of our seminars and complained of a pain on her right shoulder blade. She had had the pain for 18 months, and said the 0-10 intensity for the pain was about an 8 or 9.
So we did the straight-forward “Basic Recipe” type setup tapping on the KC point and saying “Even though I have this pain in my right shoulder blade… etc.” and then tapped saying “Shoulder pain” (Note: The shortcut tapping sequence was used throughout)
Pain went to a 7.
I asked her to give the pain a colour. She said it was a black pain. I also asked her to be more specific about where the pain was. She described it as being under her shoulder blade and towards the bottom.
So we tapped on “Even though I have this black pain underneath the bottom of my right shoulder blade… etc.” and then tapped on “This black pain underneath the bottom of my right shoulder blade”
Note how Philip gets very specific with the wording. This is usually helpful, especially when the pain doesn’t resolve very quickly with EFT.
Pain went to a 6 or maybe 6 and a half.
Even the “more specific try” didn’t work in this case. This is a clue that there may be emotional drivers involved.
At this point, I saw that we were not going to remove this pain quickly. I was sure that with persistence, we could have done it, but I wanted to be more elegant than that. The fact that the pain was only reducing by one point on each round told me that this issue had to be tackled in a different way. In my experience, it is also a strong indicator that the emotional problems causing the pain were most likely near the surface.
So, I said to her “IF there was an emotional cause for this pain, what would it be?” She replied “I have no idea” So I said “I know you have no idea what the emotional cause might be for this pain, but if you DID know, what would it be?” (I love this way of turning things around, sometimes it can pay big dividends) But this time, she looked blank again and said “No idea”
As you will see below, Philip asks her to bring ANY event to mind. As you will see, this was quite effective. Another way to go about is to ask the client to make up a SPECIFIC EVENT. I have found this very effective. Incidentally, the made up memory is not altogether made up. It comes from within the person and thus typically has many useful elements within it. Sometimes the made up issue is better than a real one.
So I asked her to think of ANY emotional event in her life. (I find that when the client is tuned into a problem, the chances are that they will guess at the right one) She said “Sending my mother into a home”
At this point I saw that there were tears in her eyes. I guessed she was at a 9 or 10 on that issue. So I tapped her without saying anything FOR 3 or 4 rounds of the shortcut sequence, to reduce the distress. This worked well and she was ready to continue. So I did one of Gary’s Long rambling setups. Space or my memory doesn’t permit me to say everything here that I included but I introduced the idea that the guilt she was feeling had manifested as pain in her shoulder blade.
We then tapped on…
“Guilt over sending my mother in to a home”
“Guilt”
“Guilt in my shoulder blade”
“Mother guilt in my shoulder blade”
Her intensity level over the guilt went straight down to a zero. She said “Actually, she does quite enjoy it there.” Which made everyone laugh.
Her pain in the shoulder blade also went down to a zero at the same time, and she has been pain free ever since – 6 weeks now!
As I say, it’s not an outstanding case in EFT terms, but it shows how with a little ingenuity and by allowing the client to direct you, you can achieve some wonderful results by attacking the emotional roots of physical problems.
Philip artfully uses several different “doors” to try and get to the energy of the pain. Emotions are simply energy in motion, and “stuck” pains are often caused by emotions that are being held tightly, particularly guilt and shame. Did putting her mother into a home cause the shoulder blade pain? We don’t know. And we don’t HAVE to know. This emotional memory provided a door into the energy that was causing pain in the shoulder. As the guilt released, so did the pain in the shoulder. Isn’t it wonderful that the body is so intelligently connected that we can use thoughts, words, and deeds (tapping) to restore the body to optimal health?
Originally published November 2005
Even when physical pain is caused by injury, tapping on the emotional aspects can take the sharp edges off and promote quicker recovery. I know from painful experience.