RightMind Audio Programs
Dr. David Illig
On this web page I will give you the basic and most simple recipes for the EFT/Tapping process. At the EFT/Tapping resources below I will include a reference list of good web sites with EFT information as well as a number of good books and good video on EFT/Tapping. One of the surprises you may have is that generally the Tapping practitioners are very generous with both information and their time. There are lots of free articles, audios and DVDs and instruction manuals.
Like many skills, it is somewhat easy to jump in and get started and reach some level of ability rather quickly. However, to get effective and good, it takes more work. I’m assuming you are going to just be using the guides I give you to add a nice powerful tool to your tool chest. I am certainly not preparing you for complex and difficult work. This is a very beginners level training and there are many organized and more extensive training programs out there if you want to pursue it. This is certainly NOT intended to be training for the purpose of “treating” other people or even treatment of yourself. It’s not “treatment,” which has legal requirements. It is a great self-help tool and a tool that can sometimes be used by civilians to help friends, family, colleagues, where a professional is not needed. Use it mostly just for yourself. EFT/Tapping is famous for getting quick and large positive results which are surprising, especially where progress had been little or nothing in the past. Its great for things that got STUCK!
I am going to give you the basics patterns and theories that you can safely add to our SW/RM self-help programs without requiring extensive training and practice. I certainly do encourage you to read and listen to audios and videos on EFT/tapping, as well as even take some trainings which are available both for professional counselors as well as for personal use.
Be very cautious about using these approaches on other people without further training and background. There are professional EFT practitioners in your area you can find online who are licensed counselors who can help friends, family, colleagues and even you. But this is still a great self-help tool we can all use.
When using with SW/RM programs the problem area will most often be related to the areas that the RM/SW program are addressing.
Using the examples I’ll work with later: The SuccessWorld Relieve Stress & Anxiety and the RightMind Weight Loss & Fitness programs, the problems will either be the general global problem areas of the two topics, but with specific examples.
To target the area you are working on it can be helpful to break the area down into a short little story or else a movie that captures the issue you are dealing with. You are going to assess your reactions to either the story or the movie about the issues. You’ll apply your ratings to either the movie or the story. And when we say short, we’re talking NO MORE THAN A TWO MINUTE STORY OR MOVIE.
SPECIFICS ARE ALMOST ALWAYS BETTER. Use specifics that add up to your general conclusions. There are always specifics that build up to your general conclusion or title. Use specifics that “REPRESENT” your global, general conclusion. Later you will want to look at the discussion link: “Specific Rather than General Phrases”
General could be: “I’m too anxious and tense.”
Or: “I eat too much food and don’t exercise enough.”
More specific to you could be: “I get so terrified whenever I stand up to talk in my Management class to talk about my project.”
Or: “I feel this tension and anxiety in my chest whenever I’m at work and Janet my boss is in the building, and it’s about a 7.”
“I ate desserts 7 days a week even when I earlier promised myself I only eat a couple desserts.”
“I couldn’t stop eating the potato chips once I started with one. I ate the whole bag. The urge is about a 9 and it feels like it’s in my mouth. I love potato chips and I can never stop, once I start!”
It is typical in EFT/tapping to rate how intense the problem feels at this exact second on a scale of 0-10…. 10 being the most awful it could ever be and 0 being total absence of problem existing. The rating is not a prediction of future sensation, but applies to the sensed rating of the issue right now… and then at the end of the processes. You are basically applying the rating to your Two Minute Video or Two Minute Story. You may decide to skip the rating process while using the audio programs or you may decide to use it. You could check ratings before the audio program and wait till after the audio session. Some people even stop the audio, check their rating….and then turn it back on and proceed. It is good to use the before-and-after rating in normal circumstance, when not using the audio.
This step is made up of a phrase you say out loud, or silently to yourself, three times (3X)… while tapping on the KC (karate chop) spot on one of your hands with two or three fingers of the other hand. The structure of the set-up is surprisingly unusual to most people. It is an “affirmation” of the problem you have been having. We usually think of affirmations as being positive statements about where we want to get to, rather than problem statements. This statement will put the problem situation or state into an unusual framework of self-acceptance. It will be combined with the first tapping that you do with your fingers on just one spot on your hand, the karate chop (kc) spot, or one point on your chest.
This set-up sequence is designed to deal with “Psychological Reversal.” Psychological reversal is when our systems are reversed such that efforts or desires to remove a problem instead increase it or cement it even more into place. Long-standing problems often involve this reversal process that adds to our remaining stuck. The set-up process of these unique phrases, combined with the KC spot tapping, seems to align your system for letting go of stuck positions. Combining something that we consciously see as negative, with an appraisal that we sense is positive, seems to create a state in the human energy fields that is conducive to changing and releasing stuck situations. It creates new possibilities.
Children sometimes use a phrase like…. “Even though I can’t remember to pick up my toys…..I’m really cool…” “I’m great.” “I’m all ok.” “I’m doing good…”
When experimenting with this strange process you can feel its strength when you pair something awful with the positive acceptance of oneself.
Part of the reason is that our system is totally unfamiliar with the pairing of something negative with something positive. So new options become available and old options can release.
Notice the feelings and sensations that come up with the following set-up phrases AS YOU TAP ALONG ON THE KC POINT OR SS: “Even though I am hateful towards others, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
Tap while saying:”Even though I have deep rage inside myself, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
Tap while saying:”Even though I have violence and rage inside myself, I fully and completely accept myself”
Tap while saying:“Even though part of me hopes and tries to fail, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
The basic recipe for EFT uses the set up phrase repeated 3x times while tapping the karate chop spot. However, users often find that by varying the three statements slightly they are actually more specific and more helpful. Sometimes the variations are just different ways of saying something, but it gives a slightly different angle, so that you actually get a fuller picture sense of the issue.
Even though I tossed and turned last night and didn’t sleep deeply….
Even though I didn’t seem to sleep deep, last night…
Even though I slept poorly and shallowly last night, tossing and turning….
What order of tapping points? Any order is fine. Most people start with the top of the head, go down through the body, and end with the top of the head. They work from the top to the bottom. This is just so that all of the spots get tapped. It really is optional what the order is. Any order is fine. Just so you usually get all the points.
Fleshy part on the middle of the bottom of the hand away from the thumb. Used for the Set-Up and Reversal.
on chest are alternate Set Up and Reversal points. The two are lymphatic congestion points. They are about 2-3 inches down from the notch of your collar bone and over 2-3 inches over to either side on your chest. Literally feel around while applying some pressure and you will find an area that is actually somewhat tender when you push. The tenderness my actually disappear after using the spot for a while, but it is still an active point. Use whichever side is comfortable. Its an alternative for set-up when you can’t get two hands free to use the KC point.
Tap on the crown of the head, the very top, with the flat of three or four fingers.
just above and to either side of the nose.
on the bone to the side of the corner of each eye.
on the bone under each eye about an inch below the pupil.
at the crease at the bottom of the nose and the top of the upper lip.
at the crease halfway between the point of your chin and your lower lip.
not actually on the collar bones, but right on the edge, below it. Put a finger in the notch, where about a man’s tie would be… go down one inch…. then go to the side 1 to 2 inches and you find a little dent. If you put your index fingers on the collar bone then the middle or third finger will easily be on the CB point. Many people prefer to put the entire palm of their hand just below the notch at tap with their whole hand getting both points at once.
They are about 4 inches below the armpit. This would be even with the nipples of a man or the bra strap for a woman
How many taps? Somewhere around 7, plus or minus 2. What feels best to you?
What pressure? Comfortable but not hard or painful. Some people get better results with light tap and others get better with firm taps.
How fast should I tap? I suggest about two per second. (2-3 per “one- thousand-one”). Find the rate you like the best, however I suggest you lean towards slower, than faster. (I believe many EFT trainers and practitioners tap too fast, speak the set-ups too fast, and speak the reminders too fast. Take your time. Settle into the taps, into the reminders if you are using them. Don’t rush. There is no more important place to be. Right here, right now… with all the feelings… is important.)
Which fingers do I tap with? It is suggested that you use three or two fingers rather than one. This assures you are accessing the point… but you can decide what seems best. You can use all the fingers of a hand on the collar-bone, sore-spot, under arm.
Do I tap on both of the double points or just one? The eyebrow, corner of eye, under eye, and collarbone, and under the arm points all have two points, one on each side. You can either just tap on one side of each, or you can tap both sides at the same time. Experiment and find what you like or get best results. People differ. And different things work better at different times and different issues.
Which hand do I tap with? It is optional. Either dominate hand or non-dominate hand. Or switch back and forth. Sometimes using the non-dominate hand seems to release things the other hand doesn’t so well. For some people the left hand accesses different things better than their right hand. Experiment.
Other tapping points to try? There are a number of other points that are used in EFT. If you aren’t getting the results you want, experiment with adding the Gamut Point (GP), on the back of the hand just behind where the pinky and ring finger come together. Also the Sore Spot (SS). And also the finger tip Points shown.
Just tap through the tapping points during the SW/RM audio program without any words or phrases said or thought, other than the main issue you are tapping for. (for example desserts… or anxiety at work) Or you can even tap and have no issue specifically, other than increasing your results from the SW/RM program you are playing. I suggest trying the taping sequence three times. Try to do at least one. Use more as you like or find helpful. It can be randomly placed or it could be put in on an issue that is being talked about during the hypnosis. Some people tap slowly throughout the program, others tap a while, stop a while tap a while, stop a while, and so on… EXPERIMENT
It will be easier to tell what works, the more specific of feelings, emotions, behaviors, issues, times and places you are working on each session. Even if you aren’t using any reminder phrases, but are still using set-up phrases applied to the Movie/Story.
Traditional EFT goes through the nine tapping spots, giving a very short reminder phrase of the issue you are dealing with at each spot. It is very short and concise, a couple of words or a phrase. It can vary slightly from point to point.
If you are already listening to the audio, just ignore these other audio boxes…
Set-Up Phrases for reducing number and amount of sugary desserts a person typically eats: Karate Chop tapping spot
“Even though I eat sugary desserts every day, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I Can’t seem to stop myself from eating sugary desserts, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I have been eating way more sugary desserts than is healthy, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”
Top of the head. “eating lots of sweet desserts.
Inside of Eyebrow: “too much dessert”
Side of the eye: “too much sugar”
Under the eye: “too many sugary desserts”
Under the nose: “eating dessert too often”
Chin; “always wanting dessert”
Collarbone; “dessert habit”
Under the arm; “can’t say no to sweet desserts”
Top of the Head: “dessert too often” Deep Breathe
2nd tapping sequence
Top of the head; “eating sweet desserts every day last week.”
Inside of Eyebrow: “loved my desserts”
Side of the eye: “no matter how large my meal was.”
Under the Eye: “addicted to my sugar.”
Under the nose: “way too much sugar last week”
Chin; “never skipped dessert”
Collarbone; “had to have dessert”
Under the arm; “got stuck on desserts”
Top of the Head: “sugar for dessert” Deep Breathe
Set-Up Phrases for Reducing Anxiety and Tension at work that involves the boss:
“Even though I am anxious and nervous around the boss at work, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I am tense and uptight around the boss at work, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I feel afraid and uptight around the boss at work, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”
Top of the head. “Anxious and Afraid at work”.
Eyebrow: “Tension of 7 at work.”
Side of the eye: “Anxious around the boss”
Under the eye: “Afraid in my gut.”
Under the nose: “Body up tight at work”
Chin; “Stomach in knots”
Collarbone; “I Don’t feel safe at work.”
Under the arm; “Uptight at work”
Top of the Head: “Tense at work” Deep Breathe.
2nd tapping sequence
Top of the head. “Too much tension at work”.
Eyebrow: “Anxiety of 7 at work.”
Side of the eye: “Anxious about my boss”
Under the eye: “My stomach churns.”
Under the nose: “Body and mind tight at work”
Chin; “Stomach in knots”
Collarbone; “I feel in danger.”
Under the arm; “Fearful at work”
Top of the Head: “Work too tense”
You might be thinking that this EFT is going against much that you learned about personal growth and the need to be positive. Much of the original work with EFT and Tapping did get tremendous and surprising results by focusing only the “negative.”
The most positive it got was talking about fears, blocks, doubts, insecurities, and lack of confidence ABOUT the positive. So as positive as it would be was: “Even though I am unable to eat less or healthier desserts, I deeply and completely accept myself.” Or: “Even though I have great difficulty eating healthy portions I deeply & completely accept myself.”
Now however, more and more users and professionals also add tapping on all the positive things that you want to be doing now and have not been doing as much as you want. They do this AFTER tapping on the negatives first. Part of the experience has been that the energy fields, unconscious minds, nervous system, body & brain just don’t feel accepting or compatible with the positive. There are blocks to the positive and the positive isn’t firmly in place. Tapping on the positive seems to allow the positive to be adopted more quickly, easily and deeply.
Many current users of EFT, both professional and personal use, now do tapping on the positive reminders and positive reminder directions, AFTER tapping on the negative. They might do two series on the negative and then do two series on the positive.
NOTE: There is great value in using the Set-Up Phrases and Reversal Phase using the Positive.
Doesn’t this truly address the possible reversal that has been operating? If I have failed with healthy desserts in the past, it worth assuming there is some part of myself that feels that healthy desserts are “bad or forbidden.”
It would sound like this:
Top of the head. “Eating desserts just some times.
Eyebrow: “ dessert is optional
Side of the eye: “ healthier and satisfied without dessert”
Under the eye: “sugar loses power over me.”
Under the nose: “easy to pass up”
Chin; “forget dessert…remember healthy”
Collarbone; “less sugar dessert”
Under the arm; “less and less dessert”
Top of the Head: “I’m in charge of desserts.”
Top of the head. “I eat less and less sugar.”
Eyebrow: “ less sugary desserts”
Side of the eye: “enjoy other desserts”
Under the eye: “enjoy skipping dessert.”
Under the nose: “sugar reduces it appeal”
Chin; “I deserve to be healthier…”
Collarbone; “control over sugar”
Under the arm; “eat healthier”
Top of the Head: “Way less sugar.”
Problems or issues that remain: Most problems will require you to go through a number of sequences of both Set-Ups and tapping sequences. Your goal is to get the rating down to a 0, 1 or perhaps 2.
“Remaining Problem,” “Problem that remains.” Let’s say that your rating goes down from an 8 to a 4. What you simply do is add another sequence with some adjustments.
Adjust and Repeat the Set-Up Phrase. Include a phrase such as “Even though I still have some anxiety about giving a speech, I ……..” or “Even though I’m still angry at my dog for digging the hole…..” or “Even though I still have some hurt in my heart over what my husband said to his mother……”
Adjust reminder phrases as you tap. You can also adjust the reminder phrases to have the idea of “still,” or “remaining,” or the reduced number “4.” Reminders could sound like: My heart still hurts. I’m still feeling unloved. Some of my sadness remains….” as you tap through the points.
As you work with an issue NOTICE WHAT IS HAPPENING INSIDE YOURSELF, INCLUDE FEELINGS, THOUGHTS, MEMORIES. Various things will come up. You will need to make a decision about whether to complete sequences on the issue you started with until you get to 0 or 1. OR whether you should shift after the last sequence to the new, related issue.
Sometimes you continue working on the first issue, but remember the other thing that came up and plan to work on it later. Other times, you’ll stop working on the issue that you started with and shift to the NEW issue, which seems to lie behind what got you started.
For example, lets say on the example about the mother-in-law, what came up were tears and emotions and the thought that: “I know he’s going to leave me because I gained all the weight.. I’m going to lose him.” So what she decides to change to is that issue with the set-up phrase: “Even though I’m afraid he’s going to leave me because of my weight, I deeply and completely accept myself….. Even though I’m think he’ll leave me because of the weight and that scares me… I deeply and completely accept myself….. Even though I’m afraid my weight gain will drive him away, I completely love and accept myself.” And then go through the two tapping sequences, perhaps followed by two of positive sequences.
You’ll get used to noticing things that are attached and buried. You can gradually work your way through the many issues you dig up, that come up. You don’t do it all at once. You work on it over time. Gradually. You can get good at setting things aside… but getting back to them later. Humans and human nature is more like an onion, layer upon layer upon layer. Much of it is unconscious. Another way to see ourselves is like a giant web, where everything is attached to everything else… and attached to many things. Hardly anything is just one thing… or only what it seems. Simple things seem connected to bigger, important things. EFT is a great tool to help yourself discover just what is hidden underneath which is impacting you.
Let go of your judgement and just accept that there is a lot there. And our job is to gradually work our way through the stuff that’s there. Life is about working through our stuff… isn’t not about having it all finished so we can live easily. Get comfortable with having work to do… throughout life.
Many EFT/Tapping experts recommend everybody pick something to tap on EVERY SINGLE DAY…so we at least work on 365 issues in a year. It might seem like a lot, but its only a couple minutes some times. And everybody does have all those issues.
When you run out of time and you are in the middle of an issue, that’s important, simply do a sequence of set-up phrases and tapping sequence that sets the agenda for getting back to the work that’s clearly not finished. It could sound like this: “Even though I haven’t finished my work on my fear of my husband leaving me, and I will get back to it… I deeply and completely accept myself….. etc…
There is great flexibility in EFT/Tapping. Don’t worry about doing it wrong and breaking something. Close is good enough quite often. Do as much as you can. You have a workshop that you get used to visiting and using often. But don’t live there…. Live your life too…. but with a workshop… in the sun or woods… at the beach… whatever works for you…
Anytime things are important, or not going as well as you’d like, you can add tapping to help you with the issue. Experiment and play with the process. Notice your own responses. One way to experiment is to add additional tapping spots and sequences. You can add the points on the fingers and hands. You can add the chest spot. You can add the breast spot. You can also learn about the 9-Gamut sequence which was initially used all the time.
An interesting aspect of EFT/Tapping is that even when there are clear and significant improvements and changes that result clearly from EFT, there are often doubts that it was the EFT that made the differences. In the early use of the process, professionals who used EFT were trained to tell their clients, ahead of time… that they would most likely get great results but that they would have doubts about what caused the changes… and that this is part of the process of EFT… The doubt that it even worked… and they should expect the doubt…. But what is important is to look for the data and proof that changes occur… don’t use the doubt as proof. Now a days, there is so much expectation of success that fewer people are mentioning this issue of doubt. But its worth being aware of…
Experiment… be optimistic… have your doubts… but watch for results despite any doubts. Many people get almost spectacular and positive results, faster and easier than they ever thought. They resolve and release some problems that go back to birth, and seemed immoveable. But EFT seems good for those stuck issues. EFT seems to work very well on left overs from past traumas and hurts, especially ones that left us with beliefs, conclusions, doubts, angers, hates, embarrassment, shame and large negative opinions about our selves and about our abilities and permissions.
It is also very effective for dealing with buried fears, terrors, panics, sadness, that got frozen in time… as if time doesn’t exist… so the feelings just seemed to stay there…even though years passed and the situation seems gone forever. EFT is very good at removing frozen angers, terrors, fears, tensions, anxieties resentments, panics, frustrations. And of course, most of these are buried below the surface mind, the conscious mind, buried in our subconscious, unconscious… so unless we go deeper… they just stay there… unhealed… kind of festering away.
Of course SuccessWorld and RightMind were created just to help us address these deeper issues… with healing. EFT is a valuable tool to help us additionally with our healing… both on the surface and at the unconscious/subconscious levels. EFT is now included in many pain management clinics. It is also used to help people manage and deal with serious physical issues, untangling hidden emotional issues that can attach to physical problems. It is even used in high performance sports.
And we all have scars… marks which remain… that can have some nice cleaning up, cleaning out, and renewing… just like removing physical scars and replacing them with fresh healthy tissue.
Children and teenagers can bury some very painful and deadly beliefs… that can influence us for a life time. EFT is a way to clean up old business… things that got stuck. Read about the conditions, illnesses, and diseases that have responded when nobody thought there was any hope… and you will have increased hope about positive possibilities for yourself. What an interesting combination of opposites.
The bottom line is; use EFT, tapping, a lot. Play around with it a lot. Experiment and notice what happens, but use it a lot. You’ll find it a very useful tool. You are very likely to get very positive results. You have a good chance of getting amazing positive results. Experiment using it with the SuccessWorld and RightMind Programs. Also use it as a regular tool with the wide variety of things you deal with in your life. Have it in your daily toolbox or purse and pull it out often, just to see if it will help you. The odds are in your favor. I’m not saying it will work all of the time… but the chances are good. It takes little time and effort. And there aren’t negative side effects like so many things.
Give it a try…. you’ll most likely keep it nearby to help yourself and others.
Four of the largest and most useful EFT web sites that have an abundance of information, articles, scripts, books, etc.
Nick and Jessica Ortner; The Tapping Solution.
https://www.thetappingsolution.com
Rick Wilkes & Cathy Vartuli; Thriving Now.
