EFT/Tapping Q and A Podcast with Gene Monterastelli – Emotional Freedom Techniques

If you live in the United States more than likely you have been glued to the TV for the last week watching the tragedy unfold in Boston, MA. Something this unexpected can leave us feeling very vulnerable because we recognize that there are so many things in the world beyond our control. When we are in the middle of this kind of experience we see the same images over and over again. It almost feels like they are being burned into our retinas and engraved in our minds. Here is a quick tap along in both audio and video format in response to everything we have felt and seen over the last week:

Most of my readers, listeners, and clients are big hearted people. Not only do they see the obstacles in their own lives, but they recognize the struggle of others. When we recognize the struggles of others we also open ourselves up to experiencing their pain. On one hand this allows us to connect and respond to where they are coming from. On the other hand it can open us up to feeling overwhelmed and a great deal of pain when we realize how many problems we are unable to solve. It is a tricky balance between being open and not being so open that we feel overwhelmed. Here is how I try to navigate this balance. More podcasts @ http://tappingqandapodcast.com

When I am working with clients one of the things I keep in mind with all behavior is that when someone makes a choice they are making the best choice they can make based on the information they have and the resource state they are in. We can quickly realize that we have made a bad choice (something in a split second after we have acted), but in that moment we are really doing the best that we can. The problem comes when we are working for a place of fear. When this happens we will make lots of short term choices and very few long term choices. This can create a series of many bad choices. Over time these choices add up and we can end up in a place where we no longer trust ourselves or trust our ability to make a good choice. In this interview I talk with Andy Bryce about what are the underlying causes of losing that trust in ourselves (such as guilt, shame, and lack trust) and how we can turn that around.

Last week I was in Portland, OR visiting my sister. On Saturday my sister's dog Addison needed to go the vet for a regular check-up and to get her nails trimmed. (The photo is of Addison looking at me while I was doing client sessions from my sister's.) Addison doesn't like having her nails cut. She was already a little skittish, but when it came time to she did everything she could to hide in a room that had no hiding place. It took my sister and a vet tech to get Addison on the ground and hold her down. Another vet tech clipped her nails. She started to fight. Every time a nail was clipped she would jump (or jumped as much as a dog can with to humans holding her down and one of the humans is laying on you). Then I started to tap. It was very simple. I just moved from point to point and thought of all the things that Addison might be feeling.

>Over the last few weeks I have shared with you thoughts from some of my favorite tappers. I asked them what mistakes beginners and pros make, as well as what they have found to be the most effective ways to tap. In this week’s podcast I take on all three questions: What Are The Biggest Mistakes Made By Pro Tappers? What Are The Biggest Mistakes Made By Beginner Tappers? What Have You Found To Be The Most Successful Approaches To EFT?

Until recently, every time someone made a particular hand gesture I would experience a jab of negative emotion. Once I figured out the root of the pain, a painful moment when someone else had used this same motion, I was able to tap for it. Here is a short video of me tapping for this issue for the very first time where you can see the process unfolding step by step.

In my client sessions and even in my personal tapping I have noticed an interesting internal conflict. On the one hand we want to be seen, noticed, and validated. On the other, there is a part of us wanting to go through the world unseen and unnoticed, because if we are seen we can be judged. In this interview I talk with Rue Hass about this dichotomy. We look at what it means to be invisible, how we end up being invisible, and how it is possible to be invisible to our own selves. We also talk about how we can use EFT to become our more authentic selves which makes being invisible less of an issue.

It has been exciting to see EFT move increasingly into the mainstream. As tapping has grown in popularity more and more people are wanting to share what they have learned with others and become EFT practitioners. Working with clients can be a little scary at first. Instead of just doing work on your own or with friends and family members, you now have people investing their money and their trust in your skills. Even with great training, supervision, and mentoring a new practitioner can still feel nervous. In this interview I talk to Jenn Goddard about the 3 most common fears of new practitioners and how we can use EFT to address for them.

There are few things more frustrating than chronic illness. In addition to the pain and suffering that come with the illness there is also the way that the unending nature of the symptoms grind on the system. In this interview I talk to Annabel Fisher about her personal experience of chronic illness and how she transformed it with EFT. We also discuss the steps you can use to tap for chronic issues.

EFT is a powerful tool when it comes to healing and transformation. Burdens and wounds that we have carried for decades can be cleared. It is an amazing thing to experience this type of freedom in our lives. After this type of release there can be a let down because after healing something so powerful we feel like our life should be much different. Sometime we can release so much and still feel the same day today. Here are few thoughts on how to respond to the let down of things feeling like they are the same after healing something large.

We do not live in a vacuum. Not only do the choices we make impact others (and vice versa) in the moment, but there is also a lasting impact from the relationships we have had in the past. Some of these relationships have obvious deep impact, while others affect us in ways of which we are unaware. In this interview I talk to Gwyneth Moss about a new approach that she uses in helping people to understand and unpack the web of life. This is a tool that she uses only occasionally because of the unique circumstances required to execute it well. Even though this is something that you won't reproduce there are many lessons to be learned that you can add to your own tapping right away.

In this interview we talk about how to tap for resentment. And this is not just just about the other people we resent. We can resent our computer for not working, a company for not being helpful, and ourselves for making the same bad choice again and again. The interesting thing about resentment is it is an emotion that bubbles below the surface. It is not in our faces like anger or sadness. Because of this we can forget to tap for it because it doesn't feel like it is impacting our moment to moment existence. In this interview Gwenn shares a great 3 step tool to get to the core of resentment and how to tap for it once you are there.

When I am working with clients, it is amazing how much time we spend tapping for the things that other people have said to or about them. With just a few words others can hurt, belittle, and even embarrass us. But is not just the words that hurt. Often it is a combination of the words, the situation, and who has said the words that create the pain. Here is a simple three step process that will show you how to tap for the words that hurt.

Managing our eating can be hard because it is something that we must keep doing. If we have a problem with drinking alcohol or doing drugs we can stop. We must keep eating. In this episode I talk with the creator of “Skinny Genes” Brittany Watkins about the pitfalls of emotional eating. She also shares a great tapping tool which you can use right now to help with the amount of eating you are doing.

I had a really powerful session with a client yesterday. While dealing with hesitating to act we landed on the issue of feeling worthy to be present and worthy of attention. This is a short, but very powerful audio about our right to be here, to be seen, and to act. Even if it doesn't sound like something that resonates with you, please tap to it.