EFT for Rheumatoid Arthritis, the ‘Chronic Disease’

This is the last instalment to my many earlier mini EFT series for tapping on different aspects of Rheumatoid Arthritis. We have tackled the tapping basics, allergies, RA pain and today, I’d like to actually focus on the RA condition itself, the so-called serious or chronic illness or disease, whatever you call it.

This piece of blog post of EFT tapping for RA will be based on Dr Gary Craig’s original piece of EFT for Serious Illness. Before I begin to describe how we can apply EFT for relieving our bodies from this disease to enhance healing, it is necessary to understand that unlike the conventional drug model, EFT has a completely different approach towards treating illness such as RA. Each of us must hence take ownership and responsibility of our own health.

EFT approach diverges from the conventional study of body and its parts, to assume that one of the underlying causes, if not, the major cause of RA is an energetic imbalance in our body’s energy field or system or unresolved emotional issues or traumas that build up and manifest in our body as different symptoms, ailments, complaints and so forth. Therefore, DO NOT stop taking your existing medications while you’re tapping for your wellness. Clearly, this does not discount the facts that there are many other major causes that may lead to your condition today including diet, lifestyle, pathogenic infections, heavy metal, etc; but in almost every case of chronic or autoimmune condition, the central deepest contributor to these ailments in the very cell of the bodies are emotions, traumas or unresolved specific events.

Useful Approaches on EFT for RA

Tapping directly on symptoms – The first step towards tapping for your RA can always target directly at your symptoms. These has also been discussed in three of my earlier mini EFT series. This is an excellent way for one to feel what is possibly achieved or specifically, what level of symptomatic relief can be felt with tapping. We can always go with “Eventhough I have this angry joint pain on my left wrist, I deeply…”. Preferably, you can also tackle at the same time a presumption of an emotional contributor, despite whether you can recall it or not when you begin the tapping protocol. In which case, you can tap as follows: “Eventhough I feel that there was an emotional reason for this symptom but what can it be, I still…”

Review or recollection of specific events, trauma and emotions – As you progress with EFT, it will come to a point in time where an honest look at all areas of your life to recall specific emotional stress, trauma or events that underlie your problem will be critical to the success and efficiency in resolving your RA condition. While many people can still record certain degree of success by tackling these issues on a ‘big picture’ basis, such as “I have hypertension” or “I felt betrayed“, the probability of your success with specific EFT tapping will dramatically increase if you can target your efforts towards specific underlying events for example, “Eventhough I have this aching pain on the muscles of my left shoulder” or “Eventhough my husband left me for another woman just two years after our marriage“.

Personal Peace Procedure – Another highly useful method for you towards recalling the underlying specific events underlying your RA involves a review and taking note of every memories that give you emotional discomfort. What you do not face consciously, you may suffer unconsciously. When these memories, feelings and events resurfaced during this process, it means that they are ready to be cleared. Regardless whether that specific event is big or small, simply give it a title and write them down so you can use EFT to collapse them on a daily basis.

Tell the Story Technique – For this method, you will say tell your event or trauma as if it was a story (say, to your best friend) and whenever you get emotionally worked up at any points in time as you narrate your story, stop and perform the tapping sequence. Each stopping point of your story is representing another aspect of your deepest issue; with this approach, all bases will unfold naturally in a step-by-step fashion to be tackled. Always feel at ease when you begin your story (intensity level of 0 to 3), but as you get to the point where you begin to feel any intensity, STOP the story and tap away and release all elements of the intensity before resuming your story telling. Remember, the stopping point represents an aspect of your emotional blockages and it is necessary to be cleared or you’ll miss a healing opportunity. For instance “Eventhough I was really angry about being…” or “Eventhough I could not forget the horrible thing I did to…”. Once the story is finished and you have tapped through all of the intense moments of that story, start again right from the beginning. Repeat the whole process, you’ll be surprised to find that there may be more tapping do. Go through the process as thorough and detailed as possible until you can tell that story nonchalantly; that will be when you’ve cleared all or most of the aspects of your RA.

Approach the symptoms through metaphors – For example, you can ask yourself, what does your RA look like? Is it red or black? Is it hot or cold? Apply EFT to that metaphors, such as “Eventhough I hate this red-hot ugly looking finger joints, I deeply…”

Chasing the pain – I often find that my physical pains and other discomforts and complaints seem to migrate from one joint to another. Sometimes, the pain intensity also changes with this migration. This observation is quite common after applying EFT. The ‘Chasing the pain’ methodology works in reverse to the standard method by aiming EFT at its related physical symptoms and watch as the underlying emotional issues fade when performed properly. Basically, as the given name suggests, we chase the discomforts/pains/complaints around our body until they are subsided, that is, when the emotional intensity no longer exists or cannot be sought. The theory behind this concept is that each physical symptom represents an aspect of the underlying emotional trauma or event. If we are done with all these physical symptoms, we are also technically done with all the aspects. While this often sounds too good to be true, it is necessary to apply various other methods to confirm this or uncover any remaining unresolved aspects.

Daily tapping – Daily tapping is absolutely crucial for RA because of its chronic condition. Usually 10 to 20 rounds of EFT tapping should be performed day to day to ensure the body’s subtle energies are flowing as freely and smoothly as possible. Tap along while you perform your daily chores such as before lunch/dinner, after shower, right before exercising, brushing teeth, before your favourite movie time, etc.

Question yourself – Lastly, question yourself from time to time and tap away:

What does your physical symptoms remind you of?

If there was an emotional contributor to your symptom, what could it be?

What would it be like to have none of your symptoms?

If you could live your life all over again, what are the things or events in life that you would skip or avoid?

What would you willing or have to give up if your illness went away?

What benefits are you gaining from this illness?

Who are you most angry at? What are the things that you are most angry at?

Why might you deserve this illness?

Sample EFT Statements on Positive Affirmations

To get you kick started on EFT tapping, below are some of my suggested EFT sample statements on positive affirmations on healing and health that you may use as a guide:

I now allow myself to be healthy
I believe it is possible for me to be healthy
And part of me already know how to believe that it is possible for me to be healthy
I decide and choose to be healthy
I deserve to be completely healthy and happy
My body and all its cells know how to heal itself
My body knows how to release (this symptom) and all that it represents as well as all of its roots
It is now safe for me to completely heal and release (this symptom) from (my body)
I deserve to heal and release (this symptom) and all of its roots from (my body)
I totally believe that it is possible to elimination (this symptom) once and for all from every cell of my body
My body knows how to release any (remaining) (conditions or symptoms) that are blocking my recovery
I am who I am even when I have completely eliminate (this symptom) and all of its roots and representations
My body knows how to shift into complete wellness and it has now shifted into this reality in which I no longer have (this symptom)
My body is feeling calm, happy and relaxed
And it is safe for me to feel calm, happy and relaxed
It is possible to feel calm, happy and relaxed
Eventhough all these symptoms scare me, my body now knows how to remain calm, happy and relaxed
Eventhough (this symptom) started during (the time of stress), it is safe for me to let go and relax now
Eventhough there were times when I felt that I can never get away from (this symptom), it is possible for me to be healthy now
Eventhough there were times I felt (lonely/depressed/sad/suicidal/abandoned/betrayed), I deserve to be happy and healthy now
I believe with every beat of my heart that my body and all its cells are healing itself.

Realistic Expectations with EFT for RA

It is necessary to point out that while fascinating healing results have been widely reported with EFT, EFT is still at its infancy and there are probably many situations evolved from the use of EFT yet to be studied or understood at this point in time, especially when we are talking about applying it for a serious illness like RA. Hence, we must maintain a state of inquisitiveness rather than assuming the existing or suggested protocol represents the final answer or cure to the condition.

Persistence is always the key when it comes to EFT for RA. Unfortunately, there is magic that works wonder immediately for RA. Be consistent with your tapping while you uncover any other aspects or related issues that you feel may need to be resolved. As I have mentioned in many of my earlier posts, RA is a multifaceted disease. There are many layers of causes arising from a myriad of aspects that need to be walked through to achieve true healing. Keep diving beneath the surface of your RA condition and bring up all of the emotional trauma and events, so that they can be methodically removed.

Last but not least, EFT tapping represents only one of the many approaches of addressing RA underlying causes. Even if you may experience improvement or reliefs with EFT, the chronic condition will not go away if you continue with an unhealthy lifestyle of smoking, eating unhealthy fats, lack of exercise; and a list that goes on. I’m sure you get the message and big picture! My recommendation is to integrate EFT as a modality in your alternative treatment protocol, rather than viewing this technique as a one-off methodology. What’s more, other than for RA and pain, EFT has also been widely used for various aspects of life including enriching relationships, weight loss, achieving vision, anxiety, and so forth. It’s a life-long skill.

If there is anyone who tells you that you cannot do anything more to your RA, do not listen anymore. Because if you listen, you will be made to believe that you’re in dead end. Wouldn’t it be better that you open up your eyes and ears; and see and hear for yourself what are those things out there that you can do to improve your outlook? Be positive, and you’re on the right track to getting there. We all have the power to break through whatever that is holding us back and to reach for more. It’s now time to expect more out of your life because it is no longer acceptable to live in pain, guilt or fear. It’s now time to commit, and let go of the bandage that we have been carrying with us for far too long. I hope you can enjoy this process!

Resources:
http://www.emofree.com/eft/physicial.html