Surrogate tapping with animals
A surrogate or distance tapping session is a therapy session with a therapeutic relationship in which you cannot see or hear your client with your everyday senses. Yet you and they can develop communication with your subtle senses.
As a surrogate, you are representing the animal. You can do this yourself and tap alone. Or you can invite the owner, parent or other human to role play the animal, child or other adult and tap with them.
Our experience
Heather Smiles and I have been teaching surrogate tapping together for more than ten years. In that time we have been delighted, surprised and deeply touched by the animal souls we have encountered. Ruby, the cute pony who used to bite and kick children and who became calm and trustworthy. Barney, the big strong Clydesdale, who was an uncontrollable bully and became a gentle ride for beginners. Alfie the dog, who was terrified of hot air balloons and now hardly notices. Princess the cat, who would not let her owner pick her up and now loves cuddles. And many more, including rabbits, and a bull who had lost his libido.
In our Animal Tapping demonstrations
we tap together. I am being myself, the EFT practitioner, asking questions and leading the tapping. Heather represents the animal answering on their behalf. When representing, you need to have a blank mind, and allow subtle imagery and sensations to come through from the other. This is not something you can do from your intellectual mind, and if you are a very ‘heady’ person you may get nowhere. In the EFT for Animals workshops I’ve taught, most people have been able to learn how to make the connection.
You are not doing something to the other, you are forming a relationship, working with them, and offering the possibility of healing through tapping. They may accept that possibility or not, and you need to be unattached to the outcome. You need to be able to keep your own agenda out of the way. Just as in any therapeutic tapping session with a client, this is not about you. You are holding out an offer like holding out an apple. You are not trying to ram it down their throat!
Physical and Vibrational
The understanding I have developed, as both a Cambridge physics graduate and long time tapper is that, in our everyday world of the four dimensional physical domain, we are all separate in space and time. In the corresponding four dimensional vibrational domain, we are all connected, and there is all space and all time (or no space and no time). The physical and vibrational have a reciprocal relationship, like time and frequency. Each is an upside down and inside out mirror of the other.
Tapping opens up a window to the vibrational. Several times I have run the Exploring Consciousness workshops with live EEG brainwave monitoring during EFT sessions. The effects of EFT on the conscious, subconscious and unconscious mind are made visible. When we tap there is a huge increase in delta waves. These are the very low frequency waves that are seen in deep sleep and healing, psychic, mediumship and clairvoyant states. The delta wave state is when we are open and connected to that which is beyond the self. (For more about this, put ‘brainwaves’ into the search box on EFThelps.com).
What does that mean for surrogate tapping?
Imagine at a large gathering where all souls over all time are present. You hear your name mentioned; people are talking about you. You listen in. If they are talking with friendly, gentle kindness, you listen more and approach them. You may learn something from what they are saying, which enables you to see a situation in a new way and to change your behaviour. However, if they start telling you what to do, or speaking from their own agenda, or being patronising, you may walk away.
Three Perspective Tapping Technique
We evolved a three perspective technique of third person, second person, first person. In a surrogate tapping session, we may use all of them or just one. Each has a different function and purpose, and together they handle the ethics of surrogate tapping. As you develop skill with surrogate tapping, you will find it easier to navigate through and transfer elegantly from one phase to another. Here is a brief outline of each phase:-
Talk About - She, He, They
Toby gets very upset when Susan goes to work, he howls and scratches at the door when he is left alone, and Toby is such a good dog and Susan loves him so much”
- Introduce the facts and character: tell the story, including the gaps and don’t knows.
- Talk About: works through the human’s stuff about the animal; invites the animal to connect; introduces the actors and the story, the context, the history.
- It's good for getting started or when the human has an agenda or a lot of emotion themselves.
- It's good when surrogate tapping or distance healing could be outside the human’s belief system. We are just telling a story. Ethically we are simply talking about another and tapping.
Talk To - You
Toby I’m so sorry you get so upset, Susan goes out and Susan comes back to you, she always come back to you. I wonder what happened to you Toby, was there a time when you were little, before you came to Susan? Were you left alone and very scared? Can you tell me or show me what happened? And you are such a good dog Toby”.
- Empathise, say sorry, comfort, ask what happened, give information.
- Positive suggestion or leading language is generally ignored.
- Never tell the other what to do or give advice.
- Ethically we are having an imaginary conversation and adding tapping.
Talk As - I
Cold… cold… can’t get out… Mum…where Mum… cold…noises…bangs… scared… help Mum…help”.
- Feel it, be it, sensations and thoughts, images.
- Be aware that 'Talking As', you may go so much into the animal energy that you lose words. This is why Heather and I tap together. She goes into the animal, and I stay outside.
- ‘Talk As’ may bring strong physical sensations, emotions and smells.
Ethically, we should only step into the energy of another when that door is open, and we have to be sensitive to this. If the door is closed, the words will feel forced and empty. When the door is open, the experience will come spontaneously with strong, clear emotion.
Tapping Style
- Use short sentences; simple words with repetition and rhythm.
- Talk in pictures. Describe a comic strip of images, use sensory words.
- Let stuff come into the gaps, images, sensations.
- Animals read our feelings and the pictures in our heads. Tell the story with the animal at the centre. With what they see, what they hear, rather than from the human perspective.
- Trust the tapping. The tapping does the work, not the talking.
- Allow what comes even if it does not make sense to you.
- Tap continuously and don’t be afraid to leave silences.
- Be aware of aspects; don’t jumble everything together.
- Tap continuously and come back to the Karate Point with each new aspect.
- Remember to test as you go.
Let the tapping do the work.
So do not use suggestion, do not lead, do not force. Let the other find a new perspective themselves, and let the tapping dissolve any trauma.
Find Out More
There is so much more to Surrogate Tapping than an article can cover; so much subtlety and skill. There are audios and articles at https://efthelps.com/eft-for-animals/
If you are already familiar with EFT, you can learn more through an individual or group zoom session with Gwyneth. Sessions are recorded for you, and we can tap for your animals so that you help them and learn at the same time. https://efthelps.com/eft-appointments/
Gwyneth is an Accredited Trainer, Practitioner and Mentor. She is one of the original EFT Masters recognised by Gary Craig in 2006, she continues to learn and share the beauty and simplicity of EFT.
Photo by Baptist Standaert on Unsplash
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