Being Aware of “The Wobbles” in an EFT session

How was your EFT session today?

It is interesting that in a typical working week, working with several clients, old and new, an EFT practitioner will see a range of reactions.

Some clients may be delighted with the session they experience and feel refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to take action on their issues. This is great, everyone feels good!

Some clients may feel fairly neutral about their session – “it was ok, but nothing spectacular”. Not quite so good on either side!

Some clients may feel disappointed by the session and doubtful whether they are on the right path. Definitely not a great feeling for anyone!

You, the therapist, are hopefully the same, delivering work with the same skill set to the same standard in all cases. So where does the difference in effect come from?

Is it my fault?

If the session has not gone well it might be easy to blame yourself, as the facilitator, and assume that you did something wrong. This might then affect your performance with other clients if you are doubting and second guessing yourself.

If you recognise this feeling in yourself then remember to do your own work and clear those feelings.

Get yourself out of the Way" and  "Be unattached to the outcome”

may be clichés but they also happen to be true.

Is it their fault?

It might also be easy to blame the client and say

they were having a bad day” or "they just were not in the right head-space today” or even "they are sabotaging themselves”

This then might affect your perception of that client and how you work with them again.

The assumption, if you are allocating blame to anyone, is that something was “wrong” with the session. What if nothing was wrong with the session?

If you have done your best to meet the client where they are on that day and have worked with whatever they brought to the session in good faith and using good technique then maybe whatever happened was perfect on that occasion?

The healing pathway is never a straight line upwards. In any therapeutic process there are likely to be times when progress is rapid and also sticking points where apparent progress slows or even stalls for a while, often as deeper levels of an issue begin to emerge.

As old patterns or events are re-membered (i.e. brought back into mind and physical reality) their attached belief systems, resistances and associated Writing from the Walls are also activated. Your client has entered a “Wobble”.

This is typically an uncomfortable state in which emotions and physical symptoms tend to be in flux and may be volatile, but they are also very workable at this time.

In the “Wobble” state it might be easy to think that things are going backwards and there is no point continuing with the sessions. However, if a client understands that a wobble is a temporary state, just part of the healing process, and is supported and willing to work through it then resolution usually follows. Whatever has come up for attention has been released and a new, stable plateau is attained.

The stability will last a while, time variable, but eventually the next “wobble” will be experienced and hopefully worked through, leading to the next plateau and so on. I have found that long term clients respond very well to this concept and are able to relax into the EFT process better once they understand what is happening. It can also be reassuring for EFT practitioners to understand the stepped progression their clients will experience, and manage expectations accordingly.

Overall progress with long term, committed clients is upward but that may not be obvious until the client is able to look back from a calm and stable plateau and evaluate and acknowledge what has changed.

Within a single session you and the client together may have done more than either of you can actually know!

So, how was your EFT session today?

Christine Sutton is an EFT International Accredited Certified EFT Master Trainer of Trainers based in Sollihul, West Midlands. Having been a holistic therapist since 2004, her specialty areas are: Complex Issues, Cancer and Anxiety. She is also well known for Picture Tapping Technique (PTT) which she and her husband Philip Davis developed together. Visit Christine's EFT International Profile