Dystonia is a physical condition that affects musicians, among many other groups of people. The word dystonia refers to involuntary disruptions in muscle tone that cause spasms and shakes. The condition has been observed to affect archers (target panic), runners, hairdressers, golfers (the yips), and even computer programmers. A stress response to an event, performance or life experience can be an originating factor for the start of the spasming of muscles.
Danny's Story
"Danny" sought EFT sessions via Zoom during the pandemic, when we were no longer in lockdown. He had a painful and rigid left thumb that was preventing him from practising the piano. In normal times he would play with his music group. More importantly, he couldn’t write with his dominant hand. Like many left-handers he pushed his hand across the page, using the thumb. This was adding to the strain.
With his thumb spasming he couldn’t prepare food, carry weights, or do gardening. He said he felt really panicky, trapped, and disabled. He felt that being unable to control what his body was doing sabotaged his daily life. It was painful, upsetting, embarrassing and frightening. He spent many months practising how to use his right hand for writing, chopping food, brushing his teeth. He slowly became more ambidextrous. This made him feel he had regained a degree of control.
We didn’t make the connection with dystonia until later in our work. However, Danny was clear that practising music wasn’t causing the dystonia. He saw a specialist hand physiotherapist. She explained that it was emotional and nothing frighteningly physical. She said that 90% of the people she saw had emotional problems, and that her job was to help her patients feel safe for as long as was needed, until they had sorted out for themselves what was underlying it.
Danny had been through a twelve-month period of extreme stress before we started work. Firstly, he’d been studying on an emotionally exhausting fast-track counselling training. Secondly, he’d been supporting an elderly parent who was enduring severe physical ill health. Finally, he was developing his own trainings to deliver later that autumn in his business.
During the EFT Sessions
Over six sessions we worked on what he felt were the emotional contributors. Even though I witnessed the chaos on my training and the experience put me off from wanting to use that knowledge in my own workshop, I soothe and comfort myself.
We worked through key events in the chaos, being specific about details and focused in our work. This is where being faithful to using the Movie Technique, working on aspects one by one, and other standard techniques from our toolkit is vital.
There were also beliefs. Even though I don’t feel called to deliver this training, I want an easy life, but I feel like I should do it, I soothe and comfort myself.
Feelings of shame arose at not being able to handle the pressure of delivering training. Over several rounds of EFT we navigated ideas of “I should be able to” do this as I’ve prepared for a long time and worked hard to get here.
He felt sick at some of the judgements expressed by one of the tutors on his course. This isn’t what he expected from someone who is supposed to be in a healing art and dealing with those in distress. Again, honouring how he remembered events unfolding and the specific language used by his tutor we processed the emotional energy until he felt at peace about those events.
With EFT we explored underlying emotional stressors and brought relief. We did that with events from elsewhere in his life, and the thumb improved significantly in a matter of weeks. By the end of our sessions Danny only had mild twinges in his thumb. This was a huge improvement from the spasming and near constant pain he had been in.
After the Sessions
Over the months that followed, Danny continued to tap by himself. The twinging continued mildly for another five months. It only fully stopped after he made a decision not to deliver any more trainings. As he reflected, he felt the twinging related to warning signs about needing to be in control out of a need for safety. He tapped on himself when these came up and sought to let go.
I checked in with him recently to explore writing this article. Two and a half years on he feels his progress has been sustained. He acknowledged other problems can become centre stage – this is part of the human experience. He has only experienced mild spasming once since. He took it as a big warning sign that there was more going on and decided he needed to let go on that topic.
He’s happy that we reduced the majority of the issue in a short space of time when we worked together.
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Sejual Shah is an EFT International Trainer of Trainers and Practitioner in the UK. She helps execs with career growth and confidence issues. Since 2008 she has pioneered ways of delivering business EFT courses to large companies at home and abroad and loves coaching other practitioners to do this as well. She has developed Business Energetics, a spiritual tool that includes EFT for profound business growth.
Photo by Akshar Dave on Unsplash
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