I recently participated on a wilderness trip to Colorado with 25 other people, most of us not the “wilderness” type. The trip featured a rock climb on one day, followed by a trek (overnight hike) two days later.
There was a lot of trepidation in the group about many things; the rock climb, the hike, the workshops we were doing, the presence of wild animals, altitude sickness (we all live at almost sea level, and our climb went from 9,000 to 10,650, so it was a challenge for many).
As we shared our gifts in preparing for the trip, I offered EFT as my contribution to the group. We did one 15 minute session before leaving for Colorado, where I explained and demonstrated the technique. Many folks used it, and several thanked me for sharing it, saying it helped them in various ways.
One member of the group, a woman not known for being timid in any aspect of her life, had a special request of me once we got to Colorado. To prepare for the rock climb, she had gone to practice at an indoor rock gym. She reported she was shocked to find herself frozen just a few feet off the ground at the rock wall, unable to climb any higher. She said she was worried about the climb the next day, and asked if we could have a session.
I did a ten minute session with her that evening. We started tapping on her recollection of fear and feeling frozen, like she couldn’t move, as soon as her feet left the ground on the indoor rock face. After two rounds of tapping, she was startled to have the insight as to what was being triggered for her. She recalled a death in the family several years earlier, and the resulting responsibility she had to assume, which had left her with the same panicked, stuck feeling that she had on the wall.
The few statements she made about the issues made it clear that under the circumstances it was not at all appropriate to start to unpack this past event, or even to tap on it at all. In my experience, once a client has accessed a core event, it is difficult to work on it “just a little bit” without triggering that which wants to come out. I elected to stop while she was still in her intellect about the event, and explained my reasoning to her. After all, we had a clear goal for that evening, which was to get her as comfortable as possible about climbing the actual rock face the next day.
Consequently, we used the device of creating a box for safekeeping of the issue she had uncovered, and all its associated fears and concerns. I did not want her to feel we were fleeing the issue—instead we were establishing that she was in control of the decision to safely and strategically delay unpacking this event. After a couple of rounds of putting it securely in a box and storing it away, she felt ready to turn to setting an intention for the rock climb.
We tapped another round or two setting a positive intention that she could allow herself to easily climb the rock, and then we closed the session.
The next day, she was indeed able to climb as high as she was comfortable going, without getting "stuck" emotionally.
This session offered a true gift in the rapidity of the insight my friend achieved—the fastest major insight to come out of a tapping session yet in my experience.
At the same time, it presented a challenge for me, as my friend had opened a large issue that needed to be safely stored away so that she could do what she was there to do. Her ability to access a core issue so quickly along with her facility with using the strategy of creating a safekeeping space meant that our ten minute session in a relatively public setting had a very happy ending.
Ange Dickson Finn is an EFT International Accredited Certified EFT Advanced Practitioner. She is based in Houston, Texas, USA, and works with clients over the phone and via Skype. Ange has helped clients with issues including physical pain, health and well-being, work-related stress, equestrian sports and relationships. Visit her on the web at www.TapIntoYourself.com or www.RideWithoutFear.com.
From the EFTfree Archives, which are now a part of EFT International .
Originally published on August 13, 2011.
Bob Dickson says
You have a very sophisticated grasp of how suppressed emotional experiences should be handled with a subject, and the skill with which you handled this situation illustrates your insight and professonalism.