Posts Tagged ‘Few Minutes’

I’m going to miss you – EFT, Hugs and Tears

I just concluded my first long-term supply in a local elementary school after graduating with my Education Degree. During this time I had a student that suffered from anxiety. Since I used EFT throughout by university years to reduce my own stress and anxiety, it seemed quite natural to me to want to give the benefit of EFT to my students as well. As a result of seeing Mary Stafford’s “EFT Shortcut for Children” and owning a Tappy Bear myself, doing so was quite easy. I just brought Tappy Bear into my class and did regular tapping with my students, which I called the silly dance. The silly dance was using Mary’s simple points and doing it in a fun and entertaining way. We used the silly dance before our Friday Tests and when I just felt that some of the students needed to have the benefit of tapping.
In my class, there was a student that suffered from severe anxiety. She participated in our regular class tapping and I even sent home a package to her mom about the benefits of EFT and how it can be used in so many ways. I am not sure if it was used at home but there was a noticeable difference in her anxiety levels . Until…
During the last two weeks she appeared to be really anxious and cried a lot. No one really understood why, but on the last day of school she told me she was really upset about me leaving. So right there as she hugged me, I gently tapped on the top of her head as she sobbed and told me that she was going to miss me. We tapped and did a few breathing exercises while she was totally in her sad feelings. In a very few minutes (it did feel like forever though) she told me she felt much better and was still a little sad but she knew that everything was going to be okay.
We cried together! During our sobbing, I told her that crying was sometimes a good thing and this is one of those times. She agreed!
I still spend a few minutes each day tapping her in my own mind. I believe its good for her and I know its good for me.

MKW
First Year Elementary School Teacher

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Enhancing Sports Performance: Basketball Team and A High School Gymnast

By Brent Thomson, PhD

I recently worked with the entire Red Wing High School Girls Basketball team (in Minnesota), using EFT to improve team performance. I met with the team for a two-hour session. At that time their record was 5 games below the 500 mark.

Historically, the girls team has struggled, usually winning anywhere from 3 to 5 games in a year. We talked about the major problems with the team members and the coaching staff, and came up with the following hit list that needed to be chopped down:

Poor free throw shooting;
poor jump shooting;
poor use of the clock;
losing focus and concentration;
poor passing;
fear of making mistakes;
consistently playing below ability level;
easily intimidated by the other team; and
easily affected by crowd noise.

We put each of these in the familiar Even though format and proceeded to tap on each one. We did three or four rounds on each issue and then talked about other issues that surfaced. What I found by doing this is that individual issues started to surface for each of the players and we were then able to isolate those and tap them down on an individual basis.

GC COMMENT:  Getting to individual issues like this often spells the difference between good results and spectacular results.  All athletes have their individualized beliefs, idiosyncracies and other barriers to achieving their full potential.

BRENT CONTINUES:  I also found that the team really enjoyed doing the tapping as a team. A number of the players and the coaches noted a general sense of purpose, and a positive sense of team unity was a side effect of the group tapping.

Again, we kept track of the statistics as a team in terms of free throw percentage as a team before tapping, and again after tapping. Also, we kept records in terms of shooting percentages, both before tapping and after tapping.

Overall, the team has improved 87% in free throw shooting percentage since tapping. Before tapping, they were making a dismal 40 out of 100 as a team. Since applying EFT the team has played 8 games and in that 8 games they skyrocketed to a team average of 75 out of 100.

Overall shooting averages for the 8 games previous to tapping was 37 out of 100. Shooting percentage in the last 8 games since the EFT session is now 54 out of 100. Thats a 46% improvement.

Most telling, their record in the last 8 games is 6 wins with only 2 losses. One of the losses was by 3 points to a team ranked in the top five in the State of Minnesota. Earlier in the year, they were blown out by over 30 points.

Both the coaching staff and the players attribute the improvement in their performance to the addition of EFT into their training procedures. I am convinced that EFT has a significant place in training individual athletes and teams so that they can maximize their physical abilities and play with greater stamina, speed, strength, and co-ordination.

____________________

I also had the opportunity to work with, Katie Auge, the captain of her High School Gymnastic’s team in Red Wing, Minnesota (where I live).   She has been struggling this year with a nagging ankle injury and has been receiving physical therapy on an ongoing basis. This has significantly affected her scoring all year as well as her overall confidence throughout the year.

Katie is a senior and her wish is to make the state gymnastics meet in the All Around Competition. Her dad called me to ask if I would work with her. I had previously worked with her last year (Junior year) on three occasions, and she really enjoyed EFT. She had never made the state tournament previously.

I met her for one session the day of the regional meet that was to decide whether or not she would go on to the State Competition. We tapped on the following:

Even though Im afraid of falling and hurting myself on the vault;

Even though Im worried about my ankle holding up in the competition today;

Even though I have all this anxiety about performing well in front of friends and family (the meet was held at her High School in Red Wing);

Even though I have this fear of failure; and

Even though I have fears about sticking the landing on the vault.

The session was 90 minutes long. We were able to get all the aforementioned targets down to 0 (on a 0-10 intensity scale). In addition, we worked on planting an effective choice statement that would empower Katie to do her best. We decided on the following:

I choose to see myself performing in a graceful, relaxed, confident, and powerful manner in all my events today.

Katie was able to visualize this belief at a 9 level after tapping on this over a period of four rounds.

Well, Gary is always looking for statistics to indicate proof that EFT works, and I have some. I received a call on Saturday morning from a very excited Katie and her father saying she nailed the vault, and qualified for her first state competition in the All Around Competition category.

Katie says that there is no doubt that the EFT was the strategy that put her over the top. In addition, she said that her ankle did not bother her at all during the meet, and that her confidence was consistently high. She attributes this to the EFT work we did on the day of the regional meet. Think what we could have accomplished if we could have had a little more training time?

Sincerely,

Brent Thomson, Ph.D., L.P. drrelaxation@hotmail.com
Clinic Director Lifestyle Health Services
Bloomington, MN

from www.emofree.com

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Elementary School Students Becoming Skilled EFTers

Elementary School Students Becoming Skilled EFTers
Karen Zorn EFT-ADV 

I’d like to share with you my recent experience introducing EFT with Tappy Bear to a group of 12 K-4th grade students. I lead a “Peaceful Playground” after-school, once a week activity at a local public elementary school.  This is an optional program, which a child commits to for the entire school year. Our overall goal is to find ways to bring more joy and less conflict into their playground time,  a time at many elementary schools that is less than safe and welcoming for many students.

 
EFTtm  was the second peace-making tool I introduced. I began the semester by teaching the children how to use a talking stick, followed by each student making their own to take home and use with family and friends. During lunch recess I also encourage them to use this tool to resolve differences.
Subsequently, for several weeks, I then brought my Tappy Bear to class, beginning each class with an EFT session, such as:
 ”Even though we are feeling so fidgety this afternoon, we can hardly sit in circle, we are awesome kids!”
 ”Even though I’m not sure I want to be here. I’d rather be outside playing soccer, I’m an awesome kid…”
 ”Even though I know we’re about to do something fun, and I need to stay put for just a few minutes to find out how to do today’s project, I feel so antsy…”
If a particular child had a burning issue upon getting to class, we would address that issue, with everyone tapping for the child with the problem.

By introducing EFT through Tappy Bear with these elementary age children, I found I was able to get their full attention quite easily. Of course, with young ones, I make a big fuss about the under-the-arm point, allowing them to decide whether doing it makes me look like a monkey or a chicken. And I take great care both at the beginning and whenever we practice, to emphasize being gentle with your tapping, especially around the eyes. So, after a couple of weeks, I simply asked the children if they would like to have  Tappy Bears of their own to take home and use every day.  To my delight and surprise (we only do projects in this group with TOTAL CONSENSUS), everyone wanted to do this. And so, the following week our craft project was to make our own Tappy Bears. With the generosity of the non-profit that oversees this program, we procured the new bears. I simply picked up some colored fuzzy balls and tacky glue, and we were set. Older children helped younger, and by the end of an hour, everyone had a Tappy Bear to take home.
The following week, I asked my students whether or not anyone had actually used their Tappy Bears. I had already spoken to them of the special benefit one can get by tapping away any of the day’s leftover icky feelings before bed. I had also sent  home a couple of newsletters to parents, sharing what was going on in class, inviting dialogue, and directing them to www.emofree.com.
Every child in the group spoke of using Tappy Bear and EFT at bedtime, some every night, others just once or twice.  I found it most interesting that when I asked if anyone wanted to share something they had tapped away,  no one volunteered. The oldest in the group actually said it was too personal.

Since that 4th week,  we have used EFT in class for whatever comes up: for both negative states, emotional and physical, as well as for peak performance. 
We ended the preholiday semester by inviting parents and siblings in for a ½  hour EFt demonstration. Several 3rd and 4th graders volunteered to lead the sessions, with me helping with set ups, and them directing the sequence portion of the demo. We had to tap for nervousness before our guests showed up; had a bit of stage fright. That tapped away, my students were amazing in their ability to lead the group through the short sequence. And every issue we tapped on (turned out the siblings had all kinds of bodily injury for us to work on) was either considerably improved or totally relieved in just 2 or 3 rounds.
Personally, I have been longing to bring EFT to more children, educators and families for a long time. What I am learning this year is that introducing it through the younger children is thus far my most effective way of truly making it a daily tool. When I have introduced EFT to adults, when I follow up, very few actually take it and run with it. Somehow, we adults are so busy, we tend to make it a priority not for today but for tomorrow. My younger students, on the other hand, are eager to incorporate EFT into their daily lives. And my hope is that not only will their families become interested, but that they can also teach peers how to tap and in how many situations it can be helpful.
In closing, let me relate a story a mom told me that last class in mid December.  She came up to me after class and said:
 ”I’ve been meaning to tell you this. My son (our one kdg student) was having a melt down last weekend. When he gets in these states, I have to give him time outs in his room, because he is so unworkable.  Usually it takes a long time for him to calm down.  Well, this time, he calls from his room, still crying and gasping, “mom, where is my Tappy Bear?”.  I called back, “I don’t know.  For a couple of minutes he was very upset he couldn’t find it. Finally it got quiet. I went to his door and peeked in, and I couldn’t believe it. He was holding another teddy bear, tapping on his EFT points, and CALMING HIMSELF DOWN! I was amazed and just had to tell you!”


I am sharing this entire story in order to inspire others with EFT skills to simply offer it even to your youngest clients, students, friends’ children.  I feel that by respecting the inner knowing of young children, their  natural ability to accept into their lives what is truly healing, we can spread the practice of EFT much faster than waiting for their adult caretakers to get on board. At least, for the past year, this has been my personal experience.
If you have questions regarding interfacing with public schools as a layperson, I’d be delighted to share with you how I was invited in.  I am also available to coach teachers, parents, grandparents, all caregivers of children in introducing and  problem solving family issues with EFT.


  

Karen Zorn, EFT-ADV
http://overtheriverandthruthewoods.com
Email:
tingdzin@indra.com

 

 

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