DragonRising Publishing
 Interesting stuff
|
Finding and Releasing Emotional Causes of Disease by Sandra Hillawi
Article by Sandra
Hillawi, Master Herbalist, Colonic Therapist, Trainer in EFT
& EMO: "Our emotions arise as part of our human
response to life experiences.
How we respond to life can also have a direct cause and effect
relationship with the onset and progression of physical symptoms.
Understanding how this mind-body connection works and applying new
effective tools for releasing emotions can often be the key to rapid
healing." This fascinating article by one of the UK's top
MET trainers has also been published in magazines BNJ vol 23 number 3
2006 and Positive Health 134 April 2007.
|
Understanding Emotions – It’s Only Energy
!!
To understand emotions, we have to understand the body’s
energy system. Consider first the physical body as a biological engine
processing nutrition. We take food in, digest absorb assimilate it, we
rebuild our cells with it, i.e. we become more than we were before as a
result of it, and we have an elimination system to release wastes and
by products. So we process physical nutrition in, through and out of
our physical body, being enriched in the process. This is a good model
for understanding the energy system.
As we are all in constant energetic exchange with our environment, our
energy body takes in these energies of life, nature, what happens to
us, what people say and do to us. We process this in our energy system.
A healthy response to life is to accept what happens, to become
enriched by it in some way and then to let it go, releasing the energy
of that event.
The problems arise when we have too much to handle at once, beyond the
present processing ability of our energy system. Or, when a big life
event happens, and again, we have not yet learned how to handle this
kind of energy or experience. The energy being processed literally
builds up in the energy system and, just like eating more than you can
comfortably digest causes a physical blockage, in the same way we now
have an energy blockage or disturbance, which is attached to the
original thought or memory.
It is the information in the patterned into this energy disturbance
which now drives the brain to produce the hormones that give rise to
the emotional response and the nervous system and blood supply to give
rise to the physical pressure or pain that accompanies it.
In other words, emotions are merely a feedback device of the energy
system, indicating blockage. The same energy disturbance giving rise to
physical symptoms that accompany emotions, e.g. tightness in the chest,
knot in the stomach, pressure in the head etc. So releasing an emotion
and its accompanying physical symptoms comes down to a simple principle
of finding the energy disturbance and releasing the energy to restore
flow in the energy system.
Restoring the energy flow, simultaneously creates a relaxed emotions
state, usually with more clarity and perspective about what happened to
the person and a more physically relaxed and comfortable body with
communication systems and previously disrupted healing ability restored.
Asking the right questions
So identifying the cause of physical symptoms can often be as simple as
asking questions such as : When did the symptoms start? and What was
going on in your life at that time? and How did you feel about it?
These questions can lead to the thoughts and memories that contain the
energy disturbances which are causing both the emotional and physical
symptoms being presented. The next step would be to use
energy release techniques, such as EFT or EMO, to release these
specific energy disturbances, and restore physical and emotional
health. The Multiple Connective Tissue Disease MTCD and Migraines cases
below are classic examples.
Accidents and Injuries
The same approach can be applied to persistent pain and restricted
mobility following accidents and injuries. In traditional healing
process we often ignore the trauma of the event itself and the stress
of the consequences of the accident the event. Yet this
energy would be stored in the energy body in the same way. Releasing
this energy can create rapid healing results in chronic pain and muscle
tension, as shown in the Whiplash case below.
Sabotaging Beliefs
Sometimes a chronic condition can change a person’s life in
many ways so that despite the obvious disadvantages of the health
problem, there may have been some upsides since developing it e.g.
extra care and attention from family, friends or health workers. We
call this primary gain. Conversely, developing a physical problem can
mean we get to avoid certain unpleasant aspects of our previous life
e.g., work, pressure, stress. We call this secondary gain. This
manifests in beliefs that can also interrupt the healing process. Long
standing problems can also cause beliefs such as ‘Its part of
who I am’ to develop and what the Doctors say ‘It
can’t be cured’, ‘you’ll always
be on this medication’ can also block healing. By asking the
right questions we can identify whether primary or secondary gain
applies or what other limiting beliefs the client holds and apply the
energy release techniques to release the beliefs, thereby facilitating
the healing process.
Tools of Energy Psychology for Restoring Energy Flow
Finding the energy disturbance is only part of the solution. The second
is releasing the energy to restore the flow in the energy system. This
is what Energy Psychology and the wonderful tools we have in this field
are all about. 25 years ago Roger Callahan, Hypnotherapist
and Psychotherapist in California made the discovery that emotions
arise from energy disturbances attached to thoughts and memories. His
book Tapping the Healer Within describes how he cured a water phobic,
experiencing anxiety and sick feelings in her stomach, by tapping a
acupressure point under the eye, the first point on the stomach
meridian. He goes on to explain his research leading to the development
of TFT Thought Field Therapy.
TFT Thought Field Therapy
With Roger Callahan’s TFT we identify the emotions and
release each emotion by tapping a precise combination of meridian
points to release the underlying energy for that specific emotion
whilst remaining tuned into it. There’s a different pattern
of points for each emotion. TFT is a precision technique with rapid
results still used today world wide but due to its complexity, is
mostly used by practitioners.
EFT Emotional Freedom Technique
EFT Gary Craig, after learning TFT, simplified the approach and called
it EFT Emotional Freedom Technique. With EFT, for
any emotion we tap one point on each of the 14 major meridians, again
whilst remaining focussed on or feeling that emotion. There is some
redundancy built in, but its simplicity means that anyone can learn the
same technique for any emotional issue. EFT has become the world wide
most popular tool in this field for therapists and general public for
self help. With EFT and TFT, as the energy releases, the emotional
intensity for this thought or memory decreases until the person becomes
both relaxed and clear about the memory.
EMO
Silvia Hartmann, co-founder of the GoE Association of Meridian
& Energy Therapies in the UK, after many years research with
EFT, developed a further simplification. Observing that the physical
sensations in the body accompanying the emotion was actually the
indicator of where the energy was blocked, she developed the EMO
technique and philosophy, for transforming emotional energy in 2002.
With EMO we notice where in the body we feel the pain or pressure
accompanying an emotion, and we use intention to soften the energy. The
energy that was once blocked, now begins to flow again and releases
from the body and the client actually feels this happening. Once all
the energy has released from the body, the problem has also gone.
Having a combination of energy release techniques to release emotional
issues is a great advantage to any health practice. The following cases
illustrate the principles and show the speed of the results that can be
achieved with these techniques.
Fig
1 and fig 2 (beneath) show scans using
Polycontrast Interference Photography (PIP) of the energy field of a
person
experiencing anxiety as tightness in his chest when recalling a
stressful
memory. The PIP scans were taken before and after using EMO to
release
this energy disturbance:
 |
| Fig 1. PIP Scan taken
before the session
started. Note the congested areas in the centre of the chest and around
the
navel and different shading in the outer energy field. The client chose
to work
on the physical sensation in his chest using EMO technique. |
 |
|
Fig 2. PIP
Scan taken after an EMO session of about 10 minutes when the
client said
the presenting problem had been resolved, the energy having released in
a
downwards direction. The outer energy field is now balanced, the
congestion in
the chest and navel area have been relieved.
|
MCTD
Susan came to see me for a detox. She was diagnosed with MTCD and had
been suffering with aches and pains for years. Accompany this was
sleeping tablets and anti-depressants. When asked when did the symptoms
start and what was going on in your life at that time? She answered, 4
years ago I was going through a horrible divorce. She was reluctant to
talk about it as she new she would be very tearful. With gentle
questioning techniques (taught in the EFT L2/MET Practitioner Training)
we established that there were 6 major events between her and her
husband that were very painful. We used EFT to release the energy of
each of these events. As we were releasing each one, aches and pains
flared up in all the usual places. When all the emotional intensity was
gone from each of these events, not only was the client very happy she
was also pain free. The session lasted 1 hour. Working with her GP was
able to come off all her medications.
IBS
Mary came to see me for colonic irrigation, thinking it would help her
IBS. She was experiencing low threshold to stress at work, pains on
eating, knot in her stomach, alternating constipation and diarrhoea.
When asked when did the symptoms start and what was going on in her
life then, and how did she feel about it. She answered, 8 years ago I
had my second child, we nearly lost him in the hospital. There was
negligence and I was so angry with the Doctors and nurses. I was
stressed about my husband and also worried about my older son being
neglected at this time and terrified about the baby. At this point she
had the familiar knot in her stomach and was feeling the anxiety again.
We used EFT and EMO to release all the different emotions about
all the different aspects of this trauma and when we finished, she was
able to relate the experience again completely relaxed both emotionally
and physically. I also asked were there another factors that triggered
her IBS symptoms? She said, yes, I have a stressful job. We then used
EFT to release the emotional energy about the aspects of work she found
difficult. At the end of this one session, she was completely
comfortable and had no more IBS symptoms after this.
Chronic Headaches and Migraines
Mike was suffering from headaches and migraines for years, managing
them with 8 Solpadine a day. When asked what was going on when they
started, he said nothing really. I asked, what stresses do you have in
your life, he answered work. We used EFT to release his current
headache in a few minutes but then instructed him to apply EFT to all
the aspects about work that he felt were difficult. After this 5 minute
lesson in EFT and 1 week of applying it, he was off his medication and
his headaches stopped.
Whiplash
Julie was suffering from neck and shoulder pains, and restricted
movement over a year after a road traffic accident. He had been going
for physiotherapy every week since, with little improvement. I asked
her to tell me what happened in the accident and afterwards and how she
felt at the time and about the consequences. There was still shock and
a lot of anger and resentment about the driver in the car behind and
about the accident because of the effects it had on her family
Christmas. The damaged boot of the car had all the kids Christmas
presents, and because of the pain she was in, the whole family had a
rotten Christmas. There was also frustration about having the pain and
tension for a whole year afterwards. We used EFT to release the
specific memories which still had intensity about the accident, plus
all the anger, resentment and frustration she was carrying since. When
it was all released, her shoulders relaxed completely for the first
time since the accident and she was pain free. She called a week later
to say she was still free of pain and tension and interestingly, she
said she no longer felt the need to talk about the accident, which had
been her preoccupation for the last 12 months.
Complex Cases
In these cases you will also find a whole history of stressful events
and periods in this person’s life. Other times a client may
have had a problem since early childhood and have no conscious memory
of events at that time. Life threatening illness also brings many mixed
emotions about just having the condition, fear, anger, conflict, guilt
etc in addition to the stresses leading up to developing the condition.
Past trauma, present stress and limiting beliefs are all blocked energy
which can impede the healing process. Releasing unresolved emotional
issues, current stress and limiting beliefs can greatly accelerate the
healing process and can often facilitate healing in clients resistant
to other healing methods. Although the energy release techniques such
as EFT and EMO are easy to apply, the skill and lasting success
comes from understanding these concepts well, mastering questioning
techniques, developing skills in identifying where core the issues are
from the client’s story, developing treatment plans for
complex cases histories, persistence and thoroughness in release all
aspects of an emotional problem, plus knowing how to approach and
release deep trauma and anxiety in a safe comfortable way for the
client. Practitioner training is therefore recommended.
Further Information and Training
More information about the techniques can be found on the following
websites :
Bibliography
Silvia
Hartmann, Adventures in EFT, Dragon Rising, Eastbourne, ISBN:
1873483635, 2002
Silvia
Hartmann, Oceans of Energy, Dragon Rising, Eastbourne, ISBN:
1873483732, 2003
Roger
J. Callahan and Richard Trubo. Tapping the Healer Within, ISBN
0809298805 2002
About The Author
Sandra Hillawi has been working in Natural Healing for seven
years, following a first career in Physics and IT then re-training as a
Master Herbalist and Colonic Therapist. She later trained as an EFT and
EMO practitioner and is now an international trainer in these
techniques running self-help workshop and professional training
courses. Sandra has a clinical practice near Portsmouth and runs De-tox
and De-stress healing retreats at Chateau Bellenau in France and in
Hurghada, Red Sea Egypt and is a co-director of the AMT.
For further information, or to contact Sandra Hillawi
please visit her AMT
Members Page
|
|
|
|
