Ask the Expert - Wellness, September 2011 | Asheboro Magazine

In the first article of this series on Emotional Freedom Techniques, (EFT), I described the electrical/energetic system of the body as similar to the electrical wiring in our homes, and a trauma, metaphorically, as a short circuit. To more accurately define the process as it has to do with our physical bodies, when we experience a trauma, chemicals are released by the brain into the body where we experience them as emotions. When a subsequent event reminds us of the trauma, even at the subconscious level, those same chemicals are released and we re-experience the emotions ? the feelings of fear, anxiety, shame, etc., ? we felt when the incident originally occurred.

And even though we?ve been focusing thus far on traumatic events, the genesis or cause of negative emotions is not limited to major, death-defying trauma as it?s defined in my online dictionary, ?an extremely distressing experience that causes severe emotional shock and may have long-lasting psychological effects.?

Traumatizing events don?t need to conform to our idea of ?extremely distressing or severe? to affect us at the psychological level. According to Deborah Rozman, Ph.D., a spokesperson for the HearthMath Institute, ?Each time we feel annoyed, frustrated, worried or angry, we?re literally broad-casting that stress to every cell in our body. Emotions are potent and extremely influential over our health.?

Any unresolved painful experience ? such as being embarrassed by Dad in front of our friends, feeling abandoned and afraid when we momentarily ?lose? our parents in a department store, or believing that we?re unlovable because our best friend in school dumped us ? can be traumatic enough to create a negative belief that we carry with us into our adult lives.

The emotions and beliefs caused by these events remain with us as unresolved negative emotions ? waiting, as it were, to sabotage our grown-up relationships, our sense of security and our ability to trust. As Dr. Rozman says, ?The human body doesn?t care if it?s (what we?re experiencing) a big stress or a little one. Many people don?t realize that the body responds to stress the same, whether a tornado just tore through your town or you?re irritated at the phone company.?

From the ?little? traumas and stresses we experience, unconscious beliefs can be formed about our value, our place in the family or in the larger society. If we?ve ever been unfairly punished, compared and found wanting, or had love given or withheld based on our performance, it?s not a huge leap for us to judge ourselves as fundamentally flawed; as unlovable or unvalued. Whether it?s true or not doesn?t matter; it?s what we believe, based on these painful or hurtful experiences.

Physicians, scientists and researchers now recognize that 85%-90% of all physical illnesses have an emotional cause. Dr. Rozman continues, ?This is evident in our current health-related statistics. For instance, 75 to 90 percent of all doctor visits are stress related.? To understand that, we simply need to recognize the relationship between our bodies and our emotions. Right now, take just a moment and think about something that makes you feel anxious or stressed ? perhaps your next performance review, doctor?s visit or the thought of giving a speech to 200+ people. Did your heart start pounding? Your chest tighten? Your throat begin to close?

The brain communicates with the body all the time ? when we?re happy, the body feels lighter, our minds freer. When we?re stressed or unhappy, we experience a heaviness or dullness in both our bodies and our minds. Since the brain is the seat of both physical and emotional pain, it?s important that we pay attention to and acknowledge the pain we are experiencing and do something about it earlier rather than later.

Gary Craig, the developer of Emotional Freedom Techniques reminds us, ?The cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body?s energy system.? If the flow of energy is disrupted long enough, it can eventually manifest as physical illness. We can avoid this situation by resolving the negative emotions ? those emotions we know are there but that we?re afraid are just too painful to accept.

There is a saying that goes something like this, ?Denial is more than a river in Egypt,? which speaks to the capacity to deny our feelings for as long as humanly possible. We try to talk ourselves out of them, thinking we shouldn?t let little things effect us. If they do, we tell ourselves that we?re weak; that there?s something wrong with us. As a result, we carry them for decades, hoping that they will eventually go away.

Instead, they build up and build up until we can no longer deny them ?until they become so painful and exruciating that they are truly impacting our lives, forcing us to act out now in rage-filled, anxious, stress-induced ways, driving us to distraction with alcohol, food, tobacco, shopping and any of the other outlets we find to deny our suffering.

We can continue down that road, or we can stop and make a different choice. We can find the courage within ourselves to admit that we need help; that we are ready to write a different story about our lives ? a story that finds us free of those limiting beliefs and painful memories; a story wherein our lives open up to the joy that is always available, wherein we are living the lives we were meant to live.

I am excited to begin sharing with you, next month, stories of how clients I?ve worked with over the years came to discover ? thanks to Emotional Freedom Techniques ? the joy, the love and the life waiting for them as the effects of ?their? traumas and painful memories fell away.

Source: http://www.1010.asheboromagazine.com/?p=1243

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