By Christine Wheeler, MA

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is a new healing tool that often provides peaceful solutions for phobia sufferers without the need for costly anti-anxiety medication or endless therapy sessions. Further, it can be self-applied.

If you have one or more phobias, you are well aware of those intense, panicky, sweaty, heart-pounding fears that overwhelm you when you are confronted with heights, water, spiders, snakes and the like. A phobia is more than a simple aversion--it's an irrational reaction that can just take over your body, and your life.

EFT has experienced an 80 percent success rate in relieving phobic responses.

EFT is based on a new discovery that the true cause of these panicky feelings is a disruption of the subtle energies that course throughout our bodies. If we stimulate these pathways by tapping with our fingertips on certain release points (located on acupuncture meridians) this disruption vanishes--and with it goes the phobic response. 

No more panicky feelings. While the process is not perfect, it provides impressive relief in 80 percent of the cases. Unfortunately, western healing practices have ignored this useful procedure for decades.

Read how psychologist Joe Bavonese, PhD used EFT
to help a client eliminate his intense fears of both elevators and flying
From an actual case on the EFT Web site

Soon after studying the EFT training videos, psychologist Joe Bavonese, PhD offered an EFT session to his client Marty and started with his severe elevator phobia. Marty's fear was so intense that he would only go on elevators if he was forced to do so. Like most severe phobias, Marty's was a disruption to his life, an annoyance and a source of embarrassment.

The appointment started with a walk down the hall toward the elevator. Just seeing the elevator caused Marty's anxiety to jump to the maximum. He also noticed that walking down the narrow hallway made him feel confined and closed in.

After just a few minutes of EFT, Marty's initial anxiety at seeing the elevator dropped drastically. His pulse stopped racing and the cold sweats subsided. In fact, Marty's relief was so great that he thought he could almost ride the elevator.

But before entering the elevator, Marty "reasoned " that this was a slow-moving elevator and he didn't want to be confined for a long time (though he had never been on the elevator, which only traveled three floors). His anxiety level went up again as he imagined all the things that could possibly go wrong in an elevator.

They did another few minutes of EFT and Marty suddenly said, "I now realize why I'm also afraid of tunnels and airplanes. It's all because 'I can't get out.' It has nothing to do with the tunnel or flying, but just that I feel trapped and can't get out."

Interestingly, realizations like these often occur during EFT sessions. They are important side benefits that have a way of "showing up" when the body's subtle energies come into balance.

With this new insight, they continued to do EFT for another few minutes. Then Marty's level of fear and anxiety associated with the elevator dropped to zero and, minutes later, they were riding the elevator together without any problem.

They had invested only 40 minutes and, in that time, Marty went from maximum anxiety at the sight of the elevator to riding up and down effortlessly. They even rode the elevator with other people to test Marty's comfort level; again, without a problem.

Several hours later, Joe received a call from Marty's excited wife. She and Marty were planning their next vacation with friends. As usual, their holiday choices were limited to driving vacations because Marty was terrified to fly. That all changed when, out of the blue Marty said:

"We can fly, that's OK."

Everybody was stunned because flying was always a taboo topic with Marty and, until EFT, he became angry when someone merely suggested it. Now Marty's wife was thrilled to be planning a trip to Europe after 20 years of having to avoid vacations that involved flight! 

It seemed that by doing EFT about his fear of elevators, and not being able to get out, Marty's fear of flying had also left him. This happens frequently with EFT. Often, correcting the subtle energies for one problem will "spill over" to parallel issues.

If you are one of 10 percent of the world's population with some kind of phobia, you can read numerous stories about using EFT to eliminate themon the Emotional Freedom Techniques Web site.

While a complete description of EFT is beyond the scope of this article, you can learn all the basics from the free EFT Get Started Package, including a free download of the 79-page EFT Manual (it includes all the basics). Those wishing to save time and dive right in can get the very affordable training DVDs here.

Please consult qualified health professionals before putting EFT into practice for yourself or others.

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