What Is Energy Psychology?

What Is Energy Psychology?

Since all emotions and also our limiting beliefs arise from such disturbances in the body’s subtle energy system, Energy Psychology Techniques can be used to alleviate a whole range of problems including; Stress, anxiety, depression, addiction, phobias, rejection, anger, guilt, financial stress, relationship stress, as well as many every day physical ailments such as aches and pains, sore throats, IBS, muscle tension, headaches, food reactions and allergies.

As limiting beliefs can also arise from energy disturbances, we can apply these techniques for personal development and for peak performance. For example; building confidence, public speaking, accelerated learning, better concentration, increasing performance in sports or work.

The History and Science of EFT

Twenty years ago an American hypnotherapist and psychotherapist, Roger Callahan, was working with a client, Mary, who suffered from a water phobia. Mary had suffered for years and had been everywhere for help but with no success. She had been visiting Callahan for some time. Callahan was pursuing a personal interest in the oriental energy meridian system. These are invisible pathways along which energy or chi flows in the body, linking the organ systems together, and which come to the surface of the body at certain points.

Since all emotions and also our limiting beliefs arise from such disturbances, Energy Psychology Techniques can be used to alleviate a whole range of problems including; Stress, anxiety, depression, addiction, phobias, rejection, anger, guilt, financial stress, relationship stress, as well as many every day physical ailments such as aches and pains, sore throats, IBS, muscle tension, headaches, food reactions and allergies.

During a particular session, under regression, Mary was experiencing her fear of water complaining about feeling sick in her stomach. Callahan thought ... “stomach...., stomach meridian, what if ....?” And asked Mary to tap the point under the eye, which is on the stomach meridian. After a few moments of tapping Mary cried out “Its gone!!” jumped up and dashed out of the room to the pool outside to test it!! Her fear had indeed gone and has never returned since. But it left Callahan with a puzzle... just what had happened? He was as amazed as she was!!

Initial Research and the development of TFT

Callahan knowing he’d hit on something quite extraordinary, started to research with all kinds of phobias and then all kinds of other emotional problems. His research revealed that different emotions were linked to different meridians. He developed Thought Field Therapy, how to release specific emotions by stimulating combinations of meridian points.

The Main Meridian Channels

TFT or Thought Field Therapy was the first technique of this new field of Energy Psychology and continues to be successful today. However, one of Callahan·s students, Gary Craig, an engineer and lay preacher noticed during his training courses that only 14 meridian points in total were ever used in all the combinations of points in TFT.

Callahan worked with Physicist, David Bohm to understand what was actually going on, so we are now able to teach these principles to new practitioners in our training courses.

Callahan now began to experience 80-90% success in his work using TFT in his clinic resolving problems in anything from 1 to 3 sessions, compared to 10 or more sessions before.

All this research lead to the important discovery or conclusion that “all negative emotions arise from a disturbance or blockage in our body’s energy system”

TFT or Thought Field Therapy was the first technique of this new field of Energy Psychology and continues to be successful today. However, one of Callahan’s students, Gary Craig, an engineer and lay preacher noticed during his training courses that only 14 meridian points in total were ever used in all the combinations of points in TFT.

Gary Craig and EFT

Being a lateral thinker, he said …..
“Instead of learning all the combinations for the different types of emotions why don’t we just tap the lot for everything?” and EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique, was born. EFT, a much simpler technique involving tapping or stimulating the 14 meridian points for any kind of negative emotion then turned the more complex therapy into a simple self-help tool. In this form and through the generous sharing of this information, we have a tool which has become much more widespread in its use. Now thousands of therapists in the clinic and non therapists at home with family and friends are “tapping away their negative emotions” and becoming free from stress with ease and with lasting results.

Gary Craig’s website www.emofree.com is another rich resource for information and success stories about EFT and its applications.

Silvia Hartmann and EmoTrance

Silvia Hartmann, PhD researcher in the field of human potential, has done much for introducing Energy Psychology techniques into the UK through her book Adventures in EFT and through setting up The Association of Meridian Therapies in 1998 to set professional standards for the clinical practice of these tools as their popularity and uptake increased.

Silvia, being a passionate researcher and explorer in personal and spiritual development went on to develop an even simpler, even more elegant system for transforming emotional energy, EmoTrance, which was born and presented to the world in London 2002.

Through EmoTrance we understand that everything is energy, that everything we experience comes into our being as energy first, and that all energies have a nutritional element for us. We understand that whether we have an enriching or stressful response to life’s events depends purely on how our energy system handles the incoming energy… the looks, the comments, the impact of events.

When we don’t handle energy well, we feel that build up of pressure in the chest, head, stomach accompanying the emotion of stress. What Silvia added was that this energy disturbance, which we tune into, each time we recall the distressing incident, responds instantly to thought. So we use thought alone, or more accurately, our intention, to soften the energy. When soft enough, the energy flows once again and we actually feel the movement of this energy through and out of our body as a warmth or tingling moving through and out. Once the energy is all released, returning to the original thought shows no more distress and indeed a new clarity and understanding which was not accessible when we were in our previous emotional state. Indeed, re we realise that emotions are merely the feedback devices, the symptoms, of blockages and disturbances in the body’s subtle energy system.

Energy Psychology continues to develop

Energy Psychology continues to evolve and as we learn and practice these techniques we become more aware of the flow of energy in life. We may consciously choose to work and live with energy, noticing when it gets blocked and restoring the flow and to be nourished even more by all the energies around us…. Colours, sound, the weather, the earth, our families, colleagues and friends.

Life simplifies to understanding that stress and suffering arise simply from blocked energy and that we now have the power in these simple tools, to restore the even flow to rediscover peace, find clarity, for acceptance, understanding, release, wisdom, passion, inspiration, compassion, and love.

Research in Energy Psychology

There has been some research carried out in this new field and Dr Phil Mollon, psychologist and author has collated much of this research in his new book “EMDR and Energy Psychology - Psychoanalytic Perspectives” which can be purchased through our online bookshop in our public community section.

We list the research here with acknowledgement to Phil Mollon, Head of North Herts Clinical Psychology Services Lister Hospital, for his work.

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