Have you ever had an emotional, physical or performance issue that wasn’t resolved by conventional therapies? EFT often works when nothing else has. Anxiety, relationship issues, insomnia, job satisfaction, chronic pain, hospital room trauma, procrastination, blood sugar problems, food cravings, public speaking fears… Essentially, there is no issue that we can’t affect with tapping.
What is EFT?
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT, or “tapping”) is a method for discharging energy by tapping on a sequence of points on the body. Developed by Gary Craig, EFT utilizes Eastern knowledge of the acupuncture meridians, the body’s energy system, to move through stuck and troubling, sometimes even crippling, emotional blocks. How? Tapping directly affects the amygdala, the emotional center of the brain that reacts to perceived threats through fight, flight or freeze responses, and stores them there. When we tap, the amygdala is calmed and the remembered anxiety is released and unlearned. Tapping also facilitates the release of endorphins- essential “feel-good” hormones we all want. Here’s a journal paper by David Feinstein outlining its effectiveness at treating psychological issues.
The working theory of EFT is that every issue you have can be improved if not entirely cleared by removing the emotional charge (emotion=energy-in-motion). As the name says, the goal of the technique is radical emotional freedom (!) and that’s what we experience when we tap on charged issues. When we liberate our energy body from these negative loops, our innate wisdom reveals itself. We see solutions where we couldn’t before. We open up to life.
Remarkably, EFT works wonders on physical health issues that may appear to have no emotional origin, too, like chronic pain, poison oak, vision problems, MS, diabetes…From dealing with a break-up to weight loss, the list is endless. One of EFT’s mottos is “Try tapping on everything.”
“I love tapping! When my sugar levels were at 304 three hours after we talked, I was blown away (tapping, you had asked what a reasonable number might be, and I said 300). When I woke up the next morning, they were even lower- 168! I had tried everything. I know how to manage my sugar levels, but nothing worked. My husband and I had the hospital bags ready to go…and when you go in with sugar levels over 600 you don’t get to go home for a week. Instead, we had a relaxing weekend at home. The results were unbelievable.” -TM, Redwood City, CA
What is Matrix Reimprinting?
This is an even deeper level of EFT. Often we keep re-enacting unconscious negative core beliefs without realising it. The mind forms these beliefs during trauma in a mad scramble to deal with a shocking, difficult situation. For instance, a child who is constantly criticized may form the belief “I’m not good enough” whereby every rejection or criticism is re-created through that lens, leading to all kinds of problems, like painful professional or relational blocks.
Some common negative core beliefs:
“I’m invisible”. “No one cares”. “I’m no good.” “I’ll never be first.” “Life is scary.” “I”m unlovable.” “I get noticed for all the wrong reasons, better to hide.” “I deserve to suffer.” “I always attract the wrong person.” “My needs won’t get met.” “I’ll never fit in.” “No one is trustworthy.” “There’s something wrong with me.”
Matrix Reimprinting is a form of EFT. Developed by Karl Dawson, MR utilizes the same EFT tapping sequence to travel back in time to traumatic events, to: discharge the stuck emotions around an experience, discover the negative beliefs we formed as a result of having had that experience (and we keep replaying today), and reimprint a “new reality” through a process similar to guided visualization, giving the younger self (called an ECHO) resources he or she didn’t have at that time. Here’s how it looks in a session:
- We talk about the issue you’re having (persistent fear, etc.)
- We connect it to a historical event.
- We “tap” on the feelings, while journeying back to that time, together.
- We safely witness the event from the perspective of your higher, wiser, self. We help your younger self make sense of the events, uncover the belief you formed about your self, or life, as a result of the experience.
- We offer your younger self resources it didn’t have then, correct false assumptions, and reimagine an empowering new picture.
This can be done as effectively by phone as in person. After the session my clients report feeling lighter, inspired and excited about life. This is a powerful tool for dramatic and lasting change.
The pearl in this technique is radically changing age-old programming. Most of us carry damaging core beliefs about our self, or life, from the past into our present day. Maybe we learned/inherited these from family, our environment, or formed them as result of a trauma, but eventually these catch up with us in the form of blockages, recurring emotional patterns, frustration and an inability to move forward in certain areas of our life. The practitioner identifies the limiting core belief and then reimprints a new belief that’s more congruent with who you are today.
This technique works well with big trauma (molestation, car accidents, abuse, etc.) or little trauma (being made fun of/laughed at as a child, failing a test, etc.). Don’t worry if you don’t think you have a memory to work on! The practitioner is trained to help you tap into your matrix of memory, as our unconscious often represses experiences we aren’t equipped to handle (we can “forget” whole chunks of time that were once too painful to face). Once we journey back, identify the situation(s) where this issue originated, using a combination of guided visualization and tapping techniques we recreate a new reality and a healed, recovered sense of self emerges.
You can read more about my personal experience with MR right here.
“I met EFT via Jessica Shepherd and I had my very first EFT sessions with her. It was during a time where I felt not seen and heard in my life despite all the work I had been doing in personal therapy. The sessions were absolutely life changing.” – HS, Fairfax, CA
EFT & Matrix Reimprinting with Jessica
After spending hundreds of hours using EFT/MR for public speaking, pain management, food issues, relationship issues, anxiety and trauma, I decided it was too valuable of a tool to keep to myself. For example, I would be in the middle of wellness coaching and/or astrology sessions and I’d find myself saying, “This is a perfect issue for EFT!” I have certificates in level 1, 2 and Matrix Reimprinting from The Matrix Academy. Are you interested in an EFT/Matrix session with me?
Fees and how to reserve an EFT/MR session: I now offer sessions at a rate of: $75/hour or $240 for four sessions (you save $60; must be used within 3 months). Although you will likely see results right away, for a persistent issue, I recommend that you book a block of sessions. My office hours are Tue-Fri 10 AM-4 PM PT. I generally book at least a week in advance (though sometimes I can do same week). EFT is easily done by phone, or if you’re local to me, in person, at my office in Fairfax, CA. Once you pay, I’ll email you an intake form and my availability.
Single EFT/Matrix Session
one 60 minute session $125
