You are an energy field: a key to understanding and healing trauma
Everything Is Energy—and So Are We
Most of us have heard the phrase, “Everything is energy.” But what does this really mean for our emotional and physical well-being? In short: our bodies—and our consciousness—are energy fields. Understanding energy and trauma healing can unlock powerful ways to heal trauma and improve our overall health.
The Heart Leads the Way
Much of our energetic charge comes from the heart. Surprisingly, the heart generates 60 to 1,000 times more energy than the brain. This energy isn’t just metaphorical—its magnetic field extends up to 12 feet around us. Research from the Institute of HeartMath shows that when we focus on loving thoughts toward someone, our heart rhythms can synchronize with theirs. Even pets respond: a boy and his dog, for example, had synchronized heart rhythms while spending time together.
This shows that our thoughts and emotions aren’t isolated—they ripple outward, affecting those around us.
Trauma Leaves Its Mark
Unfortunately, disruptions in our energy fields can also cause real harm. The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study, conducted by Kaiser Health and the CDC, examined the childhood traumas of 17,000 adults. It found a strong link between trauma and later mental or physical health issues. People with high ACE scores are more likely to experience depression, chronic illness, and even premature death.
And it’s not only major traumas that stick. Smaller, everyday hurts—like ridicule from peers or harsh criticism at home—can lodge in our bodies and resurface when we encounter similar situations.
Healing Trauma Through Energy
Because trauma is stored at an emotional and energetic level, traditional rational thinking alone isn’t enough to heal it. That’s where energy-based therapies come in. These include:
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Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) – uses tapping on meridian points to release emotional blocks.
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Thought Field Therapy (TFT) and Tapas Acupressure Technique (TAT) – similar approaches to target energy disruptions.
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Emotion Code / Body Code – traces energy imbalances along the body’s governing vessels.
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EMDR and NLP – uses eye patterns and imagery to process and release trauma.
The common thread is the focus on energy patterns, not just the events themselves. By accessing these patterns, we can release trapped emotions and restore balance.
A Real Example
I worked with a client who had a high ACE score. He recalled a particularly painful childhood memory that left him overwhelmed. Through EFT, he was able to revisit the memory without emotional distress. At the start, his emotional rating was over 10 on a 0-10 scale; by the end, it dropped to zero. Months later, he could remember the incident without even thinking about it, free from lingering emotional charge.
This illustrates that healing is possible—even for long-held trauma.
Your Energy Field Matters
We are energy. Our bodies, emotions, and minds are all part of that field. By becoming aware of our energy and using tools to release trauma, we can reclaim our well-being, strengthen our relationships, and feel more present in life.
Healing is not only possible—it’s within your reach.
Healing Trauma
Many of my clients have experienced trauma, whether it is losing a loved one, getting divorced, or being diagnosed with a serious illness. Traumatic experiences are part-and-parcel of our human experience. They can be the defining moments of our lives, and how we deal with them - or don't - has a tremendous impact on what happens next. We used to think that PTSD was "incurable;" now we know that healing trauma is possible, and relatively straightforward.
Short term and long term impacts
In the short term, surviving a traumatic experience changes how we see ourselves. We are not as safe, and the world is not as trustworthy, as before, leaving us feeling powerless, isolated, and afraid. The haunting memories of trauma can come up unbidden and disturb our peace, leaving us to wonder if we will ever be at ease.
The longer term impact of a trauma is determined by how significant the trauma was, how many stressors and traumas we have previously experienced, and whether we have resources to help us release the trauma.
Hot memories
There is some evidence that small pieces of a traumatic episode live in our memory in a "hot", emotion-laden way; they have split off from the rest of the trauma story. These pieces of trauma memory are the grist for flashbacks and re-experiencing. Knitting the hot pieces back into the story as a whole seems to cool them down and helps reduce flashbacks and other trauma responses.
Wishing we could forget
Most people who have experienced trauma try to forget that it ever happened. The problem is that trying to forget is ineffective; forgetting is impossible. Fortunately, there are some very effective techniques to help with healing trauma. They all involve purposefully remembering the traumatic incident in detail from beginning to end.
Here are some strategies that are effective in healing from trauma:
The first three strategies are out-of-the-box approaches to healing trauma that are gaining traction. I have used them in practice and my clients are finding them to be super helpful:
Narrative exposure therapy
NETis a storytelling technique that was created to help people in war-torn countries recover from trauma. In this simple approach, people tell their trauma story in detail, over and over again, until they can tell the story without feeling upset. When I use a version of this with my clients, they become calm and the memory loses its "hotness," usually in one sitting.
Neurolinguistic Programming's Trauma Cure
The NLP trauma cure involves some form of watching the memory as if it were a movie, starting before the trauma and ending after the trauma, in fast-forward and rewind. They way that I use it in my practice includes adding a funny element to the memory. This is a brief technique, and my clients find it super helpful. Clients might start out being barely able to tell me what happened, and end up smiling about it. And that is something to smile about!
Meridian Tapping Therapies
Techniques like EFT help to put the trauma highlights into a cool context. In EFT, we tap on meridian points while talking about our emotion. (To learn more about EFT, check out my posts here.) Clients start by telling their story, and as soon as they get to a hot spot, we stop and tap. They move on to tell the next part of the story, and again we tap when they get to a hot spot. I always ask my clients to rate their trauma on a 10-scale, and even if they start out by saying, "it's a 100", by the end of our session, they are usually at a "0."
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: A mainstream approach to healing trauma
The CBT approach to healing from trauma is similar to the narrative exposure therapy described above. With CBT, you the story to a compassionate listener, starting at the beginning and ending at the end. It is an evidence-based approach to treating trauma.
Many paths, same mountain
There are many effective approaches to healing trauma, and they are so simple and effective, it is a real shame that people continue to suffer. Together, maybe we can create a shift. If you know of someone who is suffering, please tell them that help is available. There is a database of EFT and energy psychology practitioners here; there is a list of NLP practitioners here; and Psychology Today has a list of practitioners that is searchable by type of therapy and issues addressed.
Healing trauma is possible. Let's spread the word.
How to get over your ex and get on with your life
The painful experience of a breakup can stick with us, preventing us from showing up fully for our lives and creating a great life that we can be excited about. There are a couple of patterns that we can get stuck in: We can find ourselves pining after our ex, idealizing our past relationship and believing that this person was perfect for us. Alternatively, we can believe they were the worst, and hold on to resentment for what they did to us. Neither of these patterns allows us to be present. Fortunately, you can learn to get over your ex and get on with your life.
Keeping the old flame alive
Guy (names are changed for privacy) was convinced that Laura was the only woman for him. He had never really fallen in love before, he was ready to have a "real" relationship, and he felt like she was the perfect person for him to share life with. When Laura broke up with him, she broke his heart. For weeks that turned into months, his friends noticed that he was struggling, and they were surprised, as they had never seen him so vulnerable. His first instinct was to try to win her back. They faltered for a few more months, but finally it became clear that they were not going to make it. He suffered, and then he realized he had two choices: hang on to idealizing Laura, living in the past; or let her go, realize that their relationships was not as perfect as he wanted to believe, and move forward with his life. He finally chose the second option. He started going out with friends, then started dating, and in about six months he was ready to open up to the possibility of falling in love again.
Holding on to a hot coal
Grace was so angry with her ex; she felt betrayed and was sure that she would never forgive him. He had cheated on her and broken up their family. She told him that she would hate him till the day she died, and she meant it. When she ran into him at their children's sporting events, she gave him dirty looks, barely spoke to him, and made it clear to everyone who saw them that she despised him. Her children couldn't help but notice, either.
None of this made the situation easier or healthier for anyone involved ― especially the children. Grace didn't care. Finally she realized that she was stuck in the past, and that this was not serving her. She realized that her children were hurting because of her animosity toward their dad. Grace understood that she would never be able to open up to a new love if she held on to this anger. Buddha said that holding on to anger is like holding onto a hot coal: we are the one getting burned. Grace understood this, and chose to let her anger, and her ex, go.
Cultivate the opposite
Yoga sutra book 2, sutra 33 tells us that when a negative thought is present, we should cultivate its opposite. Guy and Grace both chose to recognize their negative thoughts and to replace them with the opposite. Guy reframed his experience, practicing telling himself that Laura was not perfect for him. If he wanted a relationship, he would certainly find another love. Grace practiced telling herself that while her ex's actions were hurtful and destructive, she choose to let it go anyway. She chose to leave the past in the past, and allow herself to be happy for what she had. This created the opening for new love.
During the first months after a loss, it is perfectly healthy and normal to feel the full range of feelings: denial, anger, bargaining, guilt, depression. For more on the stages of grief after a breakup, read my last post here. Eventually we need to get to the place of acceptance. This allows us to show up in a big way in our lives, be fully present with the people we love, and make the contributions we are here to make.
Breakups hurt. They also make us stronger, if we let them. You can get through it!
The stages of grief over a breakup
The loss of a significant relationship throws us inelegantly into a deep grieving process. The stages of grief over a breakup are sometimes thought of as unfolding in a neat, linear progression, with one step following after the other to their inevitable conclusion of acceptance.
That's not how it works. Grieving is messy. Its stages are circular, not linear, as we move back and forth among them and visit them again and again. There are probably more than the five stages Elizabeth Kubler Ross set forth. How many among us, for example, have felt guilt after a breakup? At the very outset, how many of us experience shock? Most importantly, some people can get stuck in a stage (often anger or depression) without ever experiencing acceptance and hope.
The stages of grief over a breakup
It can be helpful to have a sense of the terrain ahead, in order to know you are not alone, and you certainly are not crazy, as the grieving process moves through you. Here are some pointers:
Shock.
No matter how bad things were, when the relationship comes to an end you might be in shock, especially if you are the one being left. You may find yourself literally shaking, experiencing a physical manifestation of shock. It can be very hard to assimilate your new reality. Be kind to yourself. This is a painful stage and one that you will not likely stay in for long, or revisit very often.
Denial.
This can be denial of the breakup, or denial of your pain. When we experience denial, our subconscious mind is protecting us from our new reality. As Pooh said, you are braver than you think, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. And you will get through this.
Guilt.
It is actually important to acknowledge the ways in which we contributed to our relationship's demise, or we will be doomed to repeat the pattern. As we know, our lessons become more painful until we finally learn them. On the other hand, holding on to feelings of guilt causes stagnation. Better to learn the lesson and leave the guilt behind. In the final analysis, you and your ex came together in order to teach and learn, and grow and then …go.
Anger.
Oh, how anger makes us feel powerful! It is ego; our real strength comes from our spiritual side. Yet anger is a very useful stage in our healing process. Go ahead and get mad, especially if you are uncomfortable with anger. Anger can fuel action and help us set boundaries. It is not a healthy place to stay, but it certainly can be a useful emotion to access when we need to draw on it.
Bargaining.
When we are bargaining, we tell ourselves we would do whatever they wanted. "It was all my fault. I will never leave a pile of clothes on the floor again; I will pick a better therapist; I will answer your texts right away; I will be your perfect mate." When we are in the bargaining stage, we over-own our part in the relationship's demise. This is illusion, and you wouldn't have liked it that way in the long run. Be real with yourself, and kind to yourself. It's just a phase.
Depression.
It is natural and normal to feel depressed after a breakup. You can move through this phase more quickly and smoothly when you engage in activity (walk, run, learn a new sport); set goals (set out to accomplish something meaningful, train for a race, learn guitar); turn to friends (join a meetup, a hiking club); and to recognize, again and again, that this too shall pass.
Acceptance and hope.
After working through all the stages of grieving after a breakup, we find ourselves in the stage of acceptance, with renewed hope for our future. This final stage is not a given, however; people can stay in the anger stage, feeling like a victim of their ex; this prevents healthy growth, forming new relationships, and does not lead to a happy, productive life. Or we can get stuck in depression, closing our hearts and shutting down our energy field, cutting ourselves off from Life. But if you are brave, strong, and smart, then you can dig in and show up for your learning. As you move through the process you will find that you are better off than you were before.
Final thoughts
When we lean in to the grieving process and do our work, we have a tremendous opportunity for growth. It hurts… but in time, it doesn't hurt so much. When we are brave, and strong, and smart about our breakup, we find ourselves on the other side, braver, stronger and smarter than ever before.
One last thought: ask yourself, why would you want to be with someone who doesn't make you feel wonderful about yourself? You deserve better!
Five ways to soothe your heart after a breakup
If you are grieving over the breakup of your marriage or significant relationship, take heart: When you arm yourself with the tools to get through this crisis, you will find yourself on the other side, happier, healthier, and stronger than you thought you could be. It helps to have strategies and a plan. Here are five ways to soothe your heart after a breakup or divorce.
- Remember the bigger picture. We humans grow through pain. (Ugh.) Of course, not everyone takes advantage of the opportunity for growth that our painful experiences contain. More's the pity. For those of us who lean in to our experience, hold ourselves to account, and ask ourselves, "What am I meant to learn from this? How do I want to be after going through this?" there is a terrific opportunity to become more of the best of what we already are. Reframing your breakup or divorce in this light helps keep things in a healthier perspective.
- Take care of yourself. Going through the pain of a breakup or divorce might be the best time in your life to get good self-care: regular massage or facials, to get back to your yoga mat, to try Reiki or Healing Touch or SRT or energy work or energy psychology. Take a class. Paint. Play the guitar. However you choose to do it, make time and commitment to take care of yourself. You deserve it.
- Call a friend. But be careful about which friend you call. There are those who talk us off the ledge, and those who make us want to jump. Pick the calming ones. And be sure to ask them about how they are doing. It is so helpful to think about someone else's problems, instead of our own. And it makes us a better friend.
- Be patient with yourself. Healing takes time. Even when you are giving it your best effort, it still takes time. Some days you will feel better, and then on other days you will feel worse again. That's how it goes. But little by little, your heart is healing. You keep putting one foot in front of the other. You hurt, you cry, and then you feel happy, and you laugh…And that's how life goes. After the darkness comes the light.
- I know, it's hard under the best of circumstances, and when we are in pain, it seems impossible to connect and sustain our attention. Try anyway. Your Higher Self will appreciate your effort, and you will find that you are sustained by your Source, even if you think you can't "get there." The effort is more important than the apparent result. Luckily there are so many great guided meditations available on line today (including a few of mine), you don't have to work so hard. In fact, this can be a great time to take up the practice, and start to connect more deeply to Who you really Are. Which is pretty cool.
Every crisis contains the seeds for growth and transformation. Going through a breakup or divorce is certainly a crisis: painful, common, and growth-promoting. The practices suggested here are like tilling, watering, and adding sunlight. Do this, and we can grow into something amazing, healthy, strong, and resilient. And that is beautiful.
How to heal from a breakup and create a life to be excited about!
Do you know someone whose heart is hurting because of a breakup? With half of marriages ending in divorce, and most relationships not ending in marriage, the chances are that you do, and that person is hurting. Learn techniques to heal from a breakup to make the process a little smoother, and a little shorter.
The grieving process
Fortunately we have tools and strategies to help the healing process. Simply learning about what to expect as we go through the grieving process can be helpful. The stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance), so brilliantly identified by Elizabeth Kubler Ross back in 1969, are not steps we go through sequentially. When we are grieving, we sometimes feel better, but then may feel worse again. We may feel depressed, and then angry. We may also feel shock, and guilt. Knowing the emotional landscape can help us to be patient with ourselves as we keep moving forward, one (painful) step at a time.
Reframe: a great strategy to heal from a breakup
One of the best strategies to heal is to put our pain in a bigger context. What is it all for? Why is this happening? What am I to learn from this? How is this making me stronger, wiser, better than I was before? What have I gained, that I would not otherwise have gained? These questions help us take a longer view, and put our pain in a bigger context. The result: we feel empowered.
Reality Check
There is a tendency to glorify the past. We look at what we lost through rose-colored glasses. We idealize our ex, and the life we feel we have left behind. This is natural -- but it is not necessarily true! If your relationship had been wonderful, you would still be in it. Your ex was not perfect for you; your ex is not the only man or woman in the world that you could ever love. Think about it -- the loving feelings you experienced were, after all, YOUR feelings. You can feel them again, right now, if you let yourself go there. Your ex is not needed! And since those feelings are yours, you can bestow that grace on someone else, when the time is right, when you have learned what you needed.
Forgiveness
Forgiveness is a choice: a choice that empowers us, and can set us free. Forgive your ex, and you can cut those ties that are binding you to the past. Forgive yourself, and you will have grown by leaps and bounds. Forgiveness puts things in order. Practicing forgiveness is giving yourself the keys to the kingdom. Forgiveness does not mean that nothing was "wrong" or that you are condoning being mistreated. It doesn't mean you want to continue in the relationship. It means that the wiser part of you recognizes that everyone is pretty much doing the best they know how to do, given their unhealed wounds and traumas from the past. Feeling hurt, we are called to remember: forgiveness is divine.
Heal from a breakup and create a life to be excited about!
When we take our grieving in hand, and shepherd ourselves through the process, we avoid the pitfall of wallowing in self-pity, of anger, of victimhood, of disempowerment. We can turn our pain into something of meaning; we can have more compassion for others; we find out we are stronger and more resilient than we would otherwise have believed. We are able to fill ourselves up with grace and optimism and empowerment. From that place, we can create a life that we can be excited about.
If you know someone who is going through a breakup, please share these thoughts. Having one's heart broken is awful. It is also common. Knowing that we are not alone, and that someone cares, can go a long way toward healing. For a little extra help, check out my Udemy course, Healing from a Breakup. I explore these ideas and support each module with energy psychology and guided meditations. The video course allows me to "walk beside" people who are healing from heartache, and guide them through their healing process. And when you need more help, you might like to work with me.
With many blessings for peace and healing,
Sarah
PS- the image is by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Peace on earth begins with peace at home
The following article was published in the summer 2017 issue of The Beacon. In my therapy practice in Bryn Mawr, I try to bring this perspective in all my work with clients.
The effort to establish right human relations is helpful, indeed essential, in integrating the personality with the soul. The lack of “right relations” comes most often from a selfish attitude and an emotional body that is not held steady in the light. It is disharmony in personal relations that very often causes a person to decide that he or she must get hold of him- or herself and make some changes. Our relationships are indeed our greatest teachers.
The desire and the need for harmonious relationships is quite often the thing that puts us on our Path. The pain we feel as a result of disharmony is a real pain; brain imaging studies show that physical and emotional pain “light up” the same regions of our brains. What’s worse, the pain we feel when we are the perpetrator of disharmony is like added salt in our painful wound; we feel embarrassed, ashamed, or guilty, in addition to our angers and fears. This is a powerful combination that makes most eventually decide that Something Must Be Done.
The work, once committed to, involves a complete reorientation of thinking – away from oneself as victim, toward oneself as creator. When taking stock, we learn to reframe our point of view to include perspective-taking and empathy for the Other. We begin to practice “not taking it personally” and to recognize that when our emotions are getting riled up, it is not actually about the Other person, but about some wound in our own Self that is needing to be healed. We begin to have compassion for ourselves and to forgive ourselves ― that is an essential piece of personality integration. No longer can the mind spend oodles of energy denigrating the emotional body; instead the ego learns to befriend the inner child and to work with it, to heal it and create peace rather than continuing disharmony.
As we practice detachment, not taking things personally and not assuming that we know what the Other is thinking or feeling, we begin to task ourselves with cultivating Right Speech. We begin to be careful with our words, which slows down our emotional reactivity. Our relationships increase in harmony. With more harmony, we are able to create a spaciousness that allows us to strive for utter harmlessness and self-forgetfulness. The body relaxes; health ensues. The seven points of light begin to radiate and we become a fit vehicle of expression for the Soul.
When we have committed ourselves to a spiritual path, our lives change in incredible ways. The old emotional reactions and underlying assumptions give way to a light and peaceful experience. The very intention to bring more “spirituality” into our lives does indeed invite light, and love, and goodwill. These are the cause and effect of establishing right human relations.
A constant reorientation to spiritual values changes a person. At the moment we decide that there Must Be Something More, and determine to find it, our lives change course. A meditation practice may be the single most important tool for self improvement, and such a practice can be hung on the scaffolding of just about any religious or non-religious tradition. Whether we are searching for Peace through mindfulness or are devoted to the Buddha-nature, the Christ, Ishvara, the Divine, or the Beloved doesn’t matter. We begin to ascend the mountain and as we climb, we find that all of our paths converge.
With this awakening of inclusiveness, there can be no denigration of another spiritual tradition, no room for thinking “my way is the Right Way, and yours is, say, a ‘political ideology’”. From our place of inclusiveness we gain empathy and search for the reasons why people behave, often badly, the way they do. Rather than condemning and judging, we seek to understand and to aid, even as perhaps we wish that the reins of power were held by more-evolved hands. Yet we find solace in knowing that we all learn through pain – individuals and groups alike,
As we work to invoke the Soul, not only do our worldly views become larger and more inclusive, our close personal relations become more peaceful as well. We cannot but feel hypocritical if we make a fuss about a spiritual practice and then yell at our kids and criticize our spouses. Any momentary experience of mystical union rings hollow if followed by a fight at home. The Love of the Soul has made its healing felt in every level of our personality-being and we begin to love and forgive ourselves, and from that peaceful place it is impossible to not-love or non-forgive others. And incredibly, when others criticize us we are far from defensive but rather seek to understand and find common ground. Exuding peace and love, others want to know how did we do that? Having sought the Light, the Light of the Soul has made its presence known and we are changed, and we are agents for change. Our seven centers begin to blaze and light our way, and light the Way for others.
Energy Psychology, EFT: A Mind-Body Approach
Energy Psychology (EP) is a family of therapies that combine Western psychology methods with Eastern energy-based healing principles. This mind-body approach allows EP to facilitate rapid, positive change. The most common form of EP is EFT, the emotional freedom techniques. More than 100 studies published in peer-reviewed journals document the effectiveness of these simple energy-based techniques.
The Meridians and Related Emotions
Understanding EP begins with an acceptance that we are more than meets the eye. Everything is energy, as the saying goes! For instance, acupuncturists have worked with meridians for thousands of years. In a nutshell, meridians can be though of as little energy highways that run through our bodies, carrying energy through our system. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, each meridian is associated with a specific emotion or set of emotions. Because of this, you can release an emotional block (or a problem) when you stimulate its associated treatment point by tapping or rubbing it.
Here is a rundown of the meridian points and related emotions.
| Treatment Point Location | Meridian | Related Emotions | |
| GV | Above the mouth | The Governing Vessel | Associated with self esteem; moving forward |
| CF | Below the mouth | the Central Vessel | Associated with shame; launching new projects |
| BL | Inside eyebrow corner | Bladder | Trauma; aggravation, irritation |
| GB | Outside corner of the eye | Gallbladder | Visceral anger: rage, fury, wrath |
| ST | Under the eye | Stomach | Fear, anxiety |
| KI | Just below the collarbone notches | Kidney | Anxiety |
| SP | Under the armpits | Spleen | Worry |
| LV | Bottom rib, under nipple | Liver | Anger |
| LU | Thumb: outside corner of the nail | Lung | Grief |
| LI | Index finger: outside corner of the nail | Large intestine | Guilt |
| PC | Middle Finger: outside corner of the nail | Pericardium | Life-flow; sexual issues |
| HT | Pinky Finger: outside corner of the nail | Heart | Anger about a specific issue |
| SI | Outside edge of the hand | Small intestine | Vulnerability, sadness |
| 3W | Back of the hand, between the 4th and 5th metacarpals (leading to pinky and ring fingers) | Triple warmer
(thyroid) |
Pain, depression |
The Meridian Treatment Points
Face/Head Points
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Torso Points
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Hand Points
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The Research
Peer-reviewed professional journals have published more than 100 research studies demonstrating the effectiveness of EP therapies. Importantly, this includes not just one-offs and case studies, but more than 50 randomized controlled trials, 40+ outcome studies, and four meta-analyses. (A meta-analysis depends on a pretty large group of studies, which are combined in order to draw conclusions with greater confidence.)
One striking study of veterans with PTSD showed that PTSD symptoms dropped after EFT treatment; after 10 sessions all the veterans were free from clinically diagnosable PTSD. This is so important, because we used to think PTSD was not treatable. More recently, the US government invested millions in a virtual-reality PTSD treatment center, which is cool -- but not very practical. The center is outside of DC, and did I mention expensive? Yet there are so many people who need treatment all over the country. EFT is a low-cost intervention which is simple, effective, and has virtually no negative side effects. In addition, clinicians and researchers have used EP to treat addictions, anxiety, depression, food cravings, phobias, sports performance, and stress.
EFT: The Emotional Freedom Techniques
One of the most common techniques in Energy Psychology is EFT. To use EFT, begin by bringing your problem to mind and allowing yourself to feel the emotions related to the problem. Then try to identify which emotion you feel most strongly. Rate that emotion on a 0-10 scale, with 0 meaning the problem does not exist, and 10 is the worst you've experienced.
Next, start tapping on the side of the hand, using all fingers from the other hand, while you repeat the setup statement (the problem, and an affirmation):
"Even though I (have this problem), I deeply and completely accept myself."
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Then tap the points while repeating the problem, using related statements such as "It feels terrible, it feels awful, I can't believe it, I feel so bad…"
Tapping sequence:
- TH Top of head
- EB Eyebrow corner
- SE Side of eye
- E Under eye
- UN Under nose
- Ch Chin, Under lip
- CB Collarbone
- UA Under arm
When you've finished tapping, take a deep breath, and reassess the problem on a 10-scale. If you have not achieved a "0", tap another round. Continue working until you have reached a 0.
The Gayatri: Most Ancient Mantram
The Gayatri is said to be the most ancient mantram known to humankind. It is a statement of aspiration and devotion, placing us on the sacred path of return.
Several English translations exist. I learned the following one years ago. It was given by the Tibetan master, Djwhal Khul.
Oh Thou Who givest sustenance to the Universe
From Whom all things proceed
To Whom all things return
Unveil to us the true Spiritual Sun
Hidden by a disk of golden light
That we may know the truth
And do our whole duty
As we journey to Thy sacred feet.
The dual emphasis on knowing the truth and doing our duty are significant. It seems to me that to have knowledge without applying it is useless; and work without knowledge is fruitless. I think that the spiritual path encompasses both.
Yoga students and kirtan enthusiasts may be familiar with the Gayatri, which has been beautifully recorded by Wah! and Deva Premal. Next time you hear one of their beautiful recordings, you will have some meaning to attach to it!
Past Life Regression Story
Past-life regression therapy with healing can be very powerful tools, helping to accelerate our personal growth and spiritual expansion. We are able to re-pattern old habits of thinking and feeling that have their root in the distant past, becoming free and effective people in the present. I am passionate about the benefits of this healing technique and have often used regression with healing with clients in my therapy practice in Bryn Mawr. It has been an important part of my own journey as well.
A personal tale
One of my most interesting past-life regression and healing experiences happened about a decade ago. During the session, I retrieved a lifetime in which I was a young sailor, a boy not more than 15 years of age. I was climbing the mast of a tall ship and my foot got caught in the rigging; I lost my footing and fell. I was badly injured with a broken hip.
As the regression proceeded, I saw that I went on to live as a disabled person. In those days, that meant that I became a "beggar". I was left with deep self-esteem issues that continued to plague me in this lifetime. And, interestingly, I have a huge bruise-like birthmark on my hip.
Healing
Since the regression and healing session, I have changed in important ways. The birthmark is still on my hip; I still get dizzy when I look up at tall buildings. But my self-confidence began to improve almost immediately. I remember having two important and conflicting thoughts after the session: One, I was very skeptical that this had really happened! And secondly, I felt more comfortable in my own skin. Years later, I find myself looking back on this session as one of the most significant experiences of my journey.