Tuesday, July 31, 2012

DEAR EFT UNIVERSE...

To EFT Universe, et al,

Greetings from Belchertown, MA where EFT and Tapping is now planted, taking root, and is beginning to poke through the rocky soil!

My name is Todd Farnsworth and I began my journey with EFT a year and a half ago when I received training in the basics at a workshop for helping veterans. Since that time I have had more training and I have  become more intrigued by the possibilities of EFT. In my setting as a local pastor (24 years in the United Church of Christ) I have begun using tapping as part of my ministry.

I have been interested to read in your newsletter about the ways science has been supporting the findings of EFT. From the big article that came out in late Spring (albeit a bit premature)  to Brain Wave testing. EFT is in the news!

I will be sharing some basic EFT with fellow clergy in a couple of weeks and as I was preparing my remarks about it, I felt my anxiety beginning to grow. This will be my “coming out” party re: tapping, and I’d like it to go well. When I identified the anxiety I began to tap on it, and I wanted to share with you something that I think is important.

One of the issues I tapped on was: “this EFT that defies hard science.” As I felt my anxiety drop from a 7 to a 0 I realized that EFT doesn’t need to answer to “hard science” anymore than religion/faith has to line up squarely with archaeological  evidence!

Faith is not about repeatability, it is about experience that is personal and relational and profound and transformative. I believe that EFT/Tapping serves a similar purpose. It takes the client and the practitioner closer to a healing power that is beyond themselves, and focuses that healing energy/spirit/chi so that peace may prevail.

One of the conundrums our modern era presents is a bias towards logic and scientific discovery. I have no problem with scientific discovery (I was a Biology major in college), it has brought many valuable gifts into the world and made them accessible to the masses. My concern is that when we try to squeeze mystery into the controlled box of science, we do both disciplines a disservice. I believe that both EFT and science can live side by side as complimentary studies of the same phenomena. EFT focusing on healing and peace. Science focusing on how that works, if it can be determined. We can use our language. The scientists can use their language. We are about different goals, and that is OK.  

I am going to go forward with more training in EFT (I just purchased Gary Craigs Art of Delivery videos and I’m gobbling them up!) and I look forward to growing the flock who looks to it as a resource for healing in their lives (as a pastor, I combine EFT with prayer to allow people within the Christian tradition to experience the healing touch of  God’s Spirit). I will encourage my colleagues to “embrace the mystery” that makes a difference. I’m not going to  worry about the science behind EFT (I already tapped on that!). I’m just going to keep on marveling at the rapid and life transforming results that it yields to the people I minister to and with.
Sincerely,
Rev. Todd Farnsworth
http://tappingintoprayernow.blogspot.com/

ps. for more reading about faith and science, please check out this interesting article: Understanding science and religion

Friday, July 20, 2012

Tapping on the Tragedy in Colorado

This morning we awoke to the tragic news of a gunman killing several people in a movie theater in Aurora, CO. Hundreds of other theaters around the country were showing the same movie without incident, but the horror which took place in this one theater holds us in its grip. 
Our son had seen the same movie last night. Had a great time with his friends. Today, we are all a bit shaken by what happened to people we don't know...because it coulda been us. It coulda been our kid. It coulda been our theater. It coulda been our tragedy...like the time it was our tragedy...different circumstances...but a tragedy nonetheless, and we were directly impacted by a senseless act of violence.
It might have been on 9/11/2001. It might have been at the time of the Oklahoma bombings. It might have been a friend who was killed by a drunk driver...or a driver who was texting.
When we read about or hear about similar scenarios of violence that don't make sense, we tend to recoil...literally "coil again." Like a snake. We tense up. Become hyper sensitive. Prepare to attack or take flight because something has threatened us, or perhaps, the thought of something has threatened us.


Tapping Prayer can assist us in dealing with those strong, sometimes paralyzing feelings associated with random acts of violence. 



  • Take note of how tense you are feeling when you see a report about the shooting in CO. On a scale of 1-10, how hard does it push your buttons.
  • Try to remember a time from your own life, when something left you feeling similarly. Give that memory a title, such as: The Time I Was Cut Off in Traffic by someone who had fallen asleep at the wheel, and almost hit an oncoming car (note: it doesn't have to be an elegant title, just a title that makes sense to you.)
  • Begin tapping your Karate Chop point (see Basic Recipe) and say the words:  Dear God who calls me to peace, i am troubled today by a memory that holds me in its grip. It is a memory that, when I think of it, I experience a # of anxiety or fear. It is a strong fear for my life, and I am ready to entrust it to you so that I can feel peace. Even though I have this (insert title of your memory here), I am deeply loved and completely accepted by you.
  • Top of Head: Even though I am troubled by this (insert title), I am deeply loved and completely accepted by you.
  • Continue with same words at each tapping point, then return to top of head...
  • Top of Head: This frightening memory.
  • Eyebrow: This time when things were out of control
  • Outer Eye: This time when I felt so afraid.
  • Under Eye: This time when I wondered where you were, God.
  • Under Nose: This time when I felt alone.
  • Under Lip: This frightening time.
  • Collarbone: This # memory.
  • Underarm: This fear filled incident in my life.
  • Top of head: Even though I have this fear filled incident, I am deeply loved and completely accepted by you.
  • Eyebrow: I am not alone.
  • Outer Eye: You are watching out for me and those I love.
  • Under Eye: You are ready to pick up the pieces when things fall apart.
  • Under Nose: You are my healing God.
  • Under Lip: You can help me feel peace.
  • Collarbone: Your Spirit can bring me healing.
  • Underarm: Even though I am troubled by this (insert title), I am deeply loved and completely accepted by you.
  • Top of Head: I am deeply loved and completely accepted by you...and for that I am grateful. Amen.
  • Take a deep breath and then exhale.
  • Try thinking about the incident that you were tapping on. Check what number you are feeling about the incident now. Try thinking about the incident in CO. See if that number has come down any. If it has not come down, try tapping directly on that incident.
God is present in our healing. By tapping through with prayer, we can activate the Holy Spirit to bring about that healing more directly and efficiently. 

May our loving Creator be with you and all of our sisters and brothers in Aurora, CO in the days to come. May the Holy bring you healing.
Peace,
Todd


Monday, July 16, 2012

SHERLOCK WAS RIGHT!

The old Sherlock Holmes used a magnifying glass to get a closer look at the evidence he was trying to make sense of. In the new BBC series, Sherlock turns his eye to electron microscopes to decipher the clues hidden within the case he is solving.
Tapping Prayer follows a similar progression. We need the big picture of a problem and then follow that with a closer, and then a closerrrr look at the issue that is keeping us from feeling peace. 
A good way to move closerrr to an issue is to start with a feeling that is troubling you and attach it to an event that left you feeling the same way. Use my Basic Recipe to take down the high anxiety attached to the basic event, and as you do that, notice what other events rise up from underneath. Make a note of those events and feelings, and then put God's attention to those issues. One by one you will discover your peace grows as your anxiety is leveled by the healing power of the Holy Spirit. 
Too often we stop with what we can see with our eyes. By looking closerrr we can experience a healing like we read about in the Bible. The stuff that makes us scratch our heads and proclaim: "Miracle."