How did EFT start?
Gary Craig, Originator
We are eternally grateful to the originator of EFT, Gary Craig. He studied at Stanford in Engineering, and was always interested in peak personal performance and emotional health. Gary says in in his EFT Manual
... I realized that the quality of one's life was directly related to their emotional health. Emotional health is the foundation beneath self-confidence and self-confidence is the springboard to achievement in every walk of life.
Gary used his heavily logical, left-brain qualities to do his research into tools and skills that might lead to emotional health. As years went by, he discovered a number of useful tools that he used for himself, and taught to others. One of these was NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), at which he became very proficient after he qualified as a Master Practitioner.
His search for personal improvement tools led him to a psychologist - Dr Roger Callahan - who gave people relief from fears and phobias in minutes. Gary spent many thousands of Dollars learning this technique, called Thought Field Therapy, from Dr Callahan.
Dr Callahan's history and how he came to use this technique is fascinating. He was treating a patient, Mary, for a severe water phobia. She suffered from headaches and terrible nightmares as a result of her fear, and had been to many therapists with no progress. One day, as a result of studies regarding the body's energy system, Dr Callahan treated Mary for apparent stomach discomfort by tapping underneath her eye (the starting point of the stomach meridian). Mary immediately found that her fear of water was gone and the rest of her symptoms disappeared too. Dr Callahan furthered his research and studies in this direction, created TFT and started teaching others how to apply it.
This method of therapy, although highly effective, was costly and complicated to learn.
The Birth of EFT!
Gary's scientific background led him to experiment with TFT and search for the simplest route to effectiveness. He asked probing questions about the usefullness of some of the 'algorithms' (lengthy procedures) that were necessary - and EFT was born!
He managed to eloquently simplify the process, narrowing it down to the smallest number of steps necessary for healing. He has written an enitre in-depth Manual on EFT, it's background and the basics. It's available here, on the official World Centre for EFT website.
What's the background of TFT?
How did Dr Callahan know to tap under Mary's eye? Although it's not really important to know this information for you to be able to use EFT, it's still interesting to know the background.
It's been known in the East for around 5,000 years that the body has an energy system with channels that 'feed' energy to all the cells, structures and organs. The beginnings of the science of Acupuncture was documented as early as the 2nd Century BC in The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine. The short version of the history is that this knowledge became grounded in China as Acupuncture, it spread to Japan where Acupressure was born - and from there to the West as Western Acupuncture and Acupressure.
Important contributors to using the concept of meridians and merging it with Western medicine was Dr George Goodheart ( a chiropractor in the 1960's) and Dr John Diamond (a psychiatrist from the 1970's). Dr Callahan studied Kinesiology with Dr Diamond - and from there, as they say, the rest is history.
Do I need to know all of this to use EFT?
Fortunately not! EFT itself has been made simple and straightforward by Gary Craig. All you need to know is the basic procedure to start using it. Of course, like with most other things in life, to become an artful and effective practitioner takes practice, practice, practice, time and a willingness to learn the finer art of delivering EFT.
