What is Tapping (EFT) and Matrix Reimprinting?
If we really want to change our lives we must first uncover the roots of our beliefs which, planted deep in our subconscious mind, underpin all that we think, feel and do. As Carl Jung said:
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
Of all the healing modalities, techniques and frameworks I’ve experienced in my quest to do exactly this, both for myself and with my clients, none have been as direct, illuminating and powerful as EFT (also known as Emotional Freedom Technique or Tapping) and Matrix Reimprinting.
Not only do these techniques make the unconscious conscious, they work with the bodymind to release emotional blocks formed during traumatic events, and allow us to reprogram our limiting beliefs, resourcing us to move forward in the direction we choose.
Moving towards a bodymind approach
Sometimes going over and over old wounds by talking about them can actually make me feel worse, as though I’m adding fuel to the emotional fire and poking it around with a big stick. One of the reasons I originally decided to train as a coach was because I viewed coaching as a way to help myself and others create positive change, without having to spend too much time and energy looking at the past, but rather focusing on moving forward in life.
However, occasionally I would find myself coaching a client who, despite having a high level of emotional intelligence and awareness of what was going on for them, was still being held back by a stubborn belief, manifesting in unhelpful patterns of behaviour and/or emotional distress. It was evident that all the intellectual reasoning, awareness and understanding in the world would not help them shift it - they needed something more.
At the same time I had increasingly begun to turn to bodymind therapies and energy psychology in my own healing journey and had experienced some major shifts myself. I began to realise that our beliefs are not just stored in the mind, but also in our body and in our energetic fields. I knew that to help my clients shift these more stubborn beliefs I needed to work with the bodymind and energetic fields too.
My first EFT session
I was first introduced to EFT just before I started my coaching business. Like many of my clients, despite knowing at a conscious level I had the skills, knowledge and experience I needed to make a success of my business, fear was holding me back and I just couldn’t shift the feeling.
What I now know is that at a level deeper than my conscious awareness, this fear was my learned response mechanism, developed to keep me safe from the perceived threat of leaving my comfortable, well paid job and taking a leap into the unknown. Despite its well meaning function however, I really needed it to clear off and just let me get on with things.
In that first session of EFT I experienced a huge emotional release. The tapping had unblocked my energy and sent it streaming down my face. When the tears stopped I felt lighter, more focused, and (although I couldn’t quite believe it at the time) fearless. I knew then that one day I would train to become a practitioner in this technique, because the results were just too life changing not to share.
During my EFT and Matrix Reimprinting practitioner training I gained personal resolution on memories that have troubled me for years and discovered others I didn’t even know I had. During one session I even went back to visit myself as a foetus in my mother's womb, gaining a powerful insight into a core belief I formed in utero, which has shaped my life ever since, before transforming it into a belief which will better serve me going forward. How empowering to know that we all have the power to heal ourselves in this way.
The training also introduced me to the scientific theory and research supporting EFT. So if you’re someone who needs to know the science and research behind an idea before you can strip off with wild abandon and go full on skinny dipping in it, then check out this TEDx talk from Clinical and Health Psychologist Dr. Peta Stapleton, this lecture on the ‘Biology of Belief’ from developmental biologist Bruce Lipton and these studies.
So what’s the difference between EFT and Matrix Reimprinting?
EFT involves tapping on meridian points on the body while bringing into awareness how we are feeling. We can literally ‘tap’ into and release emotional blocks caused by traumas, by accessing our subconscious mind through our memories and bodily sensations.
Matrix Reimprinting goes a step further by enabling us to revisit our past traumas and core limiting beliefs at the moment they were formed, releasing the emotional charge of such events and transforming our limiting beliefs into positive empowering ones.
How do I know which one to have?
Generally everyone will start with EFT to gain a basic understanding of how it works. Through EFT you may access a memory from your subconscious which you want to work on. This memory can then be worked on using EFT to release its emotional charge, or using Matrix Reimprinting to release the emotional charge and replace the associated limiting belief with a positive empowering one.
How can I try this for myself?
Book a discovery call so we can chat about what you’d like to work on and how EFT/Matrix Reimprinting can help.
With love,
Alice x
