Extra Steps by Dr. Ted

Perhaps the most important reason doing EFT by phone with Dr. Herazy is this – he gives all his clients “homework,” and they love it because it is so helpful!

Anyone who has read Gary Craig’s The EFT Manual, the official Emotional Freedom Technique instruction, knows that EFT repetition is very important for achieving the great results we all want and deserve. Gary must stress the importance of repetition a half dozen times in his famous manual. He says throughout his weekly newsletters that repetition is often the critical difference between people who get outstanding EFT results and those who might be disappointed. The best way to develop the habit of repletion, so a person can gain the full benefit of EFT, is to do the best and most powerful EFT set-up statements and reminder phrases that are always used in EFT therapy homework.

Guidelines for EFT homework

Here are the simple EFT homework guidelines we follow when we do EFT together:

1. Tap on only one issue at a time, selected from the 3-4 set-up statements I offer.
2. Tap only 30-60 seconds each time you work. This is extremely brief. The idea is to avoid being invasive of your personal or work life. EFT homework should not be a chore or burden, or interfere with your personal, family or work life.
3. Tap only when you have “dead time” during your day. We all have dozens and dozens of opportunities during a day to tap, if we look for them:

   A. During TV commercials (that must be 30 a day right there!)
   B. While waiting at a red light (another 10-20 opportunities each day)
   C. While stuck in rush hour traffic
   D. While waiting on hold on the telephone
   E. While sitting in the restroom (another 4-10 or more)
   F. While waiting for something else to happen – the dishwasher to go to the next cycle, the computer to warm up, the gas pump to fill up your car tank, to fall asleep, etc.

4. Tap 12-20 times a day. While this might sound like a lot, it is only because you have not developed this habit – yet. If you tap 12-20 times a day, for 30 seconds each time, the total is 6-10 minutes a day for tapping. That would be a lot if you were not tapping during otherwise wasted or “dead” time.

Tapping as I have outlined above is easy, it is productive and beneficial, and it will not interfere with your life. The only difficulty is to remember to do it. Like good activity you wish to incorporate into your life, it is necessary to work with yourself to develop a good habit to do it – just like brushing your teeth or looking both ways when you cross the street. With a small and sincere effort you will soon be automatically tapping for 30 seconds whenever you are given those golden opportunities to tap.

EFT by phone and homework

Many negative emotions respond to energy psychology techniques like EFT in an office setting or while doing EFT by phone. After perhaps a few EFT telephone sessions, most clients notice their typical phobias, anxiety, depression, or other negative emotions will react with general stress relief. They note they are able to react to customary stressful situations with noticeably and clearly more calm and sense of well-being. A continuation of the stress relief technique offered by EFT phone counseling is assured by a follow-up use of EFT homework.

But, I don’t want EFT homework

While it is always my intention to create exciting and beneficial homework, it is clearly the client’s wishes that are followed! Homework is not provided when someone:

1. Does not feel ready to do any EFT tapping by them self.
2. Is afraid of certain traumatic issues, and does not want to tap while alone in that area. Or, perhaps afraid that while tapping in a particular issue, another related issue might come to the surface that they cannot handle.
3. Does not want anything emailed to could accidentally be read by another person; they do not want evidence of their problem they will have to explain to someone.

No one should or will feel uncomfortable doing the homework issues I present to them. Your homework will only cover those issues and set-up statements you are comfortable with and ready for. Those clients who receive homework always feel safe with it because they know they are on solid ground and ready for what I ask them to work with between EFT sessions.

If you do not want EFT homework, none is sent to you.

EFT homework

From my 10-years EFT experience, this is why I stress the importance of homework:

1. EFT success is all about the team effort and full cooperation when we tap together. I need to know that my client is motivated enough about using EFT and their own improvement that they actually put aside time every day for his or her own self-care. When I see a pattern that homework is ignored, I must consider that it could be an example of self-sabotage or other important issues that must be addressed with EFT. When someone is not investing time and energy in their own recovery, I use this information to understand their family background, self-image, time management skills, and habit of feeling overwhelmed. All of this serves to direct our EFT sessions together.
2. It is important that each person who wishes progress and improvement becomes comfortable with the entire EFT process; they need to feel totally comfortable tapping on their own. My goal is to make each of my clients completely independent of me at some time in the future. As a person does their own EFT homework they are learning more about EFT and soon become knowledgeable and comfortable to create their own EFT set-up terminology. This empowerment should be everyone’s goal.
3. When I create an EFT homework page within minutes after the end of a session, I am made to consider all aspects of the situation more deeply. I review and evaluate what was discussed, the client’s response to particular set-up phrases, and I am open to receive those intuitive insights from which good therapy seems to arise. In this way I can extend my influence with that person well into the coming week, while at the same time give them a chance to identify additional critical issues and work through underlying blocks on their own. At the next session, any questions, problems or positive growth experiences are used as a learning experience.

Everyone I work with starts out with good intentions about doing a little EFT every day, because it makes sense to recondition the mind that way. However, it seems they forget exactly what to say or they soon drift off into managing the problems of daily living. In spite of their good intentions, EFT can be soon forgotten.

I help my clients to continue doing their EFT programs by doing something special for each one, to assure they can easily use the powerful force of repetition.

Within minutes of each telephone EFT session, I send each client a personal email in which I outline the important topics we covered during that session, as well as create a list of customized EFT setup and reminder phrases covering all important aspects we worked on. Using this personalized list of my set up and reminder phrases in their daily work, each person knows exactly what to say when they tap to “keep the ball rolling.” This makes doing daily repeat EFT easier, more accurate and more efficient. Everyone really appreciates this extra help, knowing they are continuing to reinforce what was done during their EFT sessions with me.

Not only that, but I also use a feature of my Internet Explorer computer program to resend that same email with the set up phrases two more times over the next six days after an EFT session, to remind each client to keep working on these same critical issues. People are thankful for the reminder because they know exactly what to say from each session, and it helps them get better results.

Everyone likes EFT homework

This is a service I have provided to my clients for many years. Shortly after starting to do EFT ten years ago, I learned that some people could not remember all the small but important issues and details we would uncover during an average EFT session. People also felt they could not create the same effective wording on their own, and prefer using the EFT set up phrases I would create for them during a one-on-one session. With so much to remember, many people felt overwhelmed. It became a simple and easy service to simply send an email with important details taken directly from each session.

My clients are able to relax during an EFT session with me, and participate in the discussion we are having – not even trying to remember important points for later use, or struggling to make notes about the set up phrases I create for them. They know they will receive their notes at the end of each session.

Of course, if you choose not to receive an outline of our EFT session or reminders about the list of set up phrases, I will not send any of this to you – but almost everyone looks forward to their helpful EFT homework reminders from me.