Why EFT Works

[Enlightenment]

Hi Fellow Readers/Writers,

I have a couple ideas on how EFT works. If the author and developer of EFT explains this fully then, perhaps mine is just theory but here it goes:

During my undergrad studies I was studying Renaissance Italian art. I read a few old articles by older (male) scholars that suggested some pretty silly things about why the baby Jesus was painted with his hands on his mother's breast. Sorry men, but there was this one scholar who suggested it was a sexual thing. Well, I had to argue that theory down because it was just so narrow-minded, mind-in-the-gutter sort of rubbish that one would expect from the Freudian era.

My research, as well as my experience as a nursing mother, directed me to the hypothesis that it was that baby Jesus was, in fact, patting Mary's collar bone area and upper breast (such as in EFT), a common thing that infants do as this releases a hormone called oxytocin which, in turn is realeased into the milk for the baby to suckle. Scientists have also found that this hormone is quite prevelant in women, especially nursing mothers, and women in labour. The hormone is also believed to help with the bond between mother and child. I think the artist who painted the picture was a father, and since in those days nursing was more common than not, then he probably was acquainted with the mother/newborn bond which was displayed this way.

Another interesting study showed that children who were breastfed suffered significantly less depression later on in life than their bottlefed counterparts. This could be due to better brain development, as well as, having the opportunity to 'learn' the calm state during breastfeeding as a result of the bonding process that oxytocin causes.

Anyway, EFT is probably the closest to this releasing of feel-good chemicals that I can think of. The release of these chemicals could serve as a natural way to feel much better about your immediate situation and to calm your mood and tense feelings. Who you're bonding with is a question to be answered later perhaps, but one interesting note, mothers experience let-down or the release of milk whilst their babies are crying even miles away. Could there be more to it than just biology?

This is my theory on how EFT works. Any comments?

[frogcat]

hmph, much as I've personally gotten some benefits from EFT, I suspect your hypothesis sounds overly simplistic.

The nice thing about the scientific method is that rather than judging hypotheses on how they sound, all one needs to do is test them out...

I remember reading an article about that rapid eye desensitization method for dealing with traumatic events, and they mentioned a theory that it simulates the natural left-right-left-right rhythm of walking, and that as a survival trait, being able to have traumatic events fade in intensity would help humanity survive in the olden days

[Enlightenment]

In other words, walk it off!

[moviestar]

I would disagree that this is how EFT works. But I think you're on it with the hormonal thing. I think this is a better explanation on how chakras work. It is a well known fact that the 7 chakras are related to certain glands producing hormons in your body. Baby Jesus tapping on her mothers colar bone might instead be tapping on the heart chakra. Also many portrays of Jesus show him touching his heart and beaming light from it.
Of course there are more areas producing hormons and EFT might be the link to suggest where those other areas might be located. Any ideas?

[Enlightenment]

I'm not too familiar with the glandular system nor the chakra system per se, however, some other connections come to mind.

If your endocrine (sp?) system is off, this affects everything, including your insulin levels as well as your hormones. If those are off, obviously you will feel differently, probably worse -- maybe even depressed.

John Gray has suggested that every morning, to clear out the lymph nodes and what not that clog up at night and to have general feeling of well being, you shake around and do a couple breathing exercises. This is all in line with the other practices.

I cannot remember who it was, but another expert suggested a more complicated tapping technique than Jack Canfield's, the technique covered all the major glands of the body, including the area of the pituatary gland ( or third eye), the area of the lymph nodes, and the heart and stomach.

With the baby Jesus, as well as other spiritual persons such as, say, St Jerome, having light emanating from their hands and heads, apparently it has been shown by modern science that these areas give off more energy than others.

So we have this similarity among ancient and so called modern medicine that is uncanny. I wonder how long we are going to 'research' in order to 'discover' what the ancients have known all along?!

[Groundless]

I am happy it actually works.

It has been a useful tool on my journey.