EFT, Inner Theater and Guilt

This is a guest article by EFT practitioner Pat Burns who lives in Tallahassee, Florida. You can find out more about Pat's work on her lovely website and blog.

Inner Theater combines the power of EFT with inner visualization. With Inner Theater, a client creates a safe place in their mind/imagination --- an inner sanctuary of sorts in which they have total control. Nobody can enter that sanctuary without their permission, and nothing can happen in that space that they don't wish to have happen.

Clients are encouraged to give their imagination free reign, and to "go with the flow", and not try to analyze what happens as this imagery plays out. If a client can trust in the process, they will find EFT and Inner Theater to be powerful tools for change and healing.

Inner Theater is not only tremendously powerful when combined with tapping -- it also allows clients to approach highly emotionally charged issues with far less fear and anxiety than with more traditional methods.

Once I learned the Inner Theater technique I found that it was useful when doing tapping on my own issues, particularly those with a high emotional charge. One such issue was the guilt that I felt about what kind of mother I had been. A part of me felt that I had let my daughter down, and that was difficult to deal with.

I started by focusing on how that guilt looked and felt to me. I got a mental picture of myself lying on a bed of nails. Each nail represented a time when I had let my daughter down, and with any little movement that I made, the nails pierced me. My intensity on this issue was a 10. I started tapping.

“Even though I have this guilt about my mothering that looks and feels like a prickly bed of nails, I’m ready to start letting go of that guilt, and I deeply and completely love and accept myself”.

“Even though this mothering guilt is really painful, I’m open to the possibility that I can let go of the guilt AND the pain and feel better about myself, and I deeply and completely love and accept myself”.

I used reminder statements such as:

· “I love my daughter so much and I let her down”

· “I did the best that I could, but it wasn’t good enough”

· “I wasn’t the mother that my daughter needed”

· “It’s time to start letting go of this guilt”

· “I’m open to the possibility that maybe I wasn’t such a bad mom”

· “I did the best I could, and that’s all anyone can do”

· “Breathing out that guilt with every breath I take”

I could physically feel the guilt level dropping. My muscles started to relax. I tapped a bit more.

“Even though I’ve released a lot of my guilt, I’ve still got more that I’m holding onto, and I’m ready to bring some healing to this, and I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and I hold myself in kindness and compassion”.

· “Letting go of the guilt”

· “Feeling better and better about myself”

· “Breathing out guilt, breathing in peace”

· “Transforming the last of the guilt into a healing energy”

I estimated my emotional charge at this point to be about a 5. I checked back in to see whether there was any change in that bed of nails, and right before my eyes, the nails transformed into blades of soft grass, gently cushioning me.

Next I pictured myself standing face to face with my daughter. I expressed my remorse, and apologized to her for all of my shortcoming as a mother. Her immediate response was that she was lucky to have me for a mom. This was something that she had actually said to me.

A loving feeling filled me, and the tears flowed freely. I felt a great release of emotion, and my body somehow felt lighter.

Now I said aloud to myself “I was a bad mother” to see how it felt. The statement no longer felt true, and the emotional charge was down to zero.

This tapping session was transformational for me, and I felt a deeper, more profound connection with my daughter as a result.

By using Inner Theater and EFT together, you too can experience the combined power of the two. Open your mind, free your imagination, and find out what EFT and Inner Theater can do for you.