Emotional Freedom Technique and other modalities that use acupuncture points

Deepest Health reader Jason left a comment on the last podcast post that got me thinking. He said,

“Something that I’ve found helpful is Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) which is a real simple method of locking onto an emotional disturbance and neutralizing or at least diminishing its “charge” by tapping certain acupressure points. It works even better when combined with affirmations.”

My partner, Amanda, has done a little research into EFT and I know some folks at school who have used it to get over a variety of minor psychological difficulties such as insomnia and social anxiety. I know that it makes use of acu-points. There are other modalities of bodywork and energywork that make use of the channels and associated points along those channels, but that are not directly associated with the East Asian medical lineages that we normally associate with “Chinese medicine.”

I have to admit that I have traditionally regarded these modalities with some standoffishness. This is my nature being inherently conservative and a lover of all things ancient. The closer to the source, the better, I say. But, some have pointed out that these theories are universal and should not be attached to any particular era or people. I can see the wisdom in that stance. It does not eradicate my essential worry about systems that use the points and channels, yet mostly ignore the thousands of years of understanding that have developed the simple recognition of energy pathways into a complex system of theories that can elegantly rectify any imbalance in the human being.

I’d be interested to hear readers’ take on this - do you have experience with any of these systems of healing? What were your results? How do you feel that they fit under the umbrella of “Chinese medicine” or, at least, “East Asian medicine?” Leave your responses in the comments, providing URLs of relevant sites if possible. I look forward to hearing from all of you.

Eric

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August 27, 2008 · Filed Under Theory