Hi everyone I know this is a frequent problem. I have been doing EFT on myself and friends for 10 months. I have Gary's DVDs and have watched them all. I look forward to and read all of the email newsletters and try new ideas, BUT apart from curing myself of hay fever (and even if I never manage to do anything else, this is amazing), I have not been able to make much headway with anything else. I get regular migraines, and have searched my memory to try to identify where they might be coming from. I got my first one when I was 16, during my GCE O level Art exam. This was the one exam I was sure I would get good marks for as I intended to go to art college, so there was no real pressure. Now if it had been physics or chemistry I could have understood it. I also can't see any obvious reason why I get them at one time rather than another. I have even tapped on 'even though I don't know why I get these migraines, I forgive myself for anything I am doing to cause them.' If anyone can help me unravel this problem, I would be very grateful.

Hi there -- I've had a long history with headaches as well - I made the most progress with them when I brought in a family history piece - this may or may not apply to you but it's worth a shot. So consider this -- what if your headache was holding an energy or a marker for someone or something in your family. So imagine you are facing your headache and that the headache really isn't your fault or your issue - you are just carrying it for the bigger family system. So as you imagine facing your headache, see what emotions and sensations come up and tap on those. If the headache were to say something to you, notice what it might say and how that feels. Tap on anything there that comes up. Then ask yourself if it feels better to bring the headache energy back into you as an incomplete or disowned part or it if feels better to keep it separate and say that you see it and honor it and are connected out of love but don't have to carry the pain. The end goal is to see the headache with love and compassion and see what part of you and/or the family system it was trying to bring attention to.

Deborah as given some great ideas so I thought I'd just throw in one other quick thought.  When I get stuck with something I sometimes find that the variant of EFT called Matrix Reimprinting helps me - it helps me to get in touch with the parts of me that need healing instead of assuming what I need to work on.  More about this here if interested: http://eftcommunity.emofree.com/forums/p/4460/25400.aspx#25400

Best wishes,

Jo

Thanks for this, Deborah. I find this all a bit difficult, so will have to work on it for a while before I know what I'm doing. Will report bacl.

Thanks, Jo. Again, this is all new to me, so I'll have to spend some time working this way to see if I can get anything. I'll report back.

Oh dear, I didn't mean to make anything difficult for you. Perhaps others will have some suggestions that might help in a different way.

If you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all, one option would be to have a few sessions with a good practitioner.  All of us find that there are places inside us that are hurting that are just a bit too much for us to get near on our own (whether we realise it's happening or not) and in those times it is good to work with someone experienced in holding a healing space for people to do their own processing in.  There are lots of great tools out there like Matrix Reimprinting, and the work that Deborah does, but sometimes it is in the connection between us and someone who hears our stories that the healing most effectively takes place.  So if you are finding it a bit much to read and learn different ways of working, I'd seriously suggest considering a session or three with a good practitioner, it can really open a lot of doors, and that applies to all of us, no matter how inexperienced or experienced we are with EFT.

One way I look at it is that there are blind spots in my psyche that no matter how hard I look I just can't see.  Working with someone else is like getting some more mirrors on the job so that the issues I need to clear are reflected in a way that I can see them. :0)

Best wishes,

Jo

Hi,

I've lost count of how many EFT sessions I've done - it's how I make my living.  Still, I have several practitioners I work and trade with.  My experience is that on our own big issues, it's MUCH more effective to work with another.  Like Jo suggests, working with a practitioner is a great gift to give yourself.  If you can't afford it, I'd suggest getting a tapping buddy.  You can find one by posting on these forums or going to www.tappingbuddies.com

PS: Deborah is one of the people I have worked with.  Her work is awesome.

With much love,

Paul

Hi,

With EFT, as you know, the more specific we can be, the better.  When I was in the UK, I worked as a massage therapist for many years, specializing in neck and shoulder conditions.  This is what I found:

• Many migraine sufferers don't have a problem that originates in the head but in the neck and shoulders.  If these are tight, a nerve could get trapped, causing a migraine.
  
• Other migraine sufferers often have a problem with the digestive system or a reaction to gluten, Aspartame, sodium benzoate, or some other substance in their food or environment.
• If there is some physical damage, there may well be a need for a regular massage, lymphatic drainage, cranio-sacral therapy, or chiropractic or osteopathic treatment in order to prevent further damage.

EFT helps to relieve the fear stuck in the neck and shoulders on the left and anger stuck on the right.  EFT also helps us either to overcome allergy-like reactions, or for example in the case of foodstuffs, make them totally abhorrent to us if we cannot for some reason find a way to tolerate them.  EFT also helps keep the pain when we need a manipulation, until we make that appointment and the commitment to attend.  This is all in my experience with clients.

I don't know if this helps, but I hope it gives you another avenue to investigate. 

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time and trouble to reply. I have got a lot to think about, particularly the possibility of contacting an EFT practitioner for help. I would prefer face to face help, but professionals are very thin on the ground in NE England, but there are one or two. Once again thanks to eeryone.

denimmaterial:

This was the one exam I was sure I would get good marks for as I intended to go to art college, so there was no real pressure.

 

Hi,

Try using slow eft on the word pressure and see where it leads you, events/memories might come up. Maybe the pressure is causing the migraines?

All the best

Noreen.

 Following on from Namaste's helpful and insightful post about using slow eft, also consider what are you getting from having migraines that you feel you couldn't get in any other way e.g. escape from other people's demands, too high expectations of yourself ("so long as I have these migraines I can't possibly be expected to perform well at work, college, as a parent etc."), expectations from other people ("so long as I have these migraines people can't expect me to be doing xyz as well").

 If you were totally free of migraines, what expectations would change of yourself, from others?

Imagine you can stand in a place of freedom from migraines - how does it feel? what is the landscape or room like? are you tense anywhere in your body? How far away from where you are now is this place? Does it feel it would be difficult to get to? Do you even know which direction it is in?

Stand up and imagine that the place you want to be where you are free of migraines is directly in front of you, just one step away. Think about taking that step. What comes up? Where do you feel it in your body?

I hope that gives you some more useful ideas.

love & blessings

Marian

Hi Noreen That's interesting that you picked up on 'pressure'. In fact, I usually get migraines once some anxiety or pressure has been relieved. I think they're called 'relief migraines'. I have a migraine at the moment - subdued by co-codamol which works very well for me - down to a dull ache now. This happened after taking a sick cat to the vets yesterday, who had been getting more and more ill over the weekend. The relief was high after the vet gave him a couple of injections and today he is almost back to normal. So I'll definitely give the slow eft a go, using 'pressure' and also 'relief'. I'll let you know if I have any success, though I won't know if it has actually affected the migraines until I haven't had one for a few weeks. Thank you Jean

Namaste:

denimmaterial:

This was the one exam I was sure I would get good marks for as I intended to go to art college, so there was no real pressure.

 

Hi,

Try using slow eft on the word pressure and see where it leads you, events/memories might come up. Maybe the pressure is causing the migraines?

All the best

Noreen.

Hi Noreen I hadn't heard about slow EFT, so I looked it up and tried it. I didn't get anywhere with 'pressure', so I tried just straight 'migraine' and although I didn't find any core issues, I did come up with a visual that seemed right. The word 'migraine' was put on the back of a big container tank containing the headache etc. on a railway line going off into the distance through a dark tunnel with a tiny point of light at the end. I push the tank and it moves away down the track through the tunnel getting darker and smaller until it reaches the light and disappears. This seems right to me. It is three weeks since I had a migraine, but this could be normal, so I don't know it it has helped, but I am going to keep on using this image and keep my fingers crossed. Thanks for the idea. Jean

That's great Jean!! Use whatever words are meaningful to you, you'll know best what they are. I love the imagery you describe. It's all about getting the results. Keep tapping and doing what you're doing ;-)

Noreen.