Learn EFT By Home Study
FAQS (Frequently Asked Questions)
The questions you always wanted to ask about EFT but never dared
revised February 2012
Can you really
learn EFT by distance learning?
How long does the
practitioner course take?
What is the role of the EFT
tutor?
I am confused about EFT qualifications. Why are there so many
different ones?
Why do you offer both Certificate and Diploma qualifications at Meridian
Tapping Advanced level?
Is EFT some strange religion?
What does the EFT "Peace"
logo mean?
I have heard about EFT Masters. Who are they? How do I become one?
What are the other
"Energy Therapies"?
How are affirmations
used as part of EFT?
Is it "Technique" or
"Techniques"?
Can you really learn EFT by distance learning?
Yes! Home learning is the way that most people have first learned how to use EFT, for example from a downloaded manual or a video. There are whole websites dedicated to learning EFT by yourself.
Our Practitioner programme will show and tell you how to do EFT, with lots of explanations. The software includes on-screen text, spoken word and video. You will also get a PDF transcript and set of MP3s, so you can study anywhere and you will have the next best thing possible to a workshop experience. Various supplementary materials including a tapping chart and a fully illustrated pocket EFT handbook will be provided.
You will also learn to apply EFT for yourself so you can start right away doing tapping on your own issues whilst learning how to work with others.
Even if you have never taken a distance learning course before, the EFT1 & 2 Practitioner course is designed to be accessible and enjoyable.
Distance learning is now an established way of learning many helping arts. Many colleges teach counselling, NLP, hypnotherapy, Reiki and other complementary therapies by home study. Gary Craig's own EFT Cert-1 qualification was offered solely by distance learning. And we have heard that even TFT (Thought Field Therapy)®, the more complex meridian therapy developed by Dr Roger Callahan on which EFT is based, is now being taught by distance learning - at several times the price of our multi-course EFT/Meridian Therapy offer. Several distance learning establishments in the UK alone already offer some type of course in meridian therapies, and we are proud to join them.
Carol Dodsley, author of the multimedia materials we use, says: "Many EFT practitioners work by telephone and Skype with clients all over the world – incredibly successfully, if you can work virtually using EFT with success, then you can learn EFT virtually with success too."
Ensure your distance learning is tutor supported so you will get help if you need it.
As in other disciplines, there are people who are supportive of distance learning and those who are not. There are advantages and disadvantages of both routes. Funnily enough, more and more providers of "live" therapy trainings are using them to produce DVDs of their trainings - creating a distance learning experience which is richer than the original training itself, because as you view the content again you will notice more subtleties and become more proficient. The power and immediacy of the distance learning multimedia experience is undeniable, and you won't miss a useful point or a key tip because of a momentary distraction or lapse in concentration. Need to review the course 3 times? 10 times? No problem.
Even most of those who say that one-to-one tuition is essential produce manuals, audios and other materials intended for EFT self-study! If they believe in their own materials, it is hard to see how they cannot believe that EFT can be taught and certified by distance learning. This site is dedicated to home study of EFT and also to the use of EFT to dispel limiting beliefs!
How long does the practitioner course take?
An EFT Level One or Level Two course taught in a classroom setting usually takes one or two weekends. Some trainers combine both levels in one weekend.
Therefore, it should be possible to study and prepare for the distance learning EFT level 1 and 2 exams in a few days. In practice, you may want more revision and repetition of the CD-ROM lessons if you are starting as a complete beginner, and it is advisable to leave a gap between each level to get some practice. If you need to acquire your qualifications quickly, your tutor will need to be confident that your understanding of the techniques is excellent. If you have already been learning EFT informally and using it on yourself and perhaps your family, you will find it easy to complete the courses quickly.
At the moment there is no formal time limit for completion of each level (1 & 2), as long as you complete Level 2 within a year. If you are given free tuition for the advanced certificate/diploma, see he conditions of the offer for when it expires.
What is the role of the EFT tutor?
If you take our distance learning course, your EFT tutor's role is to help you if you are stuck, if you have any questions, if you need anything explained, or if you need any tips about particular applications of EFT that you would like to try for yourself or for others, or about what to do when an EFT intervention does not go as expected. As well as his qualifications and experience, your tutor has access to an extensive professional library of EFT and related materials, including much no longer generally available. If you wish to study entirely on your own and never need any help, that is wonderful. If you do need help, it is there for you. Tutor contact will normally be by email though if your tutor feels it is necessary, a telephone call may be arranged. Your tutor is also responsible for ensuring that you are properly prepared for the exams.
I am confused about EFT qualifications. Why are there so many different ones?
Originally there were no EFT qualifications. Gary Craig, the founder of EFT, did not offer qualifications or official training, but spread EFT through his work, his website and DVDs. Eventually several EFT certifications sprang up using different letters - EFT1, EFT2 (also known as EFT Practitioner), and others. These were independently launched by trainers because people wanted certification. There was also another examination scheme leading to the certifications of EFT-CC and EFT-ADV. That scheme closed in 2008. A very limited number of people underwent extensive training with Gary and were given the title of EFT Master. There are only 29 original EFT Masters, also known as founding masters.
Eventually, Gary launched an upgraded certification which was only available by distance learning. It was called the EFT Cert-I and could be achieved by studying sets of Gary's DVDs and passing an exam. A higher level, EFT-CertHons, also based on DVDs and an exam, was also available. Due to Gary's retirement, those qualifications, in the original form, are no longer offered and the training DVDs are now out of stock but they can be rented from the www.EFTUniverse.com site.
A new series of "official" Cert-I and Cert-II exams is available via the www.EFTUniverse.com site. However these require you to take the three live Level 1, 2 and 3 workshops first, so that route is not entirely by distance learning. This site (www.EFTHomeStudy.com) offers an alternative for those who find it more convenient and affordable to obtain their EFT-related certificates by home study. This site is not affiliated to www.EFTUniverse.com
A number of practitioner organisations arose and developed their own qualification schemes. Some of these use the EFT Level 1, 2 and 3 designations, and some used other designations such as forms of Meridian Tapping Therapy and Energy Psychology.
Each of Gary's DVD sets came with the right for the original purchaser to copy up to 100 copies and give them away free (not to sell them or use them for business purposes). This was part of Gary's plan to spread EFT. However, copying the entire series involved many, many hours of work on the average home computer so in fact, very few people duplicated the DVDs due to the huge time commitment. Has anyone actually made 100 copies, we wonder?
At one stage, before his retirement, Gary requested that people should no longer use EFT1, EFT2, and similar designations as they did not have his approval. EFT-CC and EFT-ADV were also regarded to be out of date. However, especially in the United Kingdom, it seems that not much notice was taken of that advice and EFT1 & 2 trainings continued to be offered. In the USA, Gary's request had a different result - some people started to use the term Meridian Tapping (and similar terms) instead and websites were set up using such terms. Qualifications in forms of Meridian Tapping were offered. Meridian Tapping continues to be a popular term alongside EFT.
EFT is part of a group of therapies known as "energy therapies". Psychologists have called the study of those therapies "Energy Psychology". In the UK, a discipline called "Meridian Psychotherapy" has evolved, including EFT and additional knowledge. These and other branches of energy therapies offer their own qualifications. There are various trademarked names for different meridian tapping techniques, some of them offered as special trainings in their own right.
If you choose our distance learning path to EFT study, you will get a comprehensive grounding in a variety of additional meridian-tapping and related methods as you progress through our courses.
Even though Gary's DVDs are fast becoming scarce, you can supplement your learning by studying many of the DVDs, audio programmes and books produced by the EFT Masters who are keen to share their knowledge and expertise. There are also some excellent publications by other EFT practitioners or trainers.
Why do you offer both Certificate and Diploma qualifications at Meridian Tapping Advanced level?
Our Level 3 qualification will also be inscribed with the word "Certificate" or "Diploma". You can choose whether you want to call it a Certificate or Diploma and we will issue the certificate as you wish!
We do this because of cultural differences on either side of the Atlantic concerning the relative status of "Certificate" and "Diploma". As an international distance learning school, we attract students world-wide. UK students overwhelmingly regard a Diploma as better and higher than a Certificate. American and Canadian students overwhelmingly regard a Certificate as more prestigious and desirable than a mere Diploma! In truth there is no set standard placing one above the other - there is just cultural diversity. But it means that if we offer a Diploma, we will get fewer American students - if we get any at all. If we offer a Certificate, we will lose out to certain competitors who may be offering Diplomas in the UK that are probably not as good as ours! It is said that you cannot please everyone, but when it comes to our distance Advanced Meridian Tapping qualification, pleasing people on both sides of the Atlantic is exactly what we want to do! If you move from a country favouring one style to a country favouring the other - or work internationally - we will even supply a reworded certificate for a small fee.
This question arises because some critics of newer therapies and personal growth systems have likened some of them to new religions. Such a comparison would be false in the case of EFT.
EFT is a system of self-help and a complementary therapy. The basic steps of EFT can be learned free from many available publications or videos. You decide when and on what to use EFT. You need never attend an EFT workshop or have a one-to-one EFT session with anyone. EFT does not have any specific spiritual beliefs though naturally, individual EFT practitioners will have their own beliefs like all other human beings. EFT does not make any decisions for us about how to run our lives or what to think. EFT does not demand any financial contributions, has no leader and no hierarchy, though like any skill it has levels of expertise. Gary Craig is admired as the founder of and inspiration for EFT, who devised most of the techniques in current use, but he in turn based his work on Dr Roger Callahan's Thought Field Therapy™.
EFT practitioners may be agnostic, members of the major religious faiths such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism or Sikhism, hold New Age beliefs, be monotheistic, polytheistic or pagan, belong to any other faith or have their own independent spiritual views. Ministers of any faith can learn EFT and use it as part of their pastoral work. Medical doctors, nurses, counsellors, psychotherapists and coaches and in fact anybody from any walk of life can learn it and use it too.
EFT does not have religious ceremonies, initiation ceremonies or attunements of any kind. It does not have any scriptures. There are no special symbols. You do not have to express allegiance to any person, spiritual being or higher power. EFT is not a religion.
The "freedom" part of EFT means exactly what it says - freedom to live your own life. EFT practitioners are free to develop their own interpretations of EFT, and to blend it with other therapeutic approaches. Some people prefer not to use the term EFT at all but instead use Meridian Tapping, Energy Psychology or other terms.
EFT practitioners, as professionals, respect the spiritual beliefs of their clients. The only beliefs EFT practitioners are interested in helping people change are the negative thoughts about oneself such as the belief that "I cannot succeed", "I am bad", "I will never be good enough", "People do not like me", or whatever self-defeating thoughts people have as a result of their upbringing or experiences.
In some US states the practice of anything that seems like "talking therapy" is tightly controlled, and even people licensed in one state cannot legally offer treatment in other states! People who travel a lot or who don't have the right education to get a licence to practice as a counsellor, psychotherapist, etc. can sometimes use a loophole that involves them becoming ordained as a minister in order to use their techniques to help people, as then what they do is regarded as part of a ministry and exempt from licensing. That does not mean that the techniques they use are religious ones. For example, if a minister practices counselling, it does not mean that the counselling itself is religious in nature.
EFT is part of a wider school of thought called "energy medicine" that concerns work with energy pathways in and around the human body that are still regarded by science as controversial. There are various theories about these energies - some from more scientific viewpoints and some from more spiritual ones. There are even debates about whether these energy pathways even exist, or whether some process as yet unidentified is responsible for the healing effects.
Individual interpretations of EFT are blended with different methods and views. Many complementary practitioners have holistic and/or spiritual outlooks. Apart from Gary Craig's original works on EFT, other writers make it clear that any additions or interpretations are their own. EFT is a growing system and, as such, will reflect a variety of different ideas as each trainer, speaker or writer adds unique applications and techniques.
You may come across blends of EFT and other techniques, including some spiritual techniques. These are developments or styles of individual practitioners and not part of the core EFT method. Experienced practitioners who are complementary therapists will tend to use other disciplines too in order to benefit the client as much as possible. Any sincere practitioner will be willing to discuss with the client exactly what his/her treatments involve.
What does the EFT "Peace" logo mean?
Gary Craig's original EFT logo uses the symbol of the dove carrying an olive branch. That symbol is widely used - as is a dove alone - to symbolise peace, and is very ancient. The dove and olive branch occur in the book of Genesis and thus have been meaningful symbols since Biblical times. The ancient Greeks regarded the olive branch as a peace symbol because the olive was sacred to the goddess Athena. The dove as a symbol of peace has passed into international secular culture - one modern interpretation was an Italian peace flag featuring a dove drawn by Picasso. EFT, through allowing us to work through issues that have upset us all our lives, promotes peace, tolerance, love and balance.
The ancient Greeks also interpreted the vision of a bird in flight to symbolise a spiritual experience. EFT does not use the symbol in that way though that interpretation may be meaningful to some users of EFT. Let the symbol mean whatever positive qualities it can convey to you.
Variations of the dove peace symbol have been used by many independent EFT and meridian tapping websites and practitioners, including the round symbol in our site which was obtained from www.clipart.com
"Peace" represents being at peace with oneself through the healing of conflicts, self-doubt, self-critical thoughts and so on. Self-acceptance is a key to peace because if we truly accept ourselves, warts and all, we will stop projecting the aspects of us that we don't like onto other people out there who we perceive as different from us. There will be less prejudice. There is a technique known as the "Personal Peace Procedure" in EFT, which consists of developing a programme of using EFT daily, working through memories or issues in your life that you would like to heal.
Although the word "peace" is frequently uttered by politicians, often in the same breath as "world" or "talks" or "process", EFT is not political. People of all political opinions, and all nationalities, can learn and use EFT. EFT can and is being used for trauma relief and healing in crisis regions of the world. It is bringing people together in online communities and perhaps it is being more successful in promoting peace than politicians are. If there were a Nobel Prize for Inner Peace, Gary Craig would deserve it.
I have heard about EFT Masters. Who are they? How do I become one?
There are 29 original EFT Masters who have been recognised as such by Gary Craig, the founder of EFT, as having the highest standard of EFT knowledge, expertise and skill, and who have passed a special examination devised by Gary Craig. There is a website with their profiles at www.eftmastersworldwide.com
Due to Gary's retirement, there will be no more EFT Masters trained directly under Gary's programme. Those who hold that designation will be recognised as the top trainers and practitioners of EFT and their workshops, books, DVDs and other presentations will continue to be in great demand.
Nevertheless, there is much more demand for EFT than ever, and many different trainings are available by more recently qualified experts, plus an ever-increasing array of books and multimedia material for those who want to increase their learning at home.
Those who have EFT training, and even Gary Craig's "official" EFT Cert-I qualification, still look for further qualifications, and various certificates and diplomas exist.
In December 2010, we heard that AAMET, the leading meridian therapy practitioner organisation regulating classroom-based EFT courses, was planning to introduce an EFT Master training at some point in the future. That training will only be accessible to those trained under AAMET-approved routes (i.e. not distance learning).
Since then, independent EFT training providers, outside AAMET, have been offering EFT "Master" qualifications - the designation "Master" for a career-grade EFT qualification is entering the public domain just as the name "Emotional Freedom Techniques" itself has done and just as there is no control over who can issue Master qualifications in Reiki or NLP.
We already have the title "Master" in use in various complementary therapy fields, for example, Master Hypnotist (or Hypnotherapist), Master Practitioner of NLP, Reiki Master and Master Practitioner of Law of Attraction. It simply signifies someone who has completed an advanced level of training and who has achieved professional competence.
Following the initiative of others who were brave enough to break the "monopoly" of EFT Mastership designation, we are now offering the opportunity to become a Master Practitioner of EFT through a Grandfathering route, in association with the Institute for Meridian Psychotherapy. Please see our further study page.
What are the other "Energy Therapies"?
There is no single definition of energy therapy, since science has yet to discover the full range of energies that are hard to detect by scientific means but which are believed to act on or in the body. There is also debate about whether certain therapies are really energy therapies at all. Also, some therapies led to offshoots that have assumed other names. Apart from traditional acupuncture which uses needles, the non-invasive energy therapies include EFT, Thought Field Therapy®, Chi Gong, Meridian Tapping, Meridian Psychotherapy, Touch for Health™, Applied Kinesiology™, Be Set Free Fast™, Tapas Acupressure Technique™, Reiki, Emotrance™ and Energy Psychology. Some people class the eye movement desensitization therapies as energy therapies. Any form of hands-on or distant healing could also be called an energy therapy.
How are affirmations used as part of EFT?
Affirmations in EFT are not simply repeated like "positive affirmations". People who are used to positive affirmation practices will find EFT quite different because it allows negative self-statements - in order to defuse them - and does not try to hide or cover up our negative thoughts.
Negative thinking can be related to what EFT calls "psychological reversal" which is a state in which energy therapies are less effective. Therefore EFT includes a special affirmation of self-acceptance to counteract the negative thought that relates to the problem. In EFT, a negative thought can be expressed in a grammatically positive way, such as "I have this sad feeling". The EFT affirmation formula to start work on the sad feeling would be: "Even though I have this sad feeling, I deeply and completely love and accept myself". (This can be said in other ways if that exact form is uncomfortable). After stating this formula while tapping on a meridian spot, the person taps on further points while holding the "sad feeling" in consciousness. Similar tapping is done with issues that emerge that connect to the "sad feeling".
Affirmations can also be used in a permissive form such as "I choose to..." "It's OK for me to..." "I am able to..." etc. in certain places in the EFT session. Standard positive affirmations can also be incorporated into EFT, though it is best to work with a practitioner who also does affirmation work to help you use affirmations in ways that work best with EFT, and that don't get in the way of clearing the issues that need to be cleared. Otherwise standard affirmations can just be a way of avoiding getting the best out of EFT.
Suppose you want more confidence. Instead of saying "I am confident", in EFT you might start with using the following phrase whilst tapping specific points: "Even though I'm not confident when I (insert event), I deeply and completely love and accept myself". If you want to work with specific positive affirmations, an EFT practitioner can help you "translate" them into EFT exercises and then work with the most important ones to clear the negative self-beliefs and other issues that get in the way of fulfilling that affirmation.
Gary Craig has covered the topic of affirmations in depth in his "Palace of Possibilities" e-book available from www.EFTUniverse.com Dr Patricia Carrington introduced positive "choices" statements into EFT as part of her Choices Method which arose from her dissatisfaction with standard affirmation work (see the "EFT Choices Manual", available at www.MasteringEFT.com )
Morris Berg, the owner of this site and your distance EFT tutor, has devoted several years' study to the psychology of affirmations. During that time he became interested in EFT and acquired various EFT qualifications. He intends to write a special course on affirmations and energy tapping which will introduce a range of new techniques and a totally new way of integrating EFT and affirmation work.
Is it "Technique" or "Techniques"?
Is the correct phrase "Emotional Freedom Technique" or "Emotional Freedom Techniques"?
Gary Craig, the originator of EFT, called his method "Emotional Freedom Techniques" (using the plural "s"). Most writers and trainers use the plural phrase. However, you will occasionally come across a writer, practitioner or trainer referring to "Emotional Freedom Technique" and we have even seen some training products marketed under that name. Although we prefer to adhere to the original and authentic "Emotional Freedom Techniques" name, it seems that the singular version ("Emotional Freedom Technique") is becoming an acceptable variation within the community of EFT users.
This page revised February 2012
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Disclaimer: The content of this page has not been approved by Gary Craig and the information provided is our own interpretation.
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