Unresolved emotional issues can contribute to anxiety during pregnancy and complications during childbirth. Users of the Emotional Freedom Technique, more commonly known as EFT, already know what a wonderful tool it is for neutralizing negative emotions and fears. EFT’s ability to relieve physical discomfort while relieving frustration and promoting healthy relaxation makes it a wonderful tool to use during pregnancy and in preparation for childbirth.
Using EFT to address job fears
If you are pregnant and feeling apprehensive about labor, simply address your feelings as you tap. To use EFT to treat the anxiety you feel when thinking about labor, repeat the following while tapping on the Karate Point: “Even though I am afraid of going into labor, I deeply and totally love and accept myself.” To help you focus while you tap on the rest of the points, repeat an abbreviated version of that same phrase, something like “This fear of going into labor.”
Getting good results
EFT generally works best when we can be as specific as possible, whenever possible. To increase our chances of getting excellent results when using EFT to help release a common issue, such as fear of childbirth, it is important that we tap on only one specific issue at a time. It is also important to continually refocus your thoughts during the natural reflection points between rounds of EFT tapping. It may be helpful to use the following four (4) techniques when identifying your problem and deciding exactly what to tap on:
1) Become aware of your body
2) Address specific events
3) Address specific aspects
4) Internal images
When we are working with a large or global problem, such as “fear of giving birth”, it is possible that we are trying to focus on too many feelings at once and that EFT has no noticeable effect. To address such a global problem, it is very important to focus on specific parts of the problem. It is generally very helpful to use the following four ways to “Get Specific” as you work through any complicated problem.
Be specific with EFT
1. Become aware of your body
Where do you feel the sensation in your body? How is he physically? How do you experience this emotion in your body? For example:
“Even though I feel fear like a void in my chest…”
“Even though I feel a lump in my throat because everyone always criticizes me…”
“Even though I feel this terrible nervousness in the pit of my stomach…”
Many times after tapping you will feel changes in the way the body holds the emotion.
The sensations may lessen, change in quality, or even move to a different place in or on your body. When emotional energy moves through the body, this is known as “chasing the pain,” and it’s a sign that you’re on the right track.
2. Specific events
Break down your problem by focusing on specific events in your life that made you feel the same way earlier in your life, either recently or when you were younger. What you believe about labor, birth, and your body’s capacity is based on events, conversations, TV shows, etc. old and specific… As you use EFT to address these specific events and memories as they come up during tapping, your beliefs about yourself and your expectations of the birthing process begin to change. By addressing specific events with EFT, you can say things like:
“Even though my mother told me that giving birth to me was the most terrible thing she had ever endured…”
“Although the woman in labor on the TV show died while giving birth…”
“Even though my doctor told me that giving birth naturally would be impossible…”
As you deal with specific events, you will probably start to feel the emotions of those times. By thoroughly tapping for all the details of the memories that feel bothersome, you will effectively erase the discomfort that comes with the larger issue you initially intended to work on. Working with specific events is highly recommended and often results in the most noticeable results. Address each detail of your specific memory with as many rounds of tapping as necessary, until your emotional intensity is 1 or 0. Address each of your feelings and each of the limiting beliefs you have taken on, with its own series of tapping rounds. . .
3. Address Specific “Aspects”
Every song we work on has many parts, many details, and many potential triggers for the uncomfortable emotion we’re feeling. Recognizing aspects and tapping very specifically for different aspects is another skill required for effective EFT. For example, if you are afraid of going into labor, you may have many aspects of that problem to tap on:
– Anticipate the pain of your contractions
– Panicking at the thought of your baby “getting stuck.”
– The fear that something unexpected could happen to you or your baby.
You can continue to uncover issues by asking, “What bothers me most about going into labor when I think about now?” Eventually, there won’t be much bothering you and the fear will go away, unless there are core issues around which the “fear of going into labor” might just be the tip of the iceberg. Many subjects carry a complicated mix of emotions. Let’s say you have tapped for your pain in a certain situation. The pain has lessened, but now you feel angry. As hidden layers of emotion emerge, these are more aspects of the problem and need to be handled separately. Looking for different aspects and then specifically targeting these aspects with tapping will go a long way toward achieving lasting results.
4. Internal images
Use an image to give more detail to your sentiment. If you are good at visualizing, imagine what fear energy looks or feels like to you, and tap on the details of that image. Images are another way of listening to our feelings. As we tap, the images often begin to change as our energy changes. After playing, ask yourself if the image has changed in any way. How he feels now? For example:
“Though this anger is like a big red ball in the pit of my stomach…”
“Even though this fear is choking me like a snake wrapped around me tightly…
“Even though I feel sadness like a drowning wave…”
Change your expectations, change your birth experience
Sit reflectively for a moment after each round of tapping and see what comes to mind. Clues to central issues or events may arise spontaneously as you work on a problem. Just follow your feelings and keep tapping until you feel your emotions become less intense.
Daily use of EFT can help you accept yourself as you change and grow in preparation for the birth without feeling fear, guilt, anger, resentment, or panic. Changing your expectations and beliefs by letting go of fear and stress will allow you to give birth comfortably. If in doubt, contact a qualified professional.