Faster EFT/Eutaptics (Faster Emotionally Focused Transformations) is a cross-disciplinary therapy system utilising the same meridian tapping principles as Thought Field Therapy and EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques). It also incorporates elements of NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming), hypnosis, Ho’oponopono (Hawaiian healing technique) and traditional psychology. Meridian tapping is best understood as “acupressure for the mind”. Similarly, to acupressure and acupuncture, it works by utilising the energy meridians of the body and is based on principles 4,000 years old.

If asked to describe Faster EFT/Eutaptics in one sentence, I would say that it is about unlearning bad or negative behaviours or beliefs and replacing these with positive and appropriate ones. Often my clients tell me they find themselves “acting in ways” that they “hate” and want to escape this.

The fundamental approach of EFT and Faster EFT/Eutaptics is very similar to the principles of Chinese and Ayurvedic Medicine. These look to the effectiveness of energy flows in the body and the working of “meridians” or “Chakras” (specific energy junction and flow points) as the key to both health and disease. Einstein said all life forms are made up of energy and this is reflected in recent discoveries that sub atomic “particles” that are not so much “particles” as structures of energy. This fundamental principle and the flow of this energy through the human body is what Faster EFT/Eutaptics is based on.

The Amygdala of the brain is the body’s early warning system to detect and respond to danger. If I inadvertently walk out onto the road in front of a truck do I need to stop and think to get out of the way in a hurry? Of course not, the amygdala determines the danger, based on past experience, floods the body with adrenaline, and redirects the blood supply to the extremities of the body (arms and legs) in preparation for flight, fight or freeze. It is this process that is responsible for much of our modern day stress. In ancient times this process kept us safe, however, in modern times this early warning system can be falsely triggered by perceived threats that do not represent a real danger. Events, such as the way someone looks at me, the tone of someone’s voice, finding myself overwhelmed in a confined space, distress at the sight of a snake or spider, are all examples of how our bodies may react to stress inappropriately.

In re-living a stressful event, the mind works in a similar fashion. The amygdala floods the body with adrenaline at the time that the stressful event occurs (this is called hyper-arousal of the amygdala), which prevents the hippocampus from filing that event into our longer term memory. Whenever we recall the stressful event, the amygdala acts as if the event is occurring again, right now, causing us to respond in the same way as if the event were occurring in the present moment.

Tapping on the meridian points, in conjunction with other Faster EFT/Eutaptics techniques, has the effect of calming, or pacifying, the amygdala thus reducing the adrenaline levels which inhibit the ability of the hippocampus to relegate the event to long term memory. Once the memory is appropriately filed by the hippocampus it can be recalled without the distress associated with the original event.

Faster EFT/Eutaptics uses the same tapping techniques common to most of the meridian tapping modalities including Thought Field Therapy and EFT but adds a range of other techniques to this. EFT is perfectly effective and I relied on it in my practice for many years before graduating to Faster EFT/Eutaptics. If one had to point to a key difference, it would be to say that the wider tool set of Faster EFT/Eutaptics, and the understanding of how the mind works, means issues are resolved more speedily and are less likely to resurface.

What distinguishes Faster EFT/Eutaptics from conventional psychology is its ability to resolve a wider range of issues much faster than conventional psychology, because it works differently and more directly on the problem. Issues like a well-established phobia, where we know the causal event can often be resolved in a single 2-hour consultation.

Many other issues can be completely or substantially resolved in two to three 2-hour consultations. The variables here are the depth and duration of the problem, the client’s objectives and the individual’s personal characteristics.

Faster EFT/Eutaptics works with an understanding of how the mind works. The brain learns how to perform tasks efficiently which includes how we manage our problems. For example, if you are a driver of a car you will have had the experience of arriving at your destination without remembering the journey. In the same way if you have had a distressing event occur, for example, an accident when driving a car, the mind, in its attempt to keep you safe in the future, will remember the distressing event and how it did, or could have, kept you safe in similar circumstances. The mind’s strategies to do this may include making you overly cautious or anxious when driving. Phobias and fears are often created in this way and are frequently learned behaviours.

It is with this understanding that Faster EFT/Eutaptics focuses on specific patterns that the mind has created to keep us safe, but which are no longer appropriate. A behaviour that kept us safe at 2 years of age is usually no longer appropriate when we are 22 or 32 years of age.

When you were a child you came into the world without any ideas about yourself or anything else, like a new computer with no software installed. Each new experience was like a program or app that contributed to the view you have of yourself and the world. Many were good (how to love, care, trust etc) and were appropriate and necessary at that time. These programs lie deep in your subconscious mind and form an all powerful default system of how you deal with the world. Unfortunately, some were negative (to hide emotion, not to trust, to lie, to be violent), creating a distorted view of reality that is inappropriate and destructive now you are older.

This distorted view of reality can entrench a whole range of negative beliefs, “I am a failure” “I am not worthy of love” “When I trust, I lose” “Nothing turns out right for me” “I will never be financially successful” are some examples. These negative programs appear to block healthy energy flows in your body and cause damage, from limiting your potential or making you anxious, to making you accident prone or even seriously ill.

Over time, these negative programs can alter or block healthy beliefs and behaviours which can negatively impact your health and wellbeing in the same way that scar tissue stops circulation of the blood (and hence the healing) of an injured area.

Scarily each time they are used, these negative systems become stronger and more entrenched and become more resistant to replacement with healthy beliefs, which is, in part, what traditional psychology aims to do.

This brings us to the difference between traditional psychology and Faster EFT/Eutaptics. Traditional psychology attempts to chase down and replace negative beliefs with positive ones. Obviously, this has helped many people. However, deeply held negative beliefs can be evasive and strongly resistant to discovery and replacement. For this reason, psychology and conventional counselling are, almost invariably, a slow, and as a result, relatively expensive process.

This begs the question, how do we know we have a problem? Is it not in how we feel? If our world is good we feel good, if our world is not going well we don’t feel good.

In this way Faster EFT/Eutaptics approaches our difficulties, by how we feel rather than what we necessarily think. When we think of a problem and remove the negative feeling from it, the problem simply disappears.

While it is remarkable that such a simple treatment can bring such dramatic results, the results are there. The actual consultation involves the practitioner gently tapping on key points, called meridians, which is neither invasive nor painful.