developed by: Gary Craig
The Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) works by tapping on specific acupuncture meridian points on the body to release energy blockages that cause negative emotions, based on the belief that these negative emotions can contribute to disease processes in the body. Gary Craig developed the original technique, intending it to treat trauma and anxiety. Practitioners have been applying it to many other conditions with success, including chemical sensitivity and food allergies. One practitioner, Natalie Hill, has created a tapping script specifically for chemical sensitivity. She shares:
Here is a tapping script you can use to help calm your sensitivity to chemicals. There is always a mind body connection to everything and it can be very helpful to clear your fear and expectation related to getting sick from chemicals or being chemically sensitive.
I’ve also made a Tap With Me audio recording for chemical sensitivity. You can listen and tap along.
Growing Up Method
In this tapping script, I’ll be using the Growing Up Method, which goes from Dumping (venting your worst thoughts and feelings) to Dreaming (Making “what if…” statements to plant positive possibilities into your mind) and Deciding (choosing resourceful, confident thoughts).
See this short video for a tapping points refresher.
And here’s the EFT manual, if you want some more thorough instruction.
Dumping Round
Set Up
Even though I know that my body, is specially sensitive to chemicals. I deeply and completely love and accept every bit of me.
Even though I have so much evidence that my body in particular, is hurt and damaged by chemicals in the air, in the water, in the food. I love and accept myself just the way I am.
Even though most of my life I have had negative reactions to chemicals, and so I’ve gotten scared of smoke, and of chemical smells, and of perfumes. I love and accept myself just the way I am.
Tapping
Eyebrow Point: My body is very sensitive to chemicals.
Side of Eye: I have a sensitive body.
Under Eye: I have to be careful and avoid being around chemicals.
Under Nose: My body reacts really badly to chemicals.
Under Chin: I react to cleaning solutions.
Collarbone: to smoke,
Under Arm: to chemicals in the air,
Top of Head: to exhaust fumes.
Eyebrow Point: to perfumes,
Side of Eye: to pesticides,
Under Eye: to food additives,
Under Nose: to petrochemicals.
Under Chin: My body reacts to all kinds of chemicals.
Collarbone: They’re bad for me.
Under Arm: They make me sick.
Top of Head: I can’t live and be healthy in this world, so surrounded by chemicals.
Take a deep breath.
Dreaming Round
Set Up
Even though I am firmly convinced that my body is harmed by all these chemicals, and I am way more sensitive than most people, wouldn’t it be amazing if my body could be strong and process and eliminate chemicals easily?
Even though I’ve been sick and weakened so many times by chemicals, and I’m convinced that it’s just the way I am, what if my body could change?
Even though it’s hard for me to imagine that there could be another way for my sensitive constitution to be, what if I could be open to a new possibility?
Tapping
Eyebrow Point: I have a very sensitive body.
Side of Eye: I have a really sensitive constitution.
Under Eye: I’m very sensitive to chemicals.
Under Nose: That’s just the way I am.
Under Chin: That’s what I’ll always be.
Collarbone: I think I am born that way.
Under Arm: At least I’ve been that way as long as I can remember.
Top of Head: And I just can’t imagine there could be any change in that.
Eyebrow Point: But what if there could be?
Side of Eye: What if I could be stronger?
Under Eye: What if my liver could easily and safely process and eliminate any chemicals that come my way.
Under Nose: What if my lungs could easily and safely process and eliminate any chemicals that they come in contact with?
Under Chin: What if my skin could easily and safely process and eliminate any chemicals that get on it?
Collarbone: What if my whole body could just easily and safely process and eliminate any chemicals that it comes in contact with?
Under Arm: What if my sensitive body could become a resistant, resilient, healthy, strong, robust body?
Top of Head: What if I really could change and feel myself capable of living in the world of chemicals.
Take a deep breath and pay particular attention to anything that came up from you in the last couple of rounds of tapping.
If you had any strong emotional response or any big “yes, buts”, internal rebuttals about anything that we said in the tapping, go ahead and stop the audio and take a little side trip and tap on that specifically.
And if especially there are memories or events that came up for you, stop and tap on those. Because oftentimes, chemical sensitivities have their inception at a specific moment in time when a disturbing event happened in your life. Your mind-body system associated the food, the smell, the sights in the environment with trauma. That’s the way a trauma can be the beginning of a sensitivity.
If you have any memories of when you first became sensitive or a trauma that may have been associated with chemicals, that’s a really good thing to tap on.
Deciding Round
Set Up
Even though there’s still a part of me that believes that I have to be sensitive, there’s also a part of me that believes that I can become stronger and more resilient, and I’m supporting that part of me.
Even though there’s a part of me that holding on to that belief, that I’m very sensitive, I’m open to the possibility that by changing my beliefs, my body can change too.
Even though there still a part of me that doubts tapping can make any difference, I choose to go forward with positive expectation.
Tapping
Eyebrow Point: I give every cell in my body permission to easily and safely process and eliminate chemicals that come their way.
Side of Eye: I give my blood and lymph permission to easily and safely process and eliminate chemicals that come their way.
Under Eye: I so appreciate the way my lungs easily and safely process and eliminate any chemicals that I come in contact with.
Under Nose: I give my skin full permission to easily and safely process and eliminate any chemicals that come upon it.
Under Chin: I give my muscles, tendons and ligaments full permission to easily and safely process and eliminate any chemicals that come their way.
Collarbone: I give my muscles and my fat full permission to easily process and eliminate, in a healthy and safe way, any chemicals that come their way.
Under Arm: I give all my organs, my heart, my lungs, my intestines, my liver, my gallbladder, my spleen, my kidneys, my adrenals and all my glands, my brain, my eyes, my sexual organs – I give all my organs and glands full permission to easily process and eliminate in a healthy and safe way all chemicals that come their way.
Top of Head: I give my bones, my connective tissue, all my body fluids, my nervous system and every other body part full permission to easily process and eliminate in a healthy and safe way any chemicals that come their way. And I give such gratitude for these things happening inside me now.
Take a deep breath.
Tapping Round 2
Eyebrow Point: My body is strong.
Side of Eye: My body knows how to easily and safely process and eliminate chemicals.
Under Eye: My body has systems that know how to this.
Under Nose: I can trust my body.
Under Chin: I give my body full permission to be healthy and robust.
Collarbone: I choose to be healthly and robust.
Under Arm: I choose to feel safe, even in the world of chemicals.
Top of Head: I have decided that I can be safe and still live in this world that has many chemicals and many many healthy things in it too.
Take a deep breath.
source: EFT Tapping Techniques
see also: EFT for MCS by Lisa Snow (private coach) | Frances Goodall (private coach)
This is a great into to tapping. Roger Callahan’s technique has helped people around the world, and it’s great to see tapping therapy expand.
Thanks for this.
I have used EFT (the Gary Craig version) to calm my own sugar craving, and have helped a friend stop an addiction to sodas with it as well. So I know it is a positive and effective technique. However, all these affirmations for MCS don’t feel right to me. They feel like a version of “blame the victim,” which has no place in any discussion or treatment of MCS. If MCS was all in our heads, as uneducated physicians keep telling us and as these affirmations suggest, then we’d be dealing with something entirely different. Craig’s EFT Manual shows clearly how to do the basic sequence using a simple set-up that features a realistic affirmation of self-worth despite having the problem one is tapping about. Nothing more. Keeping it simple and focused is the most effective way to go.
Hi Stevde,
I know several people with MCS who have shared how much EFT has helped them with reactions, myself included. What’s more, there is no cost involved and it does not require toxic exposures to access, like it would if I tried to go to a doctor’s office for treatment. Why make such a sweeping statement as it “has no place in any discussion or treatment of MCS” when it is one of the more accessible tools people with MCS can access during a reaction? If it doesn’t work for you, don’t do it. But why judge something that is helping others?
I can’t seem to be able to connect with audio recording for MCS.
I assume you can do this in a Doctor’s office or in a grocery store to help reduce reactions?