Tuesday, April 11, 2017

highly successful Optimal EFT practice group

Judy Whitcraft gives the details of her highly successful Optimal EFT practice group

Hi Everyone,

Gratitude to Judy for this meticulous display of 
the inner workings of this joint group.  She 
includes the Structure, Agreements and some of 
the results.

e-hugs, Gary.
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Hi Gary,
Here are the notes from what I talked about today on the webinar #21 about how four of us organized a successful Optimal EFT practice group that is still meeting weekly after four months. Although there is no one leader, we all take turns being leader, and we all take pride and professionalism in that. We have 3 members that are in attendance every week, and another that comes when her schedule allows it. Three of us are long time EFT practitioners, and the fourth is a retired RN.  

There are two areas we put in place that I think made our group a success.

1. Structure planned ahead of time and followed each week.
2. Agreements respecting the time and effort all of us are putting in. 

The Structure was in place through planning before the first session . This structure was discussed and agreed upon. We tweaked as needed.

Structure
Meet once a week same day and time. 
We meet for an hour and a half, and can go over a few min when necessary to close.
Facilitator is aware when it is her week to lead. Rotating schedule.
Each week, each of us had a turn being the practitioner and a turn at being the client.
Whoever was the practitioner, was the next turn to be a client. 
This was so the client never had to readjust quickly to become the one in charge and had time to come back to balance.
When there were 3 of us, each member gets 20 minutes.  When there were 4 of us, each member gets 15 min. 
Facilitator keeps a timer. When it goes off, we finish within a minute and move on to next person.
Another member would be in charge of timing the 2 minute sections. 
The last few weeks we experimented with doing 5 min, meditative Unseen Therapist segments which most of us liked.  I sent out a reminder the day before

Agreements
Some of these agreements were never talked about and agreed upon, but they were done automatically, respectfully done by most of our members.
Some definitely WERE talked about and agreed upon as we learned as we went along.  (and we do know that human being things can happen that we can allow) on time.

Prepared for an issue to work with on the call.
No chit chat about “how our day is going”, just get to work.
Focused only on the call, no multitasking.
In a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed, no background noise.
Turn off phones, turn off email.
Understand we may not completely clear an issue in the time allotted.
  
Complete confidentiality of what is shared in our sessions (and again, we do know that human being things can happen that we can forgive)
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A few Manifestations /Results by our members 
Shoulder arthritis pain coming down from a constant 8 to a constant 1 or 2 and being able to sleep through.

Releasing the feeling of “Dad always criticized me”, and being able to interact with others in a new way.

Surrogate work on grown children’s careers resulting in both of them landing jobs they love. (Had to do release work on MOM, our group member too).

Finding the root cause of waking up with anxiety every morning, leading to action to easily change the situation, with anxiety immediately released.

*For me --- My EFT weekly Skype swap partner told me that I am doing something different in our sessions…she said that although I have always been great, the recent sessions have been even more powerful. She asked what I was doing different. I replied “Optimal EFT. It is the only thing I have been doing different.” And to be clear…I had not been doing Optimal EFT in our sessions. I believe it is that the work I have done on myself using Optimal EFT has given me a deeper connection to bring that Unseen Therapist Energy into the sessions I do with clients, which has always been my intention.  Another EFT friend that I did a session with a few weeks ago said the same thing.

It helps when we all realize manifesting our desires is a process. The Unseen Therapist sees things from a broader perspective and brings what we desire when it is the best time. We are in charge of getting our negative emotions out of the way so it CAN come in. We are not in charge of when/how/where. For me, Optimal EFT is about the spiritual aspect and trusting in that Power and deepening my consciousness.

I know our group feels there is power by joining together.
Hope this gives people ideas to make a group successful in THEIR own way.

Respectfully, Judy Whitcraft

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Arthritic shoulder pain subsides and loving flashes occur as a result of an Optimal EFT practice group.

Hi Everyone,

Here is a down-to-earth experience from Sue Wilson.  She says, "In the second flash, I had an overwhelming feeling of love.  In amazement, the thought came to me "how can you not love everything?" I tested it by thinking of someone I was having issues with and the love didn't change. I was at complete peace and in awe of the world and life. The peaceful energy running through me was unlike anything I had ever felt and I was filled with gratitude."

e-hugs, Gary.

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Blessings Gary,

I found your program about the time of your first webinar. Since then I have continued learning about EFT. I belong to an Optimal EFT practice group with Judy W., Kathilyn S., & Elaine N. I have also participated in Sheryl and Howard's group. I have also been doing sessions with Judy.

I have osteoarthritis in most of my joints ... knee replacement etc. My left shoulder had pain rated at 8-9. i would wake several times during the night with pain and had limited movement for over a year.  I used a beginner's tapping form of EFT and got only temporary relief.  After using Optimal EFT, however, my pain is for the most part gone, with occasional minor flare ups at about a 2-3.

More importantly, I had two experiences or flashes.

In one I clearly saw what pain was..I could see it as sort of a dark smoke or cloud separate from me and it all made sense.  [GC COMMENT:  Difficult to know what this means but, to me, it suggests that pains or discomforts are not really of the body.  Rather, they are "out there" and only seem to be part of the body.  Along these lines, A Course In Miracles maintains that all body pains, as well as body pleasures, are illusions ... part of the dream we have created.]

In the second flash, I had an overwhelming feeling of love.  In amazement, the thought came to me "how can you not love everything?" I tested it by thinking of someone I was having issues with and the love didn't change. I was at complete peace and in awe of the world and life. The peaceful energy running through me was unlike anything I had ever felt and I was filled with gratitude. This only lasted a few minutes.  Interestingly, it was some time after that experience that my shoulder pain subsided.  Not sure if there is a direct connection but thought I would mention it.

So far, I have not made any progress on the fatigue that I had spoken to you about, but I am hopeful.

I don't especially get deep when doing Optimal EFT and, like so many others, sometimes my mind wanders. I also have a hard time generating the love that I think makes it so effective, but sometimes I can feel The Unseen Therapist entering our sessions and I feel I bring valuable insights to the group through her. When I had the above loving "flash" I was generating a loving state at the time.

Peace and continued Love are my wishes for you as you do this valuable work.


Sue Wilson

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Bianca von Heiroth from France gives details on the many benefits of her Optimal EFT Group

Hi Everyone,

Those involved in Optimal EFT Groups may appreciate some of the details Bianca gives us with her successful gatherings.

e-Hugs, Gary.
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Dear Gary

Regarding our Optimal EFT Groups....

So far we have had 19 sessions of 2 hours, 34 sessions will complete the study that ends in mid December.

The group comprises 12 participants, all seasoned tappers. It is, of course,free.

A few didn't catch on at once.  They had a more "wait and see" attitude, so I had to put in extra sessions so everybody had a chance to participate in a more important number of sessions...

Before I had done a similar, but smaller experiment, on EFT with animals, also on Skype. It appears that everybody's intuition and confidence in EFT was enhanced. It was thrilling and I learned a lot.

The "old bunch" of animal experimenters caught on at once booking all the session they could, and the newbies very quickly afterwards. Everybody is on time and everybody shows up. Cool.

We begin with 2 rounds of Optimal EFT including us all. The 2nd is preceded by a round of tapping on the "blocks to true peace". We end the session with a round of Optimal EFT with the intention to be be "all one".

I am a bit overwhelmed by all the material because I chose, again this time, to participate on the same level as the others by minimizing as far as possible any lead from my part. I mean, my own experience is also very strong. Because I participate myself, and I am not an Optimal EFT old timer, and it is free, I have chosen to "play" with my students. This is of course a limit that I hope to cross in some time.

I think my own classical tapping has taken a leap forward thanks to Optimal EFT. All the others say they feel more and more fluidity. At the end of the experiment I will ask them to fill in a kind of questionnaire.

Apart from occasional technical difficulties with Skype, the only problem I have met so far is to ask a few participants to refocus on The Unseen Therapist, and not call upon "magic", wisdom, shamanistic or oriental. I am not against other spiritual approaches, but for this experiment I want to stay as close as possible to Optimal EFT and also to A Course In Miracles (ACIM) that I am studying.

Love and gratitude,


Bianca

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Liz Hart gives the details of her successful Optimal EFT practice group

Hi Everyone,

Many Optimal EFT practice groups are underway and, from them, many solid results have been reported.  Liz Hart leads one of them and shares the ins and outs so that others may learn from them.

e-hugs, Gary
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Hi Gary,

Following our discussion a few weeks ago, I have formed an Optimal EFT practice group in New Zealand. How we do it is we have a group of about 5 people who meet in person and another group of about 5 who Skype in from around the country to join us. We also have a practitioner in Australia who is keen to join us too. Usually we have 6-8 together at any one meeting. 

We meet weekly for 90 minutes on a regular basis, and for now everyone is very familiar with EFT.  We did also make an agreement that we would watch and keep up to date with your webinars so we could use the latest information without anyone having to catch the others up using valuable practice time. 

This number of participants seems to work well and I think if more were interested it would be better to have several smaller groups working together to keep it personal and to speed the discussion process. The groups could meet at the same time in different locations and link as groups via skype and include each other in the healing circle. 

We've used various exercises, and last session we used the expanding love exercise which was very much liked by the group. What we did was have the group spend a couple of minutes expanding their love towards a loved one, and then pause to share the limit we had noticed in ourself. I would ask some questions sometimes to help them find more specificity around that limit. Then the group would take a few minutes at the same time to do some individual tapping on their own limit. 

We repeated this exercise a number or times noticing and tapping through boundaries. Everyone noticed a progression through their limits and a development in their ability to expand love further and further towards their chosen target. We finished with the exercise where we formed a circle and invited in our Guard at the Gate and loved ones and spread the love out to include everyone. 

Regarding the expanding our love to someone exercise (from webinar 10), I have been playing with doing that exercise with myself as the recipient of my expanding love only with the target of myself at younger ages. This has of course brought up unhealed issues and specific events with myself which are perfect targets for healing and as I understand it target directly the Guard at the Gate. I'm going to propose we try that as a group tonight and see how others find the exercise and will report on our experiences. 

Love and best wished to the Optimal EFT family.


Liz Hart NZ

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9 suggestions from Christine Blanchet for entering the state of Love
September 21, 2015 posted by Gary Craig.

Hi Everyone,

Christine starts her article with, "If I have understood correctly, one of the most important parts of Optimal EFT is to get into a state of love and compassion in order to allow the Unseen Therapist to do her job. Also, the more one is in a state of love and compassion (non separateness) the more the Unseen Therapist can do her work."

e-hugs, Gary
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(from Christine Blanchet
Hi Gary,

If I have understood correctly, one of the most important parts of Optimal EFT is to get into a state of love and compassion in order to allow the Unseen Therapist to do her job. Also, the more one is in a state of love and compassion (non separateness) the more the Unseen Therapist can do her work.

However, I find that getting into this state isn't always very easy. But when I heard you talking about the daily exercises you did with A Course in Miracles I decided to put together the following suggestions in order to help people to practice this state:

1) Practice radiating love without aiming at anyone in particular. Just imagine radiating love and observe the feelings it gives you. Pay attention especially to the physical sensations that accompany this exercise. 

I find that this exercise, and especially focusing on the body sensations, allows it to become more easily a second nature as the body has a greater memory than the brain.

2) Feel love for someone who is easy for you to feel love for and practice expanding that loving feeling. 

3) Feel love for a loved one and once expanded, switch to someone who pushes your buttons or with whom you feel a resistance to sending love. As soon as any resistance appears, go back to the loved one and start the process over. Keep switching back and forth until you can do it without resistance. 

4) Feel love for a loved one and imagine it expanding like a bubble, and then and touching a person who pushes your buttons and slowly including them until they get completely absorbed into the bubble. 

5) Go step by step: start with someone easy for you to love and then gradually move on to people who irritate you more and more (for example, you could start with your child, and then move on to your spouse, your friend, your boss, etc).

6) Choose a "hard-to-love" person and imagine them as a small child. This child is at an age where it is still innocent and untainted by the hardships of life. Imagine the child receiving the love. Imagine what the child is feeling (physically and emotionally) when receiving the love. Practice seeing the essence of the small child and then expanding it. 

I sometimes ask my clients to imagine that person the day it experienced the form of trauma that caused them to be the way they are today. I ask them to imagine the event that has left the child hurt and traumatised, and then to send compassion and comfort to it. 

This exercise has proven to be very effective for clients who say, "I could never forgive or send compassion to them".

7) Imagine looking at yourself as a small, sweet, innocent child. Feel love and compassion for that child, see its essence and expand it. Again, imagine what it feels like for the child to receive the love and compassion you are radiating out to them. 

I find this is often a good way around resistances (the Guard at the Gate) because there is an illusion of separateness (you are looking at the child as another person, yet as you are sending love to that child you are really sending it to yourself). Imagining receiving the love and the feeling it gives you allows you to go another step further because there's no point in sending yourself love if you don't allow yourself to receive it. 

I also often ask my clients to imagine the child feeling relief upon receiving this love. The reason for this is that I once heard Esther Hicks (Abraham) say that the feeling of relief is the same as when one is connected to Source. 

8) When shopping or at a restaurant etc., pick out random people and imagine radiating love to them. 

9) Before going out (to a social gathering, shopping etc.) imagine radiating love in a general way, to everyone present. Continue doing so when you get there and observe the interactions that occur. (I've had some very interesting outcomes with this one!) 

It would be interesting if others could contribute their suggestions and experiences too! 

Big hugs,


Christine Blanchet

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Is this group still active? If so, do you have room for new members (such as myself)? Thank you, Norma

Unknown said...

Is there room for me.