Guiding your clients toward Specific Events

Most clients have to be guided in this process. Otherwise, they are likely to give you "Specific
Events" that last for several hours or more. So to make sure I have an appropriate Specific Event,
I usually ask questions like these.
If this event was a movie, how long would it last? If they tell me anything more than a
few minutes, I ask them to narrow it down to a one or two minute segment that includes
the most important emotional crescendo(s) of the entire event.
How many crescendos are there in this short movie? If the movie is only a few minutes,
then there probably wont be too many crescendos. However, it is usually best to limit the
Specific Event to contain only one or two crescendos. If there are multiple crescendos
then address them one at a time, starting with the most intense one.
If this movie had a title, what would it be? This question has two purposes: (1) it gives
you a short phrase to use with The Basic Recipe and (2) it adds emphasis to the Specific
Event; a sort of punctuation point that gives it weight.

What if the client can't remember a Specific Event?
Then ask him or her to make one up. This may sound fictitious at first but, in practice, it can be
quite effective. This is because a made up event comes from within the deepest recesses of the
client and thus it can be embellished into an event that may be even more useful than a real one. I
have done this many times with great success.
Specific Events vs. Specific Emotions
Ultimately, it is the emotions that emanate from the Specific Events that interest us. These are
the causes behind the global emotional, physical and performance issues that need collapsing.
Some EFT'ers have misunderstood this and have chosen to go for Specific Emotions instead of
Specific Events. Even though this is doing it backwards, it will likely provide some results
because of the power of The Basic Recipe. Even a mis-directed arrow can still hit part of the
target. However, it will often fall short of perfection for two reasons:
The Specific Events are what cause the emotions we seek but the reverse is not true, i.e.
the emotions do not cause the Specific Events. Thus to seek for emotions without
identifying their fundamental causes (Specific Events) is an obvious EFT error. The
Specific Events are the centerpiece of quality EFT. To sidestep them leaves behind an
opportunity for deeper work.

There is no such thing as a specific emotion. We commonly use terms like fear, anger and
grief as though they were specific items but, in fact, they are only generalized labels.
Grief over the death of a loved one, for example, isn't just a form of sadness. If you look
behind it you will often find things like the fear of being alone or guilt for what the
griever did or did not do while the deceased was alive. I once sat down and made a list of
50 emotions and could easily define all of them in terms of fear e.g. handwashing OCD
can be defined as the fear of germs, guilt can be defined as the fear of being found out,
depression can be defined as the fear of being worthless ... and on it goes.
Conclusion
Being Specific is a critically important factor for in-depth success with EFT .. and ... failing to be
specific enough is BY FAR the most common mistake made by EFT practitioners. The better
you understand how The Triad of Aspects, Testing and Being Specific relate to each other, the
better will be your results. If you choose to move on to the more advanced sections of this
Tutorial, your foundation in these concepts will determine how far you can take that material
its THAT important.


Tell the StoryTechnique
One Easy Tool That Automatically Integrates
Everything You've Learned To Date

This is the workhorse technique that will likely dominate your in-depth work. The idea is very
simple. Just have the client narrate a bothersome Tell the Story TechniqueSpecific Event as
though it was a story and stop to do The Basic Recipe whenever he or she gets to emotionally
intense parts of it.
I provide some guidelines below but, in essence, that's it! Each of the stopping points in the story
represents another aspect of the issue that, on occasion, will point you to even deeper issues. This
can save you a lot of detective work and, conceptually, it is about as easy as it gets. Further...
...it automatically integrates everything you have learned
about Aspects, Testing and Being Specific.
I mean all the critical parts of EFT's in-depth work are contained within this one easy-to-use
method. The opportunities for Testing unfold naturally during the process and the element of
Being Specific is automatically included because your clients are telling their stories about
Specific Events. While Specific Events are Aspects of global issues, each event has Aspects of
it own, which are presented at each stopping point in the story. This allows you to be even more
specific without sophisticated detective work. By simply following the instructions, this tool will
allow you to cover all the bases in step-by-step fashion.
It will take some practice and you will likely stub your toe a bit before you master it. But once
you own this process you will never again rely on just The Basic Recipe.
Here are a few guidelines to enhance the process
First, choose the event: Work with the client on finding a Specific Event that, typically, lasts a
minute or two and contains at least one emotional crescendo. If you still need help finding them,
review the previous article on Specific Events.
Take the edge off: After describing the Tell the Story Technique to the client, and before
actually doing it, ask them how they feel now about the mere thought of telling the story. If they
report substantial intensity of 5 or above it is worthwhile to do a few global type rounds of The
Basic Recipe to take the edge off.
"Even though I'm nervous about telling the story....."
"Even though I'm afraid of what might happen when I tell this story...."
"Even though I don't like this whole thing....."
"Even though just starting the story gives me the jitters...."
An easy reminder phrase for any of the examples above might be this story or telling this
story.
Deliver Instructions to Client: When clients feel comfortable about starting the story (perhaps
an intensity level of 0-3), give them the instructions that follow in advance. The process may
challenge their standard belief of healing, so be sure they understand before you proceed.
A. In general, the client will recount the event from beginning to end.
B. They should start at a neutral point when there is nothing to be concerned about. An example
might be having lunch with a friend just before having a car accident. This tends to ease clients
into the experience.
C. Most importantly, they must STOP telling the story when they feel any intensity whatsoever.
D. At that point, you will use the Basic Recipe to address the elements of that intensity, and once
they are released, the client may continue the story.
Stopping is critical to the success of this procedure. Most clients are conditioned by conventional
techniques to "be courageous" and to "feel the feelings" and to "be brave and gut through it."
Thus, they are likely to go right by an important healing opportunity without telling you. Clients
need to understand that EFT is much different than conventional therapy and that...
...if they don't stop,
they have missed a healing opportunity!
Hit this one hard. Emphasize it. Raise your voice a bit to punctuate it. Insist on it. You are
looking for Aspects here and this process often brings them to the surface without your having to
dig. How perfect! Remind clients that we are looking for thoroughness and minimal pain in this
process and that they get no points for bravery.
E. You should also get permission from your client to interrupt the story yourself if you suspect
the intensity is creeping up.

Please recognize that each stopping point is an aspect of the story. So, to be specific, you
want to target only this emotional crescendo, not the entire event, with the Basic Recipe.
A. Ask for a 0-10 intensity rating on this part of the story.
B. Keeping in mind the accident example from the Finding Aspects article, design your Setup
and Reminder Phrases to target the part of this emotional crescendo that caused the intensity. For
example:
Even though she said that to me
Even though I saw that horrible thing
Even though that cop was chasing me
Even though I was really angry about that
C. Use the Basic Recipe and keep evaluating intensity before and after each round until the
intensity is down to zero.
D. Each emotional crescendo might have a few aspects of its own, so once you use the Basic
Recipe on the most obvious one, ask your client to go through that part of the story again to see
if there is still intensity. If so, repeat the step above.
E. Once the intensity has been released from that crescendo, ask your client to resume the story
and wait for another stopping point. Also, be aware that clients, while telling their stories, tend to
jump ahead to the most intense crescendo(s). They know what is coming and often access the
emotions before actually getting to that place in the story. Just treat this intensity as you would
any other stopping point.
F. Once you have tapped through all the intense moments of the story, ask the client to start from
the beginning, tell the story again, and stop for intensity. Dont be surprised if there is still more
to address ... just be as thorough as you can.
G.Repeat this process until they can tell it nonchalantly ... like it was a shopping trip. This should
collapse all or most of the aspects.
Testing Methods
You can use any of the testing methods that you learned in the previous article on Testing. If
you are successful with digging up intensity through testing, use The Basic Recipe for whatever
comes up until your client cannot get upset about the issue.
The "Tell the Story Technique" has several benefits....
1. It is easy to perform and, because the client talks a lot during the process, it often parallels
what clients consider "real therapy." Thus the perception of EFT's "weirdness" is minimized.
2. The constant communication between therapist and client provides an excellent basis for
rapport.
3. The "story" provides a built in procedure for finding aspects.
4. It allows the issue to unfold as gently as possible.
5. You can easily test at each stopping point and that allows you, and the client, to know how
you are progressing.
The following video is an example of the the Tell the Story Technique on an actual event. As
you will notice, this event contains two crescendos, each with multiple aspects. Most of the
early tapping rounds address the anticipation of the upcoming first crescendo. In this case, the
goal is simply take the edge off until we get to the actual crescendo, so we aren't concerned with
bringing those intensities all the way to zero. Once we get to each of the actual crescendos, we
are able to address individual aspects and bring the intensity down to zero.
Can you identify the two crescendos and what aspects were addressed for each of them?








Personal Peace Procedure
A Universally Useful Tool For Everyone

Now that we have a complete understanding of Specific Events and the Tell the Story Technique,
let's put them to work immediately with The Personal Peace Procedure, a universally useful tool
for everyone.
In essence, the Personal Peace Procedure involves making a list of every bothersome Specific
Event in one's life and systematically EFT'ing their impacts Personal Peaceout of existence. By
diligently doing this we can knock all the Table Legs out from under all of those Tabletops and
thus eliminate major causes of our emotional and physical ailments. This, of course, propels each
individual toward personal peace which, in turn, contributes mightily toward world peace.
The Personal Peace Procedure isn't just a way to "feel a little more peaceful." Properly
understood, this technique should be a healing centerpiece for every person on earth. Every
physician, therapist, spiritual counselor and personal performance coach in the world should be
using it as a leading tool for helping others (and themselves).
The method is simple:
1. Make a list of every bothersome Specific Event you can remember. If you don't find at least
50 you are either going at this half-heartedly or you have been living on some other planet. Many
people will find hundreds.
2. While making your list you may find that some events don't seem to cause you any current
discomfort. That's OK. List them anyway. The mere fact that you remember them suggests a
need for resolution.
3. Give each Specific Event a title as though it was a mini-movie and rate the intensity from 0-
10. Use the same criteria for your event as you would for Tell the Story (a few minutes or less, at
least one crescendo, beginning, end, etc) Examples: Dad hit me in the kitchen-I stole Suzie's
sandwich-I almost slipped and fell into the Grand Canyon-My third grade class ridiculed me
when I gave that speech-Mom locked me in a closet for 2 days-Mrs. Adams told me I was stupid.
4. When the list is complete, pick out the most intense events and use the Tell the Story
Technique on each one until you either laugh about it or "can't think about it any more." Be sure
to notice any aspects that may come up and keep after each event until all aspects are resolved.
If you cannot get a 0-10 intensity level on a particular movie then assume you are repressing it
and apply 10 full rounds of EFT on it from every angle you can think of. This gives you a high
possibility for resolving it.
After the most intense events have been neutralized, cross them off the list and look for the next
most intense ones.
5. Do at least one Specific Event per day ... preferably three ... for 3 months. It only takes
minutes per day. At this rate you will have resolved 90 to 270 specific events in 3 months. Then
notice how your body feels better. Note, too, how your "threshold for getting upset" is much
lower. Note how your relationships are better and how many of your therapy type issues just
don't seem to be there any more. Revisit some of those Specific Events and notice how those
previously intense incidences have faded into nothingness. Note any improvements in your blood
pressure, pulse and breathing ability.
Consciously notice these things because, unless you do, the quality healing you will have
undergone will seem so subtle that you may not notice it. You may even dismiss it saying, "Oh
well, it was never much of a problem anyway." This happens repeatedly with EFT, and it's worth
noting.
In fact, before you begin your Personal Peace Procedure, it would be a good idea to make a list
of anything that bothers you, like traffic, someone at work, a habit of your spouses, insomnia,
grief, muscle tension, or any physical pain and rate the intensity of each one from 0-10. Then go
back and re-evaluate each item at regular intervals during the process. Chances are you will be
resolving issues you never expected, and this will make it easier for you to see your progress.
6. If you are taking medications, you may feel the need to discontinue them. Please do so ONLY
under a qualified physicians advice.
This simple concept could shift the entire healing field and, if adopted by every healing
practitioner and patient, would likely (1) dramatically increase our healing rates while (2)
precipitously dropping our costs.
Please note that this idea completely ignores chemical causes such as those propounded by the
medical model. That's because EFT often produces improvements in clients where drugs and
other chemical solutions have failed. This is not to say, however, that drugs, proper nutrition and
the like don't have their place. Indeed they do. They can often be vital. In my experience,
however, our unresolved Specific Events are often nearer the foundational cause for illness than
anything else. Thus they deserve our high level attention..
Qualified EFT'ers are well aware of EFT's ability to cleanly wipe the negative Specific Events
off of our mental walls. This is the area wherein our highest success ratios appear. To date,
however, we have focused our efforts on those negative Specific Events that underlie a given
ailment such as a phobia, headache or traumatic incident. This is good ... very good ... and we
should continue doing so. On the other hand, why not use EFT on ALL the other specific events
that are behind our more generalized (but VERY important) issues such as (to name a few)....
Self-image
Anxiety
Depression
Persistent insomnia
Addictions
Compulsions
Feelings of abandonment
As you eliminate the emotional baggage from your specific events you will, of course, have less
and less internal conflict for your system to deal with. Less internal conflict translates into a
higher level of personal peace and less emotional and physical suffering. For many, this
procedure will likely result in the complete cessation of lifelong issues that other methods have
not touched. How's that for peace in a paragraph?
The same applies to physical ailments as well. I'm talking here about everything from headaches,
breathing difficulties and digestive disorders to AIDS, MS and Cancer. It is becoming more
widely accepted that our physical maladies are caused (or contributed to) by unresolved angers,
traumas, guilt, grief and the like. Until now, however, there hasn't been an effective way to
eliminate these health bandits. We can mask them with drugs, of course, but true cures have been
hard to find. Fortunately, EFT now provides elegant tools that will aid the serious health
practitioner in eliminating the root causes of disease. Always consult qualified physicians
regarding your use of EFT for physical issues.
The Personal Peace Procedure here is NOT a substitute for quality EFT training nor is it a
substitute for quality help from a skillful EFT practitioner or qualified physician. Rather, it is a
tool that, properly applied, is capable of wide ranging relief (quality training or quality assistance
will add to its effectiveness). Its simplicity and far reaching effectiveness give it candidacy as a
mandatory method for anyone seeking help for even the most difficult of problems.
It may be used:
1. As "homework" between sessions with a physician or therapist. This is certain to accelerate
and deepen the healing process.
2. As a daily procedure to clear out a lifetime of accumulated emotional debris. This will
enhance self-image, reduce self-doubt and provide a profound sense of freedom.
3. As a means to eliminate a major contributor (if not the sole cause) of a serious disease.
Somewhere within one's specific events are those angers, fears and traumas that are manifesting
as disease. By addressing them all, you will likely cover those responsible for the disease.
Always consult qualified physicians regarding your use of EFT for physical issues.
4. As a useful substitute for finding core issues. If you neutralize all the specific issues you will
have automatically included core issues.
5. As a means for consistent relaxation.
6. To become an example to others as to what is possible.
A few minutes per day with the Personal Peace Procedure will make a monumental difference in
school performance, relationships, health and our quality of life. We hope it becomes a
worldwide routine.


Avoiding Confusion
I said in the Introduction that My Biggest Teaching Mistake was to create the environment for
"EFT variations" to flourish. While the theory was laudable at the time, the endless versions
available online has resulted in confusion. While I respect the enthusiasm behind these efforts, I
owe it to you and the EFT Community to put them in perspective. Your proper EFT education
depends on it.
Many of these variations reflect the creativity of individual practitioners and serve as useful
options while others overlook important EFT concepts and will either limit your success or
divert you away from Official EFT. I suggest you consider them only after learning Official
EFT properly. That way you can put them in proper perspective. In the following bullet list I
hope to draw your attention to the most common types of variations that will take you away
from Official EFT and into what I would consider to be entirely different tapping methods.
Tap along videos: These online videos are intended for a very large audience and, by necessity,
use global approaches. These global approaches are not the kind we teach in this Tutorial (to
take the edge off of an individual issue or event). Rather, they are global only in that they
assume that hundreds of people would theoretically benefit from the same setup language.
This is like assuming the same pair of pants would fit everyone from infants to 300 pound
football players. Thus these short video bursts would be the opposite of Being Specific, and no
significant attention can be paid to Aspects or quality Testing. As far as I have seen, these are
most often examples of how NOT to do Official EFT.

The Official EFT alternative is our Borrowing Benefits videos wherein you tap along to full
sessions that include full instructions, specific approaches, Aspects, Testing and the like.
Doing EFT "faster" and "simpler": These methods usually sound enticing but are often too
good to be true. After all, who wouldnt want to do anything faster and simpler? Unfortunately,
these promotions always leave out essential ingredients like Aspects, Testing, Specific Events
and numerous other concepts that provide the true power of Official EFT. To eliminate any of
them would compromise quality so much that the time savings becomes irrelevant. It may
actually make the process longer as you go back and clean up the aspects left behind.
Tapping scripts: These are collections of pre-written EFT setup language that are intended to
address common issues for an unlimited number of people. This seems like a good idea until
you realize that these phrases will never apply to the Specific Events behind each individuals
issue. We now know that even though many people can have the same issue, each one will
have their own unique set of experiences behind it. Tackling those individual experiences is
where we find the lasting results. Tapping scripts rob you of this in-depth approach and tend to
keep you on the surface of the issue. See The Pros and Perils of EFT/Tapping Scripts.
Bundling issues together: The idea here is to combine several related issues and tap on all of
them together. Theoretically, this allows you to collapse all such items simultaneously and thus
save time. This approach encourages being more global rather than more specific with your
tapping rounds, and ignores the power of the Generalization Effect. As a result, it is the exact
opposite of Official EFT.
Positive Phrases: One variation to EFT, that began with the Choices method, is to add positive
affirmations to the setup and reminder phrases. While this is often a lot of fun and can show
some short term, feel good results, it is not part of the original instruction and does not
produce the same benefits as finding Specific Events and addressing them methodically. The
setup and reminder language is designed to acknowledge the problem and stay tuned in, so the
use of positive affirmations would be in conflict with that goal and dilute potential results with
EFT.
While these are the most common types of variations that fall outside the Official EFT
boundaries, you are likely to encounter plenty of others. Just see if you can find within them any
in-depth discussion of Specific Events, Testing, Aspects, or Being Specific, and if you dont
find them, you can be sure you have found a variation that is not consistent with Official EFT.
There are also resources from my original website, emofree.com, that are now outdated and may
cause confusion if they continue to be circulated online. Examples are:
Written case histories: In my previous large website, emofree.com, I displayed around 2,000
case histories written by EFT'ers. You will find most of them showcased on the internet. There
were some spectacular results included and the authors gave abbreviated accounts of their EFT
sessions. Their main purpose, however, was to display the versatility of EFT but, unfortunately,
many people erroneously used these as "how to" articles.

These case histories were published during the earlier years when I thought it made sense to
encourage people to experiment with EFT and before I had completed the best of my own
refinements to the process. As a result these case studies illustrate a wide variety of variations
that may erroneously appear to carry my endorsement.

Students of this Tutorial will recognize that, while some of these articles were of high quality,
most of them used global approaches and contained next to nothing in the way of testing the
results outside of the basic 0-10 ratings. The impressive outcomes achieved were largely from
the fact that even surface uses of EFT can sometimes produce jaw-dropping results. This is the
"Grand EFT Illusion" discussed earlier in this Tutorial. These reports did not, however, include
the numerous people who tried various versions of this "Surface EFT" and went nowhere.
These people didn't submit any articles for publication and thus the good ones that were
reported represented a skewed view of the reality.
The EFT Mini-Manual: This booklet is offered free on a large website as an enticement for
people to sign up for a newsletter and subsequently do business with that website. It contains
a "how to do EFT" chapter that I wrote years ago and is now outdated.
I mean no offense to anyone here. Remember, the fault for all this is mine. I just wanted to give
you a realistic look at what my mistake has fostered and how that may warp your
understanding. While there has been some good work too, it has been dwarfed by these endless
offerings. Also, I don't know what exposure you have had to these variations or to what degree
you have bought into some of them. Just be aware that to move forward properly in your EFT
education, you may need to unlearn some things.
It is mega-important that you understand the difference between the Official EFT displayed in
this Tutorial and the variations that have evolved. That's why I repeat below what I said in the
introduction.
Since 1995 I have been reviewing these creations and found some of them to be quite clever.
But I didn't find any of them to consistently improve on our prolific video demonstrations or to
be "new levels" or anything like that. If I had, I would have used them myself and readily added
them to the EFT process. Rather, I found many of them to be useful options for delivering EFT.
Students may find them helpful and I encourage such investigation after you have learned
Official EFT properly. Otherwise, you will be going at it backwards ... something like studying
a book's appendix without first reading the book.

Note to those promoting variations: In the future, it is my hope (request) that the EFT'ers who
created these options will promote them with the pride they believe they deserve and will
separate them from the Official EFT described herein. Thus please avoid confusing the
public by not mixing your creation with either EFT or Official EFT. Instead, apply or promote
Official EFT as described in this Tutorial but, as a courtesy to the EFT Community, consider
portraying your option independently and calling it by some name other than EFT. This is an
ethical request (not a legal one) so to be clear, please avoid using EFT anywhere in the name of
your option, e.g. do not use XXXXEFT or EFTXXXX. Instead call it something like JET
(John's Energy Therapy) or LUH (Larry's Unique Healing) or Pro ER (Pro Emotional Release)
or Clinical EP (Clinical Energy Psychology).

This will maintain the integrity of EFT and portray you as someone who respects the EFT
Community. It will also allow Official EFT to stand alone, without distortion, while leaving all
other possibilities open to you and others. Finally, people who call themselves EFT Experts,
EFT Masters, EFT Advisors and the like are urged to upgrade their skills to reflect this Tutorial.
Otherwise, these EFT standards will be diluted for everyone.