May be old news to some here but others may not have heard yet Gary Craig founder of EFT is to retire :

http://eftcommunity.emofree.com/blog...-retiring.aspx

Citing different reasons his health he had heart attack, how some people are promoting EFT, etc.

One can only wish him a happy retirement.

A lot of people in NLP, use EFT/TFT to give them a varied bag of tools.

The official DVD's by Gary Craig are sold out, official certification in EFT will cease very soon, and the official website emofree.com will close shortly too.

Sadly as people will be basically free to do anything with EFT after his retirement, unscrupulous and money grabbing trainers will be unleashed on the public, there are already a lot out there and they are one of the reasons for the founders retirement. As there will be no official certification, they can charge what they like to certify you. As the official DVD's will be discontinued, they can charge what they like for their DVD releases and claim they contain the full body of knowledge. There are already those out there charging a lot for certification and producing different levels so you keep paying.

TFT - Thought Field Therapy under Roger Callahan will of course continue and not connected to EFT at all, other than EFT came later and was a spin off. However TFT charges outrageous prices for official certification, hence EFT possibly being more widely used at present. Dr. Roger Callahan Thought Field Therapy Practioner Training Schedule scroll down near bottom for prices check e.g. TFT Voice Training a bargain at $100,000 for 5 days!

Meridian energy points in EFT/TFT in my opinion pure quackery unscientific and pseudoscience, but I actualy think it can work in a psychological / placebo type effect. Psychologically tapping points whilst doing other things moving eyes, humming songs, etc whilst thinking of something you want to have a change could have an effect. But tapping different points for different conditions to target specific meridian points and energy centres is highly dubious. Besides the obvious TFT & EFT have different tapping points for the same conditions and problems.

''EFT has been labeled pseudoscience in the Skeptical Inquirer, based on what the journal identifies as its lack of falsifiability, reliance on anecdotal evidence, aggressive promotion via the Internet and word of mouth.[9] Gary Craig, the originator of EFT, has argued that tapping anywhere on the body will manipulate "energy meridians". There are many pressure points used by acupuncturists not included in EFT methodology; it is suggested that tapping one such point may have incidental effects. Skeptics have asserted that such an argument renders EFT untestable by scientific method and it therefore needs to be categorized as a pseudoscience; however beneficial some may consider it.[9] EFT's successes are also thought to stem from "characteristics it shares with more traditional therapies", rather than manipulation of supposed "energy meridians" via tapping acupuncture points. There is no known anatomical or histological basis for the existence of acupuncture points or meridians.[10] Testing of the EFT hypothesis through the use of a placebo group produced the same positive changes in recipients as following the EFT's standard methodology.[3] A 2007 article in the Guardian suggested that the act of tapping parts of the body in a complicated sequence acts as a distraction, and therefore can appear to alleviate the root distress.[11]'' Emotional Freedom Technique - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


But as they say, if it can work, exactly how it works is not so important nor if you really believe in the meridian energy & spiritual nature the founders claim it works in. You can learn basic tapping sequences from youtube clips or various sites, and many in NLP just know them and have not studied further or done certification courses. For any NLP Practitioner getting a client to tap points can take 5 mins or less so worth a try, and an extra technique to add to the toolbag.

Sally, Thanks for letting the community know. I was unaware of his plans and health.

Incidentally, some studies of EFT can be found below:

EFT Research & Various Studies

with the caveat that the academic rigour will vary depending on the source.

zeitgeist wrote:

Sally, Thanks for letting the community know. I was unaware of his plans and health.

Incidentally, some studies of EFT can be found below:

EFT Research & Various Studies

with the caveat that the academic rigour will vary depending on the source.

It is indeed sad he is retiring, and leaving EFT really for people to do what they want with it. Regarding studies, I've seen studies or supposed evidence for TFT, Reiki, Shen, Reflexology, etc some looks promising on face value but in reality holding little substance and no real scientific credibility. Check Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com
''But we cannot do a randomized, double-blind controlled experiment on subtle energy being unblocked along meridians by either the insertion of needles or the tapping of fingers. This is good because nobody can do a scientific test to prove that EFT is bunk........There's one born every minute and two standing in line to take their money.''

As I mentioned before regardless of how you think it works be it meridian points and energy being released, or purely psychological or placebo effect it has helped some people, and it is widely used by NLP people. Even people like Paul Mckenna in his books and TV progs uses TFT basic tapping sequences.

Gary Craig made Tapping far more accessible to people and had a far more spiritual vision than someone like Roger Callahan whose primary focus appears to be running a business whilst making a lot of money. Gary Craig could have charged a fortune for courses, certificates, DVD's etc but he didn't and you have to respect him for that.

Without an official body or site and the founder retired who knows what the future will hold for EFT, but expect a lot of fakirs (fakers) popping up claiming they were his last private student and learnt all the secrets, people claiming they were officially certified up to the highest level, courses with many levels costing a lot, Super EFT (Advanced far beyond what the founder developed), etc. They are sadly already out there, many running EFT solely as a business and charging a lot for courses, and their vision as noted by Gary Craig to be very out of touch with his.

It is pretty much unheard of for a founder of New Age Health system to completely retire, shutdown official website & forum, discontinue official DVD's, etc; which is why it has shocked a lot of people.

It shocked me.

Your warnings are apt, for some will invariably distort the basis for EFT. Gary always underlined the spiritual in his work.

One plain english alternative potential explanation I quite liked for EFT came from here:

'The role of dissociation'

"..Dr Farouk Okhai, a consultant psychiatrist in Milton Keynes, has offered some hypotheses as to why the tapping technique might work. He suggests it might work, primarily, because it creates a dissociation between the intensity of the original experience and current emotional experience. Focusing part of the attention mechanism on the tapping disengages attention sufficiently to allow a reframe, a different perspective, to be taken concerning the trauma.."

Source: Why some techniques for treating trauma and PTSD work so fast

I'm open minded about the 'real' underlying principles of EFT - whatever they may eventually turn out to be. It helped me for certain challenges - however it works.

There's no denying Gary's generosity or positive intention. It seems he was overwhelmed in part by the demands of others. A heart attack is nature's way of telling you to slow down.

At least he is still alive. Bless him!