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Chapter 14
February 7, 2007
Stop Smoking with EFT
Three weeks ago, I quit smoking and it was so incredibly easy; I have to share with you how
I did it. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to quit, and it still worked!
Like every smoker, I’ve quit before. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve tried to
quit in the last thirty years. It was always so hard to not smoke when I wanted to so badly.
My head ached, my hands shook, and I was angry and hateful to my family and friends. I
never could figure out what to do with my hands, instead of smoking and what to fill that
time and space with.
I succeeded a few times – for a while – but I don’t think the craving ever truly went away.
Even during the time I was a non smoker for 5 years, at parties I would have to borrow a few,
even though I’d hate myself after. There was a need in me that nothing else satisfied.
I don’t think I’m alone in this respect. Every smoker and former smoker I’ve ever talked to
shared the same types of experiences. I typed “Stop Smoking” into the search feature at
www.google.com and found 1,690,000 articles in 14 seconds.
I think I’d heard of all, and tried many of, those techniques and philosophies to no avail.
Obviously, if I had will power, I wouldn’t be smoking in the first place and wouldn’t need
to invoke it to quit. And if it was all a physical craving, those patches should have
helped, but they didn’t.
Several of my dear friends sent me information about Emotional Freedom Techniques by Gary
Craig, when I was looking for help for a different problem one of my clients was having.
I went to the newcomer page at the World Center for EFT website and read more about this
amazing technique.
Gary says, “EFT is based on a new discovery that has provided thousands with relief from
pain, diseases and emotional issues. Simply stated, it is an emotional version of acupuncture
except needles aren't necessary. Instead, you stimulate well established energy meridian
points on your body by tapping on them with your fingertips. The process is easy to memorize
and is portable so you can do it anywhere.”
His discovery statement is, "The cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the
body's energy system." And because our physical pains and diseases are so obviously connected
with our emotions the following statement has also proven to be true... "Our unresolved
negative emotions are major contributors to most physical pains and diseases."
“Once you have seen how well EFT clears out emotional debris, your next step is to notice
how physical ailments start to fade. Headaches, back pains and other discomforts tend to
improve or vanish. Your vision may become clearer and everyday stress takes less of a toll
on your system,” says Gary.
And, “Accordingly, you can use it for just about everything. That is one of the most
astonishing things about it. You use the same basic procedure for your fear of public
speaking as you do for improving your golf score. You can also use it for everything from
the common cold to cancer. Further, we have had success with nearly every emotional issue
on the books...including fear, trauma, depression, grief and schizophrenia. That is why
you can consider it the missing link in your pursuit of health and happiness. Once you
truly recognize the Universal nature of EFT you will eagerly join our growing throng of
enthusiasts. There is nothing like it, anywhere.”
Well, all of that sounded very intriguing and I wanted to learn more. He gives away his
basic technique in a free downloadable e-book. Yes, I said free! I downloaded and printed
out the 79 page book and read it through. The technique really is simple. It’s a matter
of identifying what makes you feel uncomfortable and tapping it away while accepting
yourself. Hmmm…
While pondering how to use this new technique I discovered that another friend, Chip Engelmann,
owner of the Vitamin Connection Store, was trained in EFT and does a seminar called
“Stop Smoking with EFT”. That seemed like a perfect opportunity to learn about EFT and how
it works so off I went to his next one, dragging my friend, Lil, along.
We had NO idea what we were getting into, but of course that never stopped us before, so we
were prepared for an adventure. The other folks in our group weren’t expecting adventure;
they just wanted to quit smoking. However, they caught the spirit quickly and we dove right
in.
First Chip went over the actual tapping sequence. It really sounds a little silly and we
laughed at how funny we looked, tapping our faces, tapping under our arms and on our hands,
doing eyes circles and humming happy birthday. Yes, all those things are part of this
technique, and I’ll agree it may sound crazy, but it is a powerful process.
Once we had the tapping process we tapped away our cravings. Seriously, just like that. We
went through the tapping cycle several times. After each time we gave our craving a number.
We could all feel the craving sensation just going away. When we were all down to 1 or 0
on our craving scale, from the initial 10, we moved on.
It made so much sense to me when Chip broke the smoking addiction into three sections. The
physical craving, emotional factors and situational factors are indeed three different
issues. With the craving out of the way we were able to discuss the other two.
I had never thought to connect an emotional factor to my smoking, but when Chip asked me
why I started smoking and how I felt about the situation, deep emotions popped right out
as if they were just waiting to be discovered! Wow! That was interesting! But even more
interesting was the fact that we didn’t have to spend years talking about it. We identified
the emotion and situation and tapped the cycle while feeling the emotion start to vanish.
After a few cycles, it was gone. During this period of talking about our emotions, the
craving for a cigarette did not return.
The third reason for smoking is situational. We get into the habit of smoking at a certain
time or place, or during or after a certain activity etc. It becomes something we continue
to do without any thought whatsoever. Once again, the trick is to identify the situation
and tap it away.
The only thing required after the seminar is a daily emotional reversal technique for 21
days. This takes about 15 seconds a day. I confess that we didn’t keep doing it for the
whole time. We so forgot about smoking that we forgot about having to reverse our thinking
about smoking!
Lil and I both walked away from that seminar as non-smokers and never looked back. We had
no cravings ever again. A few times, in that first week a situation arose, when I thought
I should smoke even though I had no craving. I tapped each one away and they never came
back. Lil had even less instances than me. Neither of us had headaches or shaky hands or
bad moods.
Two weeks later, we were with a group of people at a bar. We had some beers, talked and
laughed for two hours. As we were putting our coats on to leave, I commented that our
coats would smell like smoke and have to be hung outside. We both stopped and stared at
each other in awe as we remembered that we used to smoke. Half the people we were with
were smoking and it had never occurred to either of us to want one.
Also, I didn’t replace smoking with eating, because I haven’t gained any weight. However,
I have quite a few extra pounds I want and need to lose, so that is the next issue I will be
addressing with EFT.
© 2007 Patricia Kenworthy
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