It’s been a thrill and an honor…

Introduction to The Tapping SolutionI looked pretty silly. At least, I thought I did.

It was the spring of 2004. I was sitting alone, staring at a computer screen, talking to myself, and tapping different parts of my body. If you’d glanced through my window and seen me, you might have thought I’d lost it.

In truth, I was going a little crazy. The neck pain I’d woken up with that morning was so bad I wasn’t sure how I’d get through the day. You know the kind of pain I’m talking about. You sleep in the wrong position and wake up with a crick in your neck. You spend a day, sometimes two, sometimes three, moving your head slowly and looking like a robot to the rest of the world.

I was willing to do just about anything to make it go away.

Including trying something as seemingly strange as tapping.

I had been hearing a lot about “tapping,” or EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques). Said to be a combination of ancient Chinese acupressure and modern psychology, proponents said it remedied a vast number of issues. I’d been reading one miraculous story after another, so I thought, Why not? Might as well try it and see what happens.

To my astonishment, the pain—which would normally have taken days to go away—vanished within ten minutes. Ah, relief! To be able to turn my head again like a normal person and not feel uncomfortable all day! This tapping thing actually worked.

I was ready to go on with my day, satisfied to be pain-free. But suddenly, it hit me: this was about a lot more than neck pain. If tapping worked on my neck, what else could it help me change? Like many of us, I had one particular worldview—one that did not include instantaneous pain relief. This little experiment opened my mind to an ocean of possibilities that I had never before contemplated.

Let’s face it, many of us have been taught to think that it takes a certain amount of time to “fix” or change a problem—if we believe it can be fixed at all. But what if pain, health concerns, addictions, weight issues, relationship challenges, and financial problems really could be resolved—quickly and easily? What if the impossible was actually possible?

These are the thoughts that started percolating after my first tapping experience. Heck, maybe the neck pain had been inhibiting blood flow to my brain—and only now was I able to think more clearly! I started to see—to imagine—what else I might be able to change in my life and how I might be able to help those I loved.

At first, it was no more than a hobby. I used tapping extensively on myself and then began working with friends and family. Soon, I was taking on private clients. Those around me quickly learned that if they shared any issue that was going on in their lives—from a physical challenge to a debilitating emotion—they’d better get ready to tap! No one was spared from my insistence that they try this incredible process.

And again and again, I was blown away by what I saw. Back then, I just threw all these results in the “don’t really know how this works, but it does, and that’s all I care about!” category. But now the latest science and research is shedding light on the principles underlying the tapping process—and why it offers such radical, positive change.

At the time I found it, EFT was already being used by tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people around the world. A thriving community existed, its members exploring these principles together and sharing the results. But there was still a tremendous amount of skepticism about the process. I felt a compelling desire to play a part in helping to spread this tool even farther.

So, without any filmmaking experience—and with a limited budget that consisted of maxed-out credit cards and a few short lines of credit—I decided to make a documentary film that would capture the incredible results EFT was facilitating. Enlisting the help of my younger sister, Jessica, and my best friend, Nick Polizzi (yes, there are two Nicks here!), I set out to document the effects of this technique in a tangible way. One that was not only compelling to watch, but also taught people how to use the technique and demonstrated its amazing results.

We spent the first six months of the process on a cross-country trip interviewing a slew of experts, doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, personal development speakers, and best-selling authors who were using EFT themselves. Again and again, they shared their personal passion, enthusiasm, and positive experiences with us. But while that footage was compelling and educational, it didn’t tell the whole story. We also had to capture the stories of real people using the technique. And not just describing their past experiences, but showing EFT’s actual results, in real time.

That’s what brought me and Nick Polizzi, in the fall of 2007, to the home of Jodi McDonald. Jodi was suffering from fibromyalgia, a painful and often misunderstood condition. We were visiting her home in Austin, Texas, to gather some preliminary footage in advance of an event scheduled to take place a few weeks later: ten people with a variety of serious issues—chronic back pain, fibromyalgia, grief, insomnia, and more—were being brought together to see how EFT could help with their challenges.

We were there to document Jodi’s condition and the challenges she was facing prior to beginning the tapping work. I was excited to meet Jodi, find out exactly what was going on in her life, and see how EFT might help.

Looking at Jodi’s vibrant smile and energetic eyes, you wouldn’t have guessed the severity of her pain. She was frequently reduced to crawling on the floor, and during the course of a typical night, her pain would wake her as many as 15 or 20 times. And you also wouldn’t have suspected that her chronic knee pain had forced her to give up the long nature walks she’d enjoyed for many years.

But truth was, Jodi’s pain was so acute, she could barely make it up a short flight of stairs. Eight years after her diagnosis, her fibromyalgia was running—and slowly ruining—her life.

A teacher, healer, aspiring writer, wife, and mother of four, Jodi was determined to keep living fully. However intrusive the pain, she could not accept that her disease was, as the doctors told her, “incurable.” A firm believer in positive psychology and the Law of Attraction, she was determined to keep smiling. She simply refused to give up on her own life.

After a few minutes talking to Jodi, two things were obvious. First, she’d lived through several traumatic experiences as a young girl, including watching her mother being beaten by her father. Second, in spite of it all, Jodi had dedicated herself to being a positive, productive person who spent most her time helping others.

She did her best to be happy, went to all the right doctors, and tried alternative approaches. She’d done everything she could to overcome the pain and heal, but it just wasn’t working. So what was going on? And could this strange-looking technique help?

My heart went out to Jodi, and I wanted to start EFT with her right then and there. But I had to wait; we’d agreed she would not be introduced to the work until the four-day event a few weeks later.

Once Jodi shared her story with us (and some amazing food, definitely the best stop of the trip foodwise!), Nick and I hit the road again. We traveled to visit the rest of the beautiful people who would be attending the event, people desperate for an answer, desperate for change.

Donna, diagnosed with breast cancer, suffering physically and emotionally from the disease—and from debilitating insomnia.

John, a Vietnam veteran with 30 years of intense chronic back pain. Pain that doctors, surgeries, and pain medication had not helped.

Rene, suffering from debilitating grief after losing his wife in a car accident just 90 days earlier.

Jackie, terrified to speak in public and too shy to pursue many of the things she wanted.

And more. To say my heart was open after meeting these amazing people is an understatement. If these ten people were suffering so—if they were searching for answers for their life challenges and just not finding them—how many millions or billions more were in the same place? The ultimate question for me was, could tapping really help?

I’ll share more about what happened throughout this book. But just to give you a little taste, let me tell you what happened for Jodi. Jodi, diagnosed with an “incurable” condition that nobody had been able to help her with, was pain-free by the second day of the four-day event! Years later, she remains pain-free, and her life has been transformed in many other ways. (I’ll cover more of her inspiring story in Chapter 6.)

If Jodi had such an extraordinary result with such a difficult condition, what’s possible for you?

It’s your turn. Are you ready for that kind of change?

Do you have issues or circumstances in your life that you’d like to change? Childhood trauma, anxiety, physical conditions, weight problems, financial difficulties, relationship challenges? Whatever your situation, EFT has proven to be dramatically effective. In this book, we’ll go in depth—exploring each of these issues (and more), as well as how you can use tapping to work with them, to change the basic patterns that underlie these challenges in your life.

I don’t have to be psychic to know that you have been running the same patterns, sometimes with little change, your whole life. I don’t have to even meet you to guess that you are frustrated with doing the same things over and over again—and, as can be expected, getting the same results.

You’ve probably said to yourself countless times, “Oh, I can’t believe I did that again!”

“Why did I say that to him . . . again?”

“Why did I eat that food . . . again?”

“Why did I skip exercising . . . again?”

“Why am I short on money . . . again?”

“Why am I frustrated (or angry, lost, overwhelmed, anxious, tired, or whatever your “thing” is) . . . again?”

And I’m being easy on the language here. It’s likely you’re not as kind to yourself. Most of us add in a $*@%# or two!

On top of your negative thinking and behavior, there’s the fact that you are trying to improve. And yet . . . you’re still not getting the results you want. It adds insult to injury! It would be one thing if you were unaware of your patterns and behaviors. But you are! And yet they keep running. Much of your current behavior actually started before you were seven years old!—and was learned from parents, teachers, society, and friends.

In the past, the challenge was that we could identify these patterns—but not a way to move them, to actually do something about them, and quickly. We could go to a psychologist or psychiatrist and discuss the issue week after week, but we often got minimal results. At the very least, the results were slower than we wanted. We could meditate on the issue, which could lighten the load—but we found it coming back days or even hours later. We could “will” ourselves to change, an often-painful procedure that rarely lasts. Sometimes we succeeded, sometimes we didn’t. But overall, the methods available did not give us an unshakeable sense of being in control of our own lives.

Until now.

EFT works unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It’s set to revolutionize our world. In fact, it’s already revolutionizing parts of the world, as you’ll learn in Chapter 13, where we explore some of the amazing work being done with trauma relief around the globe. But before we get to what it can do for the world, let’s figure out how it can change just one life: yours.

Remember those patterns we talked about? Finally, there’s a way to interrupt, disengage, dissolve, and vanquish them. Tapping gets to the root of what’s going on, balancing the mind and body, and changing what we do, how we feel, and how we experience the world. Tapping can be used for everything, and I’ll explain why in the next chapter. But we’ll first focus on using it in key areas of your life—the ones that are likely to be affecting you the most. Later, you’ll learn how to apply it to whatever is going on, how to teach it to others, how to share it with the world.

About This Book
The first two chapters of this book are vitally important, because they set the framework for everything that follows. Chapter 1 covers the discovery and history of tapping, and the most recent scientific findings that are validating this process.

In Chapter 2, I break down the EFT process so you can see how it works and have a direct experience of tapping yourself. One of the most exciting things about tapping is that you can immediately feel the difference it is making on your body and mind. No need to study a process for hours, or give it 30 days before you see results.

Once you’ve learned the basics of the process and experienced its power to help you, we’ll take a look at some of the reasons why you might not be ready to change. Underlying the desire to change are often unconscious or semiconscious ideas and beliefs—patterns that are stopping the desired change from happening. We’ll apply EFT to these patterns in order for you to get the best results with the rest of the book.

Chapter 4 explores how to use EFT to immediately reduce stress levels in your life and relieve the general state of anxiety and feeling of being overwhelmed that many of us face.

Chapter 5 is perhaps the most powerful, in that we examine the correlation between negative childhood events and experiences and our current circumstances. Some of the most dramatic results I’ve seen with EFT come from this exploration.

From there, the next two chapters take a closer look at EFT and the physical body. Chapter 6 is a general view of how stress affects the body and how we can use EFT to aid healing, while Chapter 7 focuses directly on using EFT to relieve physical pain.

In Chapter 8, we address using EFT to eliminate cravings, improve body image, and lose weight. While I know this is a concern for many readers—and that many of you are going to want to skip straight to this—I suggest you don’t. You need the information from the preceding chapters to make using EFT for weight loss more effective.

In Chapters 9 and 10, I will reveal some of my most powerful personal experiences with EFT—including attracting the love of my life and changing my beliefs and subsequent experiences around money and finances. I’ll show you how you can do the same, at speeds that will startle you!

Chapter 11—which starts off with a story that will make you laugh—gives you the tools to face some serious issues: your deepest fears and phobias. In Chapter 12, we cover an extensive list of other applications for EFT, each of which could easily have had its own chapter: insomnia and deepening sleep, working with children, improving athletic performance, healing addictions, and more.

Chapter 13 is perhaps the most inspirational, as we learn of the groundbreaking and beautiful EFT work that individuals and organizations are conducting around the globe.

And in the final chapter, Chapter 14, I present a new vision for you and your life, using EFT. Within that chapter you will find hope, possibility, and new ideas that will spring you forward into the life you’ve always dreamed of.

I am honored to be your guide on this journey. My deepest desire is that you find within the pages of this book the hope, magic, miracles, and possibility that I have experienced using EFT. My life has been transformed by this process, and continues to be transformed on a daily basis. I know the same thing can happen for you and your loved ones.

It’s time to change those patterns . . .

It’s time to have a healthy, fit, vibrant body . . .

It’s time to manifest abundance, prosperity, and happiness . . .

It’s time to have fulfilling, nurturing, positive relationships . . .

It’s time for The Tapping Solution!

Pick up a copy on Kindle HERE: http://amzn.to/1samvos