Navy Vet Cures Insomnia
Written by Ange Dickson Finn
“I’d forgotten how to smile.”
That’s how this 37-year old woman, a Navy veteran, described her life before she attended an Introduction to EFT group class, in March 2014. She attended a second class with me four months later, and that’s when I heard her story.
Through the Empower The Warrior Within program in Houston, I’ve been offering Introduction to EFT presentations to groups of veterans.
The presentation teaches basic EFT for pain, emotional distress, and sleep. In a one hour to 90 minutes session, we probably spend a third of the time actually tapping. And the tapping is quite general; we don’t spend any time working on an individual issue with anyone. In a group Intro session, I never work on serious trauma, either.
It doesn’t seem like much tapping, and I rarely get to hear follow-up from the groups (even though almost everyone reports an increase in relaxation at the time, using my “Ow To Wow” scale.)
But this time, one group invited us for a second EFT session. The group sponsor told us how much the women had enjoyed our first presentation.
Tapping with the group, I saw several familiar faces. As one woman yawned during a round, I called it out as a sign of relaxation. I had no idea just how significant and amazing that yawn was.
The woman told us a bit of her story during the group, and even more afterward.
She is a US Navy veteran who saw 14 years of active combat, with two years in the Reserves. She was wounded in combat. She told us how the initial tapping session she came to, just four months earlier, affected her:
“It was the first time I was able to relax. I had severe anxiety and severe insomnia. I had to sleep with the light on. I could go 4 days with no sleep. I slept maybe two hours a night. I’d forgotten how to smile.
“Now I sleep 6 hours a night. With no meds. Now I have a job, after not working for over a year.
“It’s my go-to,” she told us as she tapped her karate chop point.
I was overwhelmed with admiration for this tough woman who took one hour of tapping instruction and began to rebuild her life.
She acknowledged that it was hard at first. She had to get into a daily practice to gradually increase the number of hours of sleep each night. She also works with a therapist, who is supporting her in her use of EFT. And she modified it a little bit so that it worked best for her.
Everything she told me reminded me why I got into EFT in the first place, and why I became a certified practitioner and began working with others:
It’s a highly effective life skill.
It doesn’t require any special equipment.
It’s easily customizable for anyone’s use.
And it can change your life if you make it a regular habit.
I deeply admire this beautiful woman for her determination and toughness of spirit. Brave as she must have been in the service of our country, her real bravery comes in rebuilding her life now as a civilian. If tapping can do this for her–what might it do for you?
