Tap tap tap

Anxieties can be conquered and your
meridians realigned thanks to Emotional
Freedom Technique, says practitioner

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Claudia Schecter

Age: 59

Occupation: EFT practitioner

Bio: This très serene Montreal West resident was born and raised in Germany by parents who were big on “natural medicine and homeopathy.” A professional “energy healer” for the past 13 years, Claudia says she really became fascinated by this alleged medical modality, along with traditional Chinese medicine, while living in Indonesia for some 12 years in the ’70s and ’80s. “That’s how people heal themselves there.” Recently, she has been “blown away” by something called Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), which is alleged to be the bee’s knees for pretty well everything and anything that ails you, from anxiety to addiction to migraines to fertility issues. Go to her site, www.quantumbalance.ca, for info on the private and group EFT sessions she conducts at her NDG clinic. “Anybody can learn this. What first attracted me to it was its simplicity.”

What EFT is: “It’s kind of like emotional acupuncture—but without needles. Instead, you tap. You know how when you experience certain emotions you can feel it in your stomach or wherever? That’s because your meridians are out of balance when you feel that emotion. So in a case where you feel, say, anxiety in your stomach, you tap on your stomach meridian for relief, and after a few minutes, it will be gone. It’s wonderful for phobias.”

Let’s assume somebody has a fear of vegetables. How could EFT possibly have them enjoying those thoroughly disgusting la Belle Fermière light green mini-peas instead of vomiting them back up onto their dinner table? “Every kind of fear or pain or addiction or anxiety is a disruption in your energy system. So if you came to me with this problem, I’d probably ask you to bring some vegetables with you. I’d ask you to look at the vegetable, touch it, smell it, and ask what sensations you feel. And let’s say it made you nauseous. So while you’re concentrating on whatever sensation you have, we tap very gently on major acupuncture points, and by tapping your meridian points, your energy system is straightened out. It goes back to acupuncture and Chinese medicine. The technique is the same for everything, whether it’s a phobia, addiction, grief that’s stuck in your energy system, exam anxiety, abandonment issues, whatever, the process is always the same.”

So if I’m riding the bus and a black person steps on, can I deal with the overwhelming anxiety and fear this brings about by tapping right then and there? “You could, but it may look a little awkward. Then again, you can do it subtly, not saying anything, just tapping the points until you felt better. Afterwards though, I’d ask myself why I got so anxious on the bus and later, while calm, address the root cause of this anxiety through EFT.”

Is there any scientific evidence whatsoever supporting the claims Claudia makes for EFT? “They’re just starting to do scientific research on EFT now. It’s still in its infancy though.”

Somebody who Claudia has hung with three times, has given her healing crystals, and who she’s absolutely convinced is legit: Brazilian “healer” John of God. “I’ve seen miracles there.”

Musical preferences: Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Manu Chao.

Last book read: The Genie in Your Genes, by Dawson Church.

Words of wisdom: “EFT is freedom in your fingertips.”

Comments: dimwit@hdot.net