Originally published in the Rising Sun EFT Newsletter, Nov. 19, 2009

Inner Theater is a visual approach with EFT that has been developing in
my work in collaboration with Jade Barbee. One of the things that
has come out of our Inner Theater approach is a renewed awareness
of the value of staying very present and responding moment-by-moment
in an EFT session. For the client, this is an experience of being listened to
very deeply, and that alone is healing. For the one guiding the tapping,
it helps us to really trust the healing process that is unfolding and not to
miss any healing opportunities.

A simple technique that Jade & I call “the language of invitation”
is so effective that I now use it in almost every session. Here’s an
example.

Recently a man was tuning in to the look of annoyance on his
mother’s face whenever he, as a child, needed something. We
started tapping the Karate Chop spot:

“Even though I see my mother’s face… and she looks so annoyed…
and that makes me feel___ (what?)” (you simply leave a blank to be
filled in).

He said, “That makes me feel like I’m a bother to her, a pest.”

“And even though I feel like a pest, a bother and___ (what else?)”

He filled in, “Like my needs aren’t important, only her needs
matter, mine don’t… and she wishes she could brush me off like a
fly.”

“And even though she wants to brush me off like a fly, and that
makes me feel_______ (what?)”

“Ashamed. Embarrassed. Like I wish I could disappear.”

“Even though I see her annoyed expression and I have all those
feelings about it, I love and accept my young self… and it’s time
to bring some healing to this.”

You then tap the points for all the feelings that have come up,
“feeling like a pest, my needs aren’t important, feeling
embarrassed and ashamed,” etc. While going through the points,
you can use the invitation technique again:
“Ashamed… embarrassed… and ____ (what else?)”

This simple invitation to fill in the blanks allows us to pay
attention to many nuances that might have been missed. The
subconscious only has to be invited and it will bring up more
and more of what needs healing. Making the invitations while
tapping works especially well. As we’re opening the energy
system with tapping, we’re connecting very directly with the
feelings that have been held in the body and literally tapping
into the body’s healing wisdom.
For more on the Inner Theater approach, please visit www.innertheater.net