What lead you to become a healer?
I would
hesitate calling myself a healer… What I do helps people heal, but I would not
say that I possess any special power. What I possess is the desire to help,
certain tools (like EFT or Reiki) and my intuition based on my life
experiences. As many people who engage in therapy I came to it through
wrestling with my own demons, walking my dark tunnels and finding a way
forward. In my blog on Self-love and Selfishness I share something of my
personal journey. I thought of studying psychology when finishing school. But
around that time a close friend of mine became ill with anorexia, got very
depressed and nearly died. She never fully recovered, and the feeling of
helplessness I have experienced engendered self-doubt that put me off the
thought. It took me over twenty years to come round and finally embark on the
path of therapy. I’ve done a lot of work on myself along the way and also
discovered that I had a knack of bringing it out of people. Friends, colleagues
and sometimes total strangers (like a person sitting next to me on a train)
would share with me their emotions and concerns. They found talking to me
helpful, and I also found it fulfilling as I really enjoy meaningful
conversations. So I followed the thread, discovering my interests and my
abilities. And gradually it led me to doing therapy.
I love what your website says about EFT therapy and how it “helps
transform fear into faith, anxiety into trust, anger into compassion, pain into
love.” When did you first discover Emotional Freedom Technique?
I first
discovered EFT during a very stressful period of my life a few years ago. With
all the personal development work that I’ve done, I’ve never heard about EFT
before and suddenly within one week it has been brought to my attention from
three different sources! And I also had a chance to experience it in action and
was amazed at the relief that I felt. Be it a coincidence or fate, but I went
and trained as an EFT practitioner with AAMET (Association for the Advancement
of Meridian Energy Techniques), then added to it Reiki… Now I am doing MSc in Counseling
and Psychotherapy. So my journey is unfolding!
As a
practitioner do you come across many people skeptical about trying EFT? Is there
something specific you do or say that alleviates their skepticism?
Skepticism is a healthy
thing, I believe. I am the biggest skeptic myself! Having been involved in
academia for many years I learned to question things. And – no one still knows how exactly EFT works. Just as nobody
knows how acupuncture works. Or even paracetamol for that matter! Are these the
particular meridian points that produce the effect or the fact that rhythmical
tapping distracts the rational mind and helps one get in touch with their
subconscious? I don’t try to dissuade the skeptics, but simply offer them to
try and see for themselves. Often they are taken by surprise and become very
enthusiastic about tapping! So far in my work it was not skepticism, but a fear
of feeling emotions (grief,
anger, fear, etc.) that presented a biggest problem. It is difficult to do
tapping effectively with people who totally block their emotions and just “feel
nothing.” It is a challenge and may require long preparatory work involving
other techniques and approaches (for example, movement with music).
I
watched one of your videos in which a woman is discussing how tapping gets her
into a meditative state; do you recommend people tap before they meditate? Are
there specific things EFT does for a person’s meditation practice?
EFT is indeed a very
good gateway to meditation. If you meditate in the evening, after a full busy
day, tapping will help with releasing stress and calming your mind. Tapping is
also good for sharpening your intention and tuning in to the meditative state
or the topic you want to focus on. However, EFT on its own can also be seen as
a meditation of sorts. When you tap your brain begins to function on a
different wave length as you relax into the process, concentrate on one thing and
follow it through instead of going in all directions after a myriad of
thoughts. EFT-meditation could be a very good alternative for people who are
high strung and find that their thoughts wander too much when they sit in
silence.
I
discovered you also do Reiki healing as well. How do you use Reiki in
combination with EFT to help heal others? Are there specific benefits to Reiki?
Reiki is a hands-on
treatment that promotes deep relaxation and facilitates re-balancing of energy
– its emotional as well as physical aspects – in your body. In this way it also
promotes healing. I often do Reiki as a complementary treatment to EFT because
working with emotions can be very taxing and exhausting. Sometimes people feel
shaky or chilly after a big emotional burden has been shifted. Reiki helps
replenish the energy and also integrate the changes in your organism. When I do
Reiki as a separate treatment I also like to precede it by a short tapping
session – for the similar reasons as doing tapping before meditation. It
removes the layer of stress and quiets the mind making one more receptive to
Reiki.
With
EFT one basically learns to accept and love who they are. In a world where
thinking about & caring about yourself can be seen as selfish, would you
mind explaining the difference between selfishness and practicing self-love?
This is a very big topic
that causes a lot of confusion. I actually wrote a blog article precisely on
this topic, you can read it here.
In a nutshell, I compare self-love with a way a mature parent would care for a
child, taking into consideration the child’s needs, desires and harmonious
growth. Selfishness, on the other hand, is similar to a child’s attitude to
him/herself and the world. Small children want an instant gratification of
their desires and they lack maturity to consider the consequences of their
actions. A child may want to eat a whole box of chocolate sweets or take a toy
from another child without thinking how it will affect his/her health or
his/her friendships. When you care for yourself in a mature way, when you are
in touch with your needs and aware of your strengths and limitations you are
also able to give more to people around you and you will not later resent what you
have given.
In
addition to EFT, are there things you do daily to keep yourself motivated and
happy?
Daily – oh, it is a difficult question for
such an unsystematic person like myself! Although I actually manage to tap
daily, even if only for a few minutes, I guess I try to do things that make me
happy. Things that I find nourishing for my soul. Like spending time with
people who share similar interests, reading a good book, doing something
different (had a horse riding lesson the other day!), keeping active. If I sit
at home for the whole day I begin feeling old and sluggish. So I make sure I go
walking or cycling every day. Accomplishing things that I set for myself makes
me feel good. And, of course, my therapy work is a big source of joy and
motivation. When I have a successful session I feel inspired and it helps me
gain confidence.
Over the years I have learned the importance of creating space
for myself. The space where I can pause amongst the hustle and bustle of the
daily rush and become aware of my self
and my feelings. It is so easy for us to slide into becoming “human doings”
rather than “human beings”! So, even though I don’t meditate daily, I make a
conscious effort to reconnect to my center and rebalance my energy, in one way
or another.
Up Next
Thank
you, Ludmila, for the amazing insight and tips. I so appreciate what you said about creating space for yourself, we all need to do that! I truly believe with EFT this & more is possible. For more information about
all the wonderful things Ludmila is doing please visit her website.
Next week’s
interview is with Michael Lawrence author, speaker, and meditation &
hypnosis coach! Check back next Tuesday September 10th to learn more
Michael and his hypnosis & meditation techniques.
For
more information on EFT please visit my website. For tapping video’s and guides
on how to use EFT check out & subscribe to my YouTube Channel. Keep
tapping!
