Annabel Fisher EFT Adv

_{^{Annabel Fisher is an Advanced EFT Practitioner, Licensed NLP Practitioner and Hypnotherapist. She specialises in: coping with serious illness and chronic pain; overcoming stress and overwhelm; increasing self worth, confidence and the motivation to recover; and peak performance issues.}}

_{^{She sees clients in her private practice and works over the phone. Approximately 80% of her clients are phone clients. Visit her website or phone 1-888-206-8426 (toll-free) for a free 30 minute consultation.}}

_{^{www.EFTHealingCentre.com}}

Articles by Annabel Fisher EFT Adv

In November last year, I presented to a conference of EFT Practitioners on a topic which always comes up when I work with a client who is chronically ill – the downside of wellness. My presentation was based on the idea that if we are sick, there may be many hidden fears, which sabotage any attempts to become well and move forward in our life towards full mobility and vibrancy.

A few days ago, I was watching a television documentary about the British theatre actress, Sheila Hancock. The presenter was explaining how, after her husband had died of cancer, Sheila had overcome devastating grief by throwing herself into her work. In fact, she was described as having “the courage to soldier on”.

Long before I was seriously ill, I often had a sense that I felt emotions more deeply and painfully than many of my friends and colleagues. Things seemed to roll off their backs, while I became greatly affected in some way by what I'd seen or heard.

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) work beautifully at healing the debilitating memories which could have contributed to a chronic illness, as well as clearing limiting self-beliefs around re­covering. However, sometimes, residual fears remain, which can hold us back from moving into good health safely and freely.

When we are struggling to overcome a chronic illness or chronic pain, our lives become very focused on what is wrong, and the steps we need to take in order to recover. Our lives may consist of appointments with doctors, specialists, therapists, and various practitioners. In fact, we may feel as though the life we once knew has vanished, or at the very most, been put on hold. Our conversations and our thoughts revolve around how we’re going to make it through the next week, month or year and what we need to do in order to make it as smooth as possible. In short, illness and pain take over our lives.

The majority of chronically ill clients I work with are on some form of medication. Their medical doctors have outlined what they can hope to accomplish, and how their body will respond, if they continue to use the medication; and what to expect if they choose not to take the drugs, or decide to stop taking them. A lot of attention is focused on fixing the illness as it now exists, and rightly so. On the other hand, surely coping strategies are only part of the equation. What led to the illness appearing in the first place, and why is that rarely considered?

I have just started a new six-week teleclass series on chronic illness, Tap Into Your Healthy Self, and in the first teleclass we discussed, and used EFT on, the downside of being well and healthy. This is a theme I have mentioned in a previous edition of Good Health is Real Wealth, and it is a concept which continues to fascinate me.

The first reaction to there being a downside to being well and healthy is most likely to be one of surprise and sometimes, anger. Everyone wants to be well, don’t they? No one chooses to be ill. Or do they? Is remaining chronically ill a way to remain safe and unpressurised? Fewer demands and expectations are put upon us when we are ill; we don’t need to prove ourselves, and finally, we don’t have to be responsible for everyone and everything.

When I work with new clients, I’m always interested in why they have chosen to learn and use EFT. The answer is usually in the negative, “I’m very ill”, “I’m overweight”, “I procrastinate”, or “I don’t have enough money in my life”, etc. As a result of this, I changed one of the questions on my client intake form to read ‘What are your expectations of EFT?’ This ensures the client focuses on what she would like to accomplish rather than what is going wrong in her life.

Sometimes it’s easier to give attention to what we don’t want in our lives, rather than what we do want. We focus on our lack of money, our poor health, or chronic pain, or how unhealthy we feel after eating a “comfort” food.

When I was severely ill with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), the one constant factor in my somewhat restricted life was the unequivocal support I was given by my parents and my husband. If I hadn’t received their love and encouragement on a daily basis, I know the journey would have been far tougher and more desperate at times. As I look back to those dark and seemingly hopeless days, I feel extremely blessed; their lives were put on hold in order to ensure my needs were met.

When a person becomes very ill and is often housebound as a result, it is vital their “network” of friends and loved ones remains constant. Sadly, it is often difficult to comprehend what the person is going through, and loved ones might not know what to do to help. Friends drift away, feeling confused or frustrated, wishing things could be as they used to be, yet not considering that by simply being there, they could be making the world of difference to the sick person. On a conscious level, very few people want to be ill, and likewise, those people who are ill can’t just “snap out of it”.

A few weeks ago, when I was working with a new telephone client, ‘Anna’, she stated, “Bad things happen to good people: it’s always the good people who get sick”. Now, I have no way of either refuting or proving this, but she believed it and I accepted her belief. Anna has been existing with very severe multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS) for 18 months, showing no sign of improvement. Her breathing is supported by an oxygen tank and she is unable to tolerate (amongst many other things) any cleaning products, perfumes, moulds and most food. During that first session together, she admitted she felt defeated. And I related to her completely.

When I was housebound and seriously ill with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), I felt defeated most days during the early stages of my healing journey. I wasn’t healing quickly enough; it was all taking too long, my body had let me down. I felt angry and disappointed because I had always looked after my body with regular exercise and careful food choices. Of course, when I became ill and visited a local Nutritionist for the first time, it didn’t take long to determine two essential facts. Firstly, I was “running on empty”, with exhausted adrenals and secondly, I had a wheat intolerance and gluten sensitivity and was exhausting my body as it struggled to digest all the whole wheat pasta and breads I was consuming on a daily basis.