Unresolved emotional issues can contribute to anxiousness during pregnancy and complications during labor.  EFT is a wonderful tool that can be used to neutralize negative emotions and fears, allowing pregnant and laboring mothers to actually enjoy their birthing experiences! Typically, EFT works best when we can be as specific as possible, whenever possible. To increase our chances of getting great results when using EFT to help release a common issue, like the fear of going into labor, it is important that we keep re-focusing our thoughts during the EFT process. This can be done using 5 techniques:

1) Becoming Aware of Your Body

2) Adressing Specific Events

3) Adress Specific Aspects

4) Inner Imagery

When we are working with a large or global issue, like “fear of going into labor” for example, we may be trying to focus on too many feelings at once and EFT may not have any noticeable effect. To tackle such a global issue it is very important to zero-in on specific parts of the issue. Three good ways to zero-in are to: break the issue down into specific past events; to work with the emotion as it is held in the body; and to work with our own imagery. It is usually very useful to use all three of these ways of zeroing-in as you work through any complicated issue.

1. Becoming Aware of Your Body

Where do you feel the feeling in your body. What is it like physically? How do you experience this emotion in your body? For instance:

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  “Even though I feel the fear like a void in my chest…”

  
  
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  “Even though my throat feels constricted because everyone is always criticizing me...”

  
  
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  “Even though I feel this awful nervousness in the pit of my stomach...”

  
  

Many times, after tapping you will feel changes in the way the body is holding the emotion.

The sensations may decrease, change in quality, or even move to a different place in or on your body. When emotional energy moves around the body, this is known as “chasing the pain,” and this is a sign that you are on the right track.

2. Specific Events

Break your issue down by focusing in on specific events in your life that made you feel this way before, either recently or in your childhood. For instance:

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  “Even though my mother told me that giving birth to me was the most terrible thing she ever endured...”

  
  
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  “Even though the woman in labor on the TV show died while giving birth...”

  
  
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  “Even though my doctor told me giving birth naturally would be impossible…”

As you deal with specific events, you will probably start to feel the emotions of those

times. By thoroughly tapping for all the details of the memories that feel upsetting, you will effectively erase the discomfort that comes with the larger issue you initially chose to work on. Working with specific events is highly recommended and often gets the most noticeable

results. Address each detail of your specific memory with as many rounds of tapping as needed - until your emotional intensity is a 1 or 0. Address each of your feelings, and each of the limiting beliefs you took on, with its very own series of tapping rounds.

3. Address Specific “Aspects”

Every issue we work on has many parts, many details, and many possible triggers for the uncomfortable emotion that we are feeling. Recognizing aspects and tapping very specifically for different aspects is another skill required for effective EFT. For instance, if you are afraid of going into labor, you may have many aspects of that issue to tap on:

• Anticipating the pain of your contractions

• Panicking at the thought of your baby “getting stuck”

• The fear that something unexpected may happen to you

or your baby during the birth

You can continue to uncover aspects with the question, “What bothers me the most about going into labor when I think about now?” Eventually, there will not be much that bothers you and the fear will be gone, unless there are core issues around which “fear of going into labor” might just be the tip of the iceberg. Many issues carry a complicated mix of emotions. Let’s say you have tapped for your hurt in a certain situation. The hurt has subsided, but now you feel angry. As hidden layers of emotion emerge, these are more aspects of the issue and must be handled separately. Looking for different aspects and then specifically targeting these aspects with tapping will go a long way towards achieving lasting results.

4. Inner Imagery

Use an image to give your feeling more detail. If you are good at visualizing, imagine what the energy of the fear looks like, or feels like for you, and tap on the details of that image. Imagery is another way to listen to our feelings. As we tap, images often begin to change as our energy shifts. After tapping, ask yourself has the image changed in any way? How does it feel now? For example:

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  “Even though this anger is like a big, red ball in the pit of my stomach...”

  
  
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  “Even though this fear is choking me like a snake wrapped around me tightly…

  
  
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  “Even though I feel the sadness like a wave drowning me...”

  
  

What you believe about labor, birthing and our body's ability, is based on specific old events, conversations, t.v. shows, etc... As you use EFT to address these specific events and memories as they rise up during tapping, your beliefs about yourself and your expectations of the birth process begin to shift. With EFT you can naturally allow yourself to change and grow as you prepare for birth without feeling fear, guilt, anger, resentment or panic.  Changing your expectations and your beliefs by letting go of fear and tensions will allow you to birth comfortably. Clues about core issues or events can come up spontaneously as you work on an issue. Just follow your feelings. Sit for a moment after a round of tapping and see what comes to mind.  If in doubt contact a qualified professional. Learn the basics of how to apply EFT to fertility, pregnancy and birth related issues by clicking here to download my free e-book: EFT for Pregnancy and Birth.