Sometime during 1994, I developed a verruca on the sole of my
left foot.
Having previously anatomically hosted one or two warts which
had appeared and then disappeared of their own accord within
months and mindful of the fact that verrucae are members of
the wart family, the new visitor didn’t unduly alarm me at
first.
But when it soon became clear that this interloper was
seemingly entrenching itself and settling in for the long
haul, I decided to take some remedial action and visit a local
Chiropodist.
This marked the first in what turned out to be a lengthy
series of such visits to several different Chiropody
practitioners over many years.
And during the course of these visits I probably experienced
every type of treatment currently available: salicylic acid;
duct tape; cryotherapy – freezing with liquid nitrogen – on
two separate occasions; and even banana skin wrap!!
Following each of these treatments, there were occasional,
modest signs of success ... quickly followed by an even more
virulent return of ‘the offender’.
My final encounter with a Chiropody professional about the
issue was a couple of years ago when it was suggested that I
seek help from complementary sources, such as homeopathy, due
to conventional treatments clearly being thus far ineffective.
Now, I appreciate that verrucae are hardly life-threatening
but they are an embarrassment, an inconvenience and can, on
occasions, be quite painful.
Moreover, my 1994 variety not only developed a growing
fondness for its host environment but it also decided to
replicate itself several times leading to my sole becoming a
veritable breeding ground for verrucae so that by early 2009,
the bottom of my left foot looked like this:
And, unsurprisingly, I had resigned myself to having these
little fellows with me for the remainder of my days.
Until, that is, EFT [Emotional Freedom Technique] came
galloping over my horizon to deliver me.
My interest in personal development has been life-long. As a
schoolboy, I was always intrigued by “what makes us tick”.
Throughout my 30 year sales and marketing career, I was
passionately interested in learning about strategies and
techniques to help me perform better in terms of communication
skills and understanding of people.
And when in 2007 I finally reconciled my passion with my
career by embarking on a Diploma Course in Hypnotherapy and
NLP [Neuro-Linguistic Programming], I began a fascinating,
ongoing period of study ... a by-product of which formally
introduced me to Meridian Energy Therapies, including EFT.
I quickly learned that the overriding principle behind
Meridian Energy Therapies is that emotional difficulties are
associated with disturbances in the body-mind’s energy system
and can be released by tapping on several points of the
Meridian system.
I also learned that:
• Meridian therapies are sometimes referred to as Energy
psychology or Meridian-based Psychotherapy. These are umbrella
terms for various techniques, developed by different people,
such as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), Thought Field
Therapy (TFT) and Be Set Free Fast (BSFF).
• The principles behind EFT were discovered in the 1980’s by
Dr Roger Callahan, a clinical psychologist of more than 40
years experience, who had made it his life’s work to find a
way to cure people of unfounded fears, phobias and anxieties.
• Dr Callahan called his discovery Thought Field Therapy (TFT),
on the grounds that thoughts related to the energy field in
the body-mind, and that changing this energy field by tapping
on meridian points could release negative or imbalanced
emotions rapidly and easily.
• Dr Callahan refined and researched his method, and today TFT
and many of its descendants is the subject of serious
scientific study and have already gained widespread
acceptance.
• Gary Craig, one of Dr Callahan’s students came up with the
brilliant idea to tap all of the meridian points in a
sequence; so whichever point or points were the correct ones,
they would be covered by default.
• Craig created a technique that everyone can learn to use
very easily and quickly. This streamlined technique is known
as Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT.
• Positive change can often be dramatic, leaving people more
relaxed, even smiling; and with significant new insights into
the situation that has been troubling them.
And on Gary Craig’s website – www.emofree.com – I discovered
video evidence of real people experiencing wonderful,
dramatic, positive results ... often within minutes!
So, by the time I graduated as a Hypnotherapist and Licensed
NLP Practitioner in October 2008, I was keen (for the benefit
of all my prospective clients) to develop my therapeutic
skills into the Meridian Energy field and I began researching
suitable Courses to obtain an appropriate Practitioner
qualification.
However, before continuing along this path, it occurred to me
that I should discover for myself whether EFT works by putting
it to the test on myself.
After all, I had certainly tested the power of Hypnotherapy
when I successfully became a non-smoker for good in 1993
(following spectacular failures using willpower alone). And,
self-hypnosis and NLP techniques had assuredly transformed me
from a distinctly below-average, very self-conscious and
unconfident public speaker into a vibrant, enthusiastic
barnstormer of oration.
So self-testing EFT is a no-brainer.
But, for what?
To say I have absolutely no emotional baggage/issues would be
outrageous but I do consider myself fortunate in being able to
quite effectively “heal myself” in these areas and therefore
when focussing my attention on suitable topics to address, try
as I might, nothing significant on the emotional plane came to
mind.
What DID come to mind though were my bothersome, unrelenting
verrucae – now if EFT could help eliminate those little
critters ...?
And that was how, on an otherwise unremarkable Spring day at
“Palmer Towers”, I came to be standing in my study with Gary
Craig’s EFT Manual (freely downloadable from www.emofree.com)
perched open against my PC monitor, tentatively practising
inaugural tapping routines ... to both the delight and
bewilderment of our black lab.
I simply followed the instructions ... to the letter. My
opening statement was as precise as it could be (“ Even though
I have verrucae on the bottom of my left foot, I deeply and
completely accept myself”) and I carried out 3 full rounds of
The Basic Recipe ... with every intention of repeating this
each day for 30 days, as suggested in the Manual.
As it transpired, I managed just 3 days of this activity! Not
because it’s at all onerous. I simply got side-tracked by
business and other “important” matters and, before I knew it,
several days had gone by without me “doing my EFT”.
But, rather than beat myself up, I took this as a great
opportunity for the effectiveness of EFT to REALLY be tested –
so now, not only “if EFT can eliminate those little critters”
but do so with only three sessions being undertaken by a
completely novice Meridian Therapist (following the practice
of a self-hypnosis protocol designed to further strengthen and
underpin my belief in the body-mind) then that really WILL be
impressive.
So I determined to temporarily forget my little experiment and
just see what would happen over the next few weeks ... if
anything.
Although the days and weeks that followed brought subtle but
increasingly encouraging feelings of sole-revival, it wasn’t
until a few months later that I finally allowed myself the
luxury of a proper foot inspection.
And, aside from one or two signs of hard skin residue, my
family of verrucae had completely vanished ... as can be seen
here:
According to www.nhs.uk:
Warts are small, skin-coloured, rough lumps on the skin that
are benign (non-cancerous). They often appear on the hands and
feet. Warts can look different depending on where they are on
the body and how thick the skin is. A wart on the sole of the
foot is called a verruca.
Warts are caused by infection with a virus called the human
papilloma virus (HPV). HPV causes keratin, a hard protein in
the top layer of the skin (the epidermis), to grow too much,
producing the rough hard texture of a wart.
According to www.patient.co.uk:
Without treatment, about 3 in 10 warts have gone within 10
weeks, and most warts will have gone within 1-2 years, and
leave no scar. The chance that a wart will go is greatest in
children and young people. Sometimes warts last longer. In
particular, warts in older people are sometimes more
persistent and may last for several years.
My wife regularly uses the services of a wonderful, local
mobile Chiropodist and, following the astounding success of my
self-hypnosis/EFT treatment, I took the liberty of booking
myself a session with her at her next visit so as to gauge her
professional opinion.
She ran her highly experienced, highly qualified eyes over my
left sole; gently prodded at and then scraped away top layers
of residual hard skin (where the verrucae had previously been
resident) and announced: “Yes, they do seem to have cleared up
completely.” Adding only, “If there is still an underlying
viral condition, they may reappear ... but if so, this would
normally occur within a few weeks.”
I am delighted to report that nothing of this type has (yet)
taken place and, after 15 verrucae-filled years, I’m FREE!
Articles Author: Derek Palmer
D.Hyp GQHP
Creative-Plane Hypnotherapy
facilitating changes within
07798 550600
www.creative-plane.co.uk
© Copyright
Derek Palmer
2009, all rights reserved
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