Willpower on tap

TAP, tap, tap. Happy birthday to you. Tap, tap, tap. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Tap, tap, tap. Happy birthday to you. Tap, tap, tap. And relax. Sounds weird doesn't it? That's because it is. Tapping a sequence on your own body while repeating a specific affirmation, humming the tune to Happy Birthday and counting to five is well within the realms of weirdness. But sometimes a little bit of weird does you good.

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) uses all these elements to help people quit smoking, beat an addiction, release a fear or phobia, let go of negative emotions and free themselves from stress.

Like most people, I have my fair share of fears and phobias - I run screaming from spiders, I'm not keen on boats and I used to be afraid of cows (please don't mock the afflicted) - but when invited to have an introductory EFT session, I decided to tackle an addiction.

At 3pm every day my chocolate alarm goes off and I have to venture forth seeking sustenance of a smooth and creamy variety. If I go to the supermarket, I have to buy myself a chocolate bar - or two. And whenever my children are bought chocolate, they are lucky to get so much as a lick of it. I am, in other words, a chocoholic.

Could Cordelia Brabbs, 26, of Heworth, and Emotional Freedom Technique be the answer? I nipped across the road to New Moon in Walmgate to find out.

"You will probably feel very foolish when we start," said Cordelia, not exactly filling me with confidence. "Just remember that even though you are doing something ridiculous; you are doing something ridiculous that works."

EFT is a form of meridian therapy, based on Eastern practices such as acupuncture and shiatsu which release energy blockages by putting pressure on specific points around the body.

But instead of using needles or heavy pressure, EFT uses a gentle tapping sequence which the client carries out themselves - the practitioner does not even get out of their chair.

"It can be used to treat virtually anything," said Cordelia, who is doing an MA in women's studies at York University. "A practitioner used it as a treatment for my hay fever - that's how I first came across it.

"From the very start, I knew it would work, and I knew it was something I wanted to be involved in."

EFT started in California - where else - in the 70s, but didn't really arrive in the UK until the late 90s.

"The great thing about this treatment is that it doesn't matter if you believe in it or not," said Cordelia. "You can be as cynical as you like and it will still work."

Which was good news because, to be honest, I couldn't see how tapping various bits of my anatomy and chanting was going to stop me devouring a KitKat.

But, in for a penny...

We began with a brief chat about my addiction and decided on an initial affirmation along the lines of: "Even though I need chocolate every day, I still deeply and completely accept myself."

Cordelia showed me the tapping sequence, starting above the eyebrow, working round the face, down to the collar bone, under the arm and finishing with a concentrated series along the fingers and hands.

Then we put the two together, chanting the affirmation with every section of the tapping series. Okay, that wasn't too bad. In fact, as silly activities go, I've done a lot worse in the name of health and well-being. But that was only the beginning.

"Now this is the really daft bit," said Cordelia. "Don't worry if you burst out laughing. Most people do."

Now after completing the tapping/chanting sequence I had to look down to the right, to the left, roll my eyes round twice, hum the tune to Happy Birthday, say 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and then hum the tune to Happy Birthday again.

"But why," I stuttered, using all my journalistic training, "why, why. Just, you know, why?"

Cordelia explained that this particular sequence of actions helps to engage the left and right sides of the brain - the creative and the practical - so the client can tune into the issue at hand.

We repeated the series several more times, including the "really daft bit", gradually adapting the affirmation to deal with specific areas of my chocolate addiction.

"As we repeat the sequence I watch for changes in the client," Cordelia explained. "When an issue is released, they might feel a surge of emotion that emerges as a physical reaction.

"They might cry or burst out laughing; they might suddenly look hot or cold; their voice might even change. You never know quite how people will react."

I felt nauseous. My mouth began to feel dry, my stomach began to gently heave, and I could no more have eaten the KitKat on the table in front of me than I could have eaten the table itself.

And, so far, that remains the case. As I write this, four days after the treatment, I haven't had any chocolate and still feel a bit queasy at the thought.

I'm not entirely convinced that my chocolate addiction is behind me, but if I feel myself beginning to slip, I can always give myself a top-up tap.

"That's the great thing about EFT," said Cordelia enthusiastically. "It's about empowering people to help themselves.

"Just like some people can exercise efficiently by themselves and some people need a personal trainer; some people can work with EFT by themselves and some people need me.

"I'm not doing this to make my fortune, so I'm quite happy if people only come for one session. If they go away feeling better about themselves, my job is done."

Updated: 08:59 Tuesday, May 25, 2004