“Emotions are our body’s reactions to our thoughts.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
What are the tools, techniques and practices you lean into as you navigate healing and change in your life? We’ve recently added EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) to our tool box and are honored to share this profound practice with you, Friends. Thanks for sharing yours with us, too!
Why We Love EFT
Robin Gallob’s insight and generosity changed my life when she came to Fruition’s Garlic Scape U-Pick Gathering in June 2024, shortly after we had committed to transforming Fruition from a market-driven business to a gift-inspired practice.
As we rested in the shade, baskets full of scapes, she asked how we were holding all the complex emotions of the transition. After listening to Matthew and I share the wide range of big feelings, oppositional truths and cognitive dissonance we were struggling to honor and integrate, she asked if we knew about EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques). Robin proceeded to bring us to tears with the gentle yet immense power of this practice. (If you’d love to explore with her too, send her a sweet ask of an email at robinclasses@yahoo.com.)
As big emotions rise, we’ve been leaning into this practice ever since, in awe of how it opens our capacity to feel without diminishing or over-identifying with even our biggest, hardest emotions. I’m consistently in awe of how this technique helps my fight / flight response transform toward calm compassion and capacity.
Friends, we hope sharing this practice with you expands the capacity you have to feel, hold and integrate even the hardest emotions you may experience in life, in Fruition transformation and beyond.
A Novice Practitioner’s Intro to EFT
From the EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) International Manual, available here for free:
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) or “Tapping” integrates our mind / body / spirit connection, combining gentle touch with mindful, vocal attention to thoughts and feelings.
EFT works with the body’s subtle energy system – a network of energy pathways, called meridians in Traditional Chinese Medicine. These documented pathways are accessible via specific locations on the body called acupoints. Acupuncture uses needles on these points, ostensibly to release stuck, stagnant energy and rebalance the system; acupressure uses finger pressure. EFT has been called a psychological version of acupuncture, as the simple process of tapping certain acupoints while focusing on an emotional upset has the effect of releasing the intense charge of troubling emotions.
The practice itself often looks like three sets of these two stages, with moments of pause between each state to feel, reflect, refocus and welcome what emerges next.
For the ‘set up phrase,’ gently tap the side of your hand between your pinky finger and wrist with your fingertips for as long as you are speaking.
As you ‘tap around the points,’ gently tap several times on each of these acupoints with your fingertips, while saying the phrase you are holding:
Crown Point
Eyebrow Point
Side of Eye
Under Eye
Under Nose
Chin Point
Collarbone Point
Under Arm
We go through set up and tap around the points phases three times, each time following what needs attending, deepening the attention and healing.
Robin’s Offering for Fruition’s Transformation
Robin, we will forever be thankful you brought this practice both to us and our wide community for Fruition’s on-farm transformation ceremony in July 2024! As Indigo Buntings and Goldfinches sang overhead, your generous, adept perception encouraged us to hold and heal in ways very few of us know how.
And Friends, as you play with this practice (and I hope that you do!), make it your own with the most deep, personal vocabulary and specificity you can access. We hope this is as meaningful as well as powerful for you as it is for us…and is just the beginning of a profound way we can navigate these and all times of change.
Set Up Phrase I
Even though there was a time when growing and selling seeds seemed straightforward, and that’s changing now, and change feels scary, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.
Even though buying seeds used to be straightforward, and that’s changing now and change feels scary, I deeply and completely love and accept myself and how I feel.
Even though Fruition is changing, and the model is still evolving and this feels uncertain, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.
Tap Around the Points I
This change (Crown Point)
This uncertainty (Eyebrow Point)
This scary unknown (Side of Eye)
It was clear before (Under Eye)
And now it’s changing (Under Nose)
How will it work now? (Chin Point)
How will it work for me? (Collarbone Point)
How will we move forward together? (Under Arm)
Set Up Phrase II
Even though the old ways of doing business brought us here, they don’t feel right any more, and that’s uncomfortable, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.
Even though the old ways brought us together, those ways are changing and we’re not sure where we stand, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.
Even though we’re not sure what the new ways will look like yet, or where I’ll fit in, and that’s
uncomfortable, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.
Tap Around the Points II
This discomfort (Crown Point)
Feeling unsettled (Eyebrow Point)
This discomfort (Side of Eye)
This uncertainty (Under Eye)
Honoring the old ways (Under Nose)
Making space for the new (Chin Point)
Staying connected with Fruition (Collarbone Point)
Staying rooted in community (Under Arm)
Set Up Phrase III
Even though it feels like there is so much uncertainty as Fruition moves into the next phase, I now choose to remember that change is the law of life, and I deeply and completely love myself.
Even though the HOW of moving into the next phase isn’t crystal clear yet, I now choose to remember that the path unfolds once we’ve stepped on to it, and I deeply and completely love myself.
Even though the way isn’t clear yet, I now choose to remember that Seeds Know How to Change, and I deeply and completely love and accept myself.
Tap Around the Points III
Letting go of the old ways (Crown Point)
Leaving the old behind (Eyebrow Point)
Weaving a new way (Side of Eye)
A new way of supporting each other (Under Eye)
Seeds invite us to change (Under Nose)
Seeds know how to change (Chin Point)
We can learn from them (Collarbone Point)
This End is a new beginning (Under Arm)
Sow Seeds & Sing Songs,
and the Many Beings of Fruition