EFT & Eco-Meditation
Dawson Church, PhD, is a pioneering figure in the field of energy psychology. He's renowned for his groundbreaking research on Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) and his exploration of the profound connection between mind, body, and health. He is also the founder of The National Institute for Integrative Healthcare, a leading-edge nonprofit evolving the worlds of psychology and medicine, having already discovered validated techniques shown to rehabilitate most cases of PTSD and drastically improve other mental health problems. (https://niih.org/ , I feel obligated to point out their Flower of Life logo.)
Some 300,000 US military personnel returning from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan were estimated to be positive for posttraumatic stress disorder. In 2006 a study took place in efforts to find an efficacious way to handle this influx of needed mental care. 24 combat veterans diagnosed with PTSD received 12 sessions of cognitive restructuring and exposure therapy. 40% of the subjects in the study, after the sessions, no longer met the criteria for PTSD. Half showed no improvement, and comorbid symptoms such as behavioral avoidance, anxiety, and depression did not improve. This study produced some of the most hopeful results for treating the tricky nature of PTSD. Researchers and clinicians faced a clinical dilemma in that evoking combat memories during treatment risked retraumatizing subjects instead of releasing their negative affects and allowing healing.
Dawson Church conducted a similar experiment, with a similar sample size of veterans, to look into the effectiveness of EFT in treatment for PTSD. Emotional Freedom Techniques are a form of brief exposure therapy that use both your mind and your body. It borrows elements from established cognitive and exposure methods but adds in the novel element of somatic stimulation(tapping on acupressure points). Tapping on these acupressure points helps to calm the body's stress response and regulate the nervous system. The science behind it, in a nutshell, is that trauma greatly affects our mid and hind brain. The midbrain and hindbrain are some of the oldest parts of the brain in evolutionary terms. They are often referred to as the "reptilian brain" or "the primitive brain" because they developed early in the course of our evolution. The forebrain grew over these and allowed more complex cognitive functions with the basic survival mechanisms governed by the older brain structures. To put things in perspective, the cerebral cortex in humans, the largest part of the forebrain, is only around 2-3 million years old. The mid and hind-brain are an estimated 500 million years old. These ancient structures within us are quite powerful, and we have only scratched the surface of this new biological machinery overlaying them. Part of what comes with this forebrain is the capacity for language. During trauma, the brain undergoes significant changes in how it processes information. This can affect the functioning of the forebrain, particularly the prefrontal cortex, which is a critical part of our newly evolved higher-order thinking, decision-making, and emotional regulation abilities. When trauma affects us, the mid and hind brain activate making it difficult for language to reach us. These structures were never developed to work with words, they are primarily responsible for our immediate survival. What we need is touch to calm these systems down. Think of a dog that is barking at the neighbor's car door being closed. You can sit there and tell them to stop barking, the neighbor just got home from work, that's it, but you're never going to reach them. You have to go over and pet them to calm them down. By integrating EFT into therapy that reactivates trauma and is therefore restimulating the mid and hind brain regions, you are able to reduce the effect that this primitive security system has on you. The brain is able to recollect memories while the body stays in the parasympathetic nervous system, not being carried away by intense emotions that dissociate and are extreme.
"After recalling a traumatic incident, the subject identifies a distress score on a Likert-type scale ranging from 0 (minimum) to 10 (maximum), referred to as subjective units of distress (SUDs; Wolpe, 1973). The subject pairs the traumatic memory with a self-
acceptance statement, for example, ‘‘Even though I had to shoot the kid who ran toward my Humvee wearing an explosive vest’’(memory), ‘‘I deeply and completely accept myself’’ (self-acceptance statement). The subject then taps on a sequence of points on the body. Repeated sequences of EFT tapping may be performed until the subject’s self-reported SUD goes to a 0, indicating no emotional intensity associated with the traumatic memory." Site Unreachable
The control group(SOC/WL) in this study underwent their regular standard of care(SOC), the therapeutic approach already provided to the subjects by a licensed health care facility. This was usually a clinician from the Veterans Health Administration hospital. They were placed on a waiting list (WL) to receive EFT interventions.
In the experimental sample group, 6 1-hour long EFT coaching interventions were delivered as a complementary and supportive supplement to the standard of care (SOC) they were already undergoing.
After six weeks of EFT sessions, there was an average reduction of 63% in PTSD scores. About 90% of participants in the EFT group no longer met the clinical criteria for PTSD after the six weeks of EFT treatment, compared to only 4% in the control group who received only standard care during that time. After the six-week waiting period, the control group participants were then given the opportunity to receive EFT interventions.
The PCL-M, or PTSD Checklist–Military Version, is a 17-item self-report tool that assesses PTSD symptoms in adults related to stressful military experiences. This was used to measure the subjects eligibility for the diagnosis of PTSD. Here are the results of the two groups combined.
"PCL-M clinical symptom scores showed that after three sessions, 60% of the combined SOC/WL and EFT sample (30 of 50) no longer met the cutoff for PTSD. At the end of the intervention, 85.7% (42 of 49) no longer met the PTSD clinical diagnostic cutoff. This remained stable at the 3-month follow-up, with 85.7% (36 of 42) no longer meeting the criteria for PTSD. At the 6-month follow-up, 79.5% (31 of 39) no longer met the criteria"
These findings support the idea that non-pharmacological interventions like EFT can be effective in treating PTSD. EFT is simple and can be integrated into already existing treatment protocols to enhance their effectiveness. If this easy to learn tool can help veterans overcome severe mental health conditions such as PTSD, it can certainly help us to navigate difficult times in our lives. Imagine we taught this to kids in school.
Inside his course titled "Mystic Brain" on Mindvalley, Dawson introduces you to the concept of 'Eco-Meditation.' Eco-Meditation integrates practices such as mindfulness, heart coherence techniques, and EFT tapping. Each morning, with as little as 12 minutes a day, you can begin building, expanding, and strengthening neuro-circuitry associated with deep spiritual experience, peak performance, healing, and pleasureful chemical release. By practicing in this unique way, they've been able to shortcut the time it usually takes for someone to begin to access the benefits of meditation. Don’t have the leisure to go and spend 10 years in a mountain? Perhaps these techniques could help shortcut your way to the calmness you would find after mastering yourself in a cave.
“EcoMeditation produced extraordinarily high levels of Gamma Synchrony … participants acquired elevated brain states normally found only after years of meditation practice. EcoMeditation facilitated participants’ ability to induce and sustain the alpha brain waves characteristic of high-level emotional, mental, and spiritual integration.”
-Judith Pennington (EEG Expert)
Meditations in the course are centered around harnessing you brain to release neurochemicals. The states of consciousness which are experienced as a result of these different chemicals regularly flooding the brain are related to the mental environments from which mystics of tradition have spoken from, hence the course name. The beautifully thing about being a human being is that we have the ability to consciously choose to evolve ourselves. When cultivating these pleasurable emotions over time, they become traits. We don't just feel more blissful as a temporary state, the changes literally begin to hard-wire into our brains, becoming stable and enduring parts of our personality. Dawson has you meditate on certain symbols, reactivate specific feelings and emotions through memory recall, tap different acupressure points across the body, and complete various visualizations. You don't run through every single one of those things from the jump, but instead, add on to and integrate previous methods into the meditations as you go along. You progress through a series of different meditations over the course of around 22 days. The ultimate goal is to develop and expand what he has termed "The Enlightenment Circuit"-associated with happiness, compassion, productivity, creativity, and resilience. You aren't going finish that in 3 weeks, but you may be surprised at just how fast the seeds given to start these different circuits within the mind begin to affect you(demonstrating the power of the methodology). These different meditations, visualizations, and techniques for interacting with the body and mind are oriented around stimulating the release of the '7 pleasure chemicals' : serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, beta-endorphin, anandamide, nitric oxide and norepinephrine. Dawson's research shows that by cultivating elevated emotional states we literally produce a self-induced high. When you have "The Enlightenment Circuitry" strongly grooved and running the show, you are constantly flying around on your own supply. Essentially, the premise of the course is that we can all experience tremendously wonderful states of consciousness through utilizing our ability to be the architects of our brains. By cultivating our inner garden, we can experience a consistent stream of the chemicals whose effects we are unconsciously spending our days tirelessly running towards - pleasure, love, focus, satisfaction, intensity, pain relief, and bliss. We won't need to escape our pains by downing drugs/alcohol which our society has regularized, and even made out to be cool. We don't have to look outwardly to external things for internal satisfaction. The Garden of Eden is still accessible - it just requires a little bit of cultivation.
Here is a bit about the 7 key neurochemicals which silently shape your life.
Dopamine - the pleasure chemical
Dopamine is our motivation molecule. It plays a role in all cravings, from chocolate to YouTube shorts, alcohol, and cocaine. It releases around the anticipation of a reward, not necessarily in the act of getting it. Very prominent in addicts, dopamine can even release more through the anticipation of drug use vs. actually consuming the substance. When we focus on creating a “felt sense” of desire, by utilizing our imagination to go through the motions of each of the 5 senses(touch taste sight smell sound), we can stimulate parts of the brain that activate this reward system. The temporal lobe controls our ability to smell and hear. The parietal lobe controls taste and touch. Finally, the occipital lobe controls vision. Link all 5 sensory channels to create a vivid "felt sense,” and boom, your brain thinks you are in the appropriate conditions necessary for this chemicals release. Effective meditation can raise dopamine in the brain by upwards of 65%.
How to get more?
Develop the feeling of “something amazing is about to happen!”, sinking deeply into the feeling of craving something you really want.
Cross an item off your to-do list
It doesn't have to be anything profound. Even crossing off something simple like fold the laundry or empty the dishwasher will stimulate you to release some dopamine.
Celebrate one of your accomplishments with a victory dance
Identify and collect satisfying objects
Universal law states we all know at-least one woman that is obsessed with crystals. That's dopamine.
Go bird watching.
Collect yu-gi-oh cards.
Get yourself some puzzles.
Go thrifting.
Listen to music that is emotionally activating it gives you the chills
Look at emotionally engaging art, maybe make it your screensaver for the next week.
Oxytocin the love chemical
Oxytocin is our love molecule - the cuddle chemical, or perhaps what you could refer to as the hug drug. Can also be thought of as you the tend and befriend hormone. It is found in all mammals. When a mother is holding her baby, both her and the infant are getting spikes of oxytocin. Released in concordance with intimacy, oxytocin plays a central role in relaxation, trust, empathy, sexual activity and relationship building. Touch, even something as small as shaking hands, begins to release oxytocin. In fact, there doesn’t even have to be any physical contact, emotional intimacy alone has the power to begin stimulating this hormones release. Oxytocin acts as both a neurotransmitter and a hormone, affecting our entire body. In men, oxytocin is linked with their ability to have an erection (it’s a hard drug.) In women, oxytocin levels may potentially be directly correlated to the intensity of their orgasm(s). Social groups, even virtual ones, begin to unlock the synthetization of oxytocin.
How to get more?
Say I love you to someone you love
Spend time with friends
Pet an animal. Oxytocin goes up from gazing into the eyes of a dog (theirs rises too).
Meditate with your focus on others through the lens of compassion or loving kindness.
Share a meal
Engage in positive social media usage
Give someone a present
Listen with full attention while making eye contact
Have Sex
Hug as much as possible
Practice yoga
Do random acts of kindness
Norepinephrine : the focus chemical
Norepinephrine, also known as noradrenaline, is the neurochemical of alertness and focus. Similar to oxytocin, and as we will see next serotonin, it plays a dual role as a hormone as-well. You could think of norepinephrine like our bodies natural caffeine. Norepinephrine is one of the keys to high performance and when it dumps into our system it can hit like a triple espresso. It enhances attention and gives both brain and body the energy it needs to take action. Norepinephrine accentuates one’s alertness and cognitive function, helping to sharpen their focus. Playing a crucial role in the body's fight-or-flight response, you can see bursts of this neurochemical release due to certain conditions. Under stress, large amounts of norepinephrine will release into the body creating anxiety and provoking one to do something to aid their survival. Sustained moderate amounts of this molecule, however, can be related to heightened attention and even euphoria. Notice the paradox? Norepinephrine creates both anxiety and attentive focus. The key is to get the right amount. How do we do this? Surrendering. Chronic stress can lead to excessive norepinephrine production, which in turn will make us even more anxious and contribute to further stress, leading us on a rollercoaster fueled by adrenaline. Dawson recommends that we use this intense focus ability to direct attention towards surrender. Norepinephrine makes us alert, awake and focused. When we direct these elements of the psyche to simply watch the fast moving activity occurring within, and then furthermore to the process of surrendering to it, this counteracts the anxious wandering mind. From here, we can then directly focus our attention onto the feeling of unconditional love and wellbeing in the body, using our norepinephrine to create more oxytocin!
How to get more?
Exercise while giving full attention to your body and its movements.
Jump into a cold shower/water. This can raise norepinephrine by as much as 2-3x in a matter of minutes.
Sit in a sauna, this can boost NP up to 3x.
Just like dopamine, small accomplishments increase norepinephrine (check something off your to-do list).
Get a good nights sleep.
NP levels rise in the morning to help us wake and fall in the evening to help us sleep.
It regulates melatonin.
Healthy sleep patterns make sure that these cycles are appropriate
Play your favorite music with 100% full attention. With a beginners mind listen to every note, listen to every detail, every texture, the depth and movement of it all.
Engage in an exhilarating activity that's pleasurable but requires you to focus a little bit.
Mountain biking, surfing, roller coasters, skydiving, kangaroo kick boxing. Drop in on a half-pipe. Steal a TV from your local Walmart (jk) etc.
Serotonin: the satisfaction chemical
Serotonin is the neurochemical/hormone responsible for our felt sense of satisfaction. It is what gives you that hit of happiness. Dopamine tells us "Go get it", while serotonin tells us - ahhhhhh, got it =). These two work hand in hand to help produce goal oriented behavior. Motivated by dopamine, we are then rewarded with serotonin. Serotonin helps modulate emotional responses and to regulate normal brain function. It contributes to our abilities for experiencing pleasure and maintaining a stable mood. High levels of serotonin lead to feelings of mental and physical well being. Low serotonin levels have been linked to irritability, aggression, impulsivity, and potentially violent behavior. Psilocybin is nearly identical in it's structure to serotonin. No wonder mushroom trips have tremendous effects on major depressive disorder symptoms. Cultivate this chemical consciously and begin to feel the magic naturally.
How to get more?
Get regular exercise
Walk, run, dance, ice skate
Spend time in nature. Fresh air increases blood flow and mycobacterium vaccae, commonly found in soil, has been found to increase serotonin. Sit under the morning sun for 10 minutes. High intensity light tells body to release serotonin
Give thanks, gratitude promotes the release of serotonin.
Review happy memories. More serotonin is produced when you review happy memories, and reviewing sad memories can actually lower serotonin production. Categorize them as movies and write them in a journal.
Listen to music you love
Hug someone for at-least 20 seconds
Massage your body
Nitric oxide: the intensity amplifier
Nitric oxide is the chemical of focused intensity. It is both a free radical and a gas, manufactured in the body from plant nitrates in your diet combined with antioxidants such as vitamin c. Nitrix Oxide is associated with alpha brain waves, where you’re feeling relatively calm and relaxed. It improves neuroplasticity by enhancing oxygen flow to the somatomotor cortex, a part of the brain that is vital for learning and memory. Nitric oxide is a by-product of oxytocin, so when we boost our oxytocin, the brain automatically synthesizes more. It promotes normal blood pressure, protects you from heart attacks, boosts immune function, is a broad-spectrum antibacterial agent, fights against inflammation, maintains fluid balance, protects against diabetes, improves athletic performance, and in men can help to promote bigger erections. Tiny molecule, big benefits.
How to get more?
Go over moments in your life where you were intensely focused on a goal. Times where you were ferociously focused, dial the intensity up to the max.
Breathe mindfully through your nose instead of your mouth.
Go through very brief but very intense workout. In as little as 5 minutes you can get your body to dump nitric oxide.
Watch comedy movies and laugh. Horror movies can actually decrease nitric oxide.
Beta-endorphin: the pain reliever
Beta endorphin is a powerful pain reliever produced by the pituitary gland. It is part of the endorphin family, molecules which dock onto opiate receptors in the brain to diminish or block the perception of pain. Under the influence of beta endorphin, physical distractions roll away and you feel good in your body. Brings you calming alpha and healing theta brainwaves. One study discovered that when injected directly into the brain, beta endorphin is over 17x more powerful a painkiller than synthetic morphine, and when injected via vein, is upwards of 3x stronger. The mystics brain feels no pain, and the good news is, you don't even need a prescription.
How to get more?
Focus on feeling really good. Give yourself permission to feel absolutely great. A lot of us are ambiguous about whether or not we are allowed to feel a bunch of pleasure, give yourself permission to feel full body ecstasy.
Do any type of aerobic exercise, get yourself that runners high
Do something nice for a stranger
Aid a friend
Donate time or money to a cause
Give yourself what has been called the "helpers high."
Laugh - Fully belly laughter, laughing until you cry
Have fun. Choose an activity that, for you, is pure fun. Engage in it regularly.
Take a sauna/hot shower
Have sex ; fall in love
Dance. Many dancers feel their aches and pains disappear as they go
Play an instrument that is pleasurable for you. If it's obligatory practice that feels like a chore it won't work.
Sing
Breathe deeply
Sniff lavender essential oil
Get a massage
Do yoga
Anandamide: the bliss chemical
Anandamide, the bliss molecule, has been associated with the feelings of ecstasy and joy. The name is taken from the Sanskrit word ānanda (आनन्द), which means “bliss, delight,” and amide, derived from its chemical structure. It is the brains own version of marijuana and fits into the same receptor sites as THC. Anandamide is part of the endocannabinoid system, a network of molecular docks throughout the brain and body. This system regulates many important bodily functions, including : pleasure and motivation, sleep, mood, appetite, digestion, metabolism, learning and memory, reproduction and fertility, inflammation and immunity, cardiovascular system function, and even the remodeling and growth of bone, nerves, muscle and skin. Anandamide is associated with high levels of theta and gamma brain waves. You don't have to wait for someone to pass you a doobie to get toasted, optimize your living and get stoned like a quarry au natural.
How to get more?
Embrace the feeling of ecstasy.
Journal about peak bliss states and relive those memories.
Get that runners high. Though endorphins play a huge role, research shows anandamide may be turbocharging that effect.
Immerse yourself in love. A bi- product of oxytocin synthesis, anandamide is automatically produced alongside the love chemical.
Do activities that get you into a flow state
Dial up the intensity of your meditations
Allow yourself to feel good. Dial it up to feel even better, and then dial it up some more.
Carry all these wonderful feelings into your daily life
Deal with your trauma
Move on to more advanced practices when you're ready.
I really love the way the course is structured. Dawson organizes your journey through learning about all of these neurochemicals by getting you to experience their effects first hand. The progression it follows gets you to stack neurochemicals optimally by sequencing what you do in the meditations. I would highly recommend it, but if you can't access Mindvalley you can find a free eco-meditation here, and everything you need to get started with tapping on his website.
EFT Tapping Tutorials - Tapping Guide - How to Do EFT Tapping Therapy
Interestingly, Dawson Church lost both his home and office building in the Santa Rosa fire of 2017. This was a major portion of the beginning part of his book Bliss Brain. All of Dawson's research and theories on modeling the brain were put to the test and his ability to find happiness and peace throughout the incident would be indicative of their effectiveness. An expert on healing the wounds of psychological trauma just stumbled upon a chance to gain a little more experience in the field. The catastrophe not only took away both buildings he centered his life around, but triggered health issues and a financial disaster as-well. In the book he talks about how using and teaching the meditation techniques throughout the tragedy gave him the ability to handle what would have been a terrible blow to... everything, and turn it into an opportunity for transformation and a test of resilience. The only object that survived the fire at the ETF University office, symbolic of all that occurred, was a small ceramic Buddha statue. Unfortunately, he and his wife did lose their twin Siamese cats, Apple and Pierre(RIP). They were however very grateful to be alive themselves, with the fire having claimed 22 lives, and almost their own.
"The important things-love, connection, compassion, awareness, trust, faith-cannot be destroyed. When everything around them is burned away by the fires of life, their outlines stand out more boldly." (Bliss Brain)
One of the members of our group, someone I had met the night that I talked about in the introduction, ended up going through his own version of this scenario. In the two months between the original talk which inspired me to start writing this, and the following get together, he had lost everything. The house which he built for himself a little distance from the city, along with everything in it. The entirety of his greenhouse/farm, and around 70% of his skin. All uninsured. From full self-sufficiency and his own little plot of paradise, to forced dependency, and nothing, not even the flesh to keep you warm at night(they literally had to keep him on heaters for a while). Having spent a decent bit of time studying spiritual and metaphysical matters in the 7 years leading up to the incident, it was as if in some subtle way he had been preparing for this disaster. The lessons which he shared and the techniques he used to get through it all paralleled what Dawson Church speaks about. His natural intuition, surrendered spiritual state, and understanding of the mind-body connection guided him to handle things in the same way that neuroscience supports. By the time we all saw him he was already out of the hospital, had recovered most of his skin, and was optimistic about the whole ordeal. Having found meaning in it all, grateful and moved by the tremendous amount of love and support that came forth during what was a time of great turbulence, he was ready to get back out there and start building things anew.