Archive for January 13th, 2010

Part of the mission for this blog is to help practitioners understand the world of Veterans and their families. Only if we understand what Veterans and military families are going through can we find ways to reach out effectively.

I have said many times that, no matter how good we might be in our field, connecting with a Veteran is always personal. Hardly ever is it possible to make an announcement and have many people show up and be interested.

Learning how to reach out, earning our access to the person and communicating in an appropriate way is important.

I just had the following communication with a military mother. She allowed for me to publish it with the hopes that she can help others understand.

I am very grateful for this, and pray that her son will reach out and get help whenever he is ready.

—

*Mother: I have been researching PTSD for sometime. I believe my Army Veteran son-age 27-would benefit from EFT. What do we do next? I am grateful for the information provided by your website and newsletters.

Comfort and joy,  S. Read the rest of this entry »

Returning home from combat is not as easy as many expect. Thinking of home feels wonderful, a safe and comfortable place, where things will “sort themselves out”. Many veterans can’t wait to get on the plane and head home, and neither can their relatives.
But it is important to recognize that just the physical change to leave for safer grounds doesn’t make the experiences, the combat stress, the often upsetting, overwhelming and traumatic memories, undone.
In the days, weeks or months after returning home from combat, many veterans report that the world seems to stand still, as if in slow motion. They still have the adrenaline rush going, and the very thing that often protected their lives, being able to always be alert and on guard, and ready to protect themselves and others, is now working against them.
In the beginning, this might feel like a normal adjustment period that can be expected after such a high adrenaline life in theater, but after a while, it often becomes clearer and clearer that the inner pressure, the hyper vigilance, the inner arousal fro combat stress doesn’t go away on its own. The high tempo in which the world seems to unfold for these men and women often causes conflicts with the rest of the family, who don’t understand or have difficulty coping with the changes they see in their soldier returning home from combat.
With EFT, we might have an opportunity to help a Veteran “de-stress”, lowering the inner pressure that the soldier feels, and helping him or her to relax.

Here are some tapping suggestions. You must read and agree to the disclaimer on this site to continue. Free EFT tapping chart.
Even though I feel like I’m going a hundred miles an hour, I deeply and completely accept that I’m safe now.
Even though I feel like things are going SO SLOW now, I choose to allow myself to remember what it felt like to be safe before I left
Even though I can’t stand the boring life right now, I need the kick and adrenaline rush, I deeply and completely accept myself anyway
TH: I can’t stand how slow things are going now!
IE: It is SO SLOW!
OE: Wake up people, you have to move a little faster!!!
UE: I can’t stand how SLOW this “outside world” is now
UN: I feel so much pressure inside, I HAVE to do something!
UL: There is so much pressure, and I just don’t feel safe to relax
CB: So much pressure inside
UA: I miss the action of combat so much
TH:Even though I know I should feel safe now, I miss the action

IE: I can choose to find a way to safely lower that inner pressure one step at a time
OE: I can choose to allow myself to realize that I am safe and so is my family
UE: I can choose to know exactly when I need to feel vigilant, and when I can relax
UN: And to realize that I will never loose my survivor skills that I have trained so hard to get
UL: I can choose to allow my system to remember its normal inner pace
CB: That I had before I left and that is good for me and the life I live now
UA: I can choose to allow myself to take a breath and release the excess adrenaline
TH: so that I can begin to claim my normal life back, one step at a time.

IE: I love how comfortable it is to relax
OE: I can actually take a breath and let some of this stres go!
UE: I love how easy and appropriate it can feel to know when I am safe and when I’m not
UN: And to trust that my training will always be there for me when I truly need it to survive
UL: But when I am safe and don’t hae to expect any danger
CB: I can allow myself to relax and enjoy
UA: I am so grateful that I can relax step by step
TH: Knowing with certainty when I am safe, and when I truly need my training.

Just see how this resonates with you, and change the wording to what works best for you.
Most of the Veterans I have coached with EFT after returning home from combat told me that they never needed their training again in civilian life, and that it was just their adrenaline that kept them going, not the reality of a present danger.