Norm Shealy, Md, PhD, endorses EFT

By removing emotional trauma, EFT helps heal physical symptoms too.

Norm Shealy, MD

Author of Soul Medicine.

Chasing the Pain - Deeper EFT Relief

Relieving Emotional Issues By Tapping On Related Physical Symptoms

The more experience you have with EFT Tapping the more you will see that bringing relief to your clients' emotional issues brings about a nearly simultaneous diminishing of their physical symptoms.  I mean headaches fade, back pains lessen, clogged sinuses drain, vision improves and thousands of other pains and discomforts begin to leave your clients' bodies.  These results are often so stunning that even people with serious diseases make progress where drugs, surgery, radiation and the like have failed (please consult qualified physicians for EFT's use in such cases).

And, as you are about to see, this emotional/physical link works in both directions.


Emotional Physical image
Emotional and Physical Issues Are Linked

Thus, instead of addressing emotional issues head on and watching the related physical symptoms dwindle, we can do the reverse by aiming EFT at its related physical symptoms and then watch the underlying emotional issues fade. Properly done, this splendid concept can avoid massive emotional distress and bring ease to an anxiety ridden client with little or no mention of the underlying emotional issue (except for testing at the end).

We call the process "Chasing the Pain" because, as we reduce or eliminate one pain (or discomfort), others show up and require EFT for their resolution.  In this way we chase these pains/discomforts around the body until they have subsided.  Then, when we ask the clients about the intensities of their emotional issues, they often shrug their shoulders and say, "I can't find it."

To give you a better sense of this idea, here is a brief video showing how I discuss and apply Chasing the Pain with Lilly. The reason I use it here is to take the edge off and manage the intensity of her abuse issues. 




 The idea behind this concept is that each physical symptom represents an aspect of the underlying emotional issue.  Thus, as we bring relief to each physical symptom, we are simultaneously bringing relief to an underlying emotional aspect.  So, when we finish with all the physical symptoms we have, theoretically, collapsed all the aspects.  That's a great theory, of course, and it often works that way in practice.  However, just because a client seems to be free of the emotional issue doesn't represent a guarantee that your work is done.  Further testing is in order to make sure the work is complete.

Although Chasing the Pain is usually customized to fit within a client session, here are some guidelines for proper use:

  1. If the issue is not already obvious, have your client identify an emotional problem (preferably a Specific Event) that is bothering him/her in some way, and ask for an intensity rating from 0-10.  This step is often unnecessary because the issue frequently becomes evident through normal conversation with your client, e.g. the mere mention of it brings obvious distress and thus it becomes a candidate for the relatively gentle Chasing the Pain process.
  2. Get as specific as possible with the description of that physical sensation … where exactly, how big, how deep, how wide, sharp, dull, tingling, tight, etc.
  3. Then ask the client to rate that physical sensation from 0-10.
  4. Use The Basic Recipe on the physical sensation until it either goes away or changes quality/location. (for example, “Even though I have this tension in my neck…”)
  5. If it changes quality or location, get a new description, a new intensity rating, and start a new tapping process until it goes away or changes again.
  6. Continue releasing all the various versions of the pain until there is nothing to report.  Then check on the intensity level of the underlying emotional issue/event and, chances are, there will be significant improvement. If not, look for other angles of the issue/event to address.
  7. Once the emotional issue/event appears to be gone, be sure to use the various testing methods you are learning in this Tutorial to uncover any remaining aspects.

The following video is a basic demonstration of Chasing the Pain.





In this article you learned Chasing the Pain which is a way to access emotional issues without articulating the underlying specifics.

  • Emotional distress is often expressed through forms of physical discomfort.
  • When a client has physical discomfort and clearly some emotional issue underlying it, we can start by addressing the physical discomfort with the Basic Recipe, and often the emotional issues will subside.
  • In theory, as one Aspect of the issue is resolved and another presents itself, the discomfort in the body will change in quality or location. Following, or Chasing, those symptoms as they change is a way to address those Aspects more specifically without having to articulate them.
  • Being very specific and detailed when describing the discomfort is an important feature of this tool.
  • Chasing the Pain can be used for a Tabletop Issue, a Specific Event, or as a way to minimize emotional pain in either scenario.
  • The work is not complete until you have been able to conduct Testing Methods on the issue or event you have addressed. In many cases you will need to address specifics before results are solid.


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