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TAT
Using TAT to release trauma PDF Print E-mail

What is Trauma?

Thoughts are real things with real energy. When they attempt to deny reality, they create negative energy patterns that impact your life and your health by causing your energy to stagnate. From the view of Traditional Chinese Medicine, a blockage of energy creates disease. If you think of the blockage as a boulder in your body's life flow, you can easily imagine that the life energy that would naturally be flowing along certain streams is going to be diverted. On the upstream side of the boulder, there will be dammed up energy, on the downstream side you will find a lack of energy. This creates emotional, mental and physical disharmony which is known as a yin-yang imbalance. On one side is too much, on the other is not enough. The goal of Traditional Chinese Medicine is to achieve balance.

A trauma occurs when life becomes unbearable and you tell it "No." Variations on this theme include: "Hold it right there;" "This is too much for me;" "If this happens, I won't survive." This is not necessarily a conscious choice, but it is a natural one at that moment, and it sets up patterns of mental, emotional, and physical behavior. Traumatic stress is the stress to your system of continually trying to hold off the experience of a trauma. The event really did happen.

Traumatic stress ends when the trauma is no longer resisted. Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on the ancient concepts of Taoism. One of the primary concepts that will help you understand how TAT works is yin and yang. These represent any two opposites. Yang symbolizes light, yin darkness. Yang is active, yin is solid or static. In the case of trauma, one side is you, the other is your trauma. If you are in a situation of holding the trauma away from yourself, you have stagnation in the flow of life. Yin and yang are meant to alternate in a dynamic flow of natural movement and change.

If you consider yourself as the "victim" of a trauma and the other(s) involved in the trauma as "perpetrator,” and that this is an absolute, then no movement can occur. Within yin, there is a bit of yang. Within yang, there is a bit of yin. Yin and yang together symbolize the moving, dynamic whole. You are both yin and yang, not just one or the other. When you deny the existence of any part of your Self, then life comes to a standstill. You become cut off from life and from yourself. Your only company is your trauma.

How Does TAT Help?

You have the power to change your relationship with a trauma by directly engaging it through TAT. TAT is a way of saying to your whole body-mind: "Have another look at this." It is an opportunity to change, based on taking a new look rather than continuing to look away. By taking another look, within the context of TAT's direction of the body's energy flow, the energetic charge that is still being held is removed from the past event and the event can be integrated into your whole system.

There are many ways to describe the results of TAT. Integration, harmony, peace, unity, connectedness, relatedness, oneness and wholeness are a few of the terms people have used to express how they feel after doing TAT. I would say that TAT reunites a person with parts of himself or herself that have been locked away or frozen in time. In the following section on cellular memory, we will look at that concept in greater depth.

TAT gives you the opportunity to connect with the great flow of life once again. The experience you have doing TAT is of wholeness. This means that you and the trauma, or the victim and the perpetrator, are both experienced as a whole. There is a sense of oneness rather than separation. When you are no longer in a condition of isolation, your traumatic stress ends and there is peace. This can also be called the harmonization of yin and yang, which in Taoism is represented by the T'ai Chi symbol.

Applying TAT to Cellular Memory

A trauma happens, and a person's response is, "That's too much for me," the implication of that inner statement is, "I'll get to it later, file it away, and face it when I can, when it isn't life-threatening." But we seem to put off forever something that we don't want to deal with now, and the trauma that we put off stays with us. We can put time and distance between us and the event, but the experience is still on hold. The illusion is created in our minds that it is in the "past" and that we are now in control of our lives.

However, the more we keep a trauma locked in the so-called past, the more strongly we are connected to it, and the more traumas we hold off like this, the more narrow and limited our lives become. TAT dissolves the separation between "that" and "me." The energy that holds it off dissolves and you are left with the memory, but no distortion or "boulder" in your energy field. When I work with people, I have a quiet conversation with the cells of their bodies and the memories that are stored there.

As I mentioned earlier, a body does not suddenly come into being out of pure nothing. It has parents and grandparents and great-grandparents, and back and back and back for millions of years. If the chain had ever been broken, that body would not be here today. These conversations happen as the results of my willingness to simply hear the history of the body in front of me. In my work as an acupuncturist, I see the body as an energy field that can become cluttered with pockets of stagnant energy or be open and allow its own and other energies to flow freely through it.

The cells in which old traumas are stored operate in a survival pattern that is based on something that is no longer real or current for anyone but the person maintaining the pattern. When an unresolved trauma impedes the flow of energy in the body, that energy usually becomes stored or stuck in a particular part of the body, often the organ that is most directly associated with the trauma. It might be the lungs' memory of coal dust, the heart's memory of a deep betrayal, the stomach's memory of poisoned food, the back of the head's memory of a crushing blow, and so forth.

When TAT is applied to a cellular memory, it does not erase the memory, it removes the traumatic stress and allows the person to deal with life as it is now. For instance, the lungs of a person with environmental illness may be remembering a time when breathing the dust of dry fields or coal mines made the ancestor's body very ill. When the old traumatic stress is gone, the cells of the lungs may find they are perfectly capable of dealing with current stresses.

 
TAT Instructions Chart PDF Print E-mail
Here are the instructions for you in a chart form:

The Steps of TAT for Healing a Trauma

Intention: The healing I am about to do will also benefit all of my ancestors, my family, everyone involved, all parts of myself and all points of view I have ever held.

(Step 1) The Problem

This happened.

(Step 2)

The Opposite of the Problem This happened, it’s over, I’m okay and I can relax now.

(Step 3) The Places

All the places in my mind, body and life where this has been stored are healing now. You do not need to know what all the places are; just make the intention that they’re healing now.

(Step 4) The Origins

All the origins of this are healing now. You do not need to know what all the origins are; just make the intention that they’re healing now.

(Step 5) Forgiveness

I apologize to everyone I hurt related to this and wish them love, happiness and peace.

It is not necessary to think of each person involved; just make the intention of forgiveness with your heart.

I forgive everyone who hurt me related to this and wish them love, happiness and peace. I forgive everyone I blamed for this, including myself.

(Step 6) Parts

All the parts of me that got something from this are healing now.

(Step 7) Whatever’s Left

Whatever’s left about this is healing now.Review the original problem to see if there is any aspect that still has an emotional charge for you. If there is something, do TAT about that before proceeding.

(Step 8) Choosing

I choose (whatever positive outcome you want related to this).

(Step 9) Integration

This healing is completely integrated now.Move whichever hand was in the front position to the back and vice versa and put your attention on: This healing is completely integrated now.Encircle your right ear with your right fingertips and your left ear with your left fingertips and put your attention on: This healing is completely integrated now.Lastly, I recommend that you give thanks to whomever or whatever you feel did the healing for you – God, Mother Nature, Holy Spirit, Divine Love, etc.

Using SUDS To Test Your Changes

For the first few sessions you do on yourself, you might want to rate the intensity of the problem before the session, using a scale of 0-10. With ‘0’ indicating ‘no stress’ and ‘10’ indicating ‘the worst possible’, rate how you feel when you think of the negative thought or past incident expressed in your Problem Step (Step 1). At the end of the session, use the same scale and rate the problem again. Compare your before and after rating. Of course, the real test for how effective TAT is will be the changes you see in your life. With some sessions, you may feel immediate, big shifts – a weight that suddenly lifts from your shoulders, a dramatic easing of pain or tension. Other times the changes might be much more subtle. One day, you may realize that you simply haven’t thought about a problem for weeks, when it used to be on your mind every day. You may find yourself in the midst of doing something that you would never have dreamed possible a day earlier, and now you’re doing it easily without a second thought. All of these changes contribute to your living a happier life.
 
Quick TAT Tips PDF Print E-mail

If you are doing TAT for the first time, put your attention on the following while you are in the Pose:

TAT is too easy to work or be of any value.

TAT is easy and could work and be of great value.

I deserve to live and I accept love, help and healing.
  • Do each step for a minute or until you feel done. Don’t worry if you don’t feel anything.
  • Drink plenty of water when engaging in any energy technique.
  • Breathe deeply to help move the energy.
  • Limit your time in the Pose to 20 minutes per day.
  • You can rest your arms whenever you need to even during a step.
  • Any hand can be in front.
  • Eyes can be open or closed.
  • You can lie down while doing TAT and crossing your ankles can assist the process for some people.
  • If emotions become stronger stay in the Pose and gently bring your attention back to the step you’re working on.
  • Do not re-live events. Keep your focus on the step.
 
The Steps of TAT PDF Print E-mail

At the beginning of a session, make the intention that the healing you are about to do will also benefit of all of your ancestors, your family, everyone involved, all parts of yourself and all points of view you have ever held.

If you’ve never done TAT before, do the TAT pose and put your attention on each of these three statements, for a few seconds to about a minute:

TAT is too easy to work or be of any value.

TAT is easy and could work and be of great value.

I deserve to live and I accept love, help and healing.

Now you’ll learn the Steps of TAT. With each Step, hold the TAT Pose and put your attention on the thought expressed in that Step for about a minute or until you’re done. Indicators that you’re done can include a sigh, a sense of not being engaged with the problem anymore, your attention wandering, an energy release, or simply a feeling of being done. Some people don’t notice any change and simply sit with each Step for about a minute. Children may only need a few seconds for each Step.

The Problem -- Step 1

This Step is infinitely variable and can be worded to fit any number of different situations. Here is what you use to heal a trauma from your past.It is important to know that when you’re working with TAT on an incident from the past, it is not necessary nor is it recommended to relive or re-experience past events in order for them to be healed. In fact, you don’t even have to specifically describe the event. I often recommend that my client just refer to the event as “this”.

The wording in this case would then be:

This happened. If it helps you to be more detailed, you may. In that case, you could say:

______ happened.

Just fill in the blank with your description, such as “The time that I fell happened” or “The wreck happened”.

The Opposite of the Problem -- Step 2

Step 2 is a companion to Step 1, and it, too, is infinitely variable. Keep in mind that when you put your attention on the opposite of the problem, you are not being asked to believe the statement, just simply to be with that thought or possibility. When you use TAT to heal an incident from the past, you can use the statement:

This happened, it’s over, and I’m okay. I can relax now.

Even if you still feel very emotional and “not okay” about the situation, you can still use this step. The “I’m okay” phrase here refers to that eternal part of you that is unaffected by the events of this life and is always and forever okay. For an ongoing situation, you can say:

This is happening and I’m okay.

The Places – Step 3

Traumas and negative thoughts can become stuck or lodged in different parts of the body or in an external location such as a house or a city or country where the event happened, a specific season or even in a group or race of people. These resonances or storage spaces are different for each person, and each trauma may be stored differently. You don't need to be aware of all the places where the problem has been stored; you simply need to be open to their being healed while you do TAT.

To do this Step, put your attention on:

All the places in my mind, body and life where this has been stored are healing now.

The Origins -- Step Four

rigins can include anything that happened to you at any time, anywhere, that brought about the existence of your problem: events from childhood, things that happened to other people that touched you, dreams, memories, unconscious impressions, cellular memories...whatever happened to you. You don't need to be aware of what the origins are; simply have the intent to heal them. For this Step, put your attention on:

All the origins of this are healing now.

Forgiveness -- Step 5

There are actually three parts to this step: forgiving others, asking forgiveness for yourself, and absolving anyone you blamed for the problem. It is not necessary to think of each person involved; just make the intention with your heart to forgive. Forgiveness is incredibly important. Harboring anger, hatred, or ill-will towards another person keeps you tied to them, constantly uses a portion of your energy, and prevents you from moving on with your life and living in happiness.Please understand that when you forgive someone, it does not mean that you condone what they did or that you want to be in a current or close relationship with them. You may find that you choose to renew relationships with people after you heal the incidents from the past and have forgiven them for whatever they did, or you may not. There are some people with whom it would not be safe for you physically, mentally, or emotionally to be in contact. It is important that you take care of yourself. It is also important that you dissolve your negative connection with those people, and forgiving them will help you do that. There may be times when you forgive someone else purely for you own sake and not for theirs.

Focus on each of the following three statements, one at a time:

I apologize to everyone I hurt related to this and wish them love, happiness and peace.

I forgive everyone who hurt me related to this and wish them love, happiness and peace.

I forgive everyone I blamed for this, including God and myself.

Parts -- Step 6

Sometimes, a part of you is benefiting in some way from having this problem you are working on. Perhaps it is the part of you that thinks that if this problem heals, you won’t have much in common anymore with a dear friend, or that you will have to make big life changes that you don’t want to make, or that it will somehow be dangerous for you. Whatever the resistance is, this step will help heal it and bring you to peace and wholeness.The wonderful thing about TAT is that you don’t have to know the best, specific way for the Steps to be applied; it happens naturally. You just hold the Pose, put your attention on the Steps, and then get out of the way. The wording for this step is:

All the parts of me that got something from this are healing now.

If you still feel that there is some resistance to the healing, do the Pose and have a conversation (silent or out loud) with the part of you that is resisting. The part may be a child part or a protector part, or it may be a physical part, like your stomach. Even if you don’t know what the part is, that’s okay: have a conversation anyway. Assure that part that the past is over and it can relax now.

Whatever’s Left -- Step 7

If you feel there might be some little bits from the original problem that have not completely healed, put your attention on:

Whatever’s left about this is healing now.

Many people find it is a nice, cleaning up step that feels good to do in each session. Now review your Problem Step (Step 1) and see if there’s anything that still feels stuck about it. You may find that you have another side issue or thought that surfaces now. If so, do TAT on that. Often the first two steps are enough.

Choosing -- Step 8

For this step, envision whatever positive outcome you would like for this issue. In the example about a fear of performing, you might now picture yourself on stage and being very calm. It’s very effective to involve yourself as much as possible in this Step. Describing it aloud incorporates both speaking and hearing into the healing process. Also, feel what it would be like – your heart beating steadily, the sense of relaxation, and your smile of contentment. Feel your performance with everything going smoothly, just as you would like it to.If you would like words for this step, put your attention on:

I choose (whatever positive outcome you want related to this).

Integration – Step 9

This step is for completely integrating the healing from this session into your body-mind system. There are three parts to it. First, put your attention on:

This healing is completely integrated now.

Next, switch the position of your hands so that the front hand moves to the back and the hand from the back moves to the front. Put your attention on the statement again. Now, put your hands around your ears as though you are cupping them. Put your thumbs just behind where your earlobes attach to your neck, and your little fingers where the tops of your ears attach. The rest of your fingers spread out to touch the skin just behind your ear. Lastly, I recommend that you give thanks to whomever or whatever you feel did the healing for you – God, Mother Nature, Holy Spirit, Divine Love, etc.

That’s it. The Pose and Steps are the foundation of TAT. People often describe it as being elegantly simple yet amazingly effective. It’s been called a “portal of grace”.
 
The TAT Pose PDF Print E-mail

With one hand, lightly touch the tip of the thumb to the area above the inner corner of your eye. With the fourth finger (ring finger) of the same hand, lightly touch the tip of the finger to the same area on the inner corner of the other eye.Place the tip of the middle finger at the point midway between the eyebrows.  
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Disclaimer

While EFT and other Energy Therapies in this website have produced remarkable clinical results, they must still be considered to be in the experimental stage and thus practitioners and the public must take complete responsibility for their use of it. This Website is not intended as a substitute for the medical recommendations of physicians or other health-care providers. Rather, it is intended to offer information to help the reader cooperate with physicians and health professionals in a mutual quest for optimum well-being.