Teaching EFT to 6th Graders

By Christine Metawati CCHT, RMT,EFT-ADV, EFTCert-I

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I had the opportunity to teach EFT to a group of 6th graders at my daughter's school.  What a delightful and enlightening experience it was! The children were an enthusiastic audience and were surprisingly open to learning a new and strange-looking tool to help them shift from "Yuck to Yeah!"

During the days preceding the presentation, I noticed that I was feeling really nervous about teaching EFT to a bunch of 11-13 years olds.  I have taught  EFT to adults many times, so it was really interesting for me to notice how anxious I felt about teaching this younger audience. I found it odd to feel that way.  So, I tapped for myself:

Even though I have only made EFT presentation to adults and I don’t have any experience giving presentations to a group of 11-13 years old children, I don’t know how to make things interesting to them…
Even though I don’t know how the children will accept EFT…
Even though I have this powerful inspiration, and I feel conflicted between following it and ignoring it…
Even though I should not have approached the teacher to offer to teach EFT to the class…

Lo and behold, several old memories of past presentations I had given to children popped in my mind.  I had forgotten about them!  The memory with the strongest emotions attached was when I was in the 6th grade myself. I was writing some schoolwork on the blackboard, and when I turned around to face the class, there were a bunch of kids who were whispering and pointing at me!  I didn’t know why they were laughing, but I remembered feeling so outraged and embarrassed.  I tapped for those memories:

Even though I hated my 6th grade classmates’ whispers when I was making my presentation to them and I am afraid of the children doing the same thing to me in this presentation, I might lose my cool like I did in my 6th grade class, and embarrass my daughter…

Even though I am afraid to see their contemptuous looks, 6th graders can be so vicious, you know…

Even though I forgot I am an adult now, not another 6th grader myself, I choose to allow myself to feel calm and relaxed when I am presenting EFT to them.  We might just have a lot of fun together.

Even though I felt so angry at those ungrateful kids in my 6th grade…

After the rounds of EFT, I felt a lot of relief.  In fact, I felt so clear and I felt a surge of energy.  I also received new inspirations.  I was powered with a clear vision of how I could teach the class in an interesting, fun and engaging way.  What was more amazing was that I had the profound clarity of the real reason why I wanted to teach them EFT to begin with: I love these kids!  I have known these kids since they were in 2nd grades, and I believe that EFT would be a great asset for them as they navigate their teenage years.

I scoured the EFT website for suggestions on how other EFT practitioners have taught EFT to children.  The article from Don Blackerby: Turning Students On to EFT, was extremely helpful to me.

The homeroom teacher and I agreed to present the EFT class in 2 sessions of 45 minutes each.  I would teach EFT basics on the first session, and do a follow up in the second session a week later.  I divided the first session into three parts.

The First Class

Part 1: Introduction to the human energy system using audio, kinesthetic, visual aids.

The Audio Aid: I started everyone thumping on the collarbone and chest.  I invited them to go “Aaaaah” just like Tarzan would, allowing their voices to ring out clear and strong.  That itself was a powerful way to release the tension held in the body.  The children felt the uplifting of their energy.  They were immediately more present, energized and eager to learn.

The Kinesthetic Aid: Inspired by Don’s article, I asked for several volunteers to demonstrate the affect of thoughts and emotions to the body.  I asked a volunteer to say something true like his name or age, while extending one of his arms out, and I pressed gently down on the extended arm (muscle testing).  The children witnessed that the pressed arm held strong.  Then, I invited the volunteer to say something untrue, and again I pressed his extended arm, and the arm went weak.  The children loved this exercise.  We did it with positive vs. negative thoughts, with something they like vs. they dislike (food is a great one, here).  The idea was to show the children that their body is responsive to their thoughts and emotions.

Then, I introduced the concept of Chi or Life Force flowing through us, animating us.  I jokingly asked if I were to drop dead right now, what part of me would be gone?  I explained that there is a life force flowing through me while I am alive, and when I am dead, the life force simply stops flowing through me.

The Visual Aid: I cut a lemon in half and squeezed the juice out of one half.  Then, holding the squeezed lemon up, I asked the children whether I would get as much juice out of this squeezed lemon as I would have from a freshly cut lemon.  They all clearly saw I wouldn’t.  I explained that when we are strained, tired, overwhelmed, stressed, sick, feeling yucky, scared or all knotted up inside, we feel a lot like the squeezed lemon: we don’t have much left to give out.  The children were quick to see the importance of re-charging themselves, of taking care of themselves, to clear their knots and yucks, so that their “juices” were up and full again.  At this point, I invited them all to learn a new way to recharge and refuel their energy system so they can fill up their juices again with EFT.  All were enthusiastic to learn.

Part 2: Teaching the mechanics of EFT:

- Using a slide showing the Chinese Meridian System, I pointed out the various meridian pathways going through the body, and spoke very briefly about acupuncture as a healing art going back thousands of years ago and how acupuncture has been very useful in helping people heal by clearing the blockages and imbalances in the meridian pathways.

- Using a slide showing the tapping points of EFT (the short cut version: KC, points of face and under the arm, plus top of head) I walked them through the tapping points.

- I explained the concept of the yin and yang.  How all of nature seeks balance and thrive when balance is achieved.  I explained the setup statement as a rebalancing process.  In the first part of the setup statement, we acknowledge the problem, then on the second part of the setup statement, we acknowledge and recognize the goodness in them. I used the simple statement: Even though I ---(whatever issue), I am a good boy/girl.  I explained to them that they could create whatever positive statement that worked better for them.

Part 3: Experiencing EFT through group tapping:

I asked the children for a topic to tap as a group, and they chose: “Doing Homework Sucks” as the title of their topic. I went around the room and asked for their intensity level about doing homework, and they generally scaled at an intensity level of 8 to 10 - During our tapping, what came up were many interesting aspects:

I always have to do things I don’t want to do

I would rather do something else, but don’t have a choice

I feel angry and tired

I don’t have much freedom

I feel overwhelmed

I feel scared

Homework is child-abuse

I explained I like to tap in positive rounds as well. So, we tapped in:

What if I could relax about homework?

What if I could develop a new attitude about homework?

What if homework wasn’t created to limit my freedom but to build my strength? (I could feel the resistance here…)

What if I could just find a way to do homework that feels easy and relaxing for me?

What if homework could be fun? (Some eyebrows were raised in disbelief, but they diligently tapped anyway…)

At the end of several rounds, I checked their intensity level.  Only about 4 people experienced a shift on this subject in a class of 31 people.  While I felt disappointed, I let that go, reminding myself that even if only 1 person in the class benefited from EFT, I have accomplished my mission!

As a parting gift, I gave each of them a 4x5 card printed with an image of the EFT tapping points on the face and head, with an example of the setup-statement.

The Second Class

A week later, I returned to the classroom to a bunch of bright and eager faces.  I asked them whether they had a chance to use EFT and how their homework experience was since our tapping last week.

One girl said that she tapped when her brother bothered her and she felt better.  She was really pleased to have this tool.  Another girl said that after the previous week’s tapping on homework, she had done more homework than she needed to, and found that she was happy to do so.

In this second session of EFT, I explained the benefit of using EFT to boost performance and for helping release the anxiety of upcoming events, such as tests.  I gave them several examples of how EFT can neutralize the fear that gets in the way of one’s realizing one’s full potential.  We did a group tapping process again.  This time I asked each of them to write down what they were worried about that was coming up for them, and measured the intensity.

We tapped with the generic phrase, Even though I have this problem, I am a cool kid anyway, and I am open to feeling relaxed and be at peace.  After one round, some children noticed their intensity went down.  We did two more rounds and I took the pulse of the group again.  Most said that they felt very relaxed.  Some kids experienced a complete relief while some didn’t.  I suspect because they had globally stated their issue.

I ended the presentation with a slide “SHIFT HAPPENS,” which got a lot of attention.  Borrowing Don’s brilliant closing summary, I explained that negative emotions is a part of life and releasing negative emotions give them access to their more powerful states of being.

Two days after my last presentation to the class, I was surprised when I was presented with a stack of thank you notes that they had written.  I wasn't expecting anything from them so I was very moved and deeply touched by their gesture of appreciation.

Here are some of the notes from the class:

• "Thank you for teaching us about EFT. It helped me a lot when I didn't want to do my homework."
• "Thank you so much for coming into our class and teaching us about EFT. I have used it a lot, whenever I am annoyed or scared. I especially liked the activity with the lemon juice. I found it a lot easier to understand when you use visual."
• "Thank you Christine for showing us EFT. We had a test in the afternoon and EFT really helped me."
• "Thank you for coming to our class and teaching us EFT. I learned a lot about how to calm down. The tapping really works. Like once I was looking at my driveway and it looked ugly. I did the tapping and it didn't look as ugly."

From the homeroom teacher:
"EFT- it's been working for me at a personal level...thanks so much!"

I simply loved how one of the children just came right up to me and shared with me: "I showed my mom EFT, and now when she feels stressed about her work, she taps. She even made a copy of my little EFT card." I was so thrilled at how warmly the children took to EFT and experienced for themselves this awesome healing tool!

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Author's Bio:

Christine Metawati offers EFT with a spiritual bend. She believes that healing comes from within and that life challenges guide each person to align himself/herself with the best that she/he can be. Christine uses EFT to help clients improve their relationship with themselves, and reconnect with the amazing guidance and resources within them. Besides seeing clients in her Oakland office, she offers phone EFT sessions, teaches EFT workshops and hold teleclasses on various topics.

Specialties: Children's Issues, General EFT Practitioner, Self Image, Spiritual matters, Stress & Anxiety, Women's Issues

1 Comment

Linda Arnold
Posted October 17, 2011 08:58 PM

Could you please e-mail me the 4x5 card with the EFT tapping points and setup statements. Thank you!

Very interesting

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