Discover the transformative power of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), also known as Tapping, with Robin Bilazarian, LCSW, DCEP, a licensed psychotherapist and certified EFT trainer. She was kind enough to sit down with the MysticMag team and share details about her work. We discussed what EFT is and what benefits it provides, as well as her book ‘Tapping the Mighty Mind’. Enjoy!
Who is Robin Bilazarian? What can you tell us about yourself and your professional background?
I am a seasoned, licensed psychotherapist who has integrated mind-body techniques with standard talk psychotherapeutic techniques. I train other psychotherapists nationally and much of my caseload is other psychotherapists making me the psychotherapist’s psychotherapist. I am a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill Schools of Social Work and trained at Duke Medical Outpatient Psychiatry. I also spent 14 years as a therapist to the staff at a Regional Level One trauma Hospital and Medical School working in the Employee Assistance Program. I am also an author of a self-help integrative book. I completed compelling peer-reviewed published research demonstrating that the “Brief Energy Correction”, a 5-acupoints self-applied light touch, 90-second procedure reduced pain by 4 points in 39 people and simultaneously reduced 5.2 points in 36 participants of an upset they were experiencing (using a 10-point scale).
Can you explain Emotional Freedom Techniques and Tapping to people who never came across these terms before?
EFT Tapping is a self-applied Tapping or light touch on your face, hands, and upper torso that sends a calming signal to the brain, specifically the Amygdala. Sometimes called acupressure for the emotions, EFT Tapping has the capacity to remove the emotional cloud calming the emotional dysregulation so you can use your mature logical and intellectual self and pre-frontal cortex to problem solve. Imagine you are upset about an issue at work, school, or home, you are too overwhelmed emotionally to think it through. EFT Tapping will quickly lower your emotional temperature and the body’s physical reaction (ex. pounding heart, tight throat, queasy stomach) too. This calmness allows intelligent thought to dominate. Words can be added to specifically target and desensitize a specific issue, such as a phobia, an old memory, or a feared event. These techniques can be used for simple stress, crises, phobias, anxiety, social anxiety, OCD, and trauma and pain.
You are also a certified EFT trainer. Can you share a few details about that part of your work?
I have several national and international certifications. Through EFT International, I am a certified Master EFT Trainer with the authority to train and mentor others looking for certification. I also am a DCEP (Diplomate in Energy Psychology,) which demonstrates advanced proficiency. I have awards in this area too. I also train for PESI, the largest trainer of therapists in the USA, meaning I was traveling to 6 sites a month pre-covid and now train virtually monthly.
Why should people read your book “Tapping the Mighty Mind”?
A component of working in The Regional Trauma Hospital and Medical School was training medical staff on stress and communication techniques. This book encompasses several workshop materials from there including active listening, conflict resolution, stress management tools, and then, the newer mind-body tools that begin in Chapter 3. Later chapters show both traditional and integrative ways to address issues like anger management, conflict, trauma, pain management, and more.
Is there anything else about your work that you’ll like to share with your readers that we haven’t covered?
My website RobinEFT.net has 30 free youtube demos on how to use EFT Tapping for pain, stress, compulsive behaviors, anxiety, social anxiety, and more. My book will spell out for you how to use standard and complementary methods. The website will show you examples. It can be used by anyone. A good example is that I calmed my boss’s daughter down on her fear of parking during the driving tests. This teen then taught it to 20 of her peers with the same fear. You use these methods to eliminate anything that is in the way of progressing toward your goal.
A word about pain management – EFT and Tapping are needleless applications of acupuncture, a proven pain management technique. EFT Tapping can release pain and this has important implications in the battle against the Opioid Epidemic; to be used to prevent Opioid use, to replace Opioid use in Relapse Prevention of Addicts, and for chronic pain. There are several videos on how to use EFT Tapping for pain management including a 25-minute live demo of serious pain from cancer surgery to no pain at one-year follow-up. Some pain releases are completed in under 5 minutes.
