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Services
Working with the Central Coast Wellness Group, Shannan Selyem provides EFT in a professional yet friendly and relaxed environment. Personalized one-on-one sessions are available at offices in three locations and out-of-area phone sessions are welcome. Call for a free 15-minute phone consultation.
Telephone
If you live out of the area, have a busy schedule, or prefer to stay in the privacy of your home, a telephone session can be easy and convenient. Some clients have used this service from New York, San Francisco, Hawaii, or simply from across town.
Can a telephone session really be effective? Yes. All of the techniques can be learned over the phone. Also, the sense of privacy can help some bring up topics they may not otherwise. Clients express similar results and satisfaction to that of an office session even though they are on the train, in a hotel, at a friend’s home or on a work break.
For more information about sessions, as well as ways to talk inexpensively, please see what to expect.
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Office
If you live in San Luis Obispo County or nearby you can make an appointment for an office session.
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KATE
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Kate*, in passing, told me about an intermittent sensation she'd get in the inside of her forearm, describing it as a sensation under her skin that, when rubbed vigorously, would go away for a while. She also shared that she was recently having difficulty sleeping.
She was a bit perplexed about this, having never experienced something like this before. As we were talking, the sensation in her arm arose, allowing us opportunity to directly address any tension.
She had already been introduced to the tapping technique, so as she focused on the sensation in her arm, I tapped the main relaxation points.
After one round, she said the sensation was still there, but was much lower. We tapped again on the same relaxation points, focusing on "this remaining sensation in my arm." Afterward, she said that the sensation was now completely gone, but believed it would come back again. This feedback suggested that there were more areas of stress to explore.
Since she remembered having a stressful childbirth delivery a year earlier, she recalled what she thought could've been the stressful parts at that time. We tapped on the following:
- Upon arrival at the hospital room, the nurse's lax and uncaring manner
- Her bed not being made
- Thinking the nurses were unprepared
- The doctor’s seeming frustration with the nurses
- After delivery, remembering feeling sick, weak and dizzy
- Remembering a look on the doctor’s face when she told the doctor that it felt hard to breath
- Remembering the doctor pushing on her stomach to push stuff out of her womb
- The doctor reaching her arm into the womb to "scrape stuff out"
- The look on her husband’s face at that time
- The room filling with hospital staff and activity
- Remembering a "digging" feeling of different staff members trying to insert an IV into her arm, about 6 times before it worked
At this point, we both noticed the similarity between this IV experience and the sensation she was having in her arm. Then we tapped on some remaining parts of her experience.
As our session was ending, I suggested that she spend some time tapping on any more tension that could've surrounded her delivery.
When I saw her the next week, she shared that when she went to bed that same night, she felt the arm sensation start to begin, but just did a couple rounds of tapping and it went away ... she felt for good. She also had no difficulty sleeping.
When I spoke with her a year later, she told me her arm sensation never returned, nor any sleeping difficulty.
Next client example: Gary
*Name has been changed.
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GARY
Gary* would get squeamish when he would hear stories of people’s injuries and accidents. When I offered to tell him about the surgery I had on my leg, he immediately became queasy before I said another word. He wanted to reduce this reaction, but didn’t want to completely get rid of it, since he still wanted to show empathy for others in this way.
I suggested he pick a time when he felt squeamish around an injury. Working in the construction field, I knew he saw and experienced injuries from time to time. He picked the most recent injury he had to his hand, one that required many stitches and bandages.
I then suggested he pick what he thought could've been the most stressful part of the experience, so that there would be specific tension to reduce. He said it would be the moment when he saw his hand after the garage door tension spring grabbed a hold of it and unwound. He then tapped the relaxation points on his head, face and chest while he thought about this stressful moment.
As he was tapping the points on his face, he said that the picture of his hand was fading, and after one complete round of tapping, this stressful connection was completely reduced. "It’s like it didn’t happen", he said, sounding a little perplexed.
He then brought up different topics that he had stressful connections to, and we tapped on these for the remainder of the session.
The next time I saw Gary, he enthusiastically let me know that he doesn’t get as squeamish, even though he only tapped on one injury. He also noted that now he can talk calmly and easily about that injury to others.
Next client example: Janet
*Name has been changed. .
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JANET
Janet*, who works as a caregiver, told me there was stress surrounding her work environment. There was recent friction with her manager, and she felt stressed around her. This was not the first time that there was tension between them, and the stress was affecting her. Janet successfully reduced tension connected to the following:
- Her manager yelling at her
- The specific words the manager said
- The specific sensations about herself at that time
- Seeing her manager again
- The anticipation of the manager’s words to her again
- Speaking up to the manager
- Not enjoying her work
- How she would like to feel around her manager
When I saw Janet again, she said that she didn’t feel much stress when she saw her manager the next day. She was able to work around her manager the whole day feeling fairly calm and unaffected. Also, she said that the manager apologized to her and she didn’t feel any resentment, as she usually would have. This gave her a great feeling of freedom towards her manager. She was enthusiastic to use these techniques for other areas of stress in her life.
Next client example: Rebecca
*Name has been changed. .
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REBECCA
Rebecca*, in her 20’s, wanted better eating habits. When I talked to her, she felt a lot of stress. She had just been released from the hospital for a small bought of pneumonia and was glad to be away from the hospital scene. She said she was pleased that she lost some weight while there, but didn’t like the unappetizing hospital food.
She then expressed a strong desire to make up for it and eat some pizza. She wanted to reduce this tension, so while she tapped the points of her head and face, I had her do the following:
- Imagine the pizza that she wanted
- Describe it in every detail: How it looked, smelled and felt in her mouth
Some of her descriptive words were "cheesy, gooey, warm, mmm ..."
When she reached the relaxation points of the eye, she interrupted herself to express how good it felt to tap these points, as though she had never been touched there before. She continued tapping each eye point until she felt ready to move on.
As she got to the last eye point, she said that the pizza was disappearing and after one complete round of the face and chest, she was relaxed and didn’t want pizza anymore.
"Maybe it was just a craving," she said.
All of this took about five minutes. She said she wasn’t even hungry, as it wasn’t mealtime. She then began talking about other things that she had a stressful connection to. We tapped on these as well, as our time allowed.
As we ended, she had learned to use the same procedure we used for the pizza to reduce the stress surrounding any temporary craving that she didn’t want after thinking about it more.
Next client example: Sonia
*Name has been changed. .
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SONIA
Sonia*, who was married with children, said she sometimes felt heavy and weighed down. She said she didn’t know why, and this was also stressful for her. I suggested she think of a time and place in her daily routine where she typically felt this way. She picked when her husband came home from work. She started with the relaxation tapping while doing the following:
- Thinking of the last time her husband came home
- Recalling the specific sensations she experienced
- Noticing at what moment they seemed at their peak (this was when she heard him opening the front door)
- The sounds of him arriving
- The first words that he said to her when he saw her
- How she felt about herself during this moment
She then expressed that when she was a child, her mother was negative, and always found something wrong. She remembered being 8 years old and having feelings of stress when her mother came home. She tapped and reduced tension on the following:
- Remembering the stress in her stomach as she heard her mother coming in the front door
- Remembering feeling stressed about not doing anything right
- Remembering feeling stressed about her mother's negativity
- Remembering feeling heavy for not doing enough in the house
- Remembering the stress from thinking she's not pleasing her mother
She then thought of her husband and we tapped some rounds on how she would like to feel when her husband arrived home.
As her stressful connection to these things lowered, she brought up other topics of stress. One was the heaviness that would come over her whenever she drove through a certain fast food chain in a nearby town. They had lived in that town when her children were small and went through stressful times. She reduced her tension attached to this by:
- Thinking about the drive through the fast food chain while tapping the relaxation points
She then tapped on some more stress regarding that time period for the remaining time.
The next time I saw Sonia, she said that she didn’t really have the feeling of being weighed down when her husband arrived home. She also said that his words and antics just didn’t stress her the way they used to. Also, in what seemed a mixture of wonder and disappointment, she told me that the day after our session she drove through the specific fast food chain trying to get that familiar feeling of weightiness, but couldn’t.
She expressed feeling generally lighter, calmer and less inclined toward feeling stressed. Now she is better equipped to identify and reduce other areas of stress on her own.
*Name has been changed. .
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To illustrate it for you: Imagine for a moment you are biting into a lemon and notice how your body feels. Now, imagine you are taking a walk on the beach on a warm day. Notice how your body feels now. Did you notice any difference? Now think about smelling or tasting a food that you don't like and notice what your body does. Take a moment to think about something you are afraid of and notice how your body responds.
To some extent, you may have noticed your body react to the idea of biting into a lemon, walking on the beach, eating a particular food you don’t like or being afraid of something specific. As this helps demonstrate, we can have a kinesthetic (sensation) connection to a particular thought. If we have a stressful connection, our body may become tight and tense. If we have a restful connection, our body may become calm and relaxed. EFT is used to identify and change a stressful connection into a restful connection.
How? Gary Craig, founder of EFT, explains: "Negative experiences disrupt the energy meridians that run throughout our body. The physical changes we feel from those disruptions, like nausea or tension, become attached to the memory of that experience and effect the way we see the world ... until we clear that disruption. EFT is a simple tapping procedure that gently realigns the body's energy system using the meridian points of acupuncture without needles. Properly applied, EFT quickly realigns the energy meridians with respect to negative memories, disconnects the physical discomfort that we attach to it, and quite often removes the resulting symptoms."
EFT has also been described as "emotional acupuncture without the needles."
You can sample a basic version of this technique and it will only take a few minutes. Why not try the EFT stress-reduction exercise now?
To learn more about EFT see additional resources or contact Shannan to arrange an introductory session.
 This exercise involves tapping seven points on your head, face and chest with your fingertips to see whether you can reduce any tension you feel. You may simply tap these points now and notice if you feel more relaxed. See diagram to the right.
EFT begins by applying the tapping procedure to a specific stressful idea. Do the following exercise:
- Recall. Think of a simple object, animal, or event that is stressful to you, such as a distasteful food, barking dog, or a traffic jam.
- Rate. To track your changes, rate the level of this stress between 0 (no stress) and 10 (maximum stress). Start with something that rates a 5 or 6 on the stress scale.
- Tap. Now, focus on that stressful topic by either visualizing it or saying it to yourself while you proceed to go through each point of the head, face and chest, tapping each point 5-7 times.
- Rest. When you are finished tapping, take a deep breath and release out.
- Re-rate. Now think again about the stressful topic and rate your stress level again.
Did your stress level go down, go up, or remain the same? If it went down, continue steps 3-5 until your stress level rating is a 1 or 0. This should only take a few minutes. If it remained the same or a new stressful idea came to mind then repeat the exercise. For additional help contact Shannan to arrange an introductory session.
To see EFT used with my clients, see client examples on the left.
What To Expect From a Session |
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What Will The First Session Be Like?
Typically, after a short set-up process to confirm your first appointment you will be ready to call or meet at the appointment time. During your session you will be guided through specific ways to try to reduce your particular area of stress. With your interests and goals in mind, I will work to adapt the session in a flexible and sensitive way.
How Long Will It Take To Get To My Goal?
The length of time varies on a person to person basis. After a session or two you will have a good idea of the progress you are making. Some have noticed that every time a specific stressful reaction is reduced, progress is made toward their goal.
For Phone Consultations
Inexpensive ways to talk include:
- Your mobile phone with free long distance or T-mobile with free mobile to mobile minutes
- Your calling card, which can be purchased over the Internet in minutes and can be used immediately (e.g. teleplus, others)
- Your computer using skype or similar program (purchase of a headset with microphone for your computer may be necessary)
Payments can be made through our online payment box, or through your mobile phone if you have a paypal membership.
To get more of an idea of how a session may go, read the client examples on the left.
There is an abundance of information on the variations, adapted and modified, of EFT. Please enjoy browsing the following selections:
Founder of EFT, videos, case histories
A selection of case histories using EFT
An EFT blog, articles, reviews and books
A selection of EFT books from Amazon
A collection of research done on EFT
Infomation on EFT and other meridian-based therapies
A non-profit organization for mind/body techniques
Mesothelioma information and the role of EFT therapy for cancer treatments
A chart and discussion of meridian points
General Policies
Office hours are Monday through Friday, from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Appointments are made on a first-come first-serve basis and cannot be guaranteed until confirmed. Any initial consultation either by phone or email discussing the possibility of services is exploratory only; no services are being provided or will be provided unless and until both parties agree on an appointment, payment is rendered, and an appropriate disclosure document is signed.
To cancel or reschedule a session, please notify me at least 24 hours prior to the appointment.
Fees & Payments
The fee for a regular 2-hour session is $80 USD. An introductory ½ hour session is $40 USD. The fee is due and payable at the time of the session.
Payments are made through our online payment box or by using your cell phone with PayPal Mobile. We accept all major credit cards, echecks, bank transfers and paypal.
In addition, cash and local checks are accepted for office appointments only.
Privacy Policy
We recognize that your privacy is important. To show our commitment to your privacy, we are disclosing how we use the information you share with us.
Browser data (e.g. ip address, page requested, etc) is automatically sent to us by your web browser and stored on our servers in log files. We use this data solely for the ongoing improvement of our services.
All information you email to us is confidential. When reaching us by phone, everything discussed is confidential and no audio recordings are ever made. This information we receive is solely for the purpose of completing our correspondence with you. We never sell or share it with others.
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