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The Evolution of EFT from TFT--Part III of V

By Gary Craig, Founder of EFT

This part of the series explores diagnostic muscle testing and a related mathematical fallacy. For newcomers, diagnostic muscle testing refers to a technique whereby the practitioner tests the changing strength of a muscle (by pushing down on an extended arm, for example) while the client makes certain statements or holds certain thoughts in his/her head. By this means it is thought possible to discern the necessary tapping procedures for a given client with a given problem. I'll get to the mathematical fallacy in a bit but first we need to explore the practice of muscle testing.

Muscle testing is an art. It is a skill that is learned and perfected over months and years. It is not something one becomes proficient at in a seminar. Many readers of this series are extraordinarily good at this technique and use it as the centerpiece of their practices. Despite its clear usefulness, however, muscle testing cannot be considered absolutely accurate. I don't know of a single muscle tester, for example, who would rely on the technique for a decision as to whether or not to have brain surgery. Rather, muscle testing, in the hands of a skilled practitioner, provides good guides or strong clues leading to healing techniques which are often very helpful to the client.

Even the most proficient practitioners come up against problems inherent in the procedure. I list some of these problems below while pointing out that these problems are even greater for the beginner:

1. The practitioner can easily influence the result by injecting his/her own attitudes or preconceived ideas about what the "answer" should be. Maintaining neutrality in this regard takes much practice.

2. Either the practitioner or the client can become Psychologically Reversed regarding the process. This can influence results. Indeed, it can give you an answer which is the exact opposite of the truth.

3. Clients can sometimes influence the result by consciously shifting their thoughts so they won't be "found out" on some issue.

4. Some clients are very difficult to test because they are massively reversed and/or ill.

My main point here is that muscle testing, especially in the hands of a beginner, is loaded with potential for inaccuracy. This inaccuracy problem adds to a mathematical fallacy underlying TFT diagnosis. We turn to that subject now.

Let me acknowledge first that Dr. Callahan is mathematically correct that the number of possible combinations of the 14 tapping points (meridians) is 87 billion. In formal mathematics, this is known as 14 factorial or 14!. Where I have a serious scientific question is in the idea that muscle testing will allow a therapist (even a beginner) to find the appropriate sequence for that client's problem out of the 87 billion possibilities. Mathematically, that is like asking a therapist to walk into 100 acres of clover and go right to the only four leaf clover therein ...OR... asking a therapist to solve Rubik's Cube on the first try in one minute.

I happen to believe that a few people have developed their psychic abilities well enough to perhaps pull this off now and then. But even given this, it stretches credulity to think that one can teach hundreds of therapists (most of whom are inaccurate beginners at muscle testing) to do this consistently. Yet they "apparently" do it. They do get results and people are helped.

So what's going on here? Is this result really because these inaccurate beginners magically diagnosed the critical sequence (in the "right" order, no less) out of the 87 billion possibilities? Do you honestly think they (you) really find the four leaf clover in the 100 acre patch? Doesn't that push your nonsense button just a little?

There is, of course, another explanation that easily passes scientific reasonableness. It's hard to see at first because it is hiding behind the erroneous notion that order is important in the tapping Sequence. If you still believe that order is important then you must necessarily buy into this mathematical fallacy. You are stuck with it and all the "science" surrounding it. Think about it. Only if order is truly important (which it isn't) do we need concern ourselves with the 87 billion possibilities.

On the other hand, if order is not important (and I hope I have made my point on this by now) then you are left with a mere 14 meridians to contend with. This being so, you need only tap on each one to balance it. No order. No magic. No muscle testing. No diagnosis. What a relief. Just very straightforward logic that stands up to scientific scrutiny. That is the essence of EFT and that is why it works so well. In fact, since the meridians are so intertwined, you need only tap on half of them because doing so sends balancing energy down all of them. That's the essence of the EFT shortcut.

When therapists do muscle testing, they come up with a series of tapping points that balances the same meridians that EFT (or most any other comprehensive algorithm) does automatically. Muscle testing has the advantage of leading directly to the disrupted energy meridians so that fewer of them need to be tapped. In contrast however, by the time a muscle tester diagnoses just one such disrupted meridian (and there are usually two or three), another therapist could have completed the entire EFT shortcut Sequence once or twice and be off working on the next problem.

It is always dangerous to challenge someone else's beliefs and I know I have done just that for some of you. Muscle testing diagnosis may have worked for you and, if so, you are very pleased with your results. I do not deny that. Indeed I support you and your results and send a mighty salute your way. I am not suggesting here that muscle testing is useless or to be abandoned. To the contrary, in the hands of the highly skilled technician it can be a very useful tool and it may lead to some helpful new theoretical findings. It may even give you a better "feel" for your client. I do suggest, however, that you examine the theoretical basis from which you are working for an enhanced understanding of your procedures. I also suggest that, for the vast majority of therapists, the job can be done much more efficiently with the EFT procedures.

Part IV of this series will address the "science" behind the individual TFT algorithms.

Peace, Gary