The Cat and the Hair Dryer

By Maureen Cram

I decided I would try EFT on one of my cats, Matewis (it is an Afrikaans word and is pronounced Ma-teeah-vis) for her fear of the hair dryer. In the past, when I went into the bedroom and opened the dresser where the dreaded hair dryer lives, she would leap off our bed in absolute panic, even if she had been asleep, and fly out of the room as fast as she could.

Like many of us, we use EFT for 'big things' but on small things such as Matewis' fear of the hair dryer it had not occurred to me to help her fix her fear. I started off by not even opening the drawer in the dresser but watched her asleep on the bed and started tapping for her.

Even though I hate that black thing... the noise it makes... it really hurts my ears... I am a great cat.

Even though that black thing is out to get me, I am a great cat.

Even though that black thing makes a terrible noise and I can't stand it... I am a great cat.

EB: I hate that black thing

OE: I can't stand the noise

UE: I know it is out to get me

UN: How come the other cats sleep through it?

UC: It must hurt their ears

CB: Maybe I am more sensitive than they are

UA: I am the only girl around here

TOH: I hate the noise it makes

Then I did another round (while she was still sleeping on the bed)

Even though I feel embarrassed when I leap off the bed and rush off, I am still a great cat

Even though even Uti** is OK with the black thing and I can sit outside in the thunder and he can't, I am still a great cat. (**our ginger cat and the one who has had the most EFT as he had the most issues in the past)

EB: I feel embarrassed about this

OE: I am supposed to be the queen cat and look at me

UE: I need to do something about this but what?

UN: Maybe I can ignore the noise

UC: Maybe I can act like the other cats and ignore that nasty black thing

CB: I can do anything I want to, I am the great Matewis

UA: I am in control here

TOH: I can safely ignore the black thing

I then opened the drawer and carefully took out the hair dryer. Matewis opened her eyes and looked at me. Then she closed them again and went back to sleep. Great improvement! I waved the hair dryer around... nothing happened. I plugged it in... turned it on low by the side of the bed away from her and she looked up. Then she stretched and walked off the bed and sauntered out of the bedroom.

Round one to EFT!

She is not always in the bedroom asleep when I want to dry my hair but over a period of a week or so I would continue to tap on her when she was on the bed. The next time I took out the hair dryer and placed it on the bed. She just sat and looked at it. I went and tapped on her between her eyebrows, saying:

Even though I don't like that black thing I am the brave Matewis

Even though I was embarrassed by the black thing I can ignore it and the noise it makes

Even though I am the only one who seems bothered by the black thing, what if I wasn't?

I then tapped on me for the points

EB: I am the brave Matewis

OE: I can do whatever I want

UE: I can safely ignore the black thing

UN: I am just as good as the other cats so I can do the same as they do

UC: I know the black thing will not get me

CB: It hasn't got me yet UA: It hasn't got any of us

TOH: I can do this right now

I plugged in the dryer and began to dry my hair. She sat there and during the course of drying my hair three other cats got up and sauntered off and Matewis did the same.

The last lot of EFT I did for her was as follows:

Even though I'm still not sure about that black thing, I am the great Matewis

Even though I wish it would go away, I am the great Matewis

Even though it might get me one of these days, I can decide to be in control here

Then I did the points tapping on what my EFT therapist had tapped with me on when I had a fear of claustrophobia about putting on my dry suit for water skiing in cold water. She used the words 'the dry suit is my friend'... and that worked really well.

EB: The black thing is my friend

OE: I am fine with the black thing now

UE: The black thing is my friend

UN: I am in control UC: The black thing is my friend

CB: I can safely tune out and ignore the noise

UA: The black thing is my friend

TOH: It is easy and safe for me to ignore the black thing right now

Today I opened the drawer, took out the hair dryer, put it on the bed. She meowed hello at me so I patted her and told her how brave she was. She sat there and I plugged it in. I sat on the bed, petting her with one hand and turned on the hair dryer with the other. She was fine. I stopped petting her and kept the dryer on. She looked at me, tucked her paws under her and went back to sleep while I finished drying my hair.

Later I was using my electric razor in the bedroom and she actually came back into the room, jumped on the bed and went to sleep while the razor whined on! I continue to be amazed at the 'things' EFT can do!

For many years I have been interested in the welfare of animals, companion animals and especially farm animals. Being vegetarian for over 45 years and vegan for nearly 10, I felt drawn to helping those that had no voice. Several years ago, I discovered EFT, when I found I had breast cancer. EFT helped me tremendously to solve the emotional issues that I had rationalized many years before, issues that I thought were resolved but as I found with using EFT, were not! I decided to train further and found I had great empathy for animals. I tried EFT on my own cats for various issues and was amazed how quickly the issues were resolved! I tried EFT on other animals... I was surprised to find that I had success with them! I then decided that I didn't want to do this... it was too strange, too weird, but with some pushing from my EFT teacher I continued to expand my knowledge about surrogate energy healing. At this time I was also expanding my human EFT practice and was having wonderful success. I now teach humans how to use EFT - on themselves and on their animals - and hold regular training courses in Johannesburg. I also have many international clients (human and animal!) and communicate with them by phone, Skype and e-mail. That is one of the many great things about using EFT... you don't have to be there in person, face to face. Although face to face works great too! You can read much more about EFT and how I work with EFT on the Stuff Busters web site - http://www.stuffbusters.co.za/home/