The Emotional Scale and Energy Work

Introduction: In our work with clients and students using energy therapies we have often found ourselves trying to clarify what a therapist intends to achieve during a therapy session

These are some of the points that have come to mind:

1. We work with both the emotional and physical manifestations of problems.We help people to recognise the significance of their emotional and physical reactions.

2. We aim to neutralise over-reactions at both the emotional and physical levels i.e. we are aiming for a better holistic balance.

3. We help people to respond more consciously to the emotional and physical manifestations of their issues, rather than experiencing an unreasoned reaction

4. We help them to identify the "writing on the walls" which is responsible for the emergence of an issue and re-evaluate it for current truth and acceptability

5. We help a person to identify the place(s) in their lifetime where the love is perceived to have gone missing and we encourage them to find alternative perceptions

6. We help people to acknowledge, accept, understand and eventually forgive the circumstances and people involved in setting up their issuesÂ?including themselves.

7. We help people to move towards their place of personal peace.Another and much simpler way of saying all of this is that we are aiming to help our clients and ourselves to "feel better".

Feeling Better: Frequently after a treatment, no matter which therapy modality is used, a client recognises and acknowledges that they have shifted to a better place either emotionally or physically. However sometimes, clients find it difficult to recognise consciously all that they have achieved. This is particularly true for complex issues because once a particular issue or aspect is cleared they shift immediately onto the next one in line. The emotions associated with that one can mask the resolution already attained. From their perspective they still feel "Bad" albeit a different bad from when they walked in the door. Sometimes no amount of reassurance helps and the client can become disillusioned and assume that the treatment is not working for them.

What is needed is a way to highlighting the progress made by the client which can help them to register the shifts which have occurred at the conscious level. We have found that introducing the client to the Emotional Scale can be a way of achieving this. It also helps clients to see the state that they are ultimately aiming for Â? the state of Personal Peace which exists if life is lived from the higher levels of the Emotional Scale. Realisation that this state is attainable by everyone tends to encourage people to continue with the healing journey despite a few set-backs along the way.

We have found this to be as effective for Reiki and for reflexology clients as well as for our EFT clients. There is no reason that it cannot be useful with any therapy.

Please note that the Emotional Scale is not an original idea. We have found various versions of it in many spiritual development and self-help books. All we have done is to apply it to our work with clients and students with interesting results.

The Emotional Scale:

This is the version of the Emotional scale that we have adopted:

 

The Emotional Scale Violet: Joy, Passion, Empowerment, Freedom, Love, Appreciation Blue:Enthusiasm, Eagerness, Happiness, Positive expectation, Belief     Green:   Trust, Optimism, Hopefulness, Contentment Yellow:   Boredom, Pessimism, Frustration, Irritation, Impatience Orange: Disappointment, Doubt, Worry,  Blame,  Discouragement, Sadness Red:       Anger, Rage, Revenge, Hatred Brown:  Jealousy, Insecurity, Guilt, Unworthiness Black:     Fear, Grief, Depression, Despair, Powerlessness

 

To simplify matters we have grouped the emotional states into coloured zones with which most people seem to identify with very easily. Though this is a visual representation of emotional status we have found it to be equally useful to clients no matter what their favourite sensory modality (Visual, Audio or Kinaesthetic.) Most people seem to accept the scale with instant recognition and are able to tell you easily in which zone or range of zones they are currently living.

The number and colour of each zone links to the "Feel" of the emotions in each band. The higher frequency colours (green, blue, violet) relate to emotions that feel good and seem to carry a higher energy. The lower frequency colours relate to emotions which feel progressively worse as we move down the scale. These carry a lower energy. If you are familiar with the idea of energetic vibrations you could say that the upper level emotions carry a higher vibration than the lower level emotions.

Try it Out: Try this simple test out for yourself, close your eyes and think "Depression, Despair, Depression, Despair" over and over again. Notice how you feel! It is actually very difficult to maintain a smile on your face while you do this Â?the energy just seems to leach away and your smile gradually droops and flows downwards. Anyone who has experienced depression will recognise this feeling and will already understand what low energy states depression and despair are. They feel paralysing!

Now try the opposite, close your eyes and think "Joy, Passion, Joy, Passion" over and over again. This time it is difficult to keep the smile off your face! These words and their respective emotions carry a much higher energy level or vibration and you will feel your energy lift as you think the words.

What you have just done is to experience the two extreme ends of the Emotional Scale. Each time we think the word related to an emotion our mind briefly samples that emotion for a fraction of a second, just enough to identify it. We feel and recognise the response as our energy system aligns with that thought. Similarly any event or memory which triggers a particular emotion will produce the related and recognisable energetic shift. This is happening all the time as we continually access different thoughts or memories or we are affected by events and the people around us. We are constantly shifting into different levels of the Emotional Scale.

Have a look at the scale again and decide for yourself in which zone you spend most of your time. For example, you may find that spend most of your time in the Orange zone (Disappointment, Doubt, Worry,  Blame) but that you bounce around from time to time down to Brown (Jealousy, Insecurity, Guilt, Unworthiness) and sometimes on a good day you can get up to Yellow (Boredom, Pessimism,   Frustration, Irritation, Impatience)  

Does life in your zone feel good?

Now imagine how much better you would feel if you were living mostly in the green, blue or violet zones  which are the home of Personal Peace. Where would you rather be?

Most people are very good at distinguishing the different energetic feel of their various emotions and there has to be a reason why we have this innate skill. The reason suggested by several authors is that we are meant to use this skill to "feel" how we are in any particular moment so that we may then respond by choosing a thought or activity that gives us a slightly better "feel" than the one that we started with. The sense of relief felt as we access an emotion at a higher level tells us that we are travelling in the right direction Â?Up the Emotional Scale.

By progressively clearing the traumatic memories and the negative and limiting thought patterns which limit our lives and potential we can all move towards the upper part of the scale. As the layers of emotional garbage are cleared we feel better and find that we gradually spend more and more time near the top with frequent excursions right to the topmost level. This is the zone that feels ecstatic, where our peak experiences happen, where we are completely in tune with who we really are and we align completely with the flow of well-being in our lives. Conversely, the lower down the scale we slip then the worse we feel as we move out of alignment with the flow.

If this idea is accepted then it follows that the emotions can be used as a direct barometer for the degree of alignment with the flow of well-being at any point in time.

Once we have recognised from the feel of our emotions that we have moved out of alignment all that is needed to move back into alignment is to choose a thought or activity that produces a better feeling. We can simply change our mind and "feel" our way back into the flow. It takes practice to spot a "slip" and change the thought or behaviour pattern to correct it but it can give real benefits.

We have consistently found that introducing clients to the Emotional Scale can aid a real understanding of where they are in the healing process and it also acts to empower them by allowing control of the thoughts and emotions they accept into their experience. This is just another application of the Law of Attraction. When we consistently choose thoughts and activities that make us feel better (rise up the scale) then we automatically attract events and people that reinforce that better feeling.

Using the Emotional Scale in therapy:We usually show our clients the scale at the beginning and end of a therapy session and ask where they think they are on the scale at that time. Typically a new client who has not done much clearance work will begin with an emotional level somewhere between Black to Red. By the end of a session that person might tell you that they feel much better-maybe in the Green. Point this out to them to reinforce the progress made.

When they arrive for next session that person might feel disappointed as they now feel as if they are in the Orange (or lower) zone but typically, what has happened is that residual emotion or other memories and limiting beliefs have begun to emerge since the first session. The second session will typically produce another upwards shift on the scale as these begin to clear.

Over the period of several sessions this see-saw effect will be seen repeatedly but the general trend is upwards on the scale and by the end of the series of sessions that person will generally be more stable at a much higher level on the scale Â?they feel much better! Again point this out so that the person can acknowledge just how far they have come.

Observations:

· Generally we have noticed that overall progress is up the scale. Though a client may temporarily slip down the scale during a session or between sessions as they access deeper levels of their problems the slippage is rarely right back down to where they were before treatment. Whenever slippage does happen we work with whatever has emerged for attention and clear it, then overall progress upwards is resumed.

· Some clients are concerned because they suddenly find themselves expressing hatred or rage or may start blaming other people for whatever has happened. They see this as wrong so it is important to explain that rage, hatred or blame are simply higher on the emotional scale than despair and depression and represent a temporary state en-route to healing. Once they realise that actually it "feels" better (i.e. gives a sense of relief) to be angry or to blame someone than to be depressed they accept that it is a necessary phase of the healing. Acceptance of all of the emotions being felt is real progress!

·  We give out copies of the Emotional scale to our clients so that they can practise assessing their own Emotional Set Point as homework at intervals between the sessions.  With practice at conscious observation of their emotions people get much better at spotting when they slip into a negative feeling and so can identify what event or thought pattern has caused it to happen. This realisation can then form the basis for more understanding and release of the problem.

·  In practice the stepwise progress up the scale seems to be necessary. It would be very difficult for anyone to move upwards directly from despair to joy without steps in between. This would represent a huge energetic shift which would probably be unstable. We know that it takes time to process various aspects of an issue. They are only released at the right rate for that person and in the right order. The progression upwards through the levels with stepwise release of all aspects and issues along the way seems to stabilise the energetic shift and it becomes a permanent change.

·  Use of humour to produce laughter or deliberately stimulating release of anger can produce dramatic upward shifts but the release of aspects and issues must still happen in the right order and at the right time.

Conclusion:We already know that any form of Energy work can be a useful tool for helping us to reach for the place of personal peace by allowing us to deal with the events and issues which mar our lives. Using the Emotional Scale deliberately can help to reinforce the shifts which occur and can give direction to the whole process. As a person learns to consciously notice their emotions, and practices choosing ones that feel better, or chooses actions which lead to a better feeling they inevitably rise up the Emotional Scale and achieve a calmer, happier way of living. Life becomes easier, more joyful and seems to flow better.

Somewhere along the way as we release issues and practice ways of thought that take us upwards rather than downwards on the scale we shift from life being an exercise in damage limitation to life being a joyful adventure in creativity. It all comes down to choice!

June 2010

About the author:

Christine Sutton (AAMET registered level 3 Practitioner and Trainer in EFT; Reiki Master Teacher; Reflexologist) Philip Davis (AAMET registered level 3 Practitioner and Trainer in EFT) We run our practice, training courses and Practitioner mentoring sessions in EFT, Picture Tapping Technique and Reiki from our home in Solihull, Birmingham. We can also provide talks or courses at other venues on request.

Author: Christine Sutton
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