Robyn Chuter is a plant-based “recovering naturopath” and wellness researcher from New South Wales, Australia. She's particularly interested in how groups of people support each other's health journeys, and is currently running an ethnographic study on a whole food, plant-based Facebook support group to identify effective strategies and barriers to behavior change.
Robyn is also a practitioner and avid fan of a healing modality known as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), or “Tapping,” as it's sometimes known.
EFT has been called “emotional acupuncture without needles,” and has been credited by many people with almost instantly curing their phobias, calming their anxieties, and stilling their emotional turmoil
I wanted to talk with Robyn about EFT since I'm an evidence-based skeptic of things like that, and Robyn is no dew-eyed mystic chanting over prayer beads either.
Prior to the interview, I did a bit of homework on EFT, checking for evidence of effectiveness in the medical literature. I didn't find much – most of the pages I came across featured articles and reviews “debunking” the claims of EFT.
Of course, that's pretty much the state of play for anything that hasn't been fully accepted by the medical and cultural mainstream, including UFOs, the dangers of vaccines, and a plant-based diet as the first line of defense against disease.
So I told Robyn that this wouldn't be a softball interview. I was open to being convinced, but I needed to see good evidence that EFT was something more than an elaborate placebo for the gullible.
In our conversation, we covered:
- Robyn's early years as a naturopath learning good science and some “weird and wonderful stuff”
- transitioning to the practice of lifestyle medicine rather than a pusher of pills and potions
- the unique challenges that women face when they try to take care of themselves
- “coping with a velcro child”
- decoupling a distressing thought from the stress response that would ordinary follow
- EFT as activation of the relaxation response while considering a stressful stimulus
- achieving the “holy grail” of cognitive behavioral therapy, the cognitive shift
- the Dawson Church studies on EFT and cortisol levels
- dismissing the placebo effect through sham tapping studies
- how our past can hijack our present (split second judgments on what is safe and what isn't)
- advanced EFT: matrix imprinting
- the Stapleton studies on food cravings and EFT
- customizing lifestyle medicine for different learning and communication styles
- the new science of “netnography”
- applying Kurt Lewin's 3-step change model to lifestyle improvements
- and much more…
Enjoy, add your voice to the conversation via the comment box below, and please share – that's how we spread our message and spread our roots.
Links
Robyn's practice site: EmpowerTotalHealth.com.au
And Twitter
EmoFree: Gary Craig's original EFT site
EFTUniverse: Dawson Church's EFT research and practice site
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You know how when you discovered plant-based eating, you basically went, “Holy shit, how come the entire healthcare system isn't totally embracing this as one of the most powerful keys to disease prevention and reversal!”?
That's how I feel now about a psychological approach to transformational change called “Memory Reconsolidation.” Few psychologists have heard about it, and when they do hear the radical transformations it can bring about in a very short time, they're often skeptical to the point of disbelief.
But I've added Memory Reconsolidation work to my own coaching, and can attest to its amazing efficacy. So much so, that I'm devoting the next year to mastering it, studying with the best clinicians and teachers in the world, and then introducing it into health coaching through my trainings.
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Well, that's what Peter Bregman and I claim in our provocative book of that title.
What we really mean is, you can help the people around you make behavioral changes in their own best interests. If you think you're powerless to help people change, it's because you've been going about it the wrong way.
Discover our straightforward, replicable process here: You Can Change Other People.
Audiobook: Use the Weight to Lose the Weight
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Music
The Plant Yourself Podcast theme music, “Dance of Peace (Sabali Don),” is generously provided by Will Ridenour, a kora player from North Carolina who has trained with top Senegalese musicians.
It can be found on his first CD, titled Will Ridenour.
You can learn about Will, listen to more tracks, and buy music on his website, WillRidenour.com.
Gratitudes
Thanks to Plant Yourself podcast patrons – Kim Harrison – Lynn McLellan – Brittany Porter – Dominic Marro – Barbara Whitney – Tammy Black – Amy Good – Amanda Hatherly – Mary Jane Wheeler – Ellen Kennelly – Melissa Cobb – Rachel Behrens – Tina Scharf – Tina Ahern – Jen Vilkinofsky – David Byczek – Michele X – Elspeth Feldman – Leah Stolar – Allan Kristensen – Colleen Peck – Michele Landry – Jozina – Sara Durkacs – Kelly Cameron – Janet Selby – Claire Adams – Tom Fronczak – Jeannette Benham – Gila Lacerte – David Donohue – Blair Seibert – Doron Avizov – Gio and Carolyn Argentati – Jodi Friesner – Mischa Rosen – Michael Worobiec – AvIvA Lael – Alicia Lemus – Val Linnemann – Nick Harper – Bandana Chawla – Molly Levine – The Inscrutable Harry R – Susan Laverty the Panda Vegan – Craig Covic – Adam Scharf – Karen Bury – Heather Morgan – Nigel Davies – Marian Blum – Teresa Kopel – Julian Watkins – Brid O'Connell – Shannon Herschman – Linda Ayotte – Holm Hedegaard – Isa Tousignant – Connie Haneline – Erin Greer – Alicia Davis – Heather O'Connor – Carollynne Jensen – Sheri Orlekoski of Plant Powered for Health – Karen Smith – Scott Mirani – Karen and Joe Crabtree – Kirby Burton – Theresa Carrell – Kevin Macaulay – Elizabeth Rothschild – Ann Jesse – Sheryl Dwyer – Jenny Hazelton – Peter W Evans – Dennis Bird – Darby Kelly – Lori Fanney – Linnea Lundquist – Emily Iaconelli – Levi Wallach – Rosamonde McAtee – Dan Pokorney – Stephen Leinin – Patty DeMartino – Mike and Donna Kartz – Deanne Bishop – Bilberry Elf – Marjorie Lewis – Tricia Adams – Nancy Sheldon – Lindsey Bashore – Gunn Marit Hagen – Tracey Gulledge – Lara Hedin – Meg from Mamasezz – Stacey Stokes – Ben Savage – Michael K – David Hughes -Coni Rodgers – Claire England – Sally Robertson – Parham Ganchi – Amy Dailey – Brian Tourville – Mark Jeffrey Johnson – Josie Dempsey – Caryn Schmitt – Pamela Hayden – Emily Perryman – Allison Corbett – Richard Stone – Lauren Vaught of Edible Musings – Erin Hastey – Sean Owens – Sagar Naik – Erika Piedra – Danielle Roberts – Michael Leuchten – Sarah Johnson – Katharine Floyd – Meryl Fury – for your generous support of the podcast.
Disclosure
This post may contain amazon affiliate links. I may receive compensation from your actions on such links. It don't cost you a dime, tho.
