The Modified Wayne Cook Posture: When TAT Does Not Work

Have you tried TAT or other energy psychology techniques and had little or no benefits? The other day I was skimming through the book Energy Tapping and I came across a very small section explaining why energy psychology techniques will sometimes not work.

The book briefly explained that a person’s energy can become unbalanced and not cross over from one side of the brain to the other. This can be the result of a trauma or of performing an exercise incorrectly. When this happens TAT may become less effective or not effective at all. In order to correct this energy imbalance and therefore make TAT  effective the book recommended a very simple technique. 

It’s easiest to do this sitting down but I have tried it standing up and it still seems to work. First, cross your ankles, left over right or right over left, do whatever seems most natural. Second, stretch your arms out straight in front of you parallel to the floor with your palms faces out. Next, with your palms still facing out put one wrist over the other and clasp your hands together. Then, twist your clasped hands in and upward so that they are resting over your heart. Finally, take 5 to 6 long deep breaths.  It is believed that this helps to connect the left and right hemispheres of the brain. 

The book recommended placing your tongue on the roof of your mouth during the breaths but I have never done that and have always felt it working. For pictures and perhaps more detailed instructions check out this article. 

While I was reading I immediately recognized this technique as the Wayne Cook posture. I have been using this technique for a while now just never in this context. I first learned about it from Donna Eden’s book Energy Medicine. She recommended using this technique when feeling emotionally overwhelmed. 

In her book she wrote that the Wayne Cook posture can help you:

• Untangle inner chaos
• See with better perspective
• Focus your mind more effectively
• Think more clearly
• Learn more proficiently

We can now add “make TAT effective” to that list. 

So how can I know this actually works?

My girlfriend has not consistently experienced the effectiveness of TAT the way I have. Before I just thought she might have more subtle veils than I do but I now I see that it could be a simple energy imbalance impeding TAT’s effectiveness. So now every time I guide her through TAT we will start with the Wayne Cook posture. 

We have already done this once. She was feeling sick to her stomach so we did the Wayne Cook posture and then went through the TAT steps. For step 1 we used the statement, “The biggest attack on my system resulting in this happened.” For step 2 we used the statement, “The biggest attack on my system resulting in this happened. Its over. It’s no longer resulting in this. I’m okay and I can relax now. 

After doing this she felt much better. I can’t say if the Wayne Cook posture had any effect on the outcome. However, I think if we continue to use the technique before TAT and TAT begins to work for her consistently then there must be something to it. 

In any case, even if the Wayne Cook posture has no impact on the effectiveness of TAT all we lose is about 2 minutes. But I think Donna Eden makes a good case for why that 2 minutes was time well spent.

-Jason