Can Positive Thinking Stop Poison Oak?

By Nancy A. Morris

Last weekend I spent hours weeding an open field that is part of our property. I know there's a little bit of poison oak buried in there under those weeds so, even though it was a really hot day, I made myself wear heavy gloves and long sleeves.

Two days later I woke up with an itch on my wrist and thought a bug had bitten me during the night. While I showered, the "bug bite" turned into several bright pink bug bites, and they were swelling. I guess I hadn't noticed that my sleeves slid up and left that 2" band of bare skin between glove and cuff... the gardener's bracelet! Finally it dawned on me, uh-oh, the blisters were forming! The blisters were forming! When I get poison oak, it's a nightmare; it spreads like crazy and goes on for weeks.

First thought was "Damn." Second thought was calamine lotion. Then the words of Gary Craig, the founder of EFT, "Try it on everything." (EFT is based on the ancient principles of the meridians. It is like an emotional version of acupressure.) So, I thought, why not? Even though I know this is a physical reaction to a plant's oil and it doesn't seem logical that tapping on a few acupressure points could possibly help, I did it anyway.

I parked myself on the sofa and did several "rounds" of tapping while saying:

"Even though I believe this is a chemical reaction and cannot be stopped...."

"Even though my wrist is itching and broken out in bumps..."

I did several rounds of tapping on "this itching" and "this poison oak."

Then I switched to a "want":

"Even though I want my wrist to be smooth and blemish free..."

"Even though I want my skin to feel calm and smooth..."

A few more rounds of tapping and then finally the "choice":

"Even though my wrist itches, I choose to let go of this poison oak reaction..."

"Even though this poison oak oil got on me, I choose to have clear and beautiful skin..."

The itching stopped immediately. And, unbelievable but true, in 1 ½ hours the skin on my wrist was completely clear and there was never another sign of that nasty poison oak. Hard to believe, but there it is, a small miracle.