The Foundations and Influences Behind NEF™

NEF™ is a deeply cross-disciplinary and integrated practice, drawing from a wide range of disciplines and approaches. It brings together both long-standing and contemporary perspectives to offer a holistic path of personal growth and well-being.

Its influences include:

• The role of subconscious beliefs in shaping our experience of reality, inspired in part by the work of Bruce Lipton.
• Foundational coaching concepts, aimed at clarifying and strengthening personal and professional goals.
• Innate Intelligence and Universal Intelligence, drawn from chiropractic philosophy, which recognize both the body’s capacity for self-regulation and self-healing and the idea of a broader organizing principle of life and nature, of which the individual is an expression.
• The Three Brains Model, which views head, heart, and gut as three interconnected centers of perception, processing, and decision-making that influence behavior and action in distinct ways.
• 3 Brains Intelligence©™ Coaching (ICF), which applies this framework to support deeper awareness, inner alignment, and more coherent decision-making.
• Tapping-based approaches and belief-change methods, including EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) and PSYCH-K®, which support the release of emotional stress, the reorganization of limiting patterns, and the development of more empowering beliefs.

Although NEF™ is not presented as a scientific practice in the strict sense, some of its underlying themes and tools are connected to areas that have been explored in scientific studies and research.

Below is a selected group of references related to some of the methodologies and concepts that inform the foundation of NEF™.

The Power of the Placebo Effect: Treating Yourself with Your Mind Is Possible, but There Is More to the Placebo Effect Than Positive Thinking

July 22, 2024

Reviewed by Howard E. LeWine, MD, Chief Medical Editor, Harvard Health Publishing

“Your mind can be a powerful healing tool when given the chance. … Science has now found that, under the right circumstances, a placebo can be just as effective as conventional treatments. The placebo effect is more than positive thinking — more than believing that a treatment or procedure will work. It is about creating a stronger connection between the brain and body, and the way they work together.”

Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan — In Studies and in Real Life, Placebos Have a Powerful Healing Effect on the Body and Mind

Elissa H. Patterson, Hans Schroder, Ph.D. — March 14, 2022

“Today scientists define so-called placebo effects as positive outcomes that cannot be scientifically explained by the physical effects of a treatment. Research suggests that the placebo effect is caused by positive expectations. Part of the beauty of placebos is that they activate existing healing systems in the mind and body. Elements of the body once thought to be outside an individual’s control are now known to be modifiable.”

The Science of Affirmations: The Brain’s Response to Positive Thinking

Author: Lisa A. Koosis
Medical Reviewer: Dr. Brindusa Vanta, Ph.D.
Last updated: September 30, 2024 — MentalHealth.com

“Proven benefits of self-affirmation include a stronger sense of self-worth, less negative self-talk, and reduced anxiety and defensiveness in difficult situations. It may also have a beneficial effect on people coping with stress that worsens health conditions or chronic physical issues.”

Self-Affirmation Activates Brain Systems Associated with Self-Related Processing and Reward and Is Reinforced by Future Orientation

Christopher N. Cascio, Matthew Brook O’Donnell, Francis J. Tinney, Matthew D. Lieberman, Shelley E. Taylor, Victor J. Strecher, Emily B. Falk
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 2015 Nov 5; 11(4): 621–629.
doi: 10.1093/scan/nsv136

“These neural correlates of self-affirmation were further associated with objectively measured behavior change, suggesting the external validity of the affirmation task. Taken together, our findings highlight ways in which brain systems implicated in positive valuation and self-related processing may be enhanced by prospection, and suggest a novel view of the balance of processes supporting affirmation.”

Investigating the Impact of Guided Imagery on Stress, Brain Functions, and Attention: A Randomized Trial

Katarzyna Zemla, Grzegorz Sedek, Krzysztof Wróbel, Filip Postepski, Grzegorz M. Wójcik — July 2023

“The robust findings of this research provide compelling evidence supporting the effectiveness of guided imagery (GI) as an intervention for stress reduction and relaxation, exceeding the effects observed in the mental task group. In particular, the GI group showed significantly higher alpha power levels, a key indicator of brainwave activity associated with improved attentional control.”

Positive Visualization: The Scientific Benefits of Visualization

Medically reviewed by April Justice, LICSW
Updated September 3, 2024 — BetterHelp Editorial

Tori Wager, Director of the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Colorado Boulder:

“Imagination is a neurological reality that can affect our brain and body in ways that matter for our well-being.”

Medical News Today: What to Know About Guided Imagery

Medically reviewed by Karin Gepp, PsyD
Written by Mary West — April 21, 2022

“Guided imagery is a relaxation technique that people may use to reduce stress and promote well-being. Guided imagery should help stimulate the body’s natural relaxation response. There are many benefits to incorporating guided imagery into stressful situations or into life in general.”

Sterling Institute of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Therapy

“Tapping therapy affects key brain regions involved in the stress response, including the amygdala and hypothalamus, reducing cortisol levels and rewiring neural pathways linked to negative emotions… Tapping encourages self-awareness and personal agency, enabling individuals to take an active role in their emotional healing process. This empowerment leads to improved emotional resilience and the development of more effective strategies for coping with life’s inevitable ups and downs.”

An Initial Investigation of Neural Changes in Overweight Adults with Food Cravings after Emotional Freedom Techniques

Peta Stapleton, Craig Buchan, Ian Mitchell, Yasmin McGrath, Paul Gorton, Brett Carter
OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine. 2019, Volume 4, Issue 1
doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.1901010

“After tapping, fMRI scans demonstrate that the parts of the brain that activate craving and hunger in response to certain foods no longer do so.”

The Effect of a Brief Emotional Freedom Technique Self-Intervention on Anxiety, Depression, Pain and Cravings in Health Care Workers

Integrative Medicine. Vol. 9, No. 5, Oct/Nov 2010

Dawson Church, PhD
Audrey J. Brooks, PhD

“The study highlighted the effectiveness of EFT as both immediate and sustained relief for issues typically associated with burnout syndromes.”

Clinical EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Improves Multiple Physiological Markers of Health

Donna Bach, Gary Groesbeck, Peta Stapleton, Rebecca Sims, Katharina Blickheuser, Dawson Church
Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine. Feb 2019; 24: 2515690X18823691
doi: 10.1177/2515690X18823691

“Reviews and meta-analyses of EFT and tapping practice show that it is an evidence-based practice and that its efficacy is well established.”

Important Note

NEF™ does not replace medical, psychological, or psychotherapeutic care, nor should it be understood as a form of diagnosis or treatment. It is a cross-disciplinary method within the field of personal growth, self-development, and facilitation, designed to support awareness, inner balance, and more coherent action.