Brown Snake And Me

The shark attack on Mick Fanning several years ago in South Africa  reminded me of my encounter with a brown snake in 2000. The actual encounter is not at all the same. However, both a shark attack and my brown snake experience can create the same outcome. Unless we find a way to release the trauma, it can trigger unfounded fears and anxiety for the rest of our lives. And EFT is still the best way I can find to truly release specific trauma so that it can no longer have its way with us.

In this article I share my experience with a very upset brown snake and how EFT and I totally healed the trauma.

It was a hot summer day, one of those days where you don’t even get in the pool in Alice Springs until after 5pm. I was in the pool by myself and had just done several laps. Having done my exercise, I was luxuriating in the nurturing waters, floating on my back with my eyes closed, enjoying the sun on my face and looking forward to others joining me soon for an early evening swim.

This is the point where I want to point out that, if you don’t believe in guardian angels or helpful spirits now, you might when you continue reading. What happened certainly shocked me and I still can’t logically explain it.

I love the water. In looking for a word that might describe how I felt floating in that pool, I would say I was blissful. I felt like I didn’t have a care in the world. All of a sudden – out of nowhere - something took my head and turned it sharply to the left. And there was brown snake, about a meter from my face, moving toward me in the water.

When you float, not a lot of you is above water. The only place that snake could have landed would have been my upper chest or face.

I immediately tried to stand up in the deep water, spreading my arms and moving them to get myself upright. That actually moved the snake who was gliding along on top of the water, away from me. I began swimming as fast as I could and finally made it to the closest side of the pool without being overtaken.

Survival and the subsequent adrenalin had definitely taken over because when I put my hands on the concrete at the edge of the pool to lift myself out, I was out of the pool very quickly. For years, I have had to first put my hands, then my knees and then my feet on the side of the pool to lift myself out. Not this time. My hands were on the side of that pool and then my feet were out of the water and I was turning around to see where snake was.

It was about a meter from me, swimming toward where I had disappeared. It swam up and down in the area where its island (that’s me) had gone. It did not look happy losing its rescue island. In fact it looked quite aggressive.

I have no idea how long that brown snake had been in one of the filter boxes, but I can assure you I never got in a pool in Alice Springs again without checking all the filter boxes. It’s called preventive maintenance, and is similar to looking both ways before crossing the street. It does not mean I was or am in fear because I am not. It’s simply the wise thing to do.

I called to the people who owned the property and the snake was taken out of the water in a large trash can and driven further out bush and let go. It was probably one exhausted snake.

Afterwards, surrounded by friends, I looked down at the water and immediately saw several snakes. This is a form of PTS (Post Traumatic Stress). What I saw was actually the way the sun reflected along the water when there is a current, but it triggered the brown snake event in me and caused fear. I knew right away I had to do EFT to erase the trauma so I could enjoy swimming again.

This happened in 2000 and I did not know about the advanced form of EFT called Trauma Buster Technique (TBT) yet. .If I had known TBT I would have done it immediately on what happened and the trauma would have been gone most probably within one hour. Instead, I did traditional EFT which took a little longer to release the trauma, but did the job well. It took a bit longer with traditional EFT because I had to think of all the things that could have happened, what my fears were, and tap on most of them until the trauma disappeared.

If you are not familiar with tapping, send me an email and I will send you information including a document with a picture of the tapping points.

I tapped on several of the following phrases, doing complete rounds of each several times:

Even though if something had not turned my head, that snake would have been on my face and who knows what would have happened next, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though I would probably have freaked out and gotten bitten on my face – I might have died – I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though I might not have been able to get that snake off me and might have been bitten several times, disfigured for life or worse, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though there is a good possibility I would have died, I deeply and completely accept myself.

The same day that I had the trauma, I tapped and released it. While I did check the filter boxes from then on, I still love swimming and the water and enjoy it whenever I can. I do not see false snakes rippling across the top of the water like I did right after the trauma.