F

or residents around Jati Bunder, a slum area in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, the celebration of the Isra' Mi'raj (Prophet Muhammad's Ascension into Heaven) in their community is like any other Islamic festivity.

The community receives a spiritual message from Ramli Izhaque, their beloved religious teacher, or, if they are more fortunate, they are visited by a guest speaker from another city.

Last Sunday, the community was fortunate enough to have a guest speaker from out of town to join in their Isra' Mi'raj celebrations in their neighborhood, which is only a few steps away from the Bongkaran brothel.

One resident, Yoyon, 49, said he had to wear a batik shirt for the event because he was told earlier that there would be a guest speaker.

He attended the event with his wife and their son joining around 500 others in the annual celebrations.

After listening to a short briefing from ustadz Ramli and a 30-minute Koran recitation, the guest speaker was invited to the stage, a modest platform with some banners as a background.

"I am not an ustadz as you may have thought. Have come here to help you deal with your emotional and physical problems," said Ahmad Faiz Zainuddin, the founder of the Spiritual Emotional Freedom Technique (SEFT).

After a short introduction, Faiz asked the audience if anyone suffered from pain in their body. About 10 people raised their hands with various complaints from headaches, rheumatism, back pain and migraines.

Five people with illness were asked to join him on the stage and to sit on green plastic chairs. Then, Faiz invited five volunteers to apply healing treatments. The volunteers had already undergone SEFT training.

Minutes later, the volunteers applied the healing technique, which included repeated taps on some parts of the head, the face and the chest. After about 10-15 minutes, the healing process was complete.

"I had a headache before. But, after I was treated, I felt better," said Yoyon, who was among the five people who received the treatment. A woman, who felt severe pain in her left leg, also said she felt better after the treatment.

Faiz said the healing technique was very similar to acupuncture. The only difference is that acupuncture uses needles while SEFT healing uses a tapping technique. The patients were also asked to believe that God would relieve their problems.

"There are 361 acupuncture spots on the human body. But, we use a shortcut that includes only nine. They include the spots above the forehead, between the eyebrows, beside the eyes, below the eyes, below the nose, below the mouth, on the upper chest, on the lower chest and below the armpit," he said.

Faiz said that he had studied the technique for years from experts in Australia, Singapore and the US. Overseas, the method is known as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). Bringing the technique back home, Faiz added spiritual aspects and created the Spiritual Emotional Freedom Technique (SEFT).

This quick and cheap healing method can be applied to various illnesses and emotional disorders as well as phobias and motivational problems.

"I had a patient, a police officer, who had a phobia of durian. He could not stand the smell of durian. After we applied this healing technique, he enjoyed eating durian," said Faiz, a graduate of psychology from Airlangga University in Surabaya, East Java.

According to Faiz, there are people with phobias of cockroaches, cats and even rice who were healed after receiving the treatment.

"This is not supernatural. This is a scientific. People can do it if they are willing to learn the method," he added.

The healing method is only one aspect taught at the SEFT training. Apart from SEFT for Healing, there are three other courses, namely SEFT for Success, SEFT for Happiness and SEFT for Greatness.

Today, more than 5,000 people have undergone SEFT training in Jakarta and Surabaya, since the method was first introduced in 2007.

Mawardi, a volunteer who took SEFT training last May, said he worked at a construction company before he took the training. "I was a man with high temper. I always had problems with my colleagues. When I got information about the SEFT, I quickly took the training," said Mawardi, who eventually quit his job and opened a health clinic at his home.

LoGOS Institute, which runs the SEFT training, is planning to apply the healing technique on prostitutes around the Jati Bunder neighborhood. Dina Serly from the LoGOS Institute said there were about 120 children growing up in the neighborhood located next to the prostitution. Dina said that some children had a high chance of becoming prostitutes.