My name is Vincenzo Zauner, I am 61 years old, and I live in the province of Vicenza. I am a management consultant, primarily focused on training in soft skills.
I have always been passionate about personal growth techniques. Combining my experiences in the military (I served as an army officer for years), I have continuously sought and applied methods that deliver practical and measurable results.
Among the many techniques I have explored over more than thirty years dedicated to helping relationships, I have selected a few that have consistently proven effective and simple to apply.
Guided by my motto, “I cannot guide you where I have not already been myself,” I have personally tested every technique. Beyond how fascinating a technique might seem, my goal has always been to find something that works reliably, applicable in real-life cases with repeatable effectiveness.
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) was the first energy-based technique I encountered, which I learned as a self-taught practitioner. I applied it mainly to myself, achieving remarkable results, particularly in managing anger and dismantling deeply limiting beliefs.
Later, I approached Rogersian counseling (life counseling), noticing that the training I conducted in classrooms often clashed with deep-seated emotional blocks that only targeted, personalized work could overcome. After three years of study and practical internships, I qualified as a life counselor.
Delving deeper and using EFT in a complementary way proved highly effective: through counseling, clients connected with deep emotional blocks, and with EFT, they could harmonize the energy and rediscover resources to apply in everyday life.
Despite the success of integrating these two techniques and the positive results with clients, I felt that something was still missing. There was room for improvement.
Freeing a person from a block or a deep-seated belief certainly makes them freer, in a way that is hard to grasp without personal experience. But once free, what do they do? I think of an analogy with sports like soccer, basketball, or volleyball: freeing an athlete from the fear of the ball or taking a penalty shot certainly helps, but it doesn’t teach them how to play if they don’t already know how.
Coaching could help with this next step: finding strategies to fully enjoy the newfound freedom gained through introspective and energy-based techniques.
I decided to pursue a master’s course in coaching with the HPM® (Human Potential Modeling) method by Daniele Trevisani, a renowned scholar in Italy and abroad and author of over 30 books on coaching.
This method is particularly effective because, among other features, it allows the division of work areas into defined sectors. Through this approach, it becomes relatively easy to identify areas of low energy that need to be addressed to enable a person to fully access their true potential.
In relation to this, while exploring specific applications of EFT, I came across TAI (Inner Alchemy Techniques) and, thanks to Andrea Fredi, I qualified as a TAI Master, always adhering to my principle of testing techniques on myself before using them with others.
TAI allows me to quickly identify the cause of a block or difficulty and dissolve it with relative ease, often without even needing to know the details. Unlike other techniques, TAI can be applied with its “command phrases”—direct instructions to the subconscious—even without the practitioner knowing the specifics of the scene or episode. This is particularly useful when the experiences are sensitive, and the client’s reluctance or pain prevents them from speaking openly.
Additionally, the energy release enabled by TAI—re-harmonizing energy trapped in space-time capsules—gives clients an extra boost to apply the strategies identified through coaching with greater strength.
My approach can be outlined as follows:
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Assessment of the current state (X), typically characterized by a sense of lack or difficulty in a specific area, not always easily identifiable without specific HPM coaching techniques.
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Identification of the desired state (Y), which naturally involves overcoming the difficulties of state X through:
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One or more strategies (coaching) applied to real life, which can only be effective if:
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Obstacles preventing the implementation of these strategies are resolved through TAI and EFT, facilitated by:
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Typical counseling steps that bring to light deep and valuable inner resources, to be used with newfound awareness.
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This integrated approach creates a powerful focus that amplifies real results and generates a virtuous cycle that feeds itself: the more energy is released through energy-based techniques, the more strength is drawn to implement strategies that lead to small and large, measurable successes. This, in turn, deepens the counseling process, uncovering profound resources that can be reprocessed with energy techniques.
Case Study: TAI Applied to Lies in Relationships
Gianni is a successful professional approaching his 50s with ambitious goals for growth and earnings, aware of having already achieved much, transitioning from employee to entrepreneur and fulfilling a long-held dream. This choice has paid off in terms of professional satisfaction but contrasts with significant difficulties in his personal relationships.
Gianni was referred to me by a mutual acquaintance who had attended my motivational courses. He described a highly complicated situation: divorced for many years, he has a strained relationship with his adult daughter, lives with a woman he doesn’t love, and maintains a secret relationship with an ex-partner from after his divorce.
First Session
As a starting point, I follow a method that has consistently yielded good results: I let the client talk about what they perceive as their problem and identify its real implications—what they notice as effects in their life—highlighting them. I also listen to their verbal patterns for clues about unconscious strategies they apply without realizing, which reveal significant insights into the subconscious beliefs that heavily influence their actions.
After about half an hour, the surface-level picture becomes clear: a continuous series of lies told to others and himself, increasingly complicating the situation and draining immense energy to avoid contradictions.
At this point, we set work objectives together: to apply a strategy of re-centering on himself, with the motto “I take responsibility for loving myself,” and together we identify what hinders this journey toward himself.
We decide to begin by focusing on his relationship with his daughter. He says he wants to be admired by her and plans to buy her a car as a graduation gift (she graduated a year ago!). I ask what he thinks his daughter might want instead, and he responds that she likely wants to see him as a good father who meets her needs. Exploring the word “needs,” a childhood memory emerges where Gianni literally begs for friendship from another child. We apply TAI to this scene, which has an intensity of 7 and a visual and auditory connotation, experienced from within.
I begin the TAI session: I am the origin.
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I reclaim my power and release the energy held in this scene: No apparent emotional release. I let the command work for about a minute before moving to the next phrase.
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I let go of all identification and attachment to this scene: A small sigh indicates something is shifting.
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I generate order and coherence in myself regarding this scene: A yawn.
After the first round, the scene’s intensity decreases, and the perspective shifts. Gianni says he had never considered how much this scene had conditioned his life. I ask if there’s anything else, and the auditory element emerges: the mocking laughter of his childhood friend. The intensity is 8, and connecting with it, Gianni begins to cry.
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I reclaim my power and release the energy held in this laughter: Gianni feels sharp pains in his chest, as if something is rising and pressing.
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I let go of all identification and attachment to this laughter: The crying stops, and a deep yawn appears. Gianni says he feels as if a plug has been removed from his diaphragm.
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I generate order and coherence in myself regarding this laughter: A sigh of relief, and his face relaxes.
When asked, he says the episode’s intensity has dropped to 3.
I revisit the word “needs” in relation to his daughter, and a different meaning emerges: Gianni hypothesizes that he might be repeating the childhood strategy of begging for attention with his daughter.
I ask, “If you were your daughter, what would you want from your father?” He’s surprised by his response: “I’d want him to show himself as he is.”
I press further: “What’s the worst thing that could happen if you show yourself as you are to your daughter?” His attention returns to the earlier episode.
I decide to explore it with the triangle method and ask, “While connected to this experience, what might you have thought about yourself or the world?”
His answer: “No one wants you if you have nothing to give.”
I ask, “Can you be absolutely certain this applies to your daughter?”
He says he hadn’t thought about it. When asked, “How true does this feel to you?” he responds with an 8/10. We proceed with another TAI round on the belief “No one wants you if you have nothing to give.”
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I reclaim my power and dissolve the structure of the belief that no one wants you if you have nothing to give: A series of yawns and some tears.
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I let go of all identification and attachment to this belief: More yawns.
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I generate order and coherence in myself regarding this belief: Gianni spontaneously says he no longer feels this statement is true and feels relieved. He also mentions a heavy sensation in his arms and deep exhaustion, signs of a significant energy release.
I move to the harmonization phase: I harmonize all my systems to this new awareness. The client smiles and expresses gratitude.
We schedule the next session for the following week, with the task of identifying any other hidden beliefs related to his relationship with his daughter.
Second Session
Gianni arrives visibly nervous, recounting an argument with the ex-partner he secretly sees and his fear that she might show up at his home and cause a scene with his current partner. I seize the opportunity to provoke him, smiling: “Wouldn’t it be a good thing if that happened? It would resolve everything at once.”
He responds, “I’m afraid of that happening because then I’d be alone.” I press: “What’s the worst thing that could happen if you’re alone?” He doesn’t know how to answer, still very agitated.
I try an EFT round: Even though I feel scared at the idea of being alone, I open myself to welcoming the changes needed for a happy and fulfilling life.
He calms down after a couple of tapping rounds, so I examine the fear of being alone with TAI: “While connected to this fear of being alone, what episode emerges that might have caused it?”
Gianni recalls a time when a girl he liked rejected him and didn’t want to play with him. Intensity 7/10, seen from an external perspective with a primarily visual connotation.
I apply External LASER TAI:
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I reclaim my power and release the energy held in this scene: Gianni yawns a couple of times.
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I let go of all identification and attachment to my reactions to this scene: Gianni says he now sees the scene as a participant and feels a pain in his chest, like a block.
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I generate and send harmonious frequencies to myself in that scene: The client realizes he drew the belief from this scene that to please others, he couldn’t be himself.
I perform another External TAI sequence on the belief. The client feels relieved and, thinking about the belief, connects to his fear of meeting his daughter.
He says he has a meeting planned with his daughter that week and feels anxious about it: he told her he’d buy her a car, but he can’t afford it right now and is convinced this will push her away.
I ask, “Can you be absolutely certain that your daughter only wants the car or material things from you?” He admits he doesn’t know and, since working on the last belief, feels confused about it.
I ask, “What else might your daughter want from you?” He responds instantly: “Maybe she wants what I want: to love each other, that’s all.” At this realization, he bursts into tears in an intense emotional release that lasts several minutes.
Once he recovers, I guide him toward identifying a strategy to approach the meeting more naturally and relaxed. To reinforce what emerged, we agree that he’ll do something he enjoys alone that evening: he says he’d like to visit a small church from his childhood that gave him a sense of warmth and safety. His task is to go there alone, embrace all the sensations that arise, and stay connected to himself. The second strategy involves identifying any anxiety-provoking thoughts before the meeting, questioning whether they’re absolutely true, and treating the sensations with EFT. A sample tapping phrase could be: Even though I believe this thought, I open myself to the possibility of having a positive experience in reality.
Third Session
Gianni immediately shares that the meeting with his daughter exceeded his expectations: they dined calmly, talking about many things. He managed to let go and be himself, and his daughter openly appreciated it, saying she saw him as different—more open and sincere—and had been waiting to see her father like this for a long time.
They also decided to meet regularly to spend quality time together as father and daughter, without expectations or demands.
My first question: “How does it feel to be yourself with your daughter?”
His answer: “I feel at peace, but I’m not sure I can do it with others.”
I suggest an EFT round: Even though I don’t believe I can be myself with others, I give myself the opportunity to enjoy time with my daughter and be the best version of myself in harmony with my current abilities.
I ask, “What would the best version of yourself with others look like?”
Gianni lists qualities like serenity, determination, presence in the moment, openness to others, and acceptance.
I guide him to visualize himself embodying these qualities, adding color and sounds until the image becomes emotionally compelling. Then we apply Generative TAI:
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I draw on the energy contained in this image and guide it to my center (he accompanies the phrases with hand movements toward the lower dantian): I observe Gianni’s face relax.
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I align this energy with my essence (hands move to the chest): He says he feels the energy flow rising, as if cleansing him from within.
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I direct this energy toward myself here and now (hand moves to the third eye, guiding the energy toward the visualization of himself with the desired qualities, eyes in drishti pose): He confirms feeling energized and confident, enjoying this energy.
I move directly to harmonization: I harmonize all my systems to this new version of myself.
We establish a strategy for the following week: each day, he’ll do something symbolic for himself that brings joy, to stabilize and build the foundation of self-esteem based on inner worth, not just external validation. We agree that at the next session, we’ll address the two romantic relationships he’s still entangled in.
Final Reflections
Despite having used every version of TAI on myself multiple times, I’m still often amazed by the simple elegance and effectiveness of this technique, which truly reaches deep, bringing evolved awareness to what has been stuck for years. We live daily experiences with “too much” intensity that our protective mechanisms freeze to safeguard us, but over time, these become traps with a kind of gravitational force, attracting similar episodes and activating with their load of emotions, sensations, beliefs, and fantasies, often governing our actions outside present-moment awareness. We think we’re acting in coherence with the current context, but we tend to repeat outdated scripts no longer suited to the circumstances, unaware of it. Having a technique that, with such simplicity and effectiveness, offers the opportunity to dissolve these frozen energy capsules—space-time capsules—and rewrite them with new awareness is undoubtedly a blessing for those pursuing inner growth and for those dedicated to helping others. It’s also a powerful tool that requires mindfulness and responsibility to accept and allow what no longer serves to be transmuted, much like the ancient alchemical practices, which, thanks to Andrea’s invaluable contribution, become modern techniques of profound inner transformation.
Vincenzo Zauner
Systemic Strategic Coaching
+39 347 434 8723
info@zaunercounseling.it