By Guest Writer Erin Saunders
Erin Saunders is a passionate wellness advocate and a health and business coach with a background in education and clinical hypnotherapy. She also has extensive training in massage therapy, reiki, Western herbalism, EFT, and has practiced and studied yoga and nutrition for many years. She has explored and experienced first hand many different healing modalities, including naturopathy, acupuncture, chiropractic, neuro and biofeedback, energy healing, meditation, working with crystals, prayers, etc and brings all her knowledge and passion together in this website/ blog in order to help others find their footing on their own path to wellness.
Original article published on Erin Saunders ‘blog here.
Who else wants relief from stress? Past pain? Day-to-day anxiety? And the lingering feeling you will always to be chained to your to-do list? Let me introduce you to your new best friend, tapping (AKA Emotional Freedom Techniques). It’s everything you are looking for in a comforting confidant and available for you anywhere. Here’s what you need to know…
What is Tapping?
It’s a form of DIY (do-it-yourself) therapy (in my opinion). It blends acupuncture with modern psychology to relieve physical pain and emotional distress. In Chinese medicine, it’s understood that we have meridians or energy lines that bring prana (life force) to the body. When an emotional or physical trauma happens, these energy lines get blocked and stagnation occurs. Any imbalance can lead to dis-ease or illness.
In acupuncture, they put needles inside different meridian points to unleash blocks and get your life force flowing again. Similarly, in tapping, we choose specific power points to tap on repeatedly. This clears out the stagnation so the energy can flow properly again. As you tap on your meridian points, you will feel relief from negative emotion and restore balance. Personally, I tap at least once a day. I view it as energetic hygiene and I feel off when I skip it.
Here’s where psychology comes in… while we tap, we are drawing upon our memories, emotional beliefs, and fears that are creating chaos in our life. EFT allows us to dive into our subconscious which holds our limiting beliefs, stories, and toxic patterns that can continue to repeat if not brought to our conscious awareness.
While tapping, we evaluate the patterns and emotions in our lives and where they came from. As we meet the pain/fear we have the opportunity to bring our empathy, forgiveness, and healing to that part of ourselves. Tapping is like Chapstick to the soul. Granted, I just provided you the ooey gooey explanation of EFT. However, if science and facts drive your engine, there’s plenty of research online.
Who is this for?
Anyone can do it! Children too. Tapping is most beneficial for those of us who are stressed, anxious, depressed, or in pain. For those of us overwhelmed with daily demands. In research, it also proved helpful for people suffering from PTSD and others wanting to lose weight.
How to Tap
Step 1: Identify the Problem
What is causing you stress? Frustration? Pain? Here are some examples: lack of confidence, money concerns, the feeling of “I’m not enough”, fear of missing out, powerlessness, fear of the unknown, worry, etc. Then, identify the intensity on scale of 1-10 (10 being really tough). This will help you gauge the effectiveness of the tap.
Step 2: Know Your Repeating Phrase
You will tap in rounds, starting from the first tapping point (the center flesh of your outer hand) to the last point. As you do a karate chop motion on your first point, repeat this phrase about 3-5 times:
“Even though I [have x problem], I choose to deeply love and accept myself.”
This phrase is used because it conveys that despite this fear, you are willing to accept yourself fully. It might not feel true the first round, but stick with it!
Step 3: The Tapping Points
For the rest of tapping points, repeat a shorter version of that phrase. For example, if your phrase was “Even though I have this anger, I choose to love and accept myself,” on the other points you might say “This anger” or “My anger.”
- Top of head
- Middle of eyebrows
- Side of eyes
- Under the eyes
- Under the nose
- Under the chin
- Collarbone
- Under the armpit
Typically, I tap using my pointer and ring finger. Tap on each point above about 4 times. Once you are back at the hand (the starting point), you will start round 2. You will likely want to do about 2-5 rounds, depending on how charged the emotion feels in your body.
Step 4: How did it go?
Rate the intensity of the problem on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being really tough). If it went down, it worked!
Here’s What I Really Recommend
Want to know the easy way to learn to tap? Guided videos on YouTube! Many of us are busy moms, entrepreneurs, or just modern people with a lot on our plate.
Above, I described a simple version of tapping. However, you might find you prefer a little more depth to the repeating phrases to get to the core of your issue. A skilled tapping practitioner can do that in ten minutes or less!
You can always make an appointment on my calendar and I would be happy to walk you through a private tapping session. Having a skilled practitioner guiding your transformation can really help the work take affect. You can grab a spot on my calendar here. I have tapped on everything from taps on money concerns to fear of deadlines… the struggle is real.
Don’t delay, stress busting is just a tap away!
(Article published with Erin Saunders ‘permission)
Growth Is A Journey 