Tapping… it’s as if you could wave a magic wand and have everything in your life by peaceful, tolerating, comforting, loving, pain-free, and (dare I say) exciting!!! All without the doubt, judgments, second-guessing yourself, or regrets that are long overdue for forgiveness… imagine that… would you WANT that?
No need to keep reading if you don’t… I’m just sayin’ (there’s always an out).
But really?? WHY NOT YOU? Why can’t you have that? I know I’ve felt everyone of those feelings and more. I tell you this because I didn’t believe a happy life, not even exciting or anything, but only that a mundane, go-with-the-flow life was all that was possible.
My marriage was crumbling and because I got married so young, I didn’t know how to have a life outside of my husband and be a single mom. AND I suffered from migraines on a regular basis. Unhappy, in pain and no hope. Not exactly the ideal life to want or desire to live.
However…
After some time passed, because time does help to heal wounds, I discovered EFT, Emotional Freedom Technique, aka Tapping. WOW. If I had known then what I know now…
EFT – What is it and why Tap with Andi?
The Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT, is the psychological acupressure technique I use on my clients, my children and on myself in order to optimize our emotional, mental, and spiritual health. Although it is still often ignored, emotional health is absolutely essential to your physical health and healing – no matter how well you eat the proper diet and live an active lifestyle, you will not achieve your body’s ideal healing potential if emotional barriers stand in your way.
EFT is very easy to learn, and will I help you – as your personal EFT healer:
- Remove Negative Emotions
- Reduce Food Cravings
- Lose Some Digits on the Scale
- Reduce or Eliminate Pain
- Implement Positive Goals
- Hush the voice of despair that says you’re not good enough
EFT is a form of psychological acupressure, using the same energy meridians used in traditional acupuncture to help heal physical and emotional ailments for over five thousand years, but without the invasiveness of needles (whew). Instead, simple tapping with the fingertips is used to input kinetic energy onto specific meridians on the head and chest (and sometimes the wrist) while you think about your specific problem – whether it is a traumatic event, an addiction, pain, etc. — and voice positive affirmations when you’re ready.
This combo of tapping on the energy meridians and speaking your feelings (out loud or silently) along with some affirmation works to clear the “short-circuit” or the emotional block — from your body’s natural energy system. This process restores your mind and body’s balance, which is essential for optimal health and the healing of physical disease and chronic pain.
Some people are initially wary of these truths that EFT is based on – the electromagnetic energy that flows through the body and regulates our health is only recently becoming recognized in the West.
Keep in mind, EFT works! I have witnessed the results in my clients, myself and children since deciding to use EFT with them when they are unsettled, in pain or unable to cope with life’s devastation’s of being a teen!
I use it when I feel unsettled, in pain (from migraines), uncertain, overly emotional and disturbed about past hurts and so much more. I’ve helped clients released the trauma of childhood abuse, ease the pain of the death of a loved one and help others with creating healthy boundaries in order to lessen their load and stress in life.
So… HOW does it work?
Your Fingertips – Your Best Friends
First things first, you will be tapping with your fingers. There are actually a number of acupuncture meridians on your fingertips, and when you tap with your fingertips you are must likely using the meridians in your fingers as well as the meridian points on your body.
According to Traditional EFT you tap with the fingertips of your index finger and middle finger and with only one hand; either one works. Most of the tapping points exist on both sides of the body, so it doesn’t matter which side you use, nor does it matter if you decide to switch sides during the tapping process. For example, you can tap under your right eye and, later in the tapping, switch sides to under your left arm.
I have had some people use both hands and all their fingers, so that they are gently relaxed and form a slightly curved natural line. The use of more fingers allows you to access more of the acupuncture points. I find that clients tend to do this on their own without direct guidance from me, so just do what feels most comfortable to you. When you do use all your fingers, you will cover a larger area than just tapping with one or two fingertips, and this will allow you to cover the tapping points more easily. Again, either way is effective.
Ideally, you will want to use your fingertips, not your finger pads actually, as your finger tips have more meridian points. However, if you have long fingernails (hey ladies) you should use your finger pads, it will still work for you.
Tap Firmly- But Don’t Beat Yourself Up!
You should tap firmly, but never so hard as to hurt or bruise yourself…then what’s the point, right?!
If you decide to use both hands, try slightly alternating the tapping so that each hand is tapping just before the other you are not tapping with both hands simultaneously.
When tapping, you will tap about 5-7 times on each point. The actual number does not have to be precise, but is about the time it takes for one full breath. Like in yoga, connecting your breath with your movement invokes a beneficial relaxation mode in the body, tapping with your breath can have the same affects.
Notice how these tapping points proceed down the body. So, each tapping point is below the one before it. That should make it easier to remember the points. However, the sequence is not necessary for its effectiveness. You can tap the points in any order, just so long as you connect with all the points.
Is It For You?
Look at the diagram to the left. This is the illustration of how LIFE affects all of us. No one is immune to emotions. You have the good and the bad, and the ugly.
Your emotions are a direct result of the events in your life. Your earliest memory can be pleasant, loving and nurturing, or it could’ve been traumatic, scary and life-threatening. This can happen at any age and your brain is smart enough to store these events in order to protect you. The negative events are stored as Limiting Beliefs.
The Events are weighted down upon your back and shoulders. How you stand up to life is how you handle the events, good or bad.
As you can see, your emotions stem from the heart of your being. Joy, happiness, love, compassion, excitement, hurt, resentment, bitterness, anger, sadness, laughter, pleasure, pain, peace and so much more.
You can take the pit of despair, the hole of emptiness and feel those symptoms in the pit of your stomach. Symptoms may appear in other areas of your body, however, when you are stressed (as the brain sends a signal to release cortisol – the stress hormone) the affects are primarily felt in your gut – but don’t let that fool you if you have other physical ailments. Typically, though digestion literally shuts down and the “lump” commonly felt is a symptom of an emotional block forming (among other physical processes).
You may benefit from EFT if you suffer from:
- Deep feelings of sadness or depression with or without reason
- Pain (chronic pain included)
- People Pleasing
- Anger
- Trauma (combat, abuse, an accident, near death experience, death of loved one)
- Emotional Abuse – currently or from the past
- Physical Abuse – currently or from the past
- Feelings of insecurity
- Unable to set boundaries (I.e. can’t say no to people)
- Accepting yourself
- Inability to lose weight (or keep it off, you may have lost 100’s of pounds, but you gain it right back)
- Can’t quit smoking / drugs
- Binge Eating
- Teen depression
- Infertility (you feel as though it’s your fault)
- Blaming yourself for the “bad” in your life
- Never doing anything right
- Inability to enjoy intimacy (sex or you have painful sex)
- Feelings of failure and “not good enough”
- Never feeling accepted (family, friends, co-workers, etc.)
- Overwhelm
- Sleeplessness
- Frustration
- Bitterness
- Jealously
- A bad health diagnosis
- Chronically ill
- Accepting Dying
- & so much more!!
This is just a fractionated list of the possibilities.
Feeling amazing ALL the time, is just a finger-tip tap away!
Have you used EFT before? What are your thoughts?
