What is EFT tapping and what does it do?
EFT tapping is a mind-body method of tapping acupuncture points on the hands, face, and body with your fingertips while focusing on an issue or feeling you're hoping to resolve. The body has approx. 2000 acupoints, which are connected pathways often referred to as meridians, through which life-force energy flows. Unresolved issues can create blockages to meridians and reduce energy flow leading to the feeling of being stuck in your problem.
When you are anxious you may identify with being in your head more than connected to your body. You may also find that you feel symptoms such as sweating, racing heart, pins and needles in your hands and feet or dizziness. Both can happen in occurrence with each other although it doesn’t necessarily mean the mind-body connection is made. It is thought that EFT tapping may have a quieting effect on the amygdala, the stress centre of the brain, this in turn helps you to feel calmer, able to think with more clarity and better able to cope with the cause of the anxiety.
This method may support you to reduce stress and anxiety, improve performance, lessen cravings, and help resolve fears. It can be effectively used independently and It can also be used as part of therapy to support resolving more complex trauma such as PTSD and phobia’s.
Where are the tapping points?
Eft tapping typically incorporate nine acupoints on the face, hands and body, and it also requires the mental focus to consider the problem situation, thought or feeling.
0. Karate Chop - The outer edge of the hand, on the opposite side from the thumb
1. Top of the Head - Directly on the crown of your head
2. Eyebrow - Where the eyebrows start at the bridge of the nose
3. Side of the Eye - On the bone along the outside of either eye
4. Under the Eye - On the top of the cheekbone under either eye
5. Under the Nose - The area beneath the nose and above the upper lip
6. Chin Point - The crease between your bottom lip and chin
7. Collarbone Point - About 1-2 inches below and to the side of where your collar bones meet
8. Under the Arm - On each side, about four inches beneath the armpits
9. Wrists together – Rubbing the inside of the wrists together
Standard EFT tapping process (before you do this exercise read through all the steps first)
Focus on your fear for a moment. Now, rate your fear on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the lowest fear and the 10 the highest. This is important, because in a moment we want to know how much you’ve reduced it. So, think about the thing you are scared of. On a scale of 1 to 10, how strong is the fear? Continue to think about that fear you have been having and taking two fingers on either hand start tapping on the following points, aim to tap 1-15 times in each location.
· Top of the Head
· Eyebrow
· Side of the Eye
· Under the Eye
· Under the Nose
· Chin Point
· Collarbone Point
· Under the Arm
· Wrists together
· Karate Chop
(One full round of EFT tapping)
In addition, if you'd like to engage more of your senses you can add an extension onto your EFT tapping but the above can be completed in isolation ;)
Next…
· Open your eyes – Now close them.
· Keep tapping in the last location, open your eyes, and look down to the right and down to the left.
· Keep tapping in the last location and rotate your eyes round 360 degrees’ clockwise, and now 360 degrees anti-clockwise. Stop tapping.
· Still thinking about the fear you are having, hum the first few lines of ‘Happy Birthday’ out loud.
· Now count out load from 1-5 (1,2,3,4,5).
· Now once again hum the first few lines of ‘Happy Birthday’ out loud.
Stop and once again assess the situation, thoughts or feeling and rate between 0-10 as before.
If the number reduces to a number, you are satisfied with stop and carry on with the rest of your day. If you would like to reduce the number further. Repeat the beginning of the sequence. Still thinking about the negative situation, thought or feeling.
It may take as many as two or even three times before you have completely eliminate the fear, how it is a technique you can complete anywhere and at any time as many times as you feel are useful to reduce your stress or anxiety. although most people report getting their fear down to a manageable level on their first or second try. If you find it comes back at a later time you can simply repeat this process as often as you like.
If you feel you'd like more support to reduce anxiety or stress feel free to book a discovery call to discuss how me again therapy can help you to feel more in control of your goals.
