Tapping? That Looks Strange.
Tap your worries away? It may seem overly simplistic, but it just might be possible through the use of the emotional freedom technique (EFT).
Maybe you have heard of this thing called Tapping or EFT. Maybe you have seen it on the local news stations or read it in Oprah Magazine. Tapping draws on the ancient Chinese practice of acupuncture, which teaches us that the body's energy travels along specific pathways. Certain points on these pathways are stimulated to improve the flow of energy. EFT tapping stimulates acupoints by touch rather than by the use of needles, making it similar to acupressure.
Some Experts Weigh In
Per traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the human body has more than 2,000 acupoints, and these points are connected by pathways, or meridians, through which life-force energy (called “chi”) flows, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. TCM holds that this energy flow is responsible for overall health, and disruption of the flow may cause disease. Stimulating specific acupoints is thought to improve the energy flow and, by extension, overall health, per Johns Hopkins.
Dr. Roseann Capanna-Hodge explains that when the nervous system is calmed via EFT, it allows a person to review an issue causing stress or anxiety without their body becoming activated by uncomfortable emotions. This is why it can be especially effective for overcoming phobias and PTSD, according to available research. One 2017 review in Explore magazine found four and ten sessions of EFT tapping to be an effective treatment for people with PTSD.
Other research found that stimulating acupoints produces a variety of brain chemicals, including endogenous opioids (pain-relieving chemicals), serotonin (which helps regulate sleep, mood, and memory), and gamma-aminobutyric acid (which has a calming effect on the body).
Tap and Talk
Research suggests that there’s a physiological response to the stimulation of these acupoints — they’re not simply random sites on the body. In my practice, I show people exactly where these sites are located. Typically I lead the sessions for the first few times, then the client has the knowledge to use this anytime they need to resolve an issue, get into a calmer state of mind, or simply have the state of mind to make better choices. Not only do you learn how to find the proper points and the sequences, but also how to have an emotional release. A What? Emotional Release? Think about it this way. Have you ever known something to be true, but when you finally said it out loud it made it real? Ladies, think about the first time you saw a plus sign on the sick (+ = Yep, I’m pregnant!) you saw it, you understood it, and then you said it out loud to yourself or someone else and suddenly it was REAL. For me it was last year when we had to put our senior dog to sleep. I was there. And I knew it was the time to do it. And many people close to me could see that it was a matter of time. But when I said it out loud for the first time it really hit me. These are examples of emotional release. We tap and we talk. Until you experience it for yourself, it’s difficult to really grasp it.
Uses for Tapping
What can’t you do with this is really the question.
Here is the short list for some of it's uses….
-To overcome stress or anxiety
-To overcome a specific phobia or fear
-To overcome PTSD
-When you feel depressed
-Dealing with loss
-Dealing with chronic or acute stressors
-Social anxiety
-Panic
-Fibromyalgia
-Any Trauma
“Try it on everything is the motto.”