Right now, many of us are feeling anxious, stressed and overwhelmed about the situation in the world. We are all worried about the wellbeing of our loved ones; about our own mental and physical health, and even about what the future will look like.
It is really challenging to find that inner calm you so desperately need in order to do the practices that normally help, like meditation, yoga and relaxation exercises. Trust me, I’m in the same boat as you, dear reader.
So what can you do to help yourself handle this overwhelming situation, and find ways to relieve some of that stress and anxiety?
The very weird looking but hugely effective, self-help tool I use to bridge that gap between struggling with emotional turmoil and finding back to a relaxed state is EFT tapping.
EFT helps the body’s stress response (fight-or-flight response) to re-balance the emotional and hormonal states in the body. By tapping these acupressure points using our fingertips, you are helping your body clear emotional blockages, suck as grief, trauma and negative emotions. The memories will be kept intact, but your body does no longer have to react with a physical response when a traumatic memory is recalled or triggered.
You only need to try it out for a couple of minutes and you will notice how the body relaxes. Why don’t you give it a go right now?
Lets start by thinking about something that is upsetting you at the moment, or if you are experiencing a physical pain in your body right now. It could be anything from physical pain, irritation, frustration, sadness, worry or the feeling of not being in control over a certain life situation. Notice the feelings or the sensation in your body.Now imagine a scale from 0-10, where 0 is no pain/no emotional charge and 10 excruciating pain/really upset. Focus on the issue you are experiencing, give it a number between 0-10 and write the number down on a piece of paper.
Start tapping lightly on the side of your hand known as the side of the hand point (see reference picture below), and breathe. Just tap on the side of the hand, breathe, and notice what happens in your body as you are focusing on the emotional issue or physical pain you chose above.
Now, continue tapping eight to ten times on each point as seen on the picture below, starting with the eyebrow point, followed by the side of eye point, under eye point, under nose point, under mouth point, collarbone point, under arm point, and end with the top of head point, while stating what is going on such as “I have a terrible headache.”, “I’m feeling so anxious.”, “My lower back is killing me.”, or “I’m really fearful and overwhelmed.”
It doesn’t matter if you tap on the right or left side of your body, you can also alternate between left and right as you go along. Imagine drumming with your fingers on a table top, that’s the pressure you should use when tapping on the points.
Remember to focus on the negative feeling first, even if it feels counterintuitive or even a bit scary! The very point of tapping is to give space to the pain or the emotional distress, and not sweep it under the rug and pretend it’s not there. It’s a lot easier to let go of the emotional or physical pain after it has been properly acknowledged. The point is to address and then release the “bad feelings” instead of pushing them further and further down.
After finishing two rounds of tapping (one round is tapping 8-10 times on each point), take a nice, deep breathe.
Now focus on the situation or pain again and see if you can give it a number. How upsetting does it make you to think about it now? How much pain are you in right this moment? Has the number gone up or down? If it has gone up, continue tapping for a few more rounds until you feel more relaxed. Don’t be alarmed if the number goes up after the first one or two rounds, just continue tapping and breathing until you feel more relaxed.
If the number has gone down, check in with yourself and see where your thoughts are now, or how the pain feels now. Continue tapping a few more rounds until you feel calm and grounded. You then do one or two rounds, using statements like “I now feel myself relax.”, “It is safe for me to let go of the pain.”, “Even if the world feels unsafe right now, I choose to feel calm an centered.” .
You can also combine tapping through all the points and stating affirmations such as “I am well, and the Universe is supporting my journey.”; reciting your favourite prayer or poem; singing or listening to your favourite song; the possibilities are endless!
Close your eyes, take a nice, deep again, and just scan your body again. Go back to where you started, recall the pain or the emotional state you started tapping on, and do a last check in.
Don’t forget to rest and drink a lot of water after using EFT, and remember that you can always come back and do more tapping on the same or similar issues later.
Here is a video showing the EFT tapping points
Here is a video where I talk about why we use these points in the first place
Here is a video where I go through how you find issues to tap on