Tapping your stress away? Yes, and I am not talking about ‘tap dancing’ here, although that sounds like fun also and it may work, while you tap-dance (smile). What I am talking about here is a method called: EFT, which stands for ‘Emotional Freedom Technique’.

In order to understand why EFT is so successful in stress relief amongst many other issues like pain relief, phobias addictions etc., is that it influences the energy flow along the meridians in your body.  

Just imagine a road net of interstates and highways. Our meridians are like highways, or energy lines that connect important organs and body systems with each other. When you feel well, the roads (meridians) are open, which allows the energy (traffic) to run smoothly along these paths. When you experience stress or disease, there is a disruption in your energy system, which is like a traffic jam on one or more of the highways (your meridians). There are certain points alongside your meridians that regulate the flow of energy. Bringing back the example from road traffic, just imagine a switch station from which traffic is regulated. When there is a traffic jam, the switch station regulates it by changing the sequence of traffic lights, or opening additional lanes.

If there is a traffic jam (energy block) within or alongside your meridians, your body is in distress. With EFT you can influence the blockage by tapping on certain points along side your meridians to open up the energy flow on these points. These points are just like switchboards in traffic. In Chinese medicine these points are also known as ‘acupuncture points’. Now take a moment to visualize what you have just read.  

You don’t have to know why tapping on these acupuncture points helps to alleviate almost all disorders; it is just how the intelligence of your autonomic nervous system works. It happens so fast that your rational mind cannot understand nor follow it anyway. EFT tapping works; it has been used successfully for decades by healthcare professionals and laymen alike. There is a basic sequence in the tapping technique, which can be learned within an hour of instruction. The tapping is done with your fingertips, usually your index finger and middle finger. Some people include the ring and little finger as well, which covers a larger tapping area so you don’t have to be as precise as with two fingers. When tapping with your fingertips, you are likely to also activate the points there as well as those alongside the ones you are tapping on. Your fingertips have more meridians than your finger pads. The tapping should be firm. But if you are a woman with very long fingernail, you have to use your finger pads, so that you do not stab yourself!  

Tapping in the right sequence is one aspect of EFT, the other important one is the correct script for the condition you want to change. It is a bit more than repeating a positive affirmation. Unfortunately, many people who want to learn EFT have a problem or hesitation when it comes to creating a proper script for their condition. I can teach you the tapping sequence of EFT in a few minutes. What takes a bit more practice is the script that goes with the tapping. For example, if you are so angry that you are ready to ‘explode’ and you say a positive affirmation of “ I am calm and relaxed”, your internal voice may say: “Who are you kidding? I am not calm and relaxed!!!” But if you say:” Although I feel really angry now, I completely love and accept myself, and I choose to let go of….. (whatever would be appropriate for your particular situation). That is where your script comes in and is important. The sequence of tapping is completed in less than a minute, but you may have to repeat the sequence up to 10 times, or until your anger level (which may be as high as a 10 on a scale of 10 to 1), comes down to at least a 2.

Most people are surprised that this seemingly ‘silly’ tapping can accomplish this in such a short time; but is does, and it works on physical, mental and emotional issues alike.

Find an EFT teacher and learn this easy and effective method, or call me for the next workshop.  

The right way of breathing is another tool to affect almost all conditions that you may want to influence or change. You may ask: is there a wrong way to breathe? Yes, there is, and you are more likely than not to do it wrongly. At least 90% of my clients do not know how to breathe naturally. Babies breathe naturally; just watch how their little bellies expand on their in-breath and flatten on their out-breath. Is this how you breathe? You think so, but don’t know? Try and see how your abdomen rises and falls with your breath. If you are like most adults, you suck your belly in when you inhale, and relax it when you exhale. Why do you do this? You don’t know, because it just happens and you are unconscious of this automatic activity. There has been a time when you changed your natural breathing to this unnatural one, and it probably happened during your adolescence when you were told to ‘suck in your stomach’ or you were holding your breath often, which we do when under any kind of stress. Somewhere around that time you switched to a breathing that is unnatural to your body and does not support your state of vitality and calm centeredness.  

When you inhale, your belly expands. When you exhale, your belly contracts.

Why? Just imagine your middle body as a vessel, or balloon; when air enters, the vessel fills, or the balloon expands, and when the air leaves the vessel empties, or the balloon

deflates.  Consequently, during your inhalation your abdomen should naturally expand through the air that takes up the space there, and flatten when the space becomes vacant again.  

This is precisely why you have to re-learn how to breathe properly. Your breath affects every part of your body, through your nervous system. You have to learn the simple natural breathing before you can train your breath to regulate your blood pressure, stress level, pain response and other conditions.  If you learn EFT and proper breathing, you have two powerful tools to regulate and bring back balance to your body. Right breathing is as important as right nutrition; it is what keeps us healthy or makes us sick. Call me for instruction in these modalities.  
 

Angelika Christie ND is the managing director of Radiant Health Center

You can reach her at 242-352-1010 or radianthealth1@mac.com