The Power of Emotional Freedom Technique

On today's episode you'll learn about EFT tapping (Emotional Freedom Technique) and how you can use it to process your emotions, limiting thinking, and beliefs.  If you're dealing with capitol T, trauma - I highly recommend you work with a practitioner or a mental health professional depending on the severity of the trauma.

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Transcript

The Power of Emotional Freedom Technique

[00:00:00] Welcome back. I'm your host, Stefanie. And today we are going to dive into EFT, tapping emotional freedom technique. I am a certified EFT tapping practitioner and it is my mission to help women and the mindful man overcome the limiting beliefs that hold us back from living our dreams, from achieving the goals that we want, from being who we really are.

[00:00:34] So my mission for this specific episode is that you will walk away with a basic understanding of what EFT is and how it works. If you want to take a deeper dive into the mechanics of EFT, the science behind EFT. I encourage you to look up Dr. Peta Stapleton. She is a psychologist based in [00:01:00] Australia and they have been running clinical trials for EFT, and they are finding out all sorts of interesting things.

[00:01:08] And in future episodes, I can definitely dive into more specifics about benefits when it comes to working with specific issues. I love that she's doing that research. They're coming up with evidence of things that I've experienced in my personal life of how healing that EFT can be. 

[00:01:29] One of my first exposures to tapping was when I was a teenager and I walked out of the room. Because I was so uncomfortable, I didn't know what they were doing. It looked weird and I didn't want to feel my feelings or think about my thoughts or, you know, that whole thing, a teenage girl, does and is not ready for. And if you are a teenage girl and you're listening to this and you are ready for that.

[00:01:56] Sweet. But I definitely wasn't, I wasn't ready to deal with anything. [00:02:00] I look back on that response I had and I just giggled to myself and like, it's okay because I wasn't ready yet. And I've used typing in a lot of different ways, as I realized how powerful it was in my adulthood. 

[00:02:14] I've been able to use EFT to process childhood grief, trauma -and a word to the wise if you're dealing with trauma and you're trying to use EFT to address that trauma- I would highly encourage you that you use a practitioner to hold space for you to do that. Dealing with trauma on your own is a lot, and there are therapists who are trained in EFT. So if your trauma is of the nature that you need, a mental health professional, and the skill of being able to use EFT, then go that route.

[00:02:50] I am not a mental health professional. I am a lifelong learner. I do know a lot of shit, but I am not licensed as a healthcare professional. I am an E F [00:03:00] T tapping practitioner. I've also used tapping to overcome binge eating, body image issues, being able to tap into my inner wisdom as I transitioned out of religion. And you've already heard that story, it was quite traumatic. 

[00:03:14] But I've also used it in a way to help me deal with chronic pain. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2015. And you know, if you know anything about fibromyalgia, it's mystery thing right. But what I have found for me is that there was a mental and emotional component to the pain. And as I have been able to address those with tapping, my pain has significantly reduced, which is a miracle in and of itself because I had thought that it was something I was going to have to deal with for the rest of my life. 

[00:03:49] EFT is also a wonderful tool for being able to tap in to a belief in yourself to that confidence in yourself. And that's my main focus right [00:04:00] now. I want to help you achieve your goal. I want to help you release those blocks and limitations that are holding you back from having. Anything that you want, whether it's in business, whether it's from a relationship, if you have a goal and you are self-sabotaging yourself, you are procrastinating, you are putting things off.

[00:04:22] There's a reason, and those reasons can be looked at and tapped on and released so that you can integrate the wisdom and move forward with that belief in yourself, with that confidence in yourself. I've experienced it in my own life. I would not be making this podcast without tapping because shit comes up, self doubt comes up and it's a way to be able to manage it. Change the meaning of what we're experiencing and move forward in a way that feels natural and good. And one that we don't have to force ourselves, we don't have to use willpower to make the right [00:05:00] choices. We're integrated in a way that, that next choice feels good and feels right. 

[00:05:07] So what is EFT tapping?

[00:05:10] EFT stands for "emotional freedom technique", but people do often call it tapping just for short. What I love about tapping is that helps us hold space for all of the emotions. It's not about running away from them. It's about being present with them so that they can be processed instead of ignored.

[00:05:32] Because when we ignore, we end up storing it for later. If you could imagine yourself every time you have an emotion or a thought that you want to avoid and you store it for later, you put it in your little suitcase that you carry around with you everywhere. And it still with you. But EFT gives us a way to hold space for those thoughts and feelings to process them so that we can move forward without the [00:06:00] baggage.

[00:06:01] It is simply a tool. And I don't believe that it's for everyone. I'm not the kind of person who thinks there's a blanket solution for every single person on the planet. That's not the case. When I think of that kind of approach of, "this is the one solution. This is the one way." I think of my religious experience and how awful that was.

[00:06:23] We are all unique and we need different ways to support ourselves. So if you're listening to this and you're not interested in EFT, you might want to skip the next few episodes. Cause that's what it's going to be about. And the neuroscience will start to come back in. I honestly use EFT to support my neuroplasticity of my brain when I'm creating change.

[00:06:45] So for me, they're interconnected in a way that works. So EFT is a lot like acupuncture. I like to refer to it as acupuncture, but without the needles, it's still stimulating the meridians of the body, but [00:07:00] without the pain, without the part that's uncomfortable. So, where did it come from? Where in the world did EFT originate?

[00:07:09] It was founded by Gary Craig. He was a Stanford trained engineer who specialized in personal development because that's where his passion was. He had taken an existing therapy called TFT, which is thought field therapy, and he simplified it into a tapping sequence that is easily accessible and that can be used by anyone at any point in their life, if they feel called to do it, and if they find it useful. 

[00:07:38] And they're learning so much more about tapping. What we do know right now is that it helps calm the fight/ flight response in the brain. It's stimulating our energy system in a way that is communicating with the amygdala. And that is a little almond shape part of your brain that's responsible for the alarm system [00:08:00] of your body. And when we stimulate these tapping points along the meridians of the body, It's calming this system, this fight or flight response. 

[00:08:11] Tapping also reduces cortisol in the body, which makes sense because our production of cortisol is related to our stress response, which is obviously related to the alarm system of our brain, the amygdala. What they've found, is that after an hour of tapping, which you might think that's very long, but it's really not. Especially if you are in a group or you're working one-on-one with a practitioner it's not constant tapping. Your arms aren't going to get tired. It's a little bit at a time. And then you recheck, you reprocess, and you tap some more.

[00:08:44] What they found is they were able to reduce cortisol in the body by about 40%. Now this is a little bit different and unique in each individual. So everyone experiences that in a little bit different way, depending on how your mind and body are responding [00:09:00] to the tapping. I am especially looking forward to next year 2022, because of the exciting research that Dr. Peta Stapleton is doing in Australia.

[00:09:11] She has a book out called the science behind tapping. It's a great resource to look into. If you want to understand more about how tapping works and what they've found already, when it comes to benefits, especially with specific situations. 

[00:09:27] If you have already tapped before some of this might be a review, but that's okay. We all need a review of the basics from time to time. So stay with me. Listen in. I'm going to jump into what to expect when you're tapping. 

[00:09:44] So during a tapping session, whether it is on your own in a group or with a practitioner one-on-one, you are probably going to have some emotions rising. That's normal. That's actually what we want. We don't want to store them [00:10:00] anymore. We want to allow them to flow. I often have heard "emotions" broken apart: E-motion, energy in motion. Emotions aren't meant to be stored and kept for later. This can result in trauma actually in our body. Our emotions are meant to be felt, it's a natural process.

[00:10:28] And when we try to fight it, we try to hide it and pretend it's not there. It doesn't work. It's still there. So when we're tapping, be very present with yourself as emotions come up, you may not have a label for it. You may not have a name for it. You might cry and cry. If that's what you need to do. 

[00:10:50] I do encourage you, if you've never done a lot of tapping before to start with something small. Start with something easy so that [00:11:00] you can actually navigate it. Unless you're working with a practitioner navigating our emotions can be challenging because we get stuck in them. We get identified with them and then we don't know how to observe them so that we can allow them to move and be processed.

[00:11:18] Another thing that you might experience when you're tapping that you may think of a little bit weird is: yawning or burping or other body sensations that you're like, "oh, that was weird". It's all normal. It's energy moving through the body. According to Dr. Caroline Leaf, who is a neuroscientist, she is actually said that yawning resets the brain, which is crazy interesting. When I think about my experiences with tapping, it makes complete sense. The more I yawn, the more that's being released and I feel this sense of letting [00:12:00] go. So whether it's from an energy perspective or a neuroscience perspective, if you're yawning, there is something happening, embrace it and let it flow.

[00:12:12] You might also experience some interesting body sensations. There might be tingling, tension, and might move and shift and change. This is normal. Allow it to be there when we have energy that has been stagnant in our body for a really long time. And all of a sudden it starts to moving. You're going to notice some different sensations, some different things happen.

[00:12:36] You're not abnormal. There's nothing wrong going on. There's just energy moving. And another thing that you do need to be extremely mindful of is hydration. We need water. If we aren't hydrated that inhibits the energy system of our body from flowing like it needs to be. So if you [00:13:00] are in the middle of tapping through an issue or an emotion or a thought, and nothing's happening, nothing's moving like you want it to. Ask yourself when the last time it was that you had a big drink of water. Go get some. And then you can start tapping. We need to be hydrated. 

[00:13:17] So after a tapping session, it is normal to feel relaxed and maybe even a little bit sleepy and tired because tapping helps calm the fight or flight system of the body. We do go into a naturally relaxed state. Some people experience more of that and come more to the side of feeling tired or sleepy. Make sure that you honor that. If you need a power nap, take a power nap. If you need to get in a warm shower, just for that reset, then do that for yourself. 

[00:13:53] And be mindful of getting a good night's sleep. After you've had a [00:14:00] tapping session, it's like a reboot for your system. Just like when you're restarting a computer overnight to install the updates. Think of sleep in that same way when you're approaching tapping, especially when you're tapping every day. 

[00:14:14] There are nine basic tapping points. That is what is actually being researched. It's called the shortcut method and the reason they are doing that is because it's more simple. Um, I, myself, as a tapping practitioner, I do use these nine basic points, but then depending on the situation on what a client needs, sometimes we'll bring in other tapping points. If you would like to have a guide of how to start tapping, where the points are, especially the basic ones, then make sure you check the link in the show notes.

[00:14:48] I have a free PDF for you to download as a guide to get yourself started off on the right footing with tapping. And something that you do need [00:15:00] to know about me as a tapping practitioner is I take a little bit of a different approach because of my knowledge in neuroscience. I know and understand that it's not just about clearing out a limiting belief.

[00:15:16] It's also about giving ourselves direction. So that we can move forward in creating a new neural pathway, a new neural network in our brains that supports what we want to be experiencing. Whether it's a goal you're going after, or just an overall state of being in your life. There are a lot of different approaches and opinions I say, do what works for you.

[00:15:45] If my style of EFT tapping doesn't work for you. Then find someone that has a style that you like, and that does work for you or something completely different. If you want to go just [00:16:00] mindfulness route, straight up meditation and just go that way. That's okay. That's great. That's actually a really good way to start whether you're tapping or not to have those two things in your back pocket as well.

[00:16:14] So in case you want to started with your own tapping practice before the next episode drops, I'm going to go over a quick and dirty little tutorial for you to get you started. So the first thing you want to do is identify the issue or identify the thought or emotion, whatever is coming up into your awareness that you would like to collect.

[00:16:38] And then you want to give it a rating. One being low, intensity, 10 being a really high intensity of the emotion or the thought. And the reason we want to rate before we start tapping is it gives us a baseline to know if we're creating the changes that we want to be creating. 

[00:16:58] And then to start [00:17:00] tapping, it's the first point on the side of the hand. Again, if you need to see these points, follow the link in the show notes, and I'll have a guide for you that you can access to see these points. So when you're tapping on the side of the hand, what you're going to do is a set up statement. 

[00:17:17] So let's pretend you're tapping about anxiety about an upcoming event and you rated that as an eight out of 10, you would tap on the side of the hand and you'd say, "even though I'm feeling anxiety about this event, I deeply and completely accept myself anyway." And you'll repeat that three times while you're tapping on the side of the hand. So "even though I'm feeling anxiety about this upcoming event, I deeply and completely accept myself". And then for simplicity purposes, especially if this is the first time tapping, you're gonna want to go through the rest of the points, repeating the issue out loud.

[00:17:57] So it'd be "anxiety about this upcoming [00:18:00] event". And you'd repeat that at each point, tuning into the sensations, tuning in to the feelings that are coming up, really being present with yourself with a sense of curiosity. So you'd go to the top of the head, repeating it, "this anxiety about this event", eyebrow point, "this anxiety about this event". Side of the eye, "this anxiety". Under the eye, "this anxiety about this event". Under the nose, "this anxiety". And then there's a chin point, "this anxiety about this event". Then you'd moved down to the collarbone point, "this anxiety about this event". And then the last tapping point is under the armpit, a couple inches below the armpit, right along the bra strap if you're a lady and you would tap there, "this anxiety about this event". 

[00:18:59] And then you'd go back up to [00:19:00] the top of the head and continue tapping through those points along the head and chest and torso until that intensity started to come down. So you'd do a few rounds and check back in to see where it is. So if it was an eight at the beginning, you check back in and maybe it's the same. Then you do some more tapping and you want to get that rating down to about a three or less before you start to reframe and tap on what you would rather be experiencing.

[00:19:35] And in a very big way, tapping is about creating awareness so that we can have more conscious choice. So as you're tapping through, there is a high likelihood that you will have more thoughts that are connected to the issue pop through. So keep a journal or a piece of paper handy so that as those thoughts come up, you can put them on the paper. Put them to the side and then keep tapping on your [00:20:00] original thought or issue that you're working on until you get that intensity down to where feels more comfortable.

[00:20:07] There have been times during tapping sessions for myself that I been tapping on a specific issue and I've had a flood of awareness come through of like, "oh, This is what's happening. This is a thought that's connected to it. This is an emotion that's connected to it. And this is an action that's connected to the choices that I make that are connected to it." 

[00:20:28] And I just do a brain dump on the paper and then go back to what I was originally tapping on. And that brain dump on the paper, you can tap on that as well, but we really want to focus in, especially when you're working on your own.

[00:20:41] Otherwise it can get overwhelming focusing on what you initially sat down to tap on before you pull in any of those other patterns that you start to become aware of it. And once you get to a point in the tapping for yourself that the intensity is down, it's at a three or [00:21:00] below, you can start asking yourself questions about what's more true.

[00:21:05] What would I rather be thinking and feeling and believing and choosing? And then you can go through into a positive round of tapping. A lot of people love the positive round of tapping, which of course you do, because it feels good. The initial part of tapping is also important because if we still have the baggage and we're just trying to shove more positive things in, the bag is -just gets heavier. There's more resistance, there's more friction because we still have all the old limiting beliefs and thoughts rummaging around. So the initial part of tapping is important. We clear out, we get that intensity down before we turn in to reframing, asking ourselves questions so that we can move forward with what we'd rather be experiencing or believing about ourselves or the situation.

[00:21:58] If you get stuck, [00:22:00] like you've got the intensity down, but you're not sure how to move forward. A phrase that I love to tap on, it's just the beginning part of the phrase, you have to fill in the blank is: "I'm open to the possibility of.." And what this does is it creates this sense of curiosity that we are able to tap in to that deeper part of ourselves for new possibilities, for new ways to think about ourselves and about the situation that we are tapping on to begin with. 

[00:22:33] So if I were to apply it back to this anxiety about an event example, I would say, "I'm open to the possibility of being at ease at this event. I'm open to the possibility that it's safe for me to go to this event and be myself." I just kind of played with that a little bit. Um, just you can get an example of what you can use [00:23:00] to start shifting and changing the way you're thinking after you've got the initial intensity down to a point that feels manageable. 

[00:23:09] And one more helpful hint before you go and try this on your own: check back in the next day with the issue that you were tapping on. And check the intensity rating, to see where it is, to see if it's gone back up, to see if there's more things to be cleared, or if it's stayed down. If the intensity had stayed where you were at at the end of tapping with yourself the day before. 

[00:23:37] And the reason I encourage you to do this is because tapping isn't magical. It's not a quick fix. It is not a band-aid. It is a way for you to hold space for yourself to process, to release, and then to reframe how you've been thinking about whatever issue that you had been [00:24:00] working on to begin with.

[00:24:02] So go back the next day and check back in. Look again and see, "okay, what else is here?" With a sense of curiosity. It's real easy to want to fix everything now, to want to figure everything out now, but that's not how life works. That's not how our brains work. It's a little bit at a time. And as we do that, it creates big changes.

[00:24:25] When we look back over our lifetime moving with consistent with something -two months later, it's completely different. And it's the same way with thoughts and emotions. You're going to want to check back in with the issues that you were tapping. To see where they're at, because the truth of the matter is it takes at least 21 days for something to become semi habit.

[00:24:50] But they're also finding that 63 days, when we're looking at the physical structure of the brain, is really the magical [00:25:00] number of creating a new neural pathway and a new neural network. So whatever issue you're working on, don't be afraid to check back in because when you do, you're going to get a bigger understanding and change your brain in a bigger way to support yourself moving forward.

[00:25:19] Thanks for joining me today. It's been an absolute pleasure. Talk to you soon.