Tapping Away Stress Using EFT

Written by Lindsay Kenny

It’s a fact that we live in stressful times. Unless you operate under extraordinarily peaceful circumstances, it is almost inevitable that you will encounter daily stress. There are always deadlines to meet, more tasks to get done than seem possible and countless outside forces presenting unexpected challenges every day.

I’m not a doctor, but I am a human being, and I’ve battled high stress levels for years…and have paid the price for it. So with more than enough first-hand experience and a lot of research, here’s what I know. Stress is far more than the tension in your neck and shoulders. In fact, it negatively affects virtually every system in your body. The ongoing affects of stress are highly detrimental to your physical and emotional health.

Knowing how to successfully manage stress (in a safe, responsible way) can improve your health, enhance your relationships and provide peace of mind. It could even increase your longevity. My intention with this article is to teach you a simple, safe and effective way to deal with stress. But first I want to remind you how bad stress really is for you.

The Stress Response

When your body perceives a threat or danger, your nervous system releases a flood of stress hormones including adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones prepare the body for emergency action. Your heart pounds, muscles tense and tighten, blood pressure rises, your breath quickens and your senses become sharper. These physical responses help increase your strength and stamina, while enhancing your reaction time to danger.

The stress response, known as the “fight or flight” mode is not only normal, but is beneficial in helping to keep you safe during emergency situations. The problem however, is that your body cannot distinguish the difference between real or imagined threats.

When you are continually stressed about debt, the amount of work facing you or worrying about something that “might happen,” your body reacts just as intensely as if you were facing a life-or-death situation.

The adrenal function, while valuable as a temporary aid during emergencies, keeps your body in the “flight or fight” mode during times of chronic stress. This keeps the tap open on your adrenal glands, greatly fatiguing them and taxing your body’s resources. And, the more often your stress response is activated, the harder it is to shut off.

The Bad News

Stress can raise your blood pressure, increase your risk of heart attack or stroke and compromise your immune system. Chronic stress can also speed up the aging process and even reprogram the brain, leaving you vulnerable to anxiety, addictions and depression. Bummer. Additionally, many people deal with stress by overeating, which further increasing health problems. Stress is also one of the main factors in sleep disorders. As we lose sleep, our bodies and minds are put under even more stress, further compounding the problem.

Studies show that individuals subjected to stress have more difficulty with memory and problem solving, making it much more difficult to focus or complete tasks. People who are over-stressed are more likely to make more errors in driving, working or academic situations, and are more prone to accidents.

Stress contributes to gastrointestinal problems such as nausea, diarrhea, ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. And if that’s not enough, stressful experiences can heighten sensitivity to arthritis, back pain, muscle pains, headaches, and even contribute to infertility!

So the question becomes: How do we deal with the inevitable stress we encounter as we go about living our lives? Completely changing your lifestyle or career could be the answer, but that’s just not practical or possible for most people. So, unfortunately, many people turn to medication, recreational drugs, alcohol or other unhealthy choices to help solve their stress issues. However, these methods often increase psychological or physical problems and can destroy relationships. Get it? Stress is tough on you! So, enough bad news.

Tapping Away Stress Using EFT….

One of the most efficient, safe and easy ways to cope with and even reduce stress is through meridian or energy tapping (including the Emotional Freedom Technique). This article isn’t intended to teach you all about meridian tapping, but rather to introduce you to some simple tools to reduce your stress or anxiety.

By tapping on certain meridians while making some simple statements, an individual can reduce stress by 60% or more in a matter of minutes. With a little more time and diligence, a stressful or anxious state can easily be transformed to a calm relaxing state.

 Start Tapping!

Step 1
Check in to your body’s current stress level and measure it on a 10 to 0 scale. If you are highly charged or agitated, that would be a 10. Feeling calm and relaxed would be a 1 or zero. Sit down, take a deep breath.

If you are new to tapping, please see How To Tap.

First, tap on the karate chop point (KC) of one hand with the fingers of your other hand, while saying this:
“Even though I’m really stressed at the moment, I want to accept that for now, and allow myself to change.”
Do this “set-up statement” 2-3 times.

Step 2
Next , tap on these described meridian points, with three fingers, while repeating a reminder phrase of “This stress” or “Stress about this meeting.”

Begin at the inside of the eyebrows, just above the bridge of the nose (EB,) then move down to the side of the eyes (SE,) then under the eyes (UE,) and under the nose (UN.) You should be tapping about 4-6 times at each location. After the tapping under the nose drop your fingers to under the chin (UC.)

Then, move your fingers down to just under your collarbone and about 2” out from the center of your throat (CB.) Then continue tapping under the arms (UA,) under the breasts or liver point (LV,) then on the line at the beginning of your wrists (WR,) then finally on the crown of your head (CRN.)

Here is what it will look like:
1) Set-up Statement:
“Even though I feel pressured and stressed about this deadline (or whatever is true for you,) I want to accept it for now while allowing myself to shift.” Tap on the KC point continually while saying this 3 times.

2) Tap on the meridian points, with three fingers while saying a reminder statement, such as “This stress.” Here are some other choices for reminder statements. You may use them all, choose only one or improvise with one that suits your stress situation.

EB- this stress
SE- feeling stressed
UE- my stressful day
UN- this stressful deadline
CB- the stress in my neck and shoulders
UA- the anxiety and stress about my job
LV- all of my stresses
WR- this stress is giving me a headache
CRN- my stress level right now

3) Do another round or two, using the same or similar statements. Breathe normally as you tap; releasing the stress on the exhale.

4) Reassess your stress level and see if your number is the same, higher or lower. For most people it will have gone to 2 or 3 points from where you began. For some people it will go up a notch or two, simply because you are focusing on the stress more closely.

Repeat Step 1 and Step 2 again
Do another set-up phrase (on the KC point) changing it slightly to “Even though I still feel this stress, I am feeling slightly more calm, and want to feel even more relaxed.” Repeat this 2-3 times.

Do 2 more rounds of tapping, similar to the ones shown above, but this time add in some “desire” statements:
EB- this remaining stress
SE- I want to let it go
UE- this stressful deadline
UN- I want to be calm about it
CB- the stress in my neck and shoulders
UA- I want to relax my tense muscles
LV- all of my stresses
WR- I allow myself to release them
CRN- I want to feel calm, relaxed and in control

Keep repeating the above steps until you feel the tension completely release from your body. You will experience longer-lasting results if you keep tapping until your stress feels entirely gone (at a zero,) rather than just “less.” You should be able to do this in 15 minutes or so.

Not Working? Do This!

If your stress level isn’t going down after 2-3 sequences, then you most likely have a psychological reversal or “subconscious resistance to change.” You may feel at some level that stress helps to give you the edge you need to complete a task. You may think it’s not o.k. to be calm and relaxed when having so much to do. You may feel that being stressed makes you seem more businesslike or hardworking. Don’t worry, that’s normal.

Add this procedure prior to the set-up statement:

Tap on the KC point while making this statement 3 times:
“Even though I DON’T want to let go of this stress, for WHATEVER reason, I still want to accept and respect myself.”

This “reversal neutralization” helps discharge the resistance to change, allowing this process to work more easily.

Dealing With Stress In A Better Way

It’s often the accumulative aspects of stress that create the pressure that causes you to feel overwhelmed. Tapping can reduce that pressure by providing an “escape valve,” so you never reach that unbearable state. Being calm and feeling in control can increase your focus and greatly improve your physical health and emotional sense of well-being.

Performing this simple tapping process won’t eliminate stressful events in your life, but it can greatly improve how you deal with them.

Lindsay Kenny Bio

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