As I started my journey on the Presence Process this week, the breathwork sparked a memory of a time when I was gifted an EFT session for my 40th birthday.
We had been living offgrid for about 5 months and made friends with several people living nearby. One of my friends Mina, noticed that I had been feeling particularly stressed. So for my birthday, she gave me an EFT tapping session for relaxation.
The session was intended more as a relaxation and stress release.
My friend, Mina, knowing that I'd been feeling a bit down, decided to gift me the tapping to help overcome the stress I had been feeling. It was aimed at relaxation and letting go.
As I lay on the massage table I remember feeling a little vulnerable and anxious as I didn't really know or understand much about the technique. Mina gently explained what the process involved.
She is the type of person that is so gentle in her presence. Kind and empathic in a very natural way. She herself has a very calming effect when she talks and I believe that, in itself, can make the difference between simply getting treatment and actually healing on a connected level.
The session started.
We talked about removing stress and anxiety and I set a little phrase, about staying relaxed in stressful situations (I can't quite remember it exactly as this was 2 years ago). She then asked me to repeat the phrase as she tapped on my lower abdominal area.
She then gently tapped her finger on different parts of my body. Starting on my head and working first down the right side and then the left, finally over the solar plexus or chest area. This was repeated many times over what is known as the Meridian Points and I'll go into that a little bit further on in this post.
After each rotation, she asked me to repeat the little phrase while she started the process again. Each time she asked me how much more relaxed I felt.
I'm not sure if I am explaining this particularly well, but whatever Mina was doing, it worked. I felt very relaxed.
Then something strange happened...
During the session, my breathing had been mostly normal except at one point when she was tapping over my solar plexus. I suddenly gasped in a huge breath of air. Just for that split second and then my breathing returned to normal. At the time I didn't think much of it.
It was this same 'gasp for air' feeling that came back to me while doing the first breathing exercise on the Presence Process, which is what triggered me to write about my experience with tapping.
At the end of what I must say was probably better than a massage, which would have been my usual go-to for relaxation, we sat and discussed how the session felt. Mina asked me what I was feeling when I took that huge gasp of air. To be frank, I didn't really know.
She explained to me that normally it can be related to anxiety. After she asked a few probing questions, I realized that I still needed to heal from some difficult experiences in my childhood.
Interestingly, it was something that I thought I had come to terms with, but as I later realized it was the root of why I chose dominant romantic partners and assumed a submissive role in most of my relationships.
Unfortunately, 2019 turned out to be a really bad year for me. I managed to have a couple more sessions aimed at helping heal from the trauma and be present for my children. I feel I should have really had more, had my circumstances allowed it.
At the start of each of the sessions, we discussed the issue I wanted to resolve. We then went through the intensity of the issue and devised a sort of 'mantra' that I had to repeat to myself to help lessen the feeling. Once the tapping had started, it began to bring the anxiety surrounding the issue down until the intensity of it was lower than when we started.
It's not a quick fix process but even in those few sessions, I can see the benefits that the Emotional Freedom Technique provides.
Eft isn't just for emotional trauma.
One of her regular clients swears by her practice. The client had quite a severe bone breakage, which left her in tremendous pain for a long time after the bone had healed. She was having regular weekly sessions. She informed me that after each session she could feel the pain dissipate more and more.
What exactly is EFT?
Now for the scientific explanation...
Emotional Freedom Technique or Tapping is an alternative healing tool. It is used to help with feelings of anxiety or stress resulting from a specific issue.
It can also be used to help eliminate anxiety or the stress associated with a future event. An example of this might be an operation or preparing to give a speech in public.
It is similar to acupuncture in the way that it targets the Meridian Points on the body. These are our energy hotspots and it is thought that tapping these areas on the body, helps to restore the flow of energy in the body. This in turn restores balance. It is believed in Chinese Medicine that keeping the energy flow balanced maintains good health and prevents illness and disease.
If you would like to read more about what the process entails, here are some useful links that may interest you:
What Is EFT and How Does It Work?
Finally, below is a useful video that provides a step-by-step guide to the EFT process:
Continuing with the healing
From researching this post, I have discovered that EFT can be self-facilitated. I am glad I made this discovery, as I thought that it always had to be provided by someone who is trained in EFT.
It is certainly a valuable tool and I hope that there will be more studies on it in the future.
When it comes to healing from anything I truly believe there is no 'one size fits all' and it can be extremely beneficial to try as many available options as possible.
I am not a doctor of any kind and most of my knowledge in Natural Medicine has been from experience. If you are considering trying EFT, please do your research and consult your doctor, G.P. if you have any concerns.
~ONE LOVE~
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