Hi everyone, my name is Safire Naranjo. and I am here today to talk to you a little bit about EFT tapping or emotional freedom techniques. So I’m going to talk a little bit about what it is, how you can use it and to lead everyone through a group tap.
So basically, emotional freedom techniques or EFT tapping, it’s sort of a borrowed concept from Traditional Chinese medicine where we’re using the endpoints of meridians. And we tap on them rhythmically while saying certain key phrases and statements. And so we know with TCM theory we have meridians or these energy pathways that flow in the body, where the Chi and energy flow. And we know that when we have a block, and the Chi is blocked, this can manifest in physical or psychological blocks, and sort of show up in our bodies in these patterns of disease or unwellness. So physical or psychological manifestations of that. So we’re using these acu points, these end points of the meridians to release these energy blocks from the body.
So basically in terms of how you set up a phrase or a statement, what we want to do with EFT tapping is we want to use exposure with cognitive restructuring. So what I mean by this is that when we’re tapping on something, we want to expose ourself to it. So let’s say we’re tapping on a heavily charged experience of the past. We’re going to revisit that experience by talking about it. And then we’re going to pair that with cognitive restructuring, which ultimately just means love and acceptance. We can use EFT tapping for absolutely anything, which I think sometimes is a little confusing, but we can use it for traumas or heavily charged experiences but you can also tap on something more acute. So something that’s happening in the present moment, let’s say it’s physical discomfort or pain or feelings of anxiety or depression. You can use it to help yourself fall asleep. People use it for all sorts of shifting of lifestyle or behaviours. So wanting to change, people who want to quit smoking or change their diet or perhaps set themselves up for a career change, you can use it for kind of anything with this recipe.
Yeah, so basic tapping sort of recipe would be this exposure with the cognitive restructuring. So what I mean by that, like, even though I have this anxiety, I love and accept myself completely. Or even though I experienced this trauma in my childhood, I love and accept myself completely. Or even though I felt like I didn’t do a great job parenting yesterday, I love and accept myself completely. So what to do if those words don’t resonate. So there’s a lot of this idea and this concept of self-love and acceptance, but if that’s not comfortable for you to say, you can actually modify those words so that they are comfortable. So perhaps saying something like, I want to love and accept myself or I am open to loving and accepting myself because ultimately, we really do want to resonate with what it is that we’re saying which leads me to affirmations.
So I wanted to touch a little bit on affirmations ’cause I think a lot of people think that or feel that EFT tapping is a lot about affirming positive things or positive thinking. And while that is true and you definitely can use tapping in that way. And some people do, it’s not necessarily the goal of tapping. We’re not trying to induce positive thinking because affirmations, aren’t always positive. We’re trying to affirm the truth. We’re trying to affirm reality. And we’re trying to be really raw and open and honest with ourselves because if we’re tapping on something or we’re saying things that we don’t believe or we don’t feel that they’re true for us, it won’t work. The technique won’t work ’cause we can’t fool our subconscious. So when we’re tapping on the tapping points, and I’ll go through that shortly, we are sending a message of safety to our brain, to the primal brain, to the amygdala. And we’re also significantly reducing cortisol. So we do get into almost like a meditative state where we do become more open to suggestions. So we can be curious as we offer suggestions to ourselves, but we can’t really trick ourselves into thinking like everything’s great. So I shouldn’t have this anxiety or everything’s fine now. So that trauma experience should just go away. Like we know it doesn’t work that way.
So yeah, there’s different ways to use tapping. What we’re going to do today is do a group tap. So I’m going to lead you through a tapping experience. And of course, because it’s in a group setting, it’s not going to be the perfect words for everybody. And that’s okay. Even just going through the tapping points and saying these phrases, you should feel a shifting or a difference in your body, in your state. But when I work one on one with clients and we can delve really deeply into their first single experience, we use very specific words that resonate exactly. So through storytelling, through a big share, we get really specific about the event, how it happened, when it happened, all with the client’s words. So it’s really specific and unique to that person. And that’s something you can actually do on your own if you’re not wanting to work with a practitioner. And the way I usually suggest people do that is to journal. So if you’re wanting to tap on something that happened to you in your childhood or more recently, or even just like a big vent, it’s been a really stressful few days, journal out what you are going through, what you you’re thinking of, what you’re experiencing and then use that as your tapping script. So yeah, tapping on your own is also a really useful tool.
One of the things I love about this is that we can use it in really short bursts. So it doesn’t have to be this hour long session or 20 minutes even, you can use tapping for five minutes. So before you are attending a stressful meeting or after you attended a stressful meeting, perhaps at an event or even home parenting and you want to go to the bathroom for a few minutes and just do some tapping in the washroom. So it really doesn’t have to be something that we set up or carve out this special time for. It’s wonderful in that we can access it at all times because we just need our fingertips and to say these certain key phrases or words.
I’m going to launch into to how to use tapping and I’m going to lead you through a group tap. So basically there are lots of different tapping points you can use, but I’m going to show you the 10 that I like to use and are probably the most common that you’re going to see. And there’s really no right or wrong way to tap. So don’t get focused too much on the details. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing this exactly right ’cause you’re still going to get the benefits.
So the first tapping point is on the side of the hand or the karate chop point and you can tap with one, two, three or four fingertips. And just go ahead and give that a try and see how that feels with one or two or more. I like tapping with all four of my fingers. This is our first point.
The second one is on the top of the head. And so when we get to points where we could use two hands, I invite you to try that out just to see how it feels. Some people like using both hands I myself, some prefer to just use one, see what works for you. And the next point is between the eyebrows. So again, trying it out with one or two hands, what feels best.
And the next point is the side of the eye. And onto the cheekbone. Under the nose, onto the chin. Onto the chest or just under the collar bones. Under the arm. So kind of at your ribcage, just on the side.
And then tapping the wrists together. And so when you cycle through more than one round, you can choose to switch to the other side if you like. So if you were tapping on this side, you could try the other one, you can alternate back and forth or you don’t have to, you can stick to the same side throughout, you’ll still get the benefits.
So I’m going to lead everyone through a group tap and I invite you to close your eyes for this. It will feel much deeper with eyes closed and I’m actually going to cue you to move to the next point. So you don’t have to worry like keeping your eyes open to see what I’m doing because I’ll let you know that we’re switching, I’ll say top of the head and then between the eyes and I’m going to say some phrases or words and I invite you to repeat those after me out loud if that’s possible for you, depending on where you are. So it does work a little deeper as well. When we say the words out loud and if something I’m saying doesn’t quite resonate and you want to change the wording a little bit, please do, totally fine.
And again, if the I love and accept myself completely doesn’t feel like something that resonates with you completely in this day, just modify it to however you see fit. All right, so we’re going to tap on stress because that is probably something that most of us are feeling on a pretty regular basis. And it’s a great way to sort of see in a nutshell how you can use EFT tapping in a way that would be applicable to most of us pretty often. So I invite you to just kind of get settled in your sitting position and close your eyes. And just take some nice deep breaths.
And then just with your mind’s eye, I invite you to look around your body. So just kind of checking in with yourself, how your body’s feeling. Notice where you might be holding on to some tension or feeling some discomfort. And just noticing if that’s taking place in more than one area of your body. Where it is, how it feels. Without any judgment at all, without any expectations that it should or shouldn’t be there, really just noticing it. And I invite you to try to keep with a steady and slow rhythm of breath, without forcing your breathing. Just what comes fairly natural to you when you’re paying attention to your breath.
And so just tapping onto the side of the hand, keeping your eyes closed, repeating after me, stress. This stress, this stress that I’m feeling, this stress that’s showing up in my body. I love and accept myself completely. We’re going to tap onto the top of the head. This stress. This stress in my body. This stress is showing up as, and you can fill in the blank. I feel it as. And I love and accept myself completely. Tapping between the eyes. I know it’s there. I feel it there. This underlying stress. This feeling of tension. We’re going to tap onto the side of the eye. It shows up in my day, it presents in my body. I carry it, tapping onto the cheek. I wonder what it would feel like to some of this go? I wonder if I can open up to that idea, even just a little. This idea of carrying just a little bit less stress. Tapping under the nose. I wonder how much lighter I would feel, To let go of some of my worries, some of this tension, some of this constriction in my breathing. Some of this tension in my body. Tapping onto the chin. I am choosing to let some of this stress go. Letting it go. Everything I don’t need in this very moment. And anyone who’s causing this stress, I let it go. Tapping onto the chest. This stress. This stress that isn’t doing me any good. Carrying this around, this old pattern. I learned this a long time ago. And I’m safe to let go of this old pattern. This pattern that isn’t serving me. Tapping under the arm. I am choosing to let go of this stress. Letting it go. Everything I don’t need, I choose to let it go.
Tapping the wrist together. I am safe to release the old. Tapping onto the side of the hand, to enjoy this feeling of lightness. Tapping onto the top of the head. To feel good in my body. Tapping between the eyes. To breathe deeply. Tapping at the side of the eye, yo feel ease. Tapping onto the cheek, to relax. Tapping under the nose, I am safe. Tapping onto the chin, to let go of this stress. Tapping onto the chest. I love and accept myself completely. And just taking one hand to your heart center, place one hand on your belly and with eyes closed, just checking in with yourself. Checking in with your body. And just revisiting those areas that we checked in at the beginning. Noticing if there’s any shifting, any difference. And again, without any judgment, without any expectation, just being curious and noting. And just gently opening your eyes and coming back into the room.
So in a nutshell, that’s a little taste of how you can use EFT on yourself in a stressful moment or you can change that wording and apply it to whatever it is that you want to be working on. And the idea with it is that not that everything just goes away like poof in that instant, but ideally that the charge does come down a little bit. Typically you even without saying anything, if we just tap on the tapping points and breathe, we’re going to go into parasympathetic. We’re going to have our nervous system start to relax. We’re going to take down the cortisol in our body and produce that feeling of safety within ourself. So if you wanted to do even several rounds if you have more time, you do a round, check in. You notice stress has gone down a little bit but it’s still there.
You can go back and do the same tap again, say the same words or change them slightly to accommodate what you’re feeling in that moment. And again, the charge should go down a little bit more and a little bit more with each tapping session. So I hope that was useful. And I’d love for you to try that out. Maybe later today, before you’re falling asleep, I know people who use it when they’re driving in the car, you can use it anytime, anywhere, that you have a moment to think about tapping on your these acu points and saying some of these phrases.
I will will be doing an intro to tapping through Oona. So please check out the website for more information on that. It’s totally free. It’s going into a little bit more detail on EFT tapping. It’ll be about an hour long and yeah, I hope you all have an amazing day, bye.
