What it is EFT and How it can help you.
Mid-march 2020, the world enters into panic mode as the coronavirus keeps spreading. Left at home with no exit as to when things will get better, and with the only certitude that things will actually get worse before getting better! I have a tendency for anxiety and for the past 5 years what has helped me manage it has been to … bake. As silly as this may sound, I always refer to baking as my own kind of meditation, I would put my apron on and most, if not all of my worries would disappear.
I have also been practising Vedic meditation (on and off) and it has had a positive effect on my wellbeing. However, it didn’t work this time. I would try and meditate only to be left feeling worse at the end!
This was until end of march 2020, I came across a video on YouTube which lasted 5 minutes. Those 5 minutes have changed my life! I am not using these words lightly here! The video was about tapping or EFT (which stands for Emotional Freedom Technique). As I mentioned, it only lasted about 5 minutes but it was enough to bring me a deep sense of calm and relaxation as well as a lot of joy! I couldn’t stop smiling afterwards! This was such a new experience to me, one that no other technique has ever brought me.
EFT has allowed me to overcome feeling of anxiety and to sail through a difficult time while remaining calm. I have since used EFT in many different areas of my life as well as in my weight-loss practice where I help my clients with body image and confidence as well helping them overcome food cravings and emotional eating.
What EFT can help you with:
• lessen feelings of anxiety
• overcome emotional eating & food cravings
• control feeling of anger
• rid you of phobias
• overcome feeling of jealousy and increase confidence
• increase productivity
• overcome past traumas
• improve sleep
• heal physical pains
Note: when dealing with past traumas I would recommend doing a minimum of 12 sessions over a 6 week period.
Stress creates inflammation in your body, preventing you from thinking clearly, digesting your food, or losing weight.
Did you know that anxiety and stress could be preventing you from achieving your weight goal?
All the external work you do could be wasted if you do not focus as much of your energy on the INNER work. Working on clearing the mental blocks that prevents you from getting the results.
Annie, a client of mine, had tried on so many diets before coming to me, she would do well the first 3 or 4 weeks before falling back into her old habits. The main reason was that she was dealing with a lot of feelings that were keeping her stuck. The way in which she talked about herself was very self-deprecating, she didn’t like her body to the point of refusing to look at herself in the mirror. This negativity would not stop even if she lost weight! We had to do the inner work first!
Inner and outer work can be done alongside, but with Annie we decided to focus on the inner work first! The results were astonishing! After only a month of tapping together (we had done a total of 4 sessions during that time), Annie had lost 5 kilos! Bear in mind that we had not change anything about her diet or routine. All we did was to tap into her lack of body image, into her anxiety and self-deprecating talk. Annie started looking at herself differently. She was more gentle, compassionate and forgiving with herself and her body. She didn’t have to fake it, she really felt it! She had a sense of self-love that she had never felt before. Never in 45 years.
This led her to genuinely want to take care of herself, she was now taking decisions from a place of care and love instead of a place of lack, comparison and hatred.
How does it work?
EFT involves tapping into different points of the body called meridians (meridians are energy pathways in the body). This is one of the reasons it is often easier to stay focused than with meditation. Involving your body means that the mind is busy doing something instead of going into thinking mode.
During an EFT session you tap into the meridian points (see picture below) while saying a statement, either in your head or out loud.
The point with EFT is NOT to ignore your feeling of anxiety, anger, sadness, etc., we actually make a point of acknowledging those feelings! WHY?
What you resist, persist!
By acknowledging a feeling, you are able to let go of it!
E.g., Let’s say you feel anxious about an event; with EFT you’ll start tapping into the karate chop point and say to yourself or out loud “even though I feel so anxious about X (name the event), my body can relax”.
The first round (one round = tapping into each one of the meridian points) consists in acknowledging the truth of your feeling; the second and third round (we can do more rounds depending on your needs) we shift into positive statements.
By the end of an EFT session your body is totally relaxed, your mind is completely at ease, and you feel calm.
EFT can be used for a variety of things, such as fear of public speaking, fear of flying, jealousy, resentment, low confidence, weight-loss, past traumas. Why? Because it goes deep by rewiring your brain!
But how does it really work?
The amygdala, (little almond shape in the centre of your brain) which is involved with emotional responses and memories associated with fear, protects you when feeling a danger by sending a message to other parts of your brain. This is when you enter into fight or flight mode.
With EFT you send a message to the amygdala that all is well!
With EFT you are able to change your response.
You are able to decrease anxiety right away! You are able to gain confidence and calm instantly!