 photo by Reavel |
Before I answer the question I want to point out a very important idea. Tapping (Emotional Freedom Techniques/EvEFT) should not be your only form of self-care. Our health is going to be maintained through diet, exercise, meditation, western medicine, and a whole host of tools and techniques used in concert. I love tapping as much as anyone, but make sure you are making good choices and taking total responsibility for your health and well being.
When it comes to tapping there are three things to keep in mind and work on: the response, the symptoms, and balance.
1) The Response
This might seem slightly counter intuitive, but the place I always start when tapping for anything is my emotional response to what is going on.
If we are feeling fear, anxiety, overwhelm, anger, or resentment towards a situation, it is going to be very difficult to heal the issue at hand. These emotions will prevent us from focusing and tuning in to the issue at hand. Also, any emotion that is not in harmony with health and well being is going to slow or stop the natural healing processes.
I have found that spending some time with the emotions surrounding the issue not only speeds the healing process, but it also helps us to gain clarity on what the real issue is.
When we have an issue, e.g. high blood pressure, jumbled in with the emotions of fear for our health and feeling overwhelmed by our possible future, it’s very hard to know where to start. Often it is easier to tune in to how we feel about the situation than the situation itself.
This does’t mean that you need to get completely emotionally clear before working on the issue, but the clearer you get the easier and more effective the tapping is going to be. Simply ask yourself how you feel about what is going on. Spend a little time with each of these emotions.
If you are looking for some guidance on how to do this check out “Not Knowing Where To Start/A Good Way To Start”
2) The Symptoms
Now that you have spent some time clearing the emotions it’s now time to move on to the issue itself. There are many different ways you can approach this.
The example given above is about a physical symptom. I have written a number of articles on how to deal with physical symptoms. For more information check out:
3) Finding Balance
Tapping/EvEFT is something that can be done anytime, anywhere. This is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because it only cost us our time and makes healing so accessible, literally putting control in our own hands. It can be a curse, because we can become very frustrated with ourselves for not using this tool as often as we could.
If I had a nickel for every client who was feeling bad about not doing all the tapping they could between sessions I would be a very rich man.
With this in mind, when considering how much tapping we need to do around a particular issue, there are two things to keep in mind:
First, we need to make sure we are taking it easy with ourselves and the healing process. It does us little to no good if we get stressed out about how much tapping we need to do or the fact that we are not tapping when we ‘should’. This questions is the prefect example of how worrying about tapping can compound a problem. The last thing a person with high blood pressure needs is more stress in their life around how little they are tapping.
If you are feeling overwhelmed by the optimum tapping schedule, just tap on that issue:
“I know tapping is a powerful tool…I know it can help and speed my body’s healing process…but I don’t want to get too worked up about the process…as much as I would like to be healed right now…I know the body knows the right rate for me to heal…I know if I spend the time I need in caring for myself…the healing process will happen in due time…I give myself permission to be easy with myself…especially when I don’t do all the tapping I can…My body can heal…My body will heal…I am going to let that healing unfold.”
The second thing to consider is knowing how much tapping is enough and how much is too much. I have found in most cases that there is a physical limit to how much tapping is beneficial at any one time. It’s a lot like running. Just because running one mile is good for you doesn’t mean running fifty miles is better.
Unfortunately, there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to knowing how much is too much. This threshold is going to vary from person to person and from issue to issue.
The key is to trust your system.
Be easy with yourself. Don’t feel like you need to do everything right now. After you have tapped for a while to calm your mind, take a few deep breaths, and ask your system if you can do more work now or if you have done as much as you can for the moment, knowing full well that you can come back and do more work later.
I think this is an excellent response to the question asked.
I would like to comment specifically on your point that “EFT should not be your only form of self-care.” Unfortunately, sometimes people are looking for “a quick fix” as they have read how effective EFT can be. Consequently, their expectations can be high and they may be disappointed when the changes are not as rapid as they would like. I like to involve people in their own healing and so I utilise a number of other energy modalities including Reference Point Therapy and Reflexology which work well with EFT. By doing this I am working holistically and involving people in their own health care plus giving them other tools to use with EFT.
What a great response! I especially love the part about taking care of our emotional response to the situation first. This really helps us to be objective about the issue and respond to the situation rater than react blindly.
I am new to your website. I found this article just what I needed. There are so many websites I find filled with fast paced “hype”, but your material is gentle,calm and reasuring. I tapped as I read the material. I feel more quiet. Thank You.