What is EFT Tapping and How It Can Help You

Hello dear friend and welcome to episode number eight. In this one we are going to talk about the magic of EFT something which is a very simple technique which can really change your life. And also the best thing is that you can start using it immediately. So in this episode I will share with you why we use EFT, which are the states that we can impact by this practice and also some concrete steps that you can follow if you want to get the benefits right now. Also there We'll be explanations of how does it work and also concrete advices that you can use also in order to get faster benefits by using the practice. So, EFT actually stands for Emotional Freedom Technique. And also what we use for that is tapping. So EFT and tapping are basically the same thing. And you can imagine this as a psychological acupuncture. So basically what we do is that we use our fingertips and we gently tap on certain acupuncture points of the body, which allows us to release the stress. So basically, we are using something that Chinese medicine has been using for ages which Is the knowledge about the meridians of our body. You can imagine the meridians as the energy highways of the body. So basically there is an intense flow of energy through those meridians. And the acupuncture points are also more intense places where energy is gathered. And I will explain actually later on what happens when you tap on those points and how it works actually on a physical level. Before that, I want to tell you also, that if d was created around 1995, so what's that around 25 years ago, so it's relatively new and yet there's also some experience already, and lots of researchers in this area and all of them show that by using em. If you can reduce your stress, your anxiety, it may also be used for depression and even very serious conditions like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which obviously is not a joke, this is something very serious and yes EFT helps even in those very challenging situations. So, let me tell you first of all, which are the steps so how exactly do you use the EFT? First of all you need to focus on certain challenge so you have to define it, what is it that you are gonna work with, and the more concrete you are, the better. A little warning here. If you are a complete beginner with EFT, I would recommend you to start with something simpler. So don't go With you know, like the most devastating memories or the most painful emotions, and instead tried to focus on something which is kind of, you know, mild, something that's not extremely strong, just so you see faster results, which would reassure you that it really works and it will be easier than to use it even for more serious conditions. But again, also another warning. If you have some serious trauma, then in this case, I would recommend you to work with a professional, a specialist EFT practitioner who can really assist you and help you achieve better results faster in the safest way possible. But we don't necessarily need to focus on you know, the most traumatic events or emotions we can start as we said with something simpler, so choose what would that be? It could Be, for example, feeling overwhelmed because of work. It could be the I don't know, the fact that you feel tired, or the fact that you are angry. So you are choosing certain negative emotion, or it may also be a sensation in the body. It may also be a negative thought. And of course, the most powerful thing is to work with our beliefs. But that's something we'll discuss in another episode. So, choose something that's relevant to you. And I'll give an example with myself. So this morning I came to the office and I was planning to record the podcast and I found out that the neighbors right next to my office are actually doing some kind of free construction work which is extremely noisy. So there were drills and noise And it was like impossible to work or record. So I got really frustrated and angry with the fact that I wasn't able to do what I was planning. And I will share later in the episode actually what kind of findings I got by using the EFT but that was like, you know, something which was happening at the moment. It's not like extremely dramatic and yet it was disturbing me you know, I cannot concentrate with this noise. It completely messes up my plan. So, choose something that would be relevant for you right now. And which you know, that is kind of, on an average level of intensity not too strong. Then what you need to do is actually to evaluate how strong is this negative emotion from zero to 10. zero means actually there is nothing of this emotion level. 10 means the highest level possible. So you should pick, usually it's better to pick something which is like the maximum of seven for the beginning. Later on, you may work with 10s with nines, no problem, but at first try to pick something between five and seven. Then what you need to do is to make a statement. So here is how you do it. For example, with my neighbors, the statement that I made was, even though I feel angry and frustrated because of this noise, I still accept myself. That's it. That's the statement. Yours can be even though I feel tired or stuck or whatever the emotion is, I still accept myself. You may change a little bit the phrase by adding that you Love yourself or you accept the situation. But that's kind of the general formula. So you say, even though I have this problem, I still accept myself or I accept the situation. And while you're doing this, you are tapping on the karate chop point. So this point is actually on the side of your palm between the wrist and the small finger. And actually, to make it easier, I have added another information with the points which you can find on my website. So just click the link in the description of the episode and you will find all of the points which I will show you, but you may even follow my guidance, you can still get the point. So first of all, you tap on the karate chop point. You make your statement and you repeat it three times. Then you start going through the major points. And here they are the top of your head. Then the side of the eyebrow, sorry, the start of the eyebrow, then the side of the eye, under the eye, under the nose, on the chin, under the collarbone, and four inches under the arm for the ladies, basically that's where your bra is approximately, and then you repeat again from the top of the head. So the karate chop point is only for the beginning statement. We don't necessarily use it after that. So again, you can go to my website, use the links and you will find visually you will see all the points. top of the head start of the eyebrow, side of the eye, under the eye, under the nose, on the chin, under the collarbone and four inches under the arm. So, the way we tap is actually usually we use two fingers, and you go through each point and tap a few times on each. You don't necessarily need to follow certain number like for example, tap five or 10 times, just do whatever feels natural and nice. Sometimes you may notice that you want to stay longer on certain point or you want to do it faster. It's also kind of personal. There are people who prefer to move slower or faster through the points and it's all okay. So, what we are doing here is that we are focusing on the problem on the challenge on a negative emotion. And we are tapping through those acupuncture points. And what happens is that actually, we Are calming the nervous system. In this way, we are sending signals to the amygdala, which is the main stress center in the brain. And we are kind of telling you that it's all okay. It's fine. You can handle it, you are safe. Because here's the thing. Our brain is wired in a way to make us ready for all kinds of dangerous situations. And very often it gets to the fight flight or freeze mode. And ages ago when we were living, literally like the animals with constant danger for our lives, it was okay, it has, it has saved our lives. But the truth is that nowadays, our brain keeps working in a similar way. And it's just creating distress, something Which we don't need because we are not in danger by you know, attacking, being attacked by a lion or whatever. So by tapping on those acupuncture points by using EFT we are calming the nervous system. And what happens is that you are affecting the hormone production and especially the stress hormones like cortisol. There are many researches which show how EFT literally help you helps you to drop down the levels of cortisol. Also, it affects the brain waves, the blood flow and even the gene expression, which is something big. So I highly recommend you to give it a try. And as we said, all you have to do Pick up a negative emotion or something you want to work on, you choose the statement you tap on the karate chop point and then you go through the other points and you can make as many rounds as necessary, you cannot overdo it you cannot have you know, like side effects or something like that. Sometimes there might be an emotional reaction, but if that happens just, you know, keep tapping. You might want to drink a little water or take a walk in the room if this is too strong, but overall if you are working with you know, like mild conditions, not something very extreme, like serious trauma, then you shouldn't have such problems. Okay, and also I want to share with you what can you actually use EFT for and for First of all, here is the general answer. You can use it for everything for a present condition. For example, as I was feeling, you know, nervous because of the noise from my neighbors at the moment, you might choose to use it for something which has happened in the past. And basically, this is, as I said, widely use with PTSD, or all kinds of unpleasant memories or experiences. So it definitely works for the past. And also you can use it for the future. For example, let's say that you are nervous because you have an interview tomorrow or after one week or you have an exam. You can use it before that to prepare yourself to release the stress and eventually to get better results at what you are going to do. So it's very, very powerful for the present for the past and for the future issue. as well. And what we want to do is actually find the emotional or the psychological issue. As we said, it might be a concrete thought it might be a sensation, it might be, you know, whatever is bothering you, you can use EFT to release it. And, of course, the most common things are fears, or sadness or depression or anxiety and stress and EFT works amazingly for those situations. But the truth is that you can use it also for many, many other things. For example, lack of confidence in my experience, this is something very common. Many, many people at certain point, feel this lack of confidence in their potential or in their skills. Or in a particular area or with a concrete task. So it's very helpful. Also, self sabotaging. If you find that you want to do something and somehow you don't get to do it, you're sabotaging yourself, if it can really help you to find the reason and eventually to release it, also very common thing is to use it for weight problems, weight issues of all kinds. Because the truth is that weight issues or all kinds of food disorders, they are closely related to our emotions. Whether this is because of your emotionally overeating or you are bored and that's why you eat or you feel like you're just losing control. mean all of those cases, those are conditions that can be affected very well by EFT, you might want to use it also for traumas. But again, if this is a serious trauma, I would recommend you to work with a specialist not to do it on your own. And here is also something very interesting. You can use it for all kinds of physical symptoms and even illnesses. But here is the key. So you want to find what's the negative, emotional, emotional, what's the psychological reason which is connected to your illness. And, again, here you might need the help of a specialist to guide you until you find this. Because here's the thing with EFT when you're practicing it, it can help you to get to your subconscious memories or beliefs much easier and I will share here an example literally from this morning personal example. I told you, I got to the office and I found this incredible noise by my neighbors, which was all about, you know, some kind of drills and other, you know, mechanical noise coming from this reconstruction work. So, obviously, I wasn't able to record the podcast and I decided okay, so this is a great opportunity for me actually to work with this issue and call myself using EFT, of course. So I started tapping on how I feel about this, how it's, you know, bothering me how it makes me angry and everything. And what happened was that then I remember while I was tapping, I remember the previous situation. And actually this is always good ACC. Good question. Ask yourself, when was another time when I have felt this way. And I remember the situation from my teenage years, when, at the apartment where we were living, again, the neighbors were doing some kind of reconstruction. And there were all the trios and basically the same noise. And it was a very strange experience. I really, you know, remember it vividly. It was on a week on a weekend. And it was so noisy but my reaction honestly was very strong. It was kind of overreacting to what was happening. I was so upset. I was even crying. I couldn't stand it. I wanted to get out of there. And at that time, I couldn't understand Okay, why am I overreacting to some kind of stupid noise you know, and At the current moment today with my tapping, I asked myself, okay, is there another time except for this memory is there another time before when there was a similar noise? And what came into my mind was, you know, like an incredible insight. And again, this is very personal, but I trust you. So I want to share this with you because I think it's a nice way to show you how it works. So the memory which popped into my mind was earlier before as a child, I was at the hospital, and it was on orthopaedics hospital, so they were about to perform surgery on me. Obviously, I had to stay in this hospital, at least for a week or 10 days. And if you have ever been in such a hospital or two peaks, hospital, you will probably know that there is a terrible Sound, that's terrible noise which you can hear there. Because obviously, they are operating on bones. And they literally use drills and things like hammers. And, you know, the noise is literally like there is a reconstruction somewhere. And, you know, while I was I was a very small child, and I was in my hospital room, and during the whole stay there, during, you know, at least half of the day, I was able to hear all of those terrible sounds and I knew that at that time there were performing this, not on the world next door, but you know, on a human in their bones, and of course, as an adult, I understand that. That's how they help people and it's necessary and that's how they, you know what they, their job is, but at that time when I was a child, it was horrible for me, you know, to think that someone may use arrows on your bones. So the point here is that all of those experiences are recorded in our mind in the subconscious mind. And they affect you later. And very often you don't even make the connections. So what happened was that this childhood hospital experience has traumatized me. Of course, you know, you're in the hospital, you're scared, it sounds terrible. And a couple of years later, I'm at my home and there is again, the same noise, absolutely the same trail noise. And consciously I don't make those connections. You know, I don't think Oh, you know what, that's exactly the noise. I heard when I was in the hospital. No, what happened was that I just got this intense reaction. And I felt so upset and I wasn't even able to find Why is this happening in today. 2020 when I'm trying to record the podcast and again, there are those drills. I was just trying to call myself because of the current situation. But by using EFT I was able to go deeper and to make those connections. And very often this may happen and again, you need a little experience. So I don't recommend you to go and dive directly there. Try to use EFT for simpler things. How you feel right now. And again, the truth is that you never know because my situation with the drills this morning looked very simple. And again, it brought me back to something which was very deep and serious. So this may happen, but if it happens, it means that you are ready, so don't worry, don't stress too much. You got this and it's incredible. This is an incredible tool that can help you to make the connections to find the deep reasons for your issues and to solve to work with the core problems. In my case, the core problem was not that I'm mad, mad because of current situation. It's because of the childhood memory in the hospital. So, that's how EFT works. And again, my advice is to be very specific with what you want to focus on. And here is another thing keep in mind that if you are working with a situation, some kind of stressful situation, chances are that there are different aspects of the situation. So for example, one aspect could be related to the physical sensations you might feel like your heartbeat has raised too much or you're short of breath, or you're sweating. You know, those are the physical sensations. But there might be also other sensations or other negative pieces involved. For example, you might felt like it's too cold there, or it's kind of dangerous or you're lonely. Or it might be someone else there who is treating you bad or whatever. So, usually, the negative memories or situations, they have different aspects. So you need to work individually with each aspect. And again, it might sound like it's too much, but just go with the flow. Just you know, listen to your intuition. Start with what feels like is the most important and then ask yourself, Is there something else here? Is there something else which is bothering me? So don't you know choose a state Man, like, I feel bad. It's so broad. It's so not clear. What do you feel bad about? How do you feel it? Where is this sensation in your body, for example, it would be much better if you put it this way, I feel this pain in the right part of my forehead because of the noise of the neighbors, for example, or you get my point, I hope it's to be as specific as you can and to focus on concrete things one at a time. So you tap on it, then you move to the next one. And that's how you work with a more complicated situation. Because most of them are actually you know, including different aspects and layers. Okay, so another thing I want to mention also is about the Great book which you can use to find concrete evidences and lots of research on how and why EFT works. And the book I'm recommending is by Peter Stapleton. It's called the science behind tapping. You can find it pretty much anywhere on Amazon, for sure. And in this book, Peter has done an amazing job describing the different issues for which we can use EFT as categories and also the concrete data that she has received from those experiments. So it's real science. It's real statistics, and it really works. So give it a try. That's my advice. Again, something simpler as a starting point. And then when you find that it really works, you can go with something more serious. And of course, the best thing you can do is to find an EFT practitioner who can guide you through this process. Okay, and here is another thing. A very common question is How fast can EFT help me. And the truth is that in many cases, you can feel immediate relief. And when I say immediate, I really mean and sometimes those could be like even very strong emotions. Again, something personal, but in the past, I have suffered from panic disorder, real terrible, awful, panic attacks. And there have been cases in which I didn't have access to anything. We weren't sure Traveling. It's in another country. We were in Germany at that time and no medications, no doctors, no homeopathy, nothing. So all I had was, you know, the chance to use EFT and it really worked. If you have ever experienced panic attacks, you know that they're no joke. They are extremely strong and it's, it's awful. If you're there, my heart goes to you and please, please try EFT, it literally have helped me in such difficult moments. So, you might feel the relief immediately. Within 510 minutes of tapping, your stress levels might go down. But here is something interesting. Sometimes I have noticed that it takes a little time. For example, I feel pressure traded buy something, I tap on it for 10 minutes? Well, I'm not really sure. Is there any change or maybe not. And then I just move to something else. For example, I have to go out or I have to prepare for a meeting or whatever, or I have some, literally, you know, obligations to follow. And I recognize that, let's say 1520 minutes after that I have forgotten about the problem before that. So what may happen is that sometimes you feel the immediate relief while you're tapping, and in other cases, half an hour later, when you think of the problem. That's when you may realize, Oh, you know what, actually, it's much better. I'm no longer thinking about it, or it doesn't seem so terrible right now. And it's not always like, you know, completely going to the zero point. Sometimes it could be a relief of two or three points and it still counts. You need to Do more tapping, maybe find other aspects of the situation until you can totally release it. So, give EFT a try. It's so simple, and yet so powerful. And you can use it for many, many conditions. You can find so much insight of why you're responding in certain way, why you feel in this way. And if you work with the core issues, so many things can be resolved in your life. So, this is my advice on EFT. I hope you will give it a try. Don't forget, you can go to my website, use the links and go check the point if you need to follow them. It was a pleasure for me as always, and I'll talk to you soon.