WHAT IS “TAPPING” AND WHY YOU NEED IT IN YOUR LIFE, STAT
An energetic holistic therapy, based on ancient Chinese medicine teachings, could be the drug-free answer to eliminating pain, stress and anxiety - and it’s free.
Tapping or Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is a form of psychological acupuncture which puts therapy in your own hands.
Instead of using a needle, your fingertips stimulate or ‘tap’ what’s believed to be energy meridians in the body while you focus on the problem and repeat an acceptance statement. The technique is thought to rewire the natural pathways of the brain and release energy blockages which are causing physical pain, stress and anxiety.
Sound a bit kooky? Even tapping practitioner and founder of the Australian Tapping Institute, Lorna Hollinger, admits she was initially sceptical.
“I’m a science-based girl so I wasn’t sold on it until a friend demonstrated the technique on me. When I was absorbed in it, I was like: ‘this stuff really works!’.
But far from being a new technique, we already know that tapping works on the human body.
“No one picks up a baby without tapping it, right?” says Lorna. “We tap it along the back and the baby calms down. That’s because we have meridian circuitry running down the back of our body - we have two on the left and two on the right. Or we tap under the baby’s bottom because we have meridians there as well, so as humans we know instinctively to do it .”
Tapping on specific points - the nine acupressure points in the body - with two fingers while voicing positive affirmations, such as I am safe”, “I am okay” or “I am fine”, works on bringing the body and mind into a calmer state.
“So we’re saying even though I have this problem, I’m okay,” says Lorna.
“Think of the brain as a big multi-filing system and when something scares or upsets you, your brain tags that memory, sticking it on an index card and filing it away.
“When we perform EFT, we rewire that memory so that it is no longer tagged as scary. We take the emotional trigger out of that thought.”
As well as being a simple self-help technique you can perform anywhere, anytime, a practitioner can help clear more complex issues.
“If someone has a phobia - spiders, flying, public speaking - those sorts of specific phobias can be dealt with in one session depending on how intricately it’s linked in their life,” says Lorna. “However if you have someone who’s had trauma with a specific life event then that can take around four sessions, it just depends on what you are dealing with.”
Lorna’s tap tip for beginners
“Start with a flat hand pointed towards the collarbone, tap on the chest and repeat ‘I am okay’. By using a flat hand, this captures all the meridians that run down that area, and it’s inconspicuous so you can do it anywhere. Just five minutes of tapping a day will shift your world as your brain is so smart it will bring up something that’s bothered you, and then you can clear it.”
