Emotions are an essential part of what makes us human.
They are at once one of the most enriching elements of the human experience and one of the most difficult to manage.
Sometimes, emotions can feel overwhelming and confusing, and modern society doesn’t exactly encourage us to better understand our feelings or deal with them in a constructive and healthy manner.
Swallowing your emotions may work in the short term to get you back on your feet and into the office, but it’s no long-term solution.
Luckily, there is a simple way to acknowledge your emotions and see the positive side of your struggles.
The Concept
Some people have rituals or coping mechanisms that help them get through a difficult time, but they typically focus only on the emotional aspect of things. There is, however, a physical side to how you’re feeling, including pent-up stress in your muscles and impaired lymph flow.
EMF tapping, also known as the emotional freedom technique, is a way to get the best of both worlds, regulating your emotions and healing your body. Tapping combines Traditional Chinese Medicine with modern psychology (1).
The practice focuses on touching acupressure points around your body to clear your meridian pathways and release energy. These acupressure points are the same as those used in acupuncture. The gentle tapping can also stimulate nervous response, relax muscles, move along lymph, and promote blood flow (2).
“A regular tapping practice can create numerous physical and psychological benefits like increased circulation, deeper and more satisfying sleep, relaxation in muscles and joints, improved immune system function, digestion, and sports performance, and increased energy, mental clarity, and focus,” explains Jessica Ortner, co-producer of The Tapping Solution, a documentary film that explores tapping (3).
It works as a self-soothing exercise that deactivates the fight-or-flight response triggered by strong emotions and calms the body and mind. This can improve mental health to help you tackle challenges head on. Practiced correctly, it can also help create new positive associations with previously traumatic events or memories.
“Tapping while experiencing or discussing a stressful event counteracts that stress and reprograms the response to it,” says Ortner, but it can also be used for daily preventive self-care.
Dr. Dawson Church, expert on energy psychology, and EFT master has extensively researched the phenomenon. He found that 1-hour long tapping seasons reduced the blood cortisol (a stress hormone) levels of his patients by an average of 25%, some going as high as 50%.
His control group, who underwent conventional talk therapy did not experience significant cortisol reduction (4).
Although conventional research isn’t too keen on studying the phenomenon more in-depth, this non-invasive therapy is certainly worth experiencing.
How to do EMF Tapping
The key to practicing EMF is to tune into your emotions and take responsibility for how you are feeling and why. It’s also important to listen to your body and focus on relaxing areas affected by muscle tension.
To use EMF tapping, start by going into a comfortable space where you can have some privacy. Remove your jewelry and let down your hair. If you can, it’s a good idea to slowly drink a tall glass of water too.
Use your fingertips of your index finger and middle finger on your dominant hand to firmly tap the inside on your wrist on the opposite hand. Tap 5-7 times while voicing your problem out loud. You should talk about how you are feeling and put a positive twist on your situation. For example, your sentence could sound like this: “Even though I’m feeling anxious, I love and support myself and trust that I can get through this”.
Next, move to the top of your head, bringing the same fingers from each hand back-to-back onto the center of your skull. As you tap this point, as well as all the other points to follow, talk about how you are feeling or what’s triggering the emotion (5).
Lower your hand and rest your fingers above the inner corners of your eyebrows. Next, bring your hands to the bone bordering the outside corner of your eyes, staying once again above the eyebrow. Follow up with the under-eye area, about an inch under your lower lash line.
Slide one hand to the spot where your upper lip meets the bottom of your nose, aligning your fingers with your nostrils and tap. Jump over your lips and tap your fingers in the center of your chin.
The next spot is located near your collarbone and can be hard to spot. Instead of using your fingers, take your whole hand and bring your palm to your chest, resting your thumb on the u-shaped notch at the top of the breastbone and tap with your whole hand. Lastly, drawing a straight line starting at your nipple, cross your hand over your chest and stop under your armpit. For women, this spot should be at the height of their bra strap.
Once you’ve gone through the cycle, take a few long, deep, breaths and go through the process again if necessary. Take your time.
If you’re going through a rough patch, it’s a good idea to go through this process before taking a shower or to do it while you sit in a warm bath. It’ll be difficult at first, but the practice will dramatically increase your well-being.