Certified EFT practitioner Sarah Louise Lilley tells us what it is and why it's great for regulating stress!
Stress's profound, negative impact on our bodies has been extensively documented.
🥁Insert dramatic drum roll…
Fortunately, there’s a powerful technique called Emotional Freedom Technique (also known as EFT or Tapping) that can help regulate stress.
While EFT is commonly used for addressing PTSD, trauma, and phobias, it’s also a tool to alleviate everyday stress. Scientifically proven to lower cortisol (the stress hormone) and increase DHEA (the recovery hormone.) EFT is a simple and effective tool that only requires using your fingertips! 🖐️
Tap Away Stress:
Whether you’ve just experienced a difficult interaction with a family member, are preparing for a challenging work meeting, or are winding down at the end of the day, I encourage you to tap. Tapping enables you to acknowledge and release the stress in your body, preventing its accumulation.
A Moment to Pause:
Tapping also allows you a valuable moment to pause. During times of stress, blood flow is diverted away from our brains, impairing clear thinking. EFT provides an opportunity to calm the nervous system, allowing cognitive function and creativity to resurface. Doing so allows us to consciously choose how to respond rather than reacting from a triggered or habitual place.
Calm the Body, Calm the Mind:
Unfortunately, we seldom indulge in positive fantasies. Imagine if we were obsessed with all the good things that might happen! However, particularly when stressed and anxious, it’s easy to fall into negative thought patterns, ruminating about potential future catastrophes. Tapping breaks this cycle, serving as a powerful pattern interrupt. As I frequently tell my clients, the stress isn’t in your head; it's in your body! When you calm the body, the mind follows.
A Simple Practice to Calm the Nervous System:
If you’re feeling triggered, anxious, or stressed, here’s a simple practice that can help you move from your mind to your body, process stress, and calm your nervous system.
Tune into your body.
Notice where in your body you feel that stress. Is it in your head, stomach, or solar plexus? You can even put your hand on that part of your body.
Does the sensation have a color, texture, size, or shape? Maybe it feels like a lead ball or a swirl of gray fog.
Then Tap on the EFT collarbone point, or move through the EFT points as you breathe into that physical sensation. Not forcing anything, but breathing into it as you allow it to shift.
Embracing the Power of EFT you hold within your fingertips (literally🤣) the ability to tap away stress, pause, and break free from negative thought patterns.
Happy Tapping! ❤️
Sarah Louise Lilley is a certified Emotional Freedom Technique or “Tapping” practitioner. She loves helping people overcome their fears, blocks, and phobias. Sarah is a mentor at EFT Universe, where she teaches and nurtures the next generation of EFT practitioners. A former actor and producer, she is also a mom and an avid equestrian - always counting down the days until she can get back on a horse! Based in NYC, Sarah works with clients worldwide via Zoom. To learn more, you can visit her website here. Listen to her interview dropping July 5th on Circling the Drain Podcast here.