Tapping: silencing the critical voice and remembering your power

So many of us carry around trauma, unresolved experiences or unhealed memories, stress and anxiety that we battle with every day. We may be strong and resilient, we may push down rising self-doubt and power through because we are needed.

But at what cost?

Dealing with the energy that these emotions and experiences manifest, is a personal arrangement with ourselves, we are all different…for some running or physical exercise help release the negative, for some meditation, cooking, reading, a bath…it goes on. But what if that doesn’t fully deal with the root cause of the stress, anxiety and ensuing pressure or poor health?

For some, it takes something catastrophic, a tragedy, to truly face imbalance and seek a way to address it.

Sarah Tobin, founder of Tapping for Mums, is one of those people who immediately makes you feel at ease talking to her…about the most personal and sometimes confronting things. Sarah is one of those extraordinary people who learns through healing herself, how to turn what may like an insurmountable sorrow, loss and tragedy…into something that I can only describe as an event remembered bathed in light.

In November 2014, Sarah lost her daughter Alice after birth complications. The loss of a child just days after birth took Sarah on a journey to the pits of the earth in terms of grief, followed by the complex emotional contradiction of joy from a new pregnancy that in turn ignited a deep set, masked, delayed and deep-set trauma relating to future birth experiences. Sarah believes that Alice was that guide, the turn-key to discovering her true path.

Sarah was in the throes of flashbacks, anxiety, intense emotional stress and physical change with her new pregnancy, but something inside her said “you need this”. Sarah explains that she feels Tapping was given to her, as part of her daughter’s legacy, as a gift of perspective to relearn herself and release emotion.

There is something rather poetic in the sense that emotion is in fact ‘energy in motion’, so finding a way to free energy that is causing repetitive negativity, stress, anxiety and mental duress can alleviate so much in our wellbeing day to day. Sarah suggests to think of your body as a circuit board that transitions energy.

But what is EFT Tapping?

It is a tool of resilience.

EFT – Emotional Freedom Technique or Tapping, is about using touch on key acupressure points to release trapped energy, to enable flow and self-healing. Different to acupuncture or acupressure, Tapping does not use specific points to focus on conditions or symptoms, but rather a process of creating ritualistic patterns of behaviour to alleviate the fight or flight mode and take the body to a more restful state. It is this ritualised acknowledgment of what is causing discomfort whether physical, mental or emotional through a statement of acceptance, that helps free up negativity that limits self-belief.

The origins of Tapping was arguably part of Thought Field Therapy (TFT) developed in the 1980s by psychologist Dr. Roger Callahan Ph.D. The difference however, is this initial method used different sequences for different specific problems – similar to other complementary therapies like reflexology, acupressure, acupuncture etc. Gary Craig, a Stanford University graduate who evolved this to simplify the process in the 1990s, after working with Dr. Callahan.  

Why does it work?

Described as ‘mind-hack’ to help tap into the body’s central nervous system and help moderate multiple physiological markers of health such as heart rate, blood pressure and the release of cortisol, EFT Tapping is an evidence-based form of therapy that is demonstrating a growing body of research to prove powerful transformations in the treatment of anxiety, PTSD, phobias, stress management etc, reframing an association and creating a context of self-acceptance and improving a sense of self-love, remembering your true self.

For many of us, life is laden with guilt – am I enough, am I too much, am I letting someone down, am I a good partner, mother, father, daughter, son, sibling, colleague, friend, employee, boss…that critical inner voice undermining us, it is damaging, creates imposter syndrome, anxiety and so on.

So often we associate the term PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) with enormous life events like this; fundamental changes, a crisis…but actually as Sarah explains, it can be a continual compounding of carried stress, anxiety, worry and challenge…that builds into a crescendo of internal pressure and as Sarah so eloquently expresses it, our soul becomes quiet, your inner self drifts further out of reach.

Tapping, is part of your toolkit of neutralising negativity, self-judgement and creating more of a dialogue that addresses the tension and controls the release.

Restoring your essential you.

Like Sarah, we believe that the route to true wellbeing is not waiting for someone to rescue you, but remembering your power, listening to your body and being conscious of your inner critic before burnout.

Tapping works beautifully in connection to water and scent, perfect to incorporate with a rejuvenating bath or an invigorating shower each day, because it works on the same areas of the limbic system within the brain; the amygdala and hippocampus where emotion, memory and association is formed. Sarah suggests the combination of our iconic Bath Oil and decompressing from your day with Tapping. Processing and releasing built-up stress, pressure and negativity is amplified in the soothing combination of water, warmth and comfort; a personally curated safe space to reconnect with yourself. Similarly, our Face Oil helps support the process of stimulation when used on the fingertips during Tapping; triggering the parasympathetic nervous system through the olfactory network, directly impacting on your mindset. Apply to the fingertips – hold your hands to the face and breathe in to begin the process of rebalancing.

With an armoury of mindful techniques that align to our product philosophy of olfactory stimulation we can create restorative, reflective moments at the end of your day or energising mantras and rituals at the start of your day to help let go of negativity, embrace challenge and find the internal resources to adjust. This cascade of benefit will help reach to the root of issues that may be holding your wellbeing back.

Listen into the soothing tones of Sarah on her podcast; Tapping Into with Sarah Tobin for more self-help and guidance in silencing the critic within, or visit her website www.tappingformums.com