It's a fact that we live in stressful times. Unless you operate under extraordinarily peaceful circumstances, it is almost inevitable that you will encounter daily stress. There are always deadlines to meet, more tasks to get done than seem possible and countless outside forces presenting unexpected challenges every day.
I'm not a doctor, but I am a human being, and I've battled high stress levels for years... and have paid the price for it. So with more than enough first-hand experience and a lot of research, here's what I know: Stress is far more than the tension in your neck and shoulders. It can negatively affect virtually every system in your body.
Knowing how to successfully manage stress (in a safe, responsible way) can improve your health, enhance your relationships and provide peace of mind. It could even increase your longevity. My intention with this article is to teach you a simple, safe and effective way to deal with stress. But first I want to remind you how bad stress really is for you.
The Stress Response
When your body perceives a threat or danger, your nervous system releases a flood of stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones prepare the body for emergency action. Your heart pounds, muscles tense and tighten, blood pressure rises, your breath quickens and your senses become sharper. These physical responses help increase your strength and stamina, while enhancing your reaction time to danger.
When you are continually stressed about debt, the amount of work facing you or worrying about something that "might happen" your body reacts just as intensely as if you were facing a life-or-death situation.
The adrenal function, while valuable as a temporary aid during emergencies, keeps your body in the "flight or fight" mode during times of chronic stress. This keeps the tap open on your adrenal glands, greatly fatiguing them and taxing your body's resources. And, the more often your stress response is activated, the harder it is to shut off.
Stress can raise your blood pressure, increase your risk of heart attack or stroke and compromise your immune system. Chronic stress can also speed up the aging process and even reprogram the brain, leaving you vulnerable to anxiety, addictions and depression. Bummer. Additionally, many people deal with stress by overeating, which further increases health problems. Stress is also one of the main factors in sleep disorders. As we lose sleep, our bodies and minds are put under even more stress, further compounding the problem.
Stress contributes to gastrointestinal problems such as nausea, diarrhea, ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. And if that's not enough, stressful experiences can heighten sensitivity to arthritis, back pain, muscle pains, headaches, and even contribute to infertility!
The Good News
One of the most efficient, safe and easy ways to cope with and even reduce stress is through meridian or energy tapping. This article isn't intended to teach you all about meridian tapping, but rather to introduce you to some simple tools to reduce your stress or anxiety. *See other resources for learning more about tapping at the bottom of this article.
By tapping on certain meridians while making some simple statements, an individual can reduce stress by 60% or more in a matter of minutes. With a little more time and diligence, a stressful or anxious state can easily be transformed to a calm relaxing state.
Check into your body's current stress level and measure it on a 10 to 0 scale. If you are highly charged or agitated, that would be a 10. Feeling calm and relaxed would be a 1 or zero. Sit down, take a deep breath and reference the Energy Points chart (below) for the tapping points.
First, tap on the karate chop point (KC) of one hand with the fingers of your other hand, while saying a simple set-up statement such as: "Even though I'm really stressed at the moment, I want to accept that for now, and allow myself to change." Do this 2-3 times. (A more specific description of what the sequence will look like is shown below.)
Next, tap on these described meridian points, with three fingers, while repeating a reminder phrase of "This stress" or "Stress about this meeting."
Begin at the inside of the eyebrows, just above the bridge of the nose (EB,) then move down to the side of the eyes (SE,) then under the eyes (UE,) and under the nose (UN.) You should be tapping about 4-6 times at each location. After the tapping under the nose drop your fingers to under the chin (UC.)
Then, move your fingers down to just under your collarbone and about 2" out from the center of your throat (CB.) Then continue tapping under the arms (UA,) under the breasts or liver point (LV,) then on the line at the beginning of your wrists (WR,) then finally on the crown of your head (CRN.)
Here's what it will look like:
1) Set-up Statement: "Even though I feel pressured and stressed about this deadline (or whatever is true for you), I want to accept it for now while allowing myself to shift." Tap on the KC point continually while saying this 3 times.
Tap on the meridian points, with three fingers, and with both hands, as shown, while saying a reminder statement, such as "This stress." Here are some other choices for reminder statements. You may use them all, choose only one or improvise with one that suits your stress situation.
EB- this stress
SE- feeling stressed
UE- my stressful day
UN- this stressful deadline
CB- the stress in my neck and shoulders
UA- the anxiety and stress about my job
LV- all of my stresses
WR- this stress is giving me a headache
CRN- my stress level right now
2) Do another round or two, using the same or similar statements. Breathe normally as you tap, releasing the stress on the exhale.
3) Reassess your stress level and see if your number is the same, higher or lower. For most people it will have gone to 2 or 3 points from where you began. For some people it will go up a notch or two, simply because you are focusing on the stress more closely.
4) Do another set-up phrase (on the KC point) changing it slightly to "Even though I still feel stressful, I am feeling slightly more calm, and want to feel even more relaxed and calmer." Repeat this 2-3 times.
5) Do 2 more rounds of tapping, similar to the ones shown above, but this time add in some desire statements:
EB- this remaining stress
SE- I want to let it go
UE- this stressful deadline
UN- I want to be calm about it
CB- the stress in my neck and shoulders
UA- I want to relax my tense muscles
LV- all of my stresses
WR- I allow myself to release them
CRN- I want to feel calm and relaxed
6) Reassess your intensity again. If it's above a 3, repeat steps 5 and 6. If it's a 3 or below, change the setup to an empowering "choice statement" as shown below. Something like, "Even though I'm still feeling stressed, I choose to completely eliminate it. I choose to feel calm, relaxed and better prepared to meet my obligations." Then tap on the points using reminder statements such as:
EB- this remaining stress
SE- I chose to eliminate it now
UE- this stressful deadline
UN- I choose to have more than enough time
CB- the stress in my neck and shoulders
UA- I choose to relax my neck and shoulders
LV- all of my stresses
WR- I choose to let them go
CRN- I choose to feel calm and relaxed
7) Keep repeating the above steps until you feel the tension completely release from your body. You will experience longer-lasting results if you keep tapping until your stress feels entirely gone (at a zero), rather than just "less." You should be able to do this in 15 minutes or so.
*Note: If your stress level isn't going down after 2-3 sequences, then you most likely have a psychological reversal or "subconscious resistance to change." You may feel that stress helps to give you the edge you need to complete a task. You may think it's not OK to be calm and relaxed when having so much to do. You may feel that being stressed makes you seem more businesslike or hardworking. Don't worry, that's normal. Just add this procedure prior to the set-up statement:
Tap on the KC point while making this statement 3 times; "Even though I DON'T want to let go of this stress, for WHATEVER reason, I still want to accept and respect myself." This "Reversal Neutralization" helps discharge the resistance to change, allowing this process to work more easily.
Performing this simple tapping process won't eliminate stressful events in your life, but it can greatly improve how you deal with them.
Good luck and good tapping.
** For more information on tapping, workshops and webinars visit http://www.lkcoaching.com/ Read more articles like this in Lindsay's "Power of 10s Series - 10 Ways to Brighten Your Life" at http://www.powerof10s.com/.
Lindsay Kenny has been helping people lose weight, improve their health, increase their energy and self-esteem, and become more effective in life for over 30 years. Lindsay is a Life Coach and member of the ICF, an EFT Master and Certified Trainer for the AAMET, and the founder of the National Alliance for Emotional Health. As a trainer to practitioners and trainers, Lindsay derives great joy from the knowledge that those she trains go on to help many more. The "secret" to Lindsay's success is her genuine care and concern for her clients, and she brings a lifetime of experience, with thousands of hours of coaching training to her practice as well. Providing outstanding client support, frequent follow-up and affordable pricing options allows Lindsay to establish relationships with her valued clients that will last a lifetime!
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