Healing Anxiety In The Times Of Covid-19 Through EFT Tapping
EFT TAPPING FOR COVID ANXIETY
The outbreak of Corona virus is certainly a hugely unprecedented event for the entire world.
In these times of uncertainty, it is common and normal to experience stress and anxiety.
This blog talks about why and how this anxiety develops and how to tackle it with the help of EFT Tapping.
The COVID-19 pandemic has strikingly impacted our mental and emotional health. For the first time in so many years, people have experienced such distress and have been isolated from the outside world.
It’s a terrifying time. With the rise in deaths and infected cases making headlines every day, the atmosphere becomes clouded with fear.
Fear of death, fear of losing our loved ones, fear of not being able to reach our planned targets, and so on. In such a situation, it is very normal for anyone to experience anxiety.
According to American Psychological Association, “Anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure.”
It is common for everyone to experience anxiety. But when it becomes extreme and gets in the way of your life and interferes with your daily functioning, then it is considered a mental health condition.
CAUSES OF COVID ANXIETY
Anxiety is mainly caused as a result of worry, fear and over-thinking or over-analyzing situations. The main cause of anxiety related to COVID-19, is uncertainty.
We don’t know how long this will last, how will it turn out or how worse things might get, how long will we have to stay inside the four walls of our homes! All these thoughts make us spiral out into overwhelming anxiety and panic.
People having Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), which is a form of an anxiety disorder are already prone to uncontrolled obsessive thoughts and behaviours and adding the stress of corona virus makes this condition even worse.
Even the people who have not been diagnosed with OCD have been having obsessive thoughts and behaviours concerning their health and may compulsively check their body for symptoms or constantly wash their hands.
Other obsessions can be about checking the news frequently, and constantly stressing over the health of your loved ones or your own. Practicing Mindfulness, minimizing news and social media intake, and spending time doing something you enjoy, will help to deal with this anxiety.
Also, people are worried because of the uncertainty linked to their income and employment. Unfortunately, a lot of people have been laid off during these times.
Due to this, a person may live with a constant fear of losing their job or not being paid well.
On the other hand, employers too are stressed as they are facing the pressure to provide salaries or wages to their workers irrespective of the fact that they are working or not.
All these stressors about work, family, and health are also causing insomnia.
Furthermore, during the lockdown, there was a pressure of being productive and creative, which was made stronger by social media.
People would post pictures of them trying out new recipes, painting, learning a new musical instrument, and what not. With the ongoing stress in the atmosphere, it may be difficult to feel motivated to do something new and that is totally fine.
Especially school and college students have goals like finishing a particular online course or learning a new skill. That is definitely a great way to correctly utilise the free time, but when it becomes a pressure, it is not healthy.
I remember experiencing anxiety during the quarantine period because I had set unrealistic expectations from myself and wanted to do 10 things together.
The pressure of making the most of this time and squeeze every bit of it also caused great stress and anxiety.
HOW DOES EFT TAPPING HELP IN DEALING WITH ANXIETY?
EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique is a therapeutic tool that aims to resolve emotional as well as physical problems from their root cause.
EFT works by tapping on the meridian points on the body which are based on Chinese medicine. Along with tapping, the person has to speak specific statements related to the issue they want to resolve.
This technique is the only talk-and-touch therapy and it seeks to balance the unresolved negative emotions in the body and mind by working on the body’s energy system.
In order to understand how EFT Tapping helps in healing anxiety, it would be helpful to know what exactly happens on a physiological level when you experience stress or anxiety.
So, when you feel stressed, an almond shaped part of the brain, known as the Amygdala, which is the brain’s fear centre, gets activated and flags a threat. This is a normal response to any kind of threat, whether small or big.
The amygdala sends the alarm notifying the other parts of the brain. The hypothalamus, which is another important part of the brain relays a signal, neuronally and hormonally and it signals the body to get into survival mode.
It results in increased the heart rate, increased blood pressure and rapid breath, so you can take in, more oxygen quickly.
All the systems of the body stop their functioning and shift their focus solely on what is going on with the body and your environment that’s triggering the anxiety.
Now, the hippocampus, a part of the brain that is responsible for memory, draws on past experiences and then it sends that message to a part of the brain known as the prefrontal cortex.
What the prefrontal cortex basically interprets is, “Is this anxiety okay? Or Is this anxiety not okay?” And then it decides to either dampen or amplify the response of the amygdala. Hence, the amygdala plays a very important role in terms of anxiety.
It has been clinically proven that EFT Tapping calms the Amygdala, regulates our nervous system, and in turn, reduces overall stress and anxiety.
EFT Tapping puts our body back into a relaxed state by helping it to return to parasympathetic (relaxation) nervous system response.
When our body comes back to a relaxed mode, all our body’s systems including the immune system, digestive system, reproductive system, and endocrine system start functioning as they should.
Hence, EFT Tapping not only helps you to reduce stress and anxiety related to COVID-19, but also helps in keeping your immune system strong, thereby making you less susceptible to getting infected.
New to EFT? Learn how Emotional Freedom Technique Tapping heals.
Emotional Freedom Techniques (tapping) is clinically proven to lower stress, tension, anxiety, past-trauma to enable health, happiness and vitality.
EFT TAPPING FOR COVID ANXIETY
To begin the process of EFT Tapping for COVID Anxiety, take some time and ask yourself the following questions.
Step 1:
First Use EFT Tapping On What It Feels Like To Feel The Anxiety
Explore the physical sensations in the body associated with the anxiety.
Ask yourself the following questions and write them down if you want:
- What situations make you feel anxious?
- Who makes you feel anxious?
- What has to happen for you to feel anxious?
- What negative beliefs does anxiety trigger in you?
- If you were to no longer get anxious, what space would open up in your life for the better?
Now, bring into your awareness, a time when you felt anxious. Start following the following steps for EFT Tapping for COVID Anxiety.
1.
To get started, begin by investigating the physical nature of Anxiety.
To understand the physical nature of anxiety, think of the answers to the below questions, and notice where you feel it in the body.
Ask yourself the following:
- Where in the body do you experience the feeling of anxiety?
- What is the colour, size, texture, shape of the anxiety? (Try to imagine)
- What are the sensations like? How does anxiety feel? For example, rough or smooth.
2.
Now measure the level of Your Anxiety by rating it on a scale of 0-10.
Ask yourself:
“What number is the feeling of anxiety at?” where 10 is very high and 0 is very low.
Just go with whatever comes up in your mind spontaneously, without thinking much about it.
3.
Start Tapping on the Side of the Hand by saying:
“Even though I feel anxious about_____________ and I can feel it in my (part of the body)________________________ and it’s at a number _____________ and it makes me feel _______________ I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”
Repeat this 3 times.
4.
Start tapping on the upper body, facial and finger tapping points:
- Eyebrow: I feel anxious about _________
- Side of Eye/Temple: I feel it in my ___________
- Under Eye: It’s at a number _______
- Under Nose: It makes me feel _______
- Chin: It’s in my ________ at a number _____
- Collarbone: This anxiety_________
- Under the arm: So much anxiety ____________
- Thumb: It makes me feel ________________
- Index Finger: Feeling anxious because___________
- Middle Finger: I feel it in my ______________
- Little Finger: Feeling really anxious________________
5.
Close the sequence by Tapping On The Karate Chop:
- “Even though I feel __________ and I feel it in my ___________ and it’s at a number _______ and it makes me feel _______, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”
6.
Relax:
Take a gentle breath in and out and take a sip of water.
7.
Test:
After the round of tapping, ask yourself:
- “What number is the anxiety at?”
If it has reduced to a level you feel happy with, you can stop.
Or you can repeat this process if you feel like the number could come down a little more.
Step 2:
Then Discover Past Experiences Of Feeling Anxious And Clear Them
To reveal the memories linked to feeling it, you can ask questions like:
- When have you felt anxious before?
- What does that feeling remind you of?
- When is it that you don’t experience anxiety?
- What can trigger and bring about the feeling of anxiety?
Step 3:
Explore Any Other Limiting Beliefs That Prevented You From Being Free Of Anxiety
Limiting beliefs are conscious or unconscious thoughts that prevent us from growing and being happy.
Try to think of the limiting beliefs you may be having. Then shift them negative to positive.
For example,
- “I have an unhealthy body” to “I trust my body’s ability to heal itself.”
Step 4:
Close With Positive EFT Tapping For Anxiety
Example of a positive tapping statement is:
“Even though I feel so anxious about this, I choose to remain calm and at peace.”
EFT Tapping is indeed an amazing tool to help you in dealing with Covid Anxiety. Following other calming practices like meditation, yoga/exercise, and breathing practices along with EFT Tapping will help you significantly in lowering your level of anxiety.
Continue to learn and explore!
Love,
Dr Rangana Rupavi Choudhuri (PhD)
P.S. Want to discover if EFT is right for you? Book a Complimentary Discovery Call.
How To Self-Heal & Become An EFT Practitioner
Discover how EFT Tapping can help you to self-heal or to become professionally qualified as a Certified EFT Practitioner. Emotional Freedom Techniques (Tapping) is clinically proven to lower stress, tension, anxiety, past trauma to enable health, happiness and vitality.
In summary, EFT is a very powerful tool to deal with distress caused by Covid-19. For sense of peace and calmness, EFT Tapping promotes a deeper mind-body connection and manage symptoms of anxiety.
Disclaimer: The information on this website is purely for educational purposes and does not in any way replace the requirement for medical and psychological diagnosis and treatment. Please do seek professional medical and psychological diagnosis and advice for all medical and mental health conditions. It is advised to always book any consultations with qualified professionals.
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