TAPPING FOR MUMS -ACKNOWLEDGING THE TRUTH OF HOW WE FEEL
Even though I am feeling overwhelmed ………… I deeply and completely love honour and accept myself
Even though I’ve too much to do and not enough time………… I accept how I feel and I allow myself to be the way I am
Even though my to do list keeps getting longer, I’m ok and I am open to seeing this differently
Acknowledging how I really feel is a pretty new phenomenon for me. As someone who prides herself on being positive and generally optimistic, to take time to recognise a difficult emotion or a limiting belief was something I resisted for many years. Shake it off and look for the joy was my policy!
It’s not a bad policy to be fair. I prefer it to the ‘wallow in victim mode- poor me’ model! But either approach catches up with you eventually. Working as holistic therapist for over a decade now, I believe that trapped (unprocessed) emotions and the limiting beliefs that informs the critical voice in our heads, have a huge part to play in ill- health.
Good News! There is a middle ground. A process where we can acknowledge the truth of how we feel but not stay stuck there. This process is called Tapping or Emotional Freedom Technique.
WHAT IS TAPPING?
Tapping is a technique that combines energy healing and modern psychology . It involves tapping on acupuncture points along the meridians (energy pathways) while focusing on the difficult emotions or limiting belief you would like to address. It is gentle and effective for adults and children alike.
WHY TAP?
No matter what our circumstances, everybody from the Pope to Will Smith, experiences difficult emotions, such as sadness, shame and rage. But unprocessed emotions can have a significant impact on our emotional and physical well-being. They cause disruptions in the flow of energy through our body and can contribute to feelings of stress, overwhelm and anxiety.
When left unaddressed, these trapped emotions can also cause physical issues in our body. When tapping is used to clear these blocks in our energy meridians, difficult emotions can move through us, thus allowing energy to flow freely, which allows our bodies to heal effortlessly.
At a physiological level, many studies have shown that tapping is effective at regulating the nervous system and moving the body out of the stress response that many of us experience every day.
WHEN TO TAP
Whenever there’s stress, discomfort (physical, mental or emotional) or distress. The goal with tapping is not to stop feeling emotions. Tapping helps us to feel more fully and when we do that our emotions naturally progress
WHY I ENCOURAGE ALL MUMS TO LEARN TO TAP
Maternal overwhelm is normal and common. First of all looking after other humans is busy and never ending. We set such high standards for ourselves, we create impossible to do lists and ask ourselves to do it all with a smile! And then sometimes…we crack! We might loose the plot over the tiniest thing and then we can add guilt to the store of ignored emotions!
The bottom line us….if we can regulate our own nervous systems through tapping, we are protected from the stress of feeling overwhelmed. Our children are protected from our mother rage. We are better equipped to support our children when they meet their own difficult emotions
WHY I ENCOURAGE CHILDREN TO LEARN TO TAP
Many of us adults have developed techniques or taken on habits to help us avoid difficult emotions. We may avoid sitting still, eat with the tv on, scroll the phone between ads, eat for comfort, drink for comfort, get very busy with chores/work………we all have our own avoidance tactics. Do you know yours?
Imagine if our children learned to allow these emotions, as a part of being human. Imagine if they developed a practice of acknowledging how they really feel? I think it would make for a happier childhood and possibly save a whole load of issues in later life
WANT TO LEARN MORE?
In the ALIGNED MAMA PROGRAMME I have dedicated a complete module to teaching you step by step how to tap. I’ve also included ideas to help you tap with your children. For more information on this course click here
https://oonaghnaughton.com/pages/the-aligned-mama
OTHER USEFUL RESOURCES
Thanks to the wonder of YouTube to can begin tapping straight way simply by doing a quick search eg, tapping for sleep, tapping for pain and you simply copy what the practitioner is saying and doing
Here are some links to some of my favourites:
https://www.youtube.com/c/TappingforMums
https://www.youtube.com/c/tapwithbrad
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheTappingSolutionChannel
