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a tapping technique that can transform your life

We all face times when we feel overwhelmed. The key is preventing that feeling from spiraling into anxiety. Want to learn how? In this episode I walk you through a stress-reducing technique called tapping that I personally use all the time. It’s quick, easy and super effective. 

Many of us are living in a constant state of fight or flight. Our nervous systems are on high alert, and because of that, even small stressors can activate our anxiety. 

But living in this amped-up state is not healthy physically, emotionally or spiritually. When I feel a little on edge, I immediately turn to a tried-and-true practice that never fails me.

What is this fail-proof practice? Tapping.

tapping—aka emotional freedom technique (eft)—for anxiety

Tapping is an incredibly powerful practice that guides your mind and body to a safer, more relaxed space where you can make clear decisions, approach challenging situations with more grace, and fully show up for yourself and your people.

This tapping technique can accomplish so much in so little time. It can help you:

  • Release attachments to your addictive tendencies
  • Disrupt unhelpful and fear-based thought patterns
  • Regulate your nervous system
  • Clear negativity from your energy field 
  • Enable you to move through life with more ease

When I lead people through a tapping session, I start by having them rate their anxiety on a scale of 1 to 10, both before and after the exercise. Within just a few minutes, my students often go from a 9 to a 3, or a 7 to a 1, or a 3 to a zero. It’s amazing to watch—and even more amazing to experience..

Tapping is deceptively simple. You just use a few fingers to tap in a sequence on specific parts of your body that are along energy meridians; at the same time, you repeat comforting and affirming phrases (either out loud or silently). Even though it’s easy, it helps a ton to have guidance—especially when you’re starting out. This episode will provide you with that support.

in this episode, I share …

  • A complete tapping sequence for anxiety
  • The exact energy meridians to focus on during tapping
  • Phrases you can repeat to enhance your tapping practice
  • How to tailor your tapping practice to your specific needs
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It’s National Tapping Month, which makes this the perfect time for this episode. This one was a listener request—so many of you asked for more about tapping.

I walk you through a full tapping exercise for anxiety, along with specific phrases you can repeat to enhance your practice.

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When I focus on my inner light I see the world through the lens of love.

Tapping helps quiet the noise of anxiety and lets me redirect my focus and how I perceive the world. It empowers me to let the light back in. 

Practice the tapping technique in this episode daily for 30 days and I have no doubt you will experience measurable relief. 

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free meditation for anxiety relief

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disclaimer

This podcast is intended to educate, inspire, and support you on your personal journey towards inner peace. I am not a psychologist or a medical doctor and do not offer any professional health or medical advice. If you are suffering from any psychological or medical conditions, please seek help from a qualified health professional.

dear gabby #155 Aug 07, 2023 emotional wellbeing

release anxiety in 10 minutes or less with tapping

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The following podcast is a Dear Media production.

GABBY: Hi there, Gabby here. This podcast is intended to educate, inspire, and support you on your personal journey towards inner peace. I'm not a psychologist or a medical doctor and do not offer any professional health or medical advice. If you are suffering from a psychological or medical condition, please seek help from a qualified health professional.

If you're a regular listener of this show, you know that for the most part, I'm pretty chill and believe it or not, that's true even when it comes to my parenting style. I'm that mom who can stay calm even during a four-year-old meltdown. Seriously.

And I know that's kind of a brag, but it's something that I'm proud of and you might be wondering, Okay, Gabby, really, how do you stay calm when your kid's freaking melting down?

Well, well, number one, I know I can trust the universe when the sh*t hits the fan. That's period. And number two, I lean heavily on my meditation practice. I've been meditating daily for 17 and a half years. Yep, that's right. I've never skipped a day of meditation. I just haven't.

And it is this practice that has helped me navigate the most stressful situations in my life. And it's also given me the ability to really lower my anxiety level. So whether you already have a meditation practice or if you've never tried it before, I want to help you cultivate that same sense of inner peace.

And it comes with practice and it comes with commitment. And that's why I'm giving you my most impactful guided meditation for anxiety relief. And it's totally free. It's yours. It's a gift from me. People, it's free. So take advantage of this today. This also happens to be one of my favorite meditations, so I'm really excited to share it with you.

You can download my free meditation for anxiety relief at deargabby.com/anxiety. I promise you that this practice is gonna really help you begin your journey toward profound inner peace. It will give you a tool for self-soothing in moments of anxiety and stress. And I just want you to use it so that you can really create that beneficial inner state of peace that can be very sustainable when you practice and you show up and you give yourself that permission to turn inward.

That's deargabby.com/anxiety.

Hey there. Welcome to Dear Gabby. I'm your host Gabby Bernstein, and if you landed here, it is absolutely no accident. It means that you're ready to feel good and manifest a life beyond your wildest dreams. Let's get started.

Welcome back, my friends. Welcome back to Dear Gabby. We have a very valuable episode for you today.

This is a request from the listeners episode. A lot of our listeners have been asking for more tapping. Tapping is emotional freedom technique, otherwise known as tapping, and it's a practice in really helping your amygdala release that fight flight response.

So many of us live in this day to day experience of that fight flight response. Little things can trigger us throughout the day. We can get easily activated. We get super anxious in any given moment. I'm just speaking for myself, but I know that even me, Gabby, with all the tools in my toolbox, two decades of personal growth behind me, I still get taken out, taken out, taken out and have to just find my way back in.

When I say find your way back in, what I mean is getting back to a place of center, getting back to a relaxed state. Get back to a place where your nervous system can settle, where you can make decisions with ease, where you can show up for situations with more grace and you don't have to be the victim of the world you see.

So, we have the power to actually change our energy and our thoughts through this extraordinary technique called tapping. And what happens when you tap is you actually tap on these different energy meridians, kind of like acupuncture. And the meridians are the karate chop point, your eyebrow point, the side of the eye right on your temple, under your eye, under your nose.

Tapping on your chin, tapping on your collarbone and then tapping under your arm, right? If you were a lady, right where you have a bra line where your bra would be, and then tapping on your head. And these different energy meridians stimulate relaxation in your nervous system while simultaneously talking about whatever is up for you.

And today our topic is going to be tapping on anxiety, but you pick this most pressing issue in your life. And today we're going to use anxiety because I think that it's a common thread for all of us. And you pick that issue and you tap. And you talk about what the experience is. You talk about the emotional disturbance.

You decide before you tap from scale of 0 to 10, 10 being the highest. Where are you? Because you always want to know where your baseline is before you start. Because what happens is when you're done tapping, you go way down, often, oftentimes, most of the time, we go way down. And so, what happens is there's this thing called the apex effect, which means if you are in that state of a 10 and you get down to a 2, after that tapping, you can forget that you were at a 10.

And so in efforts to not forget and to see the results and to really let the results be proven to us, we start by rating our most pressing issue from a scale of zero to 10. So right now, wherever you are in the world, if you're driving, just listen, come back to this episode when you're sitting down. This is one of those episodes I actually want you to practice every day for 30 days.

And if you do that, if you come back to this episode for 30 days. And you practice this tapping exercise over and over and over again. You will experience transformational relief in your life, period. I'm speaking directly to you right now, listeners. You will have a life changing experience if you come back to this every single day for 30 days and tap with me.

This practice is designed to open up the space of possibility, really release that attachment to your addictive patterns and thought patterns and fear based patterns, get you out of that thought loop that can keep you stuck in the anxiety, regulate your nervous system, calm your energy field and create space for you to move through life with more grace and ease.

So we're going to tap on the negative and the feelings and then we're going to do a positive tapping round and wrap it up and you'll see, just follow my lead. Don't overthink it. The simplicity here is that you just follow me. I'm going to prompt you on where to tap and what to say. You're going to tap where I tap and repeat out loud exactly what I say and just follow my lead.

Again, if you're driving, maybe you can pull over if it's safe and do this. Otherwise, wait until you get home and just come back to it. But do it every day for 30 days. Expect miracles. Leave me reviews on this episode and let me know how it goes. I want to hear everything. So let's get a little pulse from our zoomers about where they're at.

With their anxiety from a scale of zero to ten, ten being the highest, where are my zoomers at right now? And Wolf, if you want to bring it up I could see in the chat I see a four that's pretty good. I see seven seven seven seven seven six seven. I see some sevens eight six seven, Oh, got a lot of like pretty elevated people here.

Not a lot of high number seven eight ten. We've got a ten here, ten in the house six. Okay, so let's get our sixes down to zero. Let's get our tens down to twos. Let's get it down. Let's release the anxiety. Where are you right now, Josh? Josh is a seven. Let's get him down to a two. Okay. Wolf, where are you at? Zero to 10.

WOLF: Um, I'm definitely at a zero.

GABBY: A zero. Okay. I don't know who this human is, but the truth is we walk into the studio and we're all stressed out and then we enter and Wolf is here and we're like, oh, we're good. We feel good now. So that's actually a really good example of your presence is your power.

And when you have that serenity and that ease, people want to work with you. It's a whole other episode. We'll have to come back to this conversation with you, but this man is super chill, super relaxed. We request him, we've, we've actually booked you like three months out. So we get Wolf in the studio. So that's a real Dear Gabby moment there.

This dude's a zero. That's amazing. This is the one instance when a zero is really, really powerful. So let's get everybody to Wolf. Let's get to the Wolf zone right now with our tapping exercise. We've got to get Josh down from his seven back to Wolf. We've got to get everybody down to Wolf. Okay, here we go.

[AD BREAK]

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[END AD BREAK]

GABBY: So you're going to follow after me. You're going to tap where I tell you to tap. You're going to repeat my words out loud and just follow me. Take note of where you are right now. Sevens, tens, eights, zero for wolf. Maybe we can get him to like negative one. We'll get them down more. Alright. So let's start tapping on the karate chop point.

So if you were going to take a karate chop right to the board, you got that one point. I want you to tap right there on the side of your hand. And we begin with a setup statement.

Even though I feel this anxiety, I deeply and completely love and accept myself. Tapping on that karate chop point and just say that statement.

Even though I feel this anxiety. Repeat after me. I deeply and completely love and accept myself. And one more time. Even though I have all this anxiety, repeating after me, I deeply and completely love and accept myself. Tapping now on your eyebrow point, which is just right where the hair meets the bone on the side of your eyebrow.

Man, I've got a lot of anxiety. Repeat after me. Each statement I say, each phrase I say, repeat it after me and tap where I tell you to tap. Now tapping on the side of the eye right where your temple is. All this anxiety. Tapping under the eye. This anxiety really gets the best of me.

Tap under your nose. This f-ing anxiety. That's where I go. Tapping on your chin. There's just so much in the world that makes me anxious. Tapping on your collarbone. It's so hard to get out of this loop.

Tapping under your arm, right where that bra point is. And just repeating after me, I just can't get out of the loop of anxiety. Tapping on your head, I feel it in my body, top of the head, back to the eyebrow, I feel so anxious. Tapping on the side of the eye, my anxiety just takes over my day. Tapping under the eye, this anxiety is really taking me out.

Under the nose, and I really want relief. Tapping under the nose, I really want relief. Tapping on the chin. Man, I really, really, really want relief.

Collarbone, I want my body to have relief. Under the arm, I want relief in my mind. Top of the head, I am claiming now that I want relief.

Now back to that eyebrow point. I welcome relief. Take a deep breath in and tapping on the side of your eye, repeating after me. I welcome relief right now. Under the eye, maybe I can have some relief. Under the nose. I don't have to stay stuck here. Chin. I can choose again.

Collarbone, take a deep breath. Under the arm, take another deep breath. Top of the head. I just want relief.

Come back to that eyebrow point. I feel a little relief right now. Side of the eye. This is kind of relaxing.

Under the eye. It's safe to let go in this moment. Under the nose, repeating after me. It's safe for me to let go in this moment.

Chin. I can let go in this moment. Collarbone. I can take a deep breath and let go in this moment. Under the arm. It's okay and safe to let my anxiety go. On top of the head. I'm safe.

Place your hand on your heart and your other hand on your belly and just take another deep breath in, breathing all the way in. And on the exhale, let that go.

Take another deep breath in. Let that go. Now in the chat, we can see where people are at, but I also would like to hear from folks and I'll just, just check in with my listeners right now. Where are you guys at? Zero to 10. We've got people going down to a two. Tell me where you were and where you are now.

Six to a one, five to a two, four to a two, four to a zero. We've got some Wolf in the house. All right. Five to a one. Seven, two, four, three. Okay, cool. So let's bring on our first guest and I want to hear what happened for them. If anyone wants to share a miracle, we've got some people out there.

SHANDI: Hi, Gabby.

GABBY: Hi, gorgeous. How are you, my love?

SHANDI: I'm doing okay. How about you?

GABBY: I feel better now that I just did the tapping. How'd the tapping go for you?

SHANDI: Yeah, I really enjoyed that. I needed it. And when I listen to your recordings, I find it's more effective when I, rather than when I do it on my own.

GABBY: Yeah. And now you have it. Now it's here.

You can just come back to this episode. It's free. It's there. We're going to make sure there's no ads breaking up the tapping and we're just going to come back to it and come back to it and come back to it so that you can really experience the relief. Anything that you want to share, Shandi?

SHANDI: Um, Gabby, I'm going through like a lot of life changes right now.

So I think being an anxious person on top of that, having all these life—

GABBY: Oh, hang on, Shandi. Start tapping on that karate chop point while you talk to me. Okay, sweetie.

SHANDI: I'm doing that as I'm holding it.

GABBY: Great. Let's go. Keep going.

SHANDI: There's just so many changes and it's overwhelming. In August, I'll be moving into a new place and the whole changes are scaring me.

GABBY: Okay, do you want to tap with me on it?

SHANDI: Yes, please.

GABBY: Okay, just follow me. Even though I'm so scared of this change. Where are you, 0 to 10?

SHANDI: For this particular thing, it's a 10.

GABBY: Okay, even though I'm so scared of this change, repeat after me, Shandi.

SHANDI: Even though I'm so scared of this change.

GABBY: I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

SHANDI: I deeply love and accept myself.

GABBY: Eyebrow. Even though I'm so scared of this change.

SHANDI: Even though I'm so scared of this change.

GABBY: I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

SHANDI: I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

GABBY: Just keep tapping there, Shandi. Everybody else that's listening, if you have an issue with change or something that's coming up in your life that you're afraid of, tap along with us because you will borrow the benefits of Shandi's tapping.

So this is another tapping practice that you can do alongside us right now if you're fearful of any change or future tripping in any way. So you're going to go to the side of the eye. I'm really scared of this change.

SHANDI: I'm really scared of this change.

GABBY: Under the eye, and all that that means to me.

SHANDI: And all that it means to me.

GABBY: I feel it in my body.

SHANDI: I feel it in my body.

GABBY: I'm really terrified.

SHANDI: I’m really terrified.

GABBY: I'm just really scared.

SHANDI: I’m just really scared.

GABBY: That's the truth. I'm scared.

SHANDI: It's the truth; I am scared.

GABBY: Top of the head. I don't really like being scared.

SHANDI: I don't like being scared.

GABBY: Eyebrow, I'm trying to control that feeling.

SHANDI: Trying to control that feeling.

GABBY: Side of the eye, I really don't want to be scared, it's not fun.

SHANDI: I don't want to be scared, it's not fun.

GABBY: Under the eye, change is really uncomfortable.

SHANDI: Change is really uncomfortable.

GABBY: Under the nose, and I don't do well with change.

SHANDI: Don't do well with change.

GABBY: Chin, and I'm trying to control the future.

SHANDI: Trying to control the future.

GABBY: Collarbone, and all the controlling is creating more chaos.

SHANDI: Creating chaos.

GABBY: Under the arm. And I'm just scared.

SHANDI: I'm just scared.

GABBY: Top of the head. And I'm just scared.

SHANDI: Just scared.

GABBY: Eyebrow point. Well, what if I'm just scared and that's okay?

SHANDI: Just scare and that's okay.

GABBY: Under the eye. What if I just was present with the feeling right now?

SHANDI: I'm just present with feeling right now.

GABBY: Under the nose.

Take a deep breath. Breathe into the feeling, let that go.

Tapping on the chin, take another deep breath. Breathe into the feeling of being scared and be present with it now and let it go. Collarbone. Take another deep breath and just gently breathe into the feeling of uncertainty, fear, change. Let it go. Breathe it in again. Let it go. Under the arm. Breathe into that feeling.

Let it go; top of the head. I accept where I'm at right now.

SHANDI: I accept where I'm at.

GABBY: And I respect and honor my feelings.

SHANDI: I respect and honor my feelings.

GABBY: Eyebrow, I'm safe.

SHANDI: I’m safe.

GABBY: Side of the eye, I'm safe.

Under the eye, I can settle. Under the nose, I can relax. Chin, deep breath. Collarbone, deep breath.

Under the arm, I'm safe. Top of the head, I’m safe.

Take a deep breath in. Put your hand on your heart and your hand on your belly. And on the exhale, let that go.

When you're ready to open your eyes. Shandi, where are you now? Zero to 10.

SHANDI: I'd like to say a two.

GABBY: Yeah, girl. It's a miracle. So I want you to come back to this episode over and over and again, you have two tapping people are just saying they love this. Jason Williams loves it. You've got all these people in the chat just saying that it was beneficial for them, too. So anyone that was listening, you now have this opportunity to borrow the benefits from Shandi's experience.

And so come back to this over and over again. Return, return, return. Do it for 30 days. You're anxious, practice the anxiety, you're feeling scared about a future issue, come back to this. Shandi, you've got your direction now, my love.

SHANDI: I appreciate it, Gabby, I'm, I'm getting married, that's what the change is, and I'll be moving into my husband's, my fiancé's place.

GABBY: It's a huge change, Shandi.

SHANDI: Yeah. Yeah, and it's, the thing is, I currently live in a home, and it's now moving into a flat, like using elevators, living at a height, it's that kind of change.

GABBY: Keep tapping, baby. Tapping. Just keep tapping, Shandi. You got it babes. You got this. You got this. You got this. Thank you, my love.

Thank you for being here. Thank you.

SHANDI: Thank so much, Gabby.

GABBY: You're welcome, my love. Thank you. Congratulations on the marriage.

SHANDI: Thank you so much. Big part of my journey. You always will be. So thank you. Love and light.

GABBY: Love to you. So you got a taste today of tapping. It's such a profound technique that. You can do anywhere anytime.

You can start here with me. You can allow this practice to be an episode that you return to over and over and over again. This can be a practice that helps you release anxiety, that settles you. It gives you a moment of pause in your day.

Make it your meditation. Make this your daily meditation practice.

Tapping is a meditation. And just give yourself that pause and that commitment. We have the power to completely transform our energy in any given moment. I started today's recording with this episode because I was stressed out. I went from a call to returning some items, to walking the streets of New York City in 80 degree weather, to coming into the studio, to moving cameras around.

And I needed to release some anxiety. So selfishly, I borrow the benefits of this show. I stepped in, I gave myself some grace. I went from an eight to a zero. I'm in Wolf category now. And in that space of zero, I can now see more clearly. I can relax my body. My jaw is relaxed. I can be of service to you in a much more profound way.

So tap before your kids come home from school, tap before you enter your office, tap before you, you know, you're going to have some kind of confrontation with a friend or a family member. Use this tool as often as possible. And you're hooked up. We've got a lot of tapping meditations now. I'm going to give you a lot of love.

Come back to this every day for 30 days. Come back. Let me know how it goes. I'm expecting many miracles. I'm expecting life-changing experiences. I'm expecting health and abundance and peace and grace and joy to come to you. Follow this guidance. Trust me, it can totally change your life. Thank you so much for joining me today on Dear Gabby. I love you guys.

If you made it to the end of this episode, that means you're truly committed to miracles. I'm really proud of you. If you wanna get more Gabby, tune in every Monday for a new episode.

Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss any of the guidance or special bonus episodes. Your experience at this show means a lot to me, so I really wanna welcome you to leave an honest review and you can follow me on social media at @GabbyBernstein.

And if you wanna get in on the action, sign up for a chance to be Dear Gabby’d live deargabby.com. See you next week.

Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.