Language or Country
Editor's Note:This article comes to us via Gwenn Bonnell's Tap into Heaven Newsletter. It is republished here with permission.
Yesterday Hurricane Irene blew past us here on south Florida. This storm is so massive that even though the eye was hundreds of miles away, the sky was dark all day, the rain bands kept us wet all day, and the wind was strong enough that our yard was littered with palm fronds this morning. We were lucky though - parts of the Bahamas really got blasted and the storm is traveling up the east coast of the United Stated today.
Living in south Florida I am no stranger to hurricanes - I remember hunkering down for the last direct hit we had about six years ago. Three adults and two dogs on the floor in our master bathroom, waiting for hours while the storm passed over while listening to what sounded like horses galloping across the roof because the ceramic shingles were being blown
away.
And I remember students relating how they waited out the storm cowering in closets or other enclosed spaces and living in terror the entire time.
While you must follow common sense and evacuate when it's necessary, or otherwise make sure you have enough emergency supplies on hand, there is no need to spend hours or even minutes in terror while riding out the storm.
Neurobiologist Jill Bolte Taylor explains that the brain and body are designed to react to trauma by setting off an emotional response. and that the neurophysiology of the body is set up to allow us to feel that emotion AND RELEASE IT within 90 seconds.
It's when we hold on to the emotion, and replay the pattern, that the emotional response gets caught in our body and we hold on to the anxiety, the stress, and even the terror.
Which means, to me, that the absolute best time to tap away the emotion is when you are feeling it - before it gets a chance to get stuck in your body. If you think about it, releasing the anxiety and stress leaves you more clear-headed to logically deal with traumatic events such as hurricanes.
Tip #1: Tap In The Moment
If you find yourself experiencing this hurricane, or any other scary event, tap while it is happening. As soon as you feel any anxiety, stress or terror, start tapping on the EFT tapping points.
Don't worry about a setup statement or what to say while tapping the side of the hand/karate chop point. That's designed to get you focused on the problem, and if you are in the middle of the storm, you are already focused on the problem.
So simply start tapping the points on the face, collarbone, and under the arm. You can say whatever is going through your mind, or relate what is happening around you, or say something that makes you feel better such as, "I'm safe, I'm OK right now, I will survive."
From How to Weather Hurricane Stress by Gwenn Bonnell:
"Even though I have all these fears about the worst happening, no matter what I do to prepare it's not enough, I accept myself anyway and know that I always do the best I can."
"Even though I'm overwhelmed with preparing yet again for another possible hurricane, we've been through this time and time, I'm fed up with all this, why do we have to keep dealing with this, I love and accept myself, and choose to remain calm and sane throughout this process."
"Even though I have all this anxiety about going through another hurricane, thoughts about what can happen keep going around and around in my head, I accept myself, and I choose to release all these fears and focus on how I've survived everything in my life."
"Even though my nerves are shot, I can't take going through this again, I accept myself anyway and just love feeling calm and peaceful."
"Even though I'm so stressed and I can't control my emotions anymore, I don't know how to get through this, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and choose to breathe deeply and release all my stressful emotions."
"Even though it's emotionally draining to go through another hurricane, we haven't even recovered from the last one yet, and it seems like I fly off the handle at any little thing, I choose to remember that I'm OK, I've lived through the last hurricane and I'm OK, my family is OK, and I will live through this also."
Notice where in your body are you holding this hurricane stress. There's that helpless feeling, that stress of not being able to control the situation that you might experience in your back.
For me, it's in my jaw… grinding my teeth at night and waking up with a toothache in the morning. For my mother-in-law, it's in her shoulder… after repeatedly moving furniture and plants in and out of the house. I've heard others say they are just "wiped out" or "blown away" by all this. And of course (especially when the electricity fails) we're all just "sweating it out..."
Tip #2: The Forehead Hold
This is great to teach children, or to do with children, and of course for yourself.
Placing the palm of your hand across your forehead helps bring energy and blood into the forebrain of your body and get you out of the fight-or-flight response. You know, that response that drains the blood from your forehead to your chest (fight) or your legs (flee).
Lightly holding the palm of your hand across your forehead - sometimes for 10 or 15 minutes or more - will help you think clearly just when you need it the most. This will also retrain your body not to go into that fight-or-flight blood-rushing-from-your brain response.
You might find yourself doing this instinctively, especially with your children. However, doing this for a few seconds doesn't help that much - to get maximum benefit, you want to hold your hand across the forehead until you feel the pulsing in the capillaries in the frontal neurovasculars - a fancy name for the lumps above the eyebrows on both sides of the forehead.
BTW, you can supercharge your EFT tapping by placing the palm of one hand across your forehead and tapping the points with your other hand.
Tip #3: Tap the Gamut Point
Mostly forgotten recently in tapping, and hugely underutilized, the Gamut Point on the back of the hand directly influences the meridian (energy channel) that is involved in the fight-or-flight reaction.
Anytime you feel a sudden rush of emotion such as fear or anxiety (or even anger or frustration) tapping or massaging the Gamut Point may help lower the intensity of your reaction.
To find the Gamut Point, make a fist with one hand, and you will see a depression between the knuckles of the fourth and fifth fingers on the back of the hand (not between the knuckles but a little beneath the knuckles on the hand). This depression is where to tap - or rub - to help release the fear so you can feel safe.
View the Gamut Point on the Basic Recipe EFT Chart.
Lots of my students tell me that massaging the Gamut Point really helps in social situations when they feel as if they are going to lose it and don't want to tap the face points.
Again, if you are feeling the fear in the moment, don't worry so much about what to say. You don't really have to say anything. Just focus on the feeling, massage or tap the Gamut Point, and notice as you feel calmer and more able to handle the situation.
Of course, you can always add the Gamut Point to your EFT tapping sequence.
Experiment with these three processes - tapping the EFT points in the moment while focused on your emotional reaction, holding your forehead in the palm of your hand (remember this is great for kids) and taking advantage of the Gamut Point on the back of your hand.
I trust that you will stay safe and stay calm through the storm.
Love & light,
Gwenn
Gwenn Bonnell
Florida, US
www.tapintoheaven.com
From the EFTfree Archives, which are now a part of EFT International .
Originally published on August 27, 2011.
Share Your Comments & Feedback