***Tapping Tips to Dispel Emotions in Active PTSD

Whenever a client presents to me with an active case of post traumatic stress disorder, I start with a certain protocol which is based on my experience using both Neuro Emotional Technique and Emotional Freedom Technique - both energy psychology modalities. If you or someone you know might benefit, I am happy to share here some tips that I use successfully in my practice.

Do you sometimes feel your emotions go out of control as you are inadvertently triggered to revisit past trauma? This often happens in cases of the "dark night of the soul", in PTSD, in emotional break-down, or in deep-seated anger issues. If you have unexpected emotional surges, I urge you to consider using meridian tapping to break up the emotional waves. If you don’t know the full EFT protocol, or if you might better benefit from a single or couple of points to keep from boiling over or breaking down, I recommend the information below that I have used successfully with my clients.

Often when deep sadness, fear, trauma, or anger are in the forefront of your emotions and start to bleed through uncontrollably, it may be because your left brain is in a frenzy. That "chatty" analytical left hemisphere can cause trouble if you listen to it, and can tangle details, confuse an issue, send negative messages to your subconscious, put blame on yourself or others, remind you of upsetting memories, and generally cause you to react emotionally as you get stressed. By tapping certain points the negative mind frenzy and emotional waves can be put in check.

At the same time, some of your deep fear, terror, and automatic reactive responses come from other parts of your brain as well as the biofield around your body. Your "subconscious" runs on auto-pilot to keep you alive and protect you from suffering again from what you or your ancestors have experienced in the past. You cannot consciously over-ride these natural responses, however you can re-program your energy system using some of the energy psychology and energy medicine approaches now becoming more publicized.

Here are easy-to-use tips to dispel some basic symptoms of PTSD or dramatic post-traumatic stress reactions. These will be helpful in the moment when anxiety and other emotions start to surface, and may support you until you can meet with a trained practitioner to facilitate going deeper to clear the causes of your trauma.

1. The "third eye" point between your two eyebrow points is a potent meridian tapping location. I instruct anyone overwrought with emotion to tap this point first, as it will usually quiet the left brain by breaking up its thought patterns. It may help you to alternate between tapping this point and the next point until you start to relax and can better control your emotions.

2. The "karate chop" point on the slender, flat side of the hand opposite the thumb relates to the small intestine meridian. This is an excellent entry point in any emotion-clearing protocol because this particular meridian usually relates to issues involving feeling lost, vulnerable, abandoned, insecure, or suffering from deep unrequited love. Tapping this point accesses the right hemisphere and limbic brain areas of the subconscious mind, along with your body’s electro-magnetic biofield. Although it is not necessary to add verbal statements at first, this is a wonderful opportunity for you to use a set-up statement which informs the subconscious of the issue to clear, as it also soothes and reinforces that your subconscious is doing a good job of protecting you. Use the traditional EFT set-up statement to first state what you are feeling as: "Even though I feel stressed/distraught/angry/terror/panic/fear/etc.," And then add the second part: “I deeply and completely accept myself,” which states to your subconscious mind: “I’m doing the best I can do to protect myself from danger or more trauma, and I appreciate this”. The subconscious likes this gentle reinforcement and is more open to paying attention when it is soothed in this way. And, the tapping itself on the meridian point provides a soothing sensation as it rhythmically sends reverberations throughout your biofield via the meridian system.

3. As your emotional level eases a bit I suggest that you tap on the "thymus point" which is in the heart chakra area in the center of your chest between your breasts. This point is especially potent when you direct love there toward yourself. It can also be used to continue to diffuse anxiety, terror, deep anguish. And, you may state set-up phrases as listed above or simply talk to yourself about what you feel, adding "... and I choose to let go of this emotion," as you tap. Some meridian tapping practitioners use this point exclusively, and I have experienced it to be effective in soothing clients whenever post traumatic stress symptoms appear.

If you suffer from active emotional turmoil and post-traumatic stress, the points mentioned above can be used to help you to find peace again through the steps of 1- turning off the left brain analysis, 2- tapping into the biofield and subconscious to reinforce that it is OK to notice the issue and that the protection is appreciated, and 3- to send love to yourself at both conscious and subsconscious levels, with suggestions on how to let go of the grief or anger or other uncontrolled emotion.

I hope you find these tips helpful and will use them or provide them to others suffering unexpectedly from over-wrought emotions until a trained practitioner can be employed to facilitate a full protocol to clear the underlying causes of the trauma relating to the emotions.