I went to a workshop and learned two new wonderful techniques for dealing with difficult emotions such as anxiety and anger. While I still have more to learn about them before I would recommend them, I am intrigued to say the least. I want to tell you how I came to learn about and experience these techniques.
On my way to the workshop, I was dealing with a rather stressful situation. I found myself becoming increasingly upset by the situation, as I was talking on the phone with various involved parties. To further complicate my morning, I was also running late for the workshop. By the time I entered the room where the workshop was being held, my heart was beating pretty fast, and I was upset, stressed, worried, (maybe angry) about what had transpired just minutes before. As I am clumsily trying to settle myself into a seat next to a dear friend of mine, the workshop presenter asks for a volunteer to come to the front of the room and “try out” the first technique—remember, I am at a workshop on strategies to help people deal with difficult emotions. Without a second thought my hand shot up and I was on my way to the front of the room.
As I sat there, waiting to be manipulated, my heart was still pounding, I was feeling a little uneasy about being “on stage” and having to potentially air my dirty laundry in front of 30 other professionals I had never met before. At the same time, I was eager to see whether I could be calmed at the hands of this very nice, and seemingly well informed, woman.
The woman began working with me, and, amazingly, I rather quickly began feeling calm. Not only was my body calming down, but I felt my thoughts about the stressful experience calming as well. They were shifting from negative, perhaps even defeatist thoughts, to gradually more neutral and then even somewhat positive. My whole notion of the morning’s events shifted from one of dread to one of openness and confidence. I moved from heart pounding to feeling relaxed and calm.
Over the next 5 hours at this workshop, as all of the professionals in attendance practiced with the technique on one another, I was impressed by the marked shift in my state. I felt as I can often feel after meditation or massage. It was pretty remarkable. My friend sitting next to me seemed to have a similar reaction to the process. We were both happy we came.
The techniques about which I am referring are a part of a growing field within mental health, called energy psychology or energy medicine. The two techniques I learned at the workshop are Heart Assisted Therapy (HAT) and The Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), aka the Tapping Method. The techniques work with your body’s meridians and acupressure points to help balance the body’s energy system.
I am a huge proponent of the importance of healing mind and body to achieve mental health. I am always looking for strategies to help my clients manage anxiety and other difficult emotions, and I am keenly aware of the importance of working with both the mind—and how we think about things that causes us angst, as well as the body. Calming the body has such a tremendous impact on how we think about and approach the world. I had done a fair amount of reading about this work, and had been experimenting with its use in my practice prior to attending the workshop. I had seen some benefits with the children with whom I have used this, and similar, techniques. Since then, I have been incorporating both HAT and EFT with more regularity with both children and adult clients. Initially, children and teens need more convincing of its benefits, but they become eager participants once they have started to feel the positive effects. These techniques, and others like them, can have more impact when you open up your mind to their possibilities. While they can seem hokey at first, they are worth a second glance.
The woman presenting at the workshop, Robin Bilazarian, is a LCSW who practices in Mount Laurel, NJ. She recommends several websites. I will list a few here. Also, if you search for any of these people on YouTube, you will find numerous demonstrations of how the techniques are done. I plan on investigating more advanced training in these techniques. I have already been using them myself, and on my clients, and they appear to be beneficial. Happy Tapping!
Websites:
www.thetappingsolution.com
www.heartassistedtherapy.net
www.emofree.com
www.innersource.net
