Some of you may regularly practise meditation and you may or may not be familiar with EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique). EFT is a type of tapping meditation that uses pressure on acupuncture points to treat pain and emotional distress. However, acupuncture uses needles and EFT uses fingertips. It is said to access the body's energy and send signals to the brain, it can also work similarly to meditation and as a way of helping you to focus on breath and body, helping to instil resilience towards causes of stress.

Although EFT has been around for a few years (it was founded by Gary Craig in the 1990's), it is a fairly new technique and has already gained lots of fans. It can be used to add in to your stress-management toolkit or can be used as a stand alone treatment. There is much evidence to support its treatment of anxiety, physical pain, PTSD, insomnia, stress related weight gain, depression, motivation, digestive issues and much more, in fact this form of treatment can reduce the stress hormone cortisol instantly. Immediately leaving you with a feeling of calm.

So how does it work? Well, EFT involves you tapping on the meridian points (Karate chop point on the hand, top of the head, above the eyebrow, side of the eye, under the eye, under the nose, on the chin, collarbone and under the arm) of the body while focussing on an issue you wish to treat. Tapping on these points sends calming messages to the brain, helping it to understand that you are not in danger, which then releases cortisol and helps you to relax.

Tapping can be used in conjunction with more conventional  treatments from your Doctor. It is also a good idea to let your Doctor or other health professionals know that you are trying this method in order to support your wellbeing.

 PS. If you want some more guidance and to ponder the big questions in life, why not check out the Philosopher-in-Residence series. Our, every fortnight on a Thursday, and written by the lovely Anna Pascoe, our Principal planner here at Make Me A Plan. You can take a peek at the latest edition here: https://makemeaplan.com/news/on-race/