My professional life has focused on offering support to people ready to embrace change through education. A long-time teacher of diverse populations in special education and academic classrooms at the elementary, secondary, and college levels, I have experienced the empowering nature of learning as a self-regulation tool supporting clarity, trauma resolution, and improved self efficacy. Toward the end of my career, I learned about engaging the body in this process through an acupressure cousin, Emotional Freedom Techniques. The image above and right shows a great starting position when ready to do personal work that honours the body and its role as Story Keeper of those early experiences causing current challenges. Place either hand over the heart chakra and with the fingers of the other hand tap or gently massage the space between the tendons of the ring and baby fingers.
Gentle tapping or massage on this point can restore equilibrium after unsettling experiences at work or at home. As far-fetched as this may sound to people new to acuppressure or acupuncture, activating through touch specific points on the body engages the ancient meridian system employed by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) healers for more than two-thousand years. The TCM approach to healing is a holistic one; doctors using it would not ask for payment if their clients did not experience their desired results.
Wellness is the emphasis of this ancient approach to health and healing, a state achieved by balancing bodily rhythms and systems through meridians or energetic connectors that support physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual integrity. When recovering from trauma, we can learn to use this same meridian energy system to soothe the nervous system and assure the fore-brain, the place of executive function, that all is well.
Both Acupressure and Acupuncture are effective healing tools; I use EFT because it can be quickly learned and applied without dependence upon a trained therapist.
Why We Tap On or Massage Specific Areas
When first exploring meridian therapies after my introduction to Gary Craig’s simplified approach, one he calls Emotional Freedom Techniques or EFT, I wanted to understand why specific points had such remarkably soothing effects on my nervous system and thought patterns.
Below, you will find a brief introduction to the meridian points we use when we employ Craig’s system to address specific issues through telling the stories we are ready to address, understand, and integrate into our bodymind systems.
The side-of-hand point engages both Heart and Small Intestine meridians and helps to clear conscious and unconscious resistance to change and make space for “a change of heart.” EFT is about safety as well as clarity regarding resolving the issues we feel ready to address. Our gently tapping or massaging fingers convey to the body – the storage place of present and past traumatic events – that we are paying respectful attention to a part of us that may have been feeling discounted, belittled, troublesome, or even exiled. The physical engagement of the body through touching this powerful point creates the spaciousness required to receive fresh insights. Like any conscious physical movement such as Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Yoga, or Pilates, EFT supports our desires to move beyond the impulse to continuously seek safety and to create instead a steady attitude of trust and joy.
The inner eyebrow point sits on Bladder meridian; it helps us to shift fear – of not having enough or being enough – and create space to see our challenges as opportunities for growth. After trauma, much of our energy can be hi-jacked by unhealed hurts. Tapping on or massaging these points gently as we tell of our fears and feelings or simply experience the current distressing sensations, supports a shift in perspective, making space for the possibility of optimism where before there may have been depression and even despair.
If tapping on this or any other point feels too invasive, it is also effective to simply touch these points gently as we feel our feelings, especially the critical and negative feelings that suggest we are not okay and never will be.
Often people are surprised by the EFT practice of acknowledging and expressing our negative thoughts and feelings, but inflammation, chronic anxiety, and even addictive behaviors are frequently the result of denying the pain we are experiencing. Acknowledging the worst is very much like cleaning a festering wound. The cleaning must be done before the body’s natural healing energies can engage.
The side-of-eye points are very useful for calming the fight or flight response that is engaged by sudden noises, frightening headlines, or family conflicts and the like. This tapping point engages Triple Warmer meridian, an energy involved in exaggerated startle responses. Many people who have never heard of EFT engage these points when stressed by massaging their temples. The body, always eager to return to well being, utilizes the muscle memories we have gained across cultures and centuries, so that these healing responses are a part of everyone’s return to center after stress. Even when tragedy suggests that such a state may no longer be possible for us or our loved ones, the body knows the truth and our hands reach for those places we instinctively know will provide comfort.
The under eye point is on Stomach meridian. It helps us to ground and to dispel worries that threaten to tip us into co-dependence. This is another point that is often massaged without any conscious intention to do so. When our fingers are engaged in a conversation with the body, we are less likely to become focused on thoughts that might prevent the healing that comes when we learn to soothe the nervous system. This is one of the most empowering aspects of EFT. The somatic (physical) nature of tapping helps us to shift out of hypervigilance and into a calm receptivity regarding how we might resolve our challenges and concerns.
The under nose point works with the chin point to provide the self soothing we learn as babies when we suck our thumbs or the corner of a special blanket. In fact, we frequently sit with a finger crooked over both these points as we listen carefully to a lecture containing new information we are eager to take in. These points, separately and together, instill a sense of mastery and calmness when we are learning something new or are re-framing a previous experience. The under nose point is the last point on Governing meridian; it begins at the coccyx and is Yang in nature so supports our alertness as it supports our comfort.
The chin point marks the end of Central meridian, called Conception Vessel in TCM. Donna Eden, creator of Eden Energy Medicine, teaches that tracing this meridian up the front of the body from the pubic bone to the chin point helps to keep our vital energies in and others’ energies out; she calls this tracing process the “Zip Up.” In these times of energy overload, tracing this meridian daily is a highly effective practice, one that is both energizing and protective. Tapping on the chin point while expressing fears is a great self-regulation tool that replenishes the Yin energies of the body. Yang energies are great for bursts of energies; Yin energies support those systems constantly working for us, such as our cardio-vascular and disgestive systems.
The collar bone point, known in acupuncture circles as K-27, is the last meridian point on Kidney meridian, the body’s main Yin meridian. Massaging or tapping on this point activates an energy source that connects us to our Earth Home through a point called the Wellspring of Life at the base of the ball of the foot. This rejuvenating point can supply a second wind when necessary and is often named as the “favorite” point by people who have used acupressure massage for some time. The relationship of our hands to our well being has been documented by research into the laying-on-of-hands phenomenon researched by Dr. Dean Radin and other scientists. Adding the conscious intention of healing to our acupressure work supports the tapping motion further.
The under arm point is the last point on Spleen meridian. Stimulating this point supports our ability to metabolize food, ideas, and emotions. Donna Eden, refers to this meridian as our “Inner Mom.” When in balance, Spleen helps us to feel strong and supported in all we do. Tapping on or massaging the under arm point throughout the day strengthens Spleen meridian in its work of nurturing us at the very deepest levels.
The Top-of-Head point was added after Gary Craig had worked out his simplified algorithm inspired by Dr. Roger Callahan’s Thought Field Therapy (TFT). Because TFT uses a specific algorithm to address each challenge, it requires the skill of a trained therapist to utilize. Craig experimented to see if a single set of tapping points might have the same results and discovered that they did. At one of his workshop presentations to health-care providers, an acupuncturist suggested a point at the top of the head be added to the simplified version. Called the 100 Convergences or Meetings in acupressure, tapping gently or massaging this point on the crown of the head is often chosen as the beginning or ending point in the series of acupoints. Because of its location, it is known as a powerful clarity support, especially after a period of worry and/or the prolonged chatter of “monkey mind.”
While there are several other points sometimes engaged in this body inclusive healing work, the finger points (see image at right) are easily accessible when we are in meetings or attending social events. Using the fingers of one hand to tap on these points on the other hand, or using the fingers and thumb of the same hand to tap on these points one-by-one, we engage Lung Meridian (thumb point), Large Intestine meridian (index finger point), Circulation Sex / Heart Protector meridian (middle finger point), Triple Warmer meridian (ring finger point), and Heart / Small Intestine meridian (baby finger point.) These points are also useful when we are feeling heart sick over personal, cultural, and political misunderstandings. Massaging the finger that best connects with our emotional distress opens pathways to calming energies and more optimistic points of view.