I tend to wake up in the morning with anxiety. It is not anxiety caused by negative or fearful thoughts. It is caused by me not feeling safe. It is hard to feel safe when you experienced child sexual abuse. And that is why my morning quiet time begins with tapping sessions about feeling safe. After I practice tapping, I meditate for 15 minutes. Both take the anxiety away and help me feel safe.
Tapping rewires the brain damaged by child sexual abuse
If you are not new to this newsletter, then you know that tapping, also known as emotional freedom technique, combines acupressure with modern psychology. You tap on acupressure points while first stating the problem (the setup statement) and then saying something positive. When saying the setup statement, you always tap on the side of the hand or the karate chop point. For example, if I’m tapping on feeling safe, the setup statement would be “even though I feel all of this anxiety, I choose to love and accept myself.” I would say that statement three times. Then I would tap on each subsequent acupressure point, stating how I feel and how it affects me. The next round would be about releasing the anxiety.
Child sexual abuse, or any kind of childhood trauma, does damage to the brain. The good news is that rewiring the brain is possible through a process called neuroplasticity. Studies show that tapping reduces the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Researchers looked at the effects of tapping veterans and found that tapping reduced PTSD symptoms and after six hour-long tapping sessions with a coach, 86 percent no longer met the criteria for PTSD. In another study, researchers found that tapping significantly improved depression and anxiety symptoms.
Observing your breath helps your brain
The 15 minutes of meditation I practice is something I created after trying out different types of meditation and contemplative prayer. I begin by silently reciting the Jesus Prayer (Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me) three times. I then observe my breath. On the in-breath, I think a number, starting with one, and on the out-breath, I think, “out.” I do that 15 times. I go on to do that for each phrase in the prayer. It takes 15 minutes to do four rounds.
There is something to observing your breath. Researchers in a 2019 study found that breath observance activates certain regions in the brain, including one linked to emotion. Another study looked at how meditative practices that involve breathing techniques such as breath observance affect the brain. What researchers discovered is that breathing affects noradrenaline, a hormone that functions as a neurotransmitter, levels.
Getting started with tapping and meditation
Getting started with tapping and meditation is easy as there are apps you can add to your smartphone. For tapping, The Tapping Solution app is incredibly helpful. For meditation, the Reflect app, a Christian mindfulness app is a great place to start. Insight Timer contains both meditation and tapping.
If you are ready to try tapping and meditation, pray this prayer:
Oh Lord, I ask You to empower me to begin a daily tapping and meditation practice. And I ask that as I tap and meditate, You touch me and bring more healing. I know that You are the Healer. I thank You for leading me to tools that can help me.
Image by Shahariar Lenin from Pixabay
Humm.....sounds interesting.