I was a skeptic.
Of tapping until I started looking at the research.
Tapping,
For those of you who don't know,
Or emotional freedom techniques,
Is a psychological intervention that combines acupressure points,
Cognitive behavior therapy,
And exposure therapy.
To address a variety of physical and psychological conditions,
Everything from anxiety.
Depression,
PTSD,
Insomnia,
Pain,
Fibromyalgia.
And I was really blown away by the research on something that I had more or less poo-pooed when I heard of it before.
As a therapist it did seem a little bit.
.
.
Um.
.
.
Out there.
But looking at the research and then more or less understanding why This technique would have this impact I became a Kind of a convert to it.
And there's no reason it shouldn't work for tinnitus actually.
As I start looking around on the web and places,
There are a few videos on this.
Some of them are not very adequate.
Some of them actually vary widely from the protocol,
One that's on this very famous tapping app that you'll pay $100 for.
It's interesting,
But it changes the standard protocol,
Which is found in the EFT manual.
And this protocol is what's been tested.
So you more or less want to stick with the tested protocol.
Changing it's fine,
But let's do the standard protocol and see if it works.
And if we need to change it,
We change it.
I actually do make one slight adjustment I'll talk about.
That I think is required with tinnitus because it does present a unique challenge.
So what is tapping?
Emotional freedom techniques.
So let me,
I guess,
Go through the process with a kind of generic situation and then talk about how we apply it to tinnitus.
So we start the process by,
Say,
We're dealing with some condition,
Psychological,
Physical,
And we want to get a sense of where it's landing on us right now.
So we rate it from typically 0 to 10.
Um.
.
.
And we just kind of get a sense of what I'm working with and close your eyes and just feel.
What's your level of distress about this issue?
Again,
It could be anything.
We'll apply it to tinnitus.
And then we start next with what's called a setup phrase.
This is really crucial.
The setup phrase involves both a statement of the distress and a level of understanding and self-compassion with respect to it.
These play two very different and complementary roles.
By stating what's troubling us.
And we start with,
Even though I have X,
Even though I'm depressed,
Even though I have trauma about this situation,
I am just going to repeat the phrase as it is in the book,
Because again,
We're going to stick pretty closely to the established protocol.
Even though I had this dreadful car crash,
I deeply and completely accept myself.
Even though I have this migraine headache,
I deeply and completely accept myself.
Even though I have this fear of heights,
I deeply and completely accept myself.
So we're doing a couple things there.
We're putting ourselves in the stressful situation,
Exposing ourselves 2.
Sitting with it,
And we're also throwing a big dose of self-compassion.
And what we know is that self-compassion is very good at down-regulating the system,
Bringing on the parasympathetic nervous system.
So that's our first move,
And actually we do that while doing our first tapping.
And our first tapping is on what's called the karate chop point.
So we hit this thing and we say the phrase three times.
Even though I X,
I deeply and completely accept myself.
Even though I have X,
I deeply and completely accept myself.
Though I have exited deeply and completely accept myself.
And then we do the tapping sequence,
And there's eight points.
And at each of these points,
We repeat what's called a reminder phrase.
And this is where I do a slight variation.
Let me explain.
The reminder phrase is typically just a statement of what we're confronting.
The thing about with tinnitus is we don't really need to because it's there.
So in addition to keeping that distress before ourselves,
We want also to just,
And this is really important,
Just accept that it's okay that it's here.
Is a really big part of mindfulness.
This is a mindfulness-based approach example.
We don't want to change what's there because when we want to change this particular situation,
I no longer want to be anxious,
Just calm down.
I'm going to calm down.
That's about as effective as telling yourself,
I'm going to go to sleep,
Right?
It actually boomerangs.
So we're just trying to,
In our reminder phrase,
Just engage with,
It's all right that this is here right now.
I'm just okay with this stress,
This distress,
Whatever it is.
Again,
We're just opening up to a level of acceptance and what we know is trying to change a situation,
Be it pain or.
.
.
Anxiety,
Only boomerangs,
It increases the anxiety.
I got to relax.
I got to relax.
Well,
Good luck with that.
What we resist persists.
On the other hand,
Basic level of acceptance,
We know,
Will relax the body.
And we do that in conjunction with various tappings.
And those tappings are eight.
As I said,
We start,
I'll just read the protocol here.
So we get all the tapping situations.
Correct top of the head in the center of an imaginary line crossing the ear so we're tapping there with two fingers tap number one saying our reminder phrase and we'll go in this with tinnitus the start of the eyebrow and you got two choices you can actually tap on both or the eyebrow connects to the bridge of the nose.
And again,
You're saying your reminder phrase.
And then where it joins the end,
The outer side of the eye socket.
And then under the bridge of the eye,
On the bony ridge of the eye socket,
Under the nose.
Again,
Tapping seven times roughly.
Repeating our phrase between the lower lip and the chin.
And then on the collarbone,
Collarbone point to locate this point.
Place the finger in the notch between your.
.
.
Collarbone,
Where they come down.
Move your finger down about an inch and you'll find a hollow in the breast bone.
Now move to the side about another inch.
So it's a little off center and you can do both sides at once or one side.
We're doing four inches under the armpit and for women this is where the bra hits.
And we're going to repeat our phrase.
So,
For tinnitus,
Again,
I like to hold the,
You know,
Let's say the situation is I am,
You know,
Anxious about the tinnitus,
Especially about it increasing in volume,
Or I'm afraid that it's never going to go down.
Pick one of those.
Maybe you have both.
And so,
The setup phrase would be,
Even though I'm fearful my tinnitus will not go back to its normal level,
Let's say we're in a spike,
I deeply and completely accept myself.
And that's here and then with the phrase for the reminder phrase,
It's okay to be afraid that my tinnitus won't go down.
I accept that this is what is happening now.
Fear is what is happening now.
So we're going to do this sequence starting with sensing what's going on.
My tinnitus is spiking.
I'm feeling pretty up there and it's maybe an eight,
I'm afraid it won't go down.
So my setup phrase is,
And I'm doing this three times while I'm tapping here is,
Even though I'm afraid my tinnitus won't go down,
I deeply and completely accept myself.
Even though I'm afraid my tinnitus won't go down,
I deeply and completely accept myself.
Even though I'm afraid my tinnitus won't go down,
I deeply and completely accept myself.
Then I start next,
Top of the head.
It's okay to be afraid right now.
This fear is what is happening now.
It's okay to have fear about tinnitus.
This is what is happening now.
It's okay to be afraid.
I accept my fear.
This fear is what is happening now.
That's one time.
You might want to do it once,
Twice,
Or three times.
I want to do it more than three times and then sit back and return.
Well,
How am I feeling about it right now?
And that's the process.
So use it if you like.
There are,
Again,
A lot of videos,
Information about this.
Not all of them are,
You know,
That accurate.
I've given you what's from,
Again,
The standard protocol,
The EFT manual by Dawson Church.
And see how it works for you.
