The Tapping Solution To Release Stress and Find Balance
Years ago when working with very anxious infants and toddlers, I discovered a good calming technique was to pat or tap the child’s back gently in a continuous pattern. The child would calm and finally go to sleep. Actually, moms have been doing that for centuries. I taught clients with high anxiety little children to do that as a means of calming the child. It always worked but I never thought of it as a technique that could be used with older children and even adults.
Recently, an old friend who had become highly anxious after a head injury attended a seminar on the Tapping Solution and referred me to it. I am excited to learn about it and that there is a theory behind how it works to balance the nervous system. And, to make it even more available, Nick Ortner and his siblings developed an App called Tapping Solution App. During this superstressful period of Covid-19 they have been offering a special for the healthcare workers, including mental health care workers, and first responders. The special is a 6-month free access to the premium version of their Tapping Solution App. The basic app and a few of the tapping meditations are free.
An example of a basic tapping meditation works like this. You download the app on your smart phone. You start the anxiety tapping meditation which begins with music and a way of measuring your anxiety before starting the tapping. The meditation is 9+ minutes long and begins with a nice deep breath in. The phone shows you where to start tapping on your body (side of hand). The app guides you with a positive statement to repeat to yourself as you tap.
The app tells you where to shift to the next place to tap. Each place of tapping is done for a few seconds before moving to the next spot. The places to tap are lit up with a blinking star. There are approximately 10 or more places on your hand, face, head, collar bone, under the arm to tap. As the app continues, you are asked to think about what makes you anxious or stressed as you tap. If you are in a group or more public place, earphones will make you unobtrusive as you use the app.
There are over 100 tapping meditations on a wide variety of topics to choose from. Basic topics include Releasing Stress, Releasing Anxiety, Releasing Fear, and Releasing Grief. Now, they have added specific tapping meditations for Covid 19. There is a really valuable one entitled Quiet My Racing Mind, which is a major cause of anxiety. Some of the meditations are in Spanish as well
There are over 100 tapping meditations on a wide variety of topics to choose from. Basic topics include Releasing Stress, Releasing Anxiety, Releasing Fear, and Releasing Grief. Now, they have added specific tapping meditations for Covid 19. There is a really valuable one entitled Quiet My Racing Mind, which is a major cause of anxiety. Some of the meditations are in Spanish as well
Normally, the use of the app costs about $50 a year, paid monthly or annually. However, the current offer of 6 months free for healthcare workers is a great deal. To explore further, you can order Nick Ortner’s book, The Tapping Solution, at Amazon.