304. Tapping on Anxiety: A Gentle Practice to Calm Your Nervous System

Scottie Durrett  0:01  
Welcome to the momplex Podcast. I am your host. Scottie Durrett, my passion and purpose is to help other moms just like me rediscover their joy and step into their confidence as their kids grow up. Join me as I share my own experiences, my own mistakes and aha moments as I navigate this incredible journey of motherhood while trying not to lose my identity. If you are a modern day mama who is ready to live for herself, not just for her kids, and knows that is the best possible gift you could give, then you are in the right place. This is momplex. Hey, Mama, welcome back to the podcast, whether you're here with me in your earbuds on a walk or watching this on YouTube while doing laundry or prepping tonight's dinner. I'm so glad that you're here today. We're doing something powerful, something really beautiful. I'm really excited to share this with you, but it's simple and it's something I've come back to again and again in my own healing journey. It's called tapping, or EFT, if you've probably heard it, which stands for emotional freedom technique. Now if that sounds a little too woowoo or a little too weird, just stay with me. I thought the same thing when I first heard about it, but after years of living with intense anxiety and stress in my life as a mom, and even before that, it was this gentle practice that helped me breathe again. It helped my nervous system breathe again, and it helped me interrupt that spiral. It helps me calm my nervous system, and honestly, it helps me feel like myself again, even in the chaos and the hectic schedules that we're living every single day, tapping is like acupuncture meets emotional reset. And one of the things I love about this modality is that you can do it anytime, all by yourself. You don't need to go to a special facility, you don't need to make any appointments. You gently tap on specific parts of your body, mostly on your face and your upper chest, while speaking out loud what you're feeling, that's it. And no, you don't have to get it perfect. You don't even have to believe it works right away. Just showing up is enough. In this episode, I'll walk you through the entire sequence. You can simply just listen and repeat after me. Or if you're more of a visual learner, head to YouTube and follow along with the video I'll be tapping right along side of you, but trust that I'm going to give you all the information that you need right here, right now for you to practice this modality wherever you are. This isn't about forcing your anxiety away. This isn't about shaming our anxiety. This is about softening into it and seeing it as a part of who we are, and learning how to nourish it and recognize it, and meeting it with love instead of shame. And so I want you to always remember you're not broken, you're just overwhelmed, and there's support for that. So let's breathe together. Let's tap together, and let's come back to ourselves one tap at a time. Ready? All right, let's begin. If you're listening and you're driving, just enjoy the sound of my voice. But if you can actually take a moment and either sit in your car before you go inside the house pulled off to the side, or you can go sit in your bathroom or sit in a comfortable chair, I want you to just start by checking in with yourself. So just pause, take a deep breath in through your nose, let that out through your mouth. And now I want you to rate your anxiety on a scale of zero to 10. Zero being the most intense. No judgment. Just notice this is your starting point. Give yourself the opportunity to really take in where you are at this moment. We're going to work with that most pressing issue. I have this anxiety. So you're going to repeat after me as we tap, follow my tapping points and just repeat after me with everything that I say. We're going to begin with a karate chop point. And you'll notice that these are, I'm taking the sides of my fingers on my right hand, and I'm just tapping these on to the meaty part of my hand right below my pinky. Okay, and you're just going to tap on this karate chop point on the side of your hand and repeat after me. Even though I have this anxiety, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, even though I have this anxiety, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, even though I have this anxiety, I deeply and completely love and accept myself now your eyebrow, I have a lot of anxiety. The side of your eye, my anxiety really runs the show. I. Under the eye, damn. I just want it to go away under the nose. I'm anxious, just thinking about it. Now, tap your chin. I worry it'll hit at any moment. Now, tap your collarbone. It can even keep me up at night. Now, under the arm, where your bra line meets. I've got a lot of anxiety. Top of your head. I really want it to go away. Now start tapping your eyebrow. I keep trying to force it away.

Tap the side of your eye, but that never works. Now, tap under your eye. It only makes it stronger. Tap under the nose. My anxiety shows me I'm running from something.

Tap your chin. What am I running from? Now? Tap your collarbone. That thought makes me anxious. Now, tap under the arm. I don't want to deal with this

top of the head. I just want peace now. Tap your eyebrow. Maybe I can breathe into it instead.

Tap your side of your eye just one deep breath under the eye, I can honor this feeling right now. Under the nose. What is this anxiety trying to tell me. Chen, what does it need for me? Collarbone? Maybe it's a message, not a monster. Under the arm, I can help it soften top of the head. I can send loving kindness to this part of me, eyebrow. I don't have to fight it side of the eye. I can be gentle with myself under the eye, the less I resist, the faster it fades. Under the nose, I give myself permission to feel chin. I breathe into this anxiety and I let it go. Collarbone, I gently let it go. Under the arm. It doesn't have to control me anymore. Top of the head, I'm taking my power back. Eyebrow, if I listen to my anxiety, maybe it will relax. Side of the eye, I have the power to relax right now. Under the eye, I am allowed to feel calm. Under the nose, I can breathe into this moment. Chin, it's safe to relax now. Collarbone, it's safe to relax under the arm, I am safe. Top of the head, I am safe. Eyebrow, everything is working out for me.

Side of the eye, I am supported. Under the eye, I can let go now. Under the nose, I can settle into this moment. Chin, I can settle and breathe into this moment. Collarbone, I take another deep breath under the arm, I let it go top of the head. I am at ease and. Right here,

right now. Now, take one more deep breath, in through your nose,

out through your mouth. Now check in with yourself. What is your number? Now? Has it shifted even just a little however you feel it's all valid. Just know this. You showed up for yourself today. You interrupted the spiral. You chose calm, and you gave your nervous system a break. And that's no small thing. Mama. Tapping is a beautiful practice that you can come back to anytime. It's ancient. It's been around for 5000 years, and it's connected to the same modalities of acupuncture and acupressure. And what we're doing is tapping on different meridian points throughout our body, and we're saying affirmations at the same time, and this is tapping into our mental, emotional, spiritual and physiological health, and it's really helping us connect to not only the power of our mind, but the power of our body. And when we have our body and our minds working together, we can truly manage anything. So you can always come back to this episode and practice at any time when that stress creeps in, when the panic starts to rise, even when you're not sure what's wrong, but you just don't feel right. This is a beautiful tool, and it's yours now, and it's something that I want you to come back to over and over again. If you love this practice and want to tap along with me again, you can bookmark this episode. You can head over to YouTube and watch the full video version, where I guide you through it step by step, I'm also going to be taking tapping clients. So if you want to get on the wait list for there, just go ahead and send me a DM. I will drop my Instagram account in the show notes right there. And if this helped you today, would you do me a favor? Please share it with another mom who might be feeling anxious too. You never know who needs this kind of gentle support. And if it helped you, if you will come back to it again, I would love for you to leave me a testimonial and rate this. The more we can support each other, the more we can change how we feel, and the more we can change the world. I love you. I see you. You've got this, you're safe, you're supported, you're doing so so well, until next time, Mama, keep tapping, you've got this. All right, Mama, that's a wrap on today's episode. Thank you so much for listening. But before you dive back into the beautiful chaos of your life, remember this. You're doing better than you think. You are not alone, and you sure as hell don't have to do this on autopilot. If this episode hit home, please share it with a mom who needs to hear it, because we are in this together. And if you're feeling extra generous, please drop a review. It helps momplex reach more mamas who need this real talk until next time. Trust yourself, trust your gut, and remember you already know what to do, and you are the perfect mama for your kiddos. See you next time, Mama, love you. Bye.