-I would love to care less
about what people think about me.
I think this will be kind of like a facial for my mind.
♪♪
I'm Samara, and today, I'm going to be learning
EFT tapping for improving body image,
and hopefully, silencing my inner critic.
Sometimes those like thoughts, you know,
in the back of your head of like what do people think of this,
are they staring at me, blah, blah, blah.
Those can affect me.
I feel like I get really pulled out of the present moment.
I have been a talk therapy patient for 20 years
and I already do a lot of things like meditation and mindfulness.
Growth is a journey.
I'm hoping that EFT tapping can help me from the inside out.
Hi. It's so good to meet you.
-Nice to meet you, Samara.
-Yeah, I'm excited for today.
-I know. You're going to like it.
I'm Jackie Viramontez and I'm an EFT trainer and practitioner.
EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Technique,
and people also have nicknamed it tapping
because you're tapping stress-reducing
pressure points on your face and torso.
Those pressure points are connected
to your stress response.
So I think about it as an off switch for your stress.
You can use it on any physical, mental, emotional,
relational symptom or issue.
So phobias, pain, physical symptoms or diagnosis,
limiting beliefs, procrastination,
anything you can name that steals your peace,
you can use tapping on it to steal it back.
Have you thought about what you wanted to work on with me?
-As much as I have like tried
to work on myself and grown over the years,
I do feel like I still have a bit of that like inner critic,
just overthinking about how I look, my acne,
like all that sort of stuff.
-Tapping would help you feel more present.
-Okay.
-It would still those racing thoughts.
It's just letting go of the stress
and those fear-based emotions that come up and pull you out.
I like to tap more than talk,
so can I show you the points and just start?
-Mm-hmm. -The first point is right here.
So I want you to tap that,
so side of the hand and it's either side,
so on the pinky-edged side of the hand.
There's acupuncture points all over the body
that can help with physical, mental, emotional symptoms.
So EFT uses seven to nine of those acupuncture points.
So the next one's top of the head.
And we know that by tapping them or stimulating them,
you're helping to release those emotional or physical symptoms.
The next point's the inner eye point,
so it's right where your eyebrow comes in,
and it would be either side.
So when you're tapping on your own, Samara,
you could tap both sides, you could tap one.
And then outer eye. Big breath.
And then under the eye. And this one you can feel.
So remember I was saying it's like acupuncture points?
-Mm-hmm. -Kind of go along the bone.
You can feel a little indent sometimes where the bone opens
for the meridian to come out. -Mm-hmm.
-This is actually your stomach meridian,
which is a lot of overthinking, obsessive thoughts.
-Oh, this is a good one for me.
-Oh, yeah.
I'll ask you to notice which one you like the best.
-Yeah. -And then under the nose.
And then under the lip. And then the collar bone
where your thumb and pointer finger hits,
since we're all anatomically different.
-Mm-hmm.
-And it's kind of on that bone on the other on the underside.
Under the arm. -Mm-hmm.
-You could that one,
and that's right where your bra line would fall
but directly under your armpit. We just did all the points.
Let's just go through, again, and this time
I want you to bring some of that body awareness in.
EFT is way more effective if you get really specific.
Try at all times to think about one example.
The number one reason why people don't like tapping
or it doesn't work for them
is because you're not being specific enough.
-I had a specific moment recently in dance class
and I had just like a massive pimple
in the middle of my forehead.
And I was like talking to someone and my whole brain
was just like this person I'm talking to like sees my pimple
and that's all they're thinking about.
-When you think about being in that dance class
with that pimple,
can you feel the emotion in your body,
whether it was insecurity, racing thoughts, worry?
-Oh, yeah, definitely.
-Okay. Where are you feeling it?
-I would say like a tightness in my chest.
-How strong is the tightness in your chest,
like ten's like the most,
zero's like I feel completely calm and at peace in my body.
-I would say probably like a six.
-Okay, so just breathe into that tight space in your chest
and even notice how much space it's taking up.
And just think of that dance class
and think of that pimple being on your forehead.
I know it's kind of funny now.
And take a deep breath into your chest, under the nose.
Good. And what we're doing is we're sending a little signal
to the nervous system like, hey, right here now we're okay.
So deep breath into that chest
and just picture that skin, forehead.
Just notice that feeling.
-Do you like really want me to like get back
into the stressful moment?
I do. I know. I'm the worst. -Okay.
-Under the arm.
Exposure therapy is based on the theory
that the more you expose someone to a trigger,
a trauma, the less emotional distress they'll have about it.
The issue is what we've found
is they're not getting more calm about the trigger.
They're getting better at numbing or dissociating.
So with EFT, we expose people to the trigger or trauma
by having them think about it,
but we do those really calming stress-reducing points
so that they're not dissociating.
They're actually leaning into it and getting more calm.
What are you seeing in that dance class that's like
if you had to dial up that feeling even more?
-I think probably like embarrassment
that like I still get acne as like an adult.
-So we're just going to voice that.
Just repeat it after me.
I feel embarrassment that I still get acne.
-I feel embarrassment that I still get acne.
-And even though I have this inner critic in my head.
-That says all they're thinking about
is this zit on my forehead.
-That says all they're thinking about
is the zit on my forehead.
-So we're just saying it, right?
We're just exposing ourselves to it until it's like silly.
-It's much harder to like voice it than I expected.
-Was it getting easier?
-Yeah, I would say so.
-The third thing that you have to integrate
is in cognitive behavioral therapy.
So we're choosing how we relate to the trigger.
So it really puts the client in an empowered role.
We're thinking about the trigger to get that exposure
and then we're pairing it with that empowered choice
to get that cognitive behavioral let's take power back from this.
I just have compassion for myself.
-I am just going to have compassion for myself.
-So I can just be present.
-Even though I have this remaining embarrassment
in my chest.
-Even though I have
this remaining embarrassment in my chest.
-What if I focus on something else?
-What if I focused on something else?
-Like what else? Let's just fill in the blank.
-What if I focused on making other people
feel like good about themselves.
I like the idea of like instead of focusing so much inwardly,
trying to focus outwardly more.
-It's that formula.
Even though I feel this about this, I choose or what if.
-Yeah. -So that's the formula.
You use it for any event past, present, or future. So good.
Thanks for being so vulnerable and exposing yourself.
-Thank you so much for this.
This was really helpful. I really liked this.
-Yeah, thank you so much. You're very brave to share.
-Yeah. Oh, thank you. I really enjoyed today.
I feel like Jackie has the most relaxing presence.
Like just her alone made me feel so good and so comfortable.
Leading up to filming this, I was trying very hard
to do everything in my power
to make sure I don't have acne for the shoot.
And then the entire thing winds up being about acne.
Like I almost wish I'd just sort of let it go
and like not worried about it.
But perhaps that was the point of today
was to get me to a place
where I don't have to worry about it in the future.
I think one of the things I really liked about EFT
is that I am a very fidgety sort of person
and so it felt good to have sort of like something physical
to focus on that felt more productive.
-I would say that tapping can work on different topics
for many people,
but when you would not want to use it at home
is if you have a big history of trauma.
You wouldn't want to work on those alone
without the support of a practitioner or counselor.
What EFT is is a tool to work on the emotions
surrounding some of the issues that you have,
but it doesn't treat or diagnose.
If you're looking to experience EFT on your own
and start putting it into your daily routine.
I have a whole resource portal
with dozens of tapping meditations on body image,
inner critic, inner child, people pleasing, boundaries.
You can check that out.
-I do think that EFT is something
that I would incorporate into my life.
I do feel like I accomplished today what I wanted to do,
which was kind of addressing
how I feel about my appearance from the inside out
and maybe kind of like a new technique that I can use.
Instead of feeling like I have to change myself
from the outside.
♪♪