By now the world has seen not only how resilient Americans are but how bad ass tough people from the great city of Boston are and how much people who love the city care about those in it.  People who had run just over 26 miles for a marathon ran 2 more miles to go to a hospital to give blood!  People jumped right into the fray of the chaos to help those hurt with life threatening injuries, helping to save the lives of strangers.  And while it might not be seen like an act of courage and strength, the fact that people knew to get the hell out of the area and not linger certainly helped make it easier to save lives and preserve the crime scene.  You rock, Boston!  That’s why you’re my second home and my heart breaks for you right now.

Over the last few months I’ve been actively staying away from the news other than a quick CNN.com check in on my iPad in the morning when I get up and having news alerts set up on my phone.  When my husband was working from home last year he put CNN on the living room TV and left it on all day, every day.  It was horrible and I usually had to lock myself away in my office with headphones on to avoid the repeat of the bad news of the day.  Over the last few days since the Boston Marathon bombing I haven’t been able to pull myself away from the news.  I’m constantly compelled to check it while I’m online, I watch it from my iPad and iPhone, and I have it on the TV when I’m in the living room.

The news has been nuts and it feels like it’s going to keep spinning out of control of at least the rest of the week.  The feeling of distraction and sadness that I have has finally been pinpointed to the connection I have to my beloved Boston and the heaviness that I feel for a place I love being tainted by this tragedy.

Then I see the stories of the people who lived, and those who didn’t, and the pain everyone is feeling in the aftermath.  As an intuitive and a healing practitioner I ask myself right away “How can I help with the healing from afar?”  The answer?  EFT/Tapping.  It’s something all of us can use for this situation to help ourselves with our own feelings after the event as well as help those that have been even more directly affected.

I used to have a lot of problems with doing EFT but in the last year I’ve worked with it more and more and have come to a point where I find it to be a really helpful and powerful healing tool, especially when using it for others and doing surrogate or proxy tapping.

If you aren’t familiar with what EFT is, it stands for Emotional Freedom Technique.  It’s the simple process of gentle tapping on acupressure points on the body to release blocked energy and to help move the energy flow along the meridians so we can release what is no longer needed and begin the healing process.  It’s simple, just takes a few minutes to do, and doesn’t require any special training.

I’m not going to go deep into the explanation of tapping here and instead just give you the simple basics so you can use it right now.  I’m going to show you the tapping points, give a simple step by step way to tap, and then share with you a “tapping script” that I have put together specifically for the Boston Marathon bombing event.

The Tapping Points

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There are a total of 9 places that we tap on the body.  In order they are:

1. Side of the hand/Karate chop point
2. Start of the eyebrow at the nose bone
3. Side of the eye/outer corner
4. Under the eye
5. Under the nose in the divot above the upper lip
6. The chin in the divot under the lower lip
7. The inner points of the collar bone
8. 3-4 inches under your arm pit
9. Top of the head

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A round of tapping, once the set up is done on the side of the hand, begins at the eyebrows and ends with the top of the head.  Each point is tapped continuously as you make the statements for that point using two or three finger tips {I use my first three fingers}.  Some people like to tap just one of each point {tapping on one eyebrow rather than both} but I personally prefer tapping both points on the face and the collarbone.  When it comes to tapping under the arm, which is about a palm width from your arm pit, I tend to just tap on one side {usually my left side since I’m right handed}.

One round of tapping is going from eyebrow to the top of the head. Typically you would do three complete rounds, assess how you feel, and then do more if needed.  This isn’t an exact science and following your intuition is always best.

What To Do, What To Say

In the process of tapping we do two things, state and identify the problem and then reframe the problem into something more affirming so we can release it.  Since we’re going to be talking about tapping to help others, there are a few other things to be aware of.  You need to first do a round of tapping for yourself to let go of any of your own worries, fears, and anxieties before you try tapping to help someone else.  When you don’t deal with your own issues first you’ll ultimately add that negative energy into what should be positive, healing energy.  Much like how on a plane you’re told to put on your oxygen mask first before helping someone else, you have to take care of you first with proxy tapping and then help the other person{s}.

To start the tapping session take a moment to take a few deep breaths and assess how you feel.  What level, on a scale of 0 to 10, is your fear, anxiety, pain, etc?  This isn’t scientific, just a gut reaction and assessment of where you are before doing the tapping.

When you’re ready you can start with the actual tapping process.  We do this by tapping on the fleshy side of one of your hands, known as the karate chop point.  Here we’re going to do what’s called the “Set Up Statement”, where we are talking to our subconscious or Higher Self, acknowledging exactly how we feel and what’s wrong while making ourselves feel safe to do the tapping and healing.

Begin continuously tapping on this point while saying the following statement 3 times:

“Even though {describe what’s wrong} I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”

This can be things like:

Even though I’m stressed…
Even though I feel angry…
Even though I’m so scared…
Even though I’m in horrible pain…
Even though I have this deep need to drink…

Then it’s time to move on to tapping the other points.  As you do this you can either pick just one thing to tap on {which is what most people recommend}  or you can just freely state whatever comes up.  So if you do a setup statement of “Even though I’m in horrible pain, I deeply and completely love and accept myself,” you could use the phrase “This horrible pain” as you tap all the other points.  However you might have other things come up that just need to be said like “This horrible pain that has me so sore,” “This pain in my knee”, “This awful soreness”, “I can’t even move”, “I can’t handle the pain”.

You can either tap on just one statement all around or let it flow more freely.  I often work with a more free flowing form but I think if you’re just getting started with tapping, since it’s going to be weird enough for you to be doing, just do the things “This horrible pain” type statement.

You would tap like this:

Eyebrow: This horrible pain.
Side of the Eye: This horrible pain.
Under the Eye: This horrible pain.
Under the Nose: This horrible pain.
Chin: This horrible pain.
Collarbone: This horrible pain.
Under the Arm: This horrible pain.
Top of the Head: This horrible pain.

That completes one round of tapping.  You want to then begin back at the eyebrow and do this two more times for a complete set of three rounds of tapping.

When done take a deep breath and check in to see how you’re feeling now on a 0-10 scale.  You should feel some relief.  If it isn’t what you’re hoping for you can do it again.  But remember, this takes time and it isn’t a magic pill answer.  Be consistant and do it a few times a day to really help.

Now the next step is replacing the pain with something affirmative and healing.  So we start at the karate chop point again with a new set up statement.  Using pain as the example again, we would say something like:

“Even though I’m still in pain and feeling sore, my pain lessens every day and my movement is always increasing.” 

Then we move through the points like before, doing three rounds of tapping, but this time tapping in an affirmative way focused on things we want to manifest in our life, with things like

Eyebrow: I feel less sore.
Side of the Eye: My movement is getting better.
Under the Eye: My knee is moving more freely.
Under the Nose: I can more more easily.
Chin: I feel free again.
Collarbone:  I am free to go anywhere.
Under the Arm: I choose to be pain free.
Top of the Head: I am getting better every day, one day at a time, and I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

Do this three times just like you do with the releasing round of tapping.  Then stop, take another deep breath, and check in.  How are you feeling now?  This is usually when most people really feel one way or the other.  Either they feel amazing or they are completely confused about what just happened.

Remember, with all affirmations we want positive, in the present language even if what we’re saying isn’t true for us yet.  For example you might not have full range of motion in your knee, but that’s your goal.  You don’t want to use language like “I want”, “I desire” or “I wish” because you’re only affirming the wish for these things not the actual state of healing.  So know that you are healed and speak in that way.

Healing for Boston

Here’s how we can use this for helping those affect by the Boston Marathon bombing.  Begin by doing a round of tapping for yourself, both the releasing and affirming rounds, addressing your own feelings about the event.  Be sure to check your anxiety level before tapping and then make sure it has gone down before tapping for others.

When you do surrogate tapping you change your set up statements slightly.  Here we use something like:

“Even though {the person or people} {state the problem} I deeply and completely love and accept {the person or people}.”

For the Boston Marathon healing we can use something like:

“Even though all these people affected by the Boston Marathon bombing are in horrific physical and emotional pain I deeply and completely love and accept all those affected.”

Then tap through the points addressing the negative aspects of what’s happened.  You can tap with the statement “horrific physical and emotional pain” or free tap with things like:

Eyebrow: All the horrible trauma
Side of the Eye: Feeling completely scared and defenseless
Under the Eye:  Full of sadness and anger
Under the Nose: All the physical pain and injury
Chin: So overwhelmed with pain and sadness
Collarbone: Full of worry
Under the Arm: Confused about why this happened
Top of the Head: Worried and scared for the future

Do three rounds of tapping on these things.  Take a deep breath and come back to the karate chop point and being to tapping an affirming set up statement like:

“Even though all these people affected by the Boston Marathon bombing are still in physical and emotional pain we are all coming together to heal and release our pain and feel whole again.”

Then tap affirming statements like:

Eyebrow: Everyone is healing physically
Side of the Eye:  Everyone is letting go of their sadness
Under the Eye:  Everyone begins to feel a sense of calm
Under the Nose:  Everyone affected finds healing release
Chin:  Everyone begins to move forward
Collarbone:  Everyone with injuries feels whole again
Under the Arm:  Everyone turns their anger into forgiveness
Top of the Head: Every single person, no matter where they are in the world who feels the pain from this event, finds healing and everyone comes together to move forward, releasing all their pain and finding wholeness.

Do this round three times as well and then take a deep breath.  Assess how you’re feeling knowing that you can’t feel what anyone else is feeling here but your intuition can tell you based on your physical and energetic reaction how helpful it has been.  Again, this isn’t an instant cure-all so do this as you feel called to for both yourself and those you’re tapping for.

A tip:  Some people when tapping for someone else find it helpful to have a photo of the person there.  You might find doing this tapping while watching news about the bombing or looking at photos in news articles online helpful to really create an emotional connection between you and those you’re tapping for.

May we all find healing together.