If you have been tapping for any time at all, you have become convinced of the value tapping brings to the table when talking about anxiety, depression, anger, and frustration. What you may not have experienced is the relief you can get with physical symptoms. In the past I’ve used tapping to manage the fear, pain, and helplessness associated with physical therapy.
As you will see in the video, tapping may not directly change the physical problem, but you can still get relief. In my case, tapping was useful in quieting the negative self-talk related to my injury. In addition, my my was reduced because my muscle tension was reduced. I strongly suspect that the tapping will enhance physiological healing as well.
What is the first thing you think of when you see a bee? Is it the potential for being stung? Or perhaps it is the important role they play in our ecology. There is much we can learn from the spirit, role, and behaviors of bees. Join me in a tapping meditation.
Someone told me recently that they have a hard time reading the tapping exercises and doing the tapping at the same time. I listened. Here is a tapping video of the fox tapping meditation I posted recently so that you can perhaps follow along more easily.
The fox is known as the magician and the keeper of magic. It is also said that the fox possesses the gifts of shapeshifting and invisibility. They often live at the edges of forests and in the border areas. There are 21 different species but we almost never see them in the wild. Even though we don’t see them, they may have a lot to teach us.
We are not
going to use a problem statement (MPI) or do the setup (karate chop), but
instead are going to hop right into the tapping meditation. Take a few deep
breaths and let them out slowly.
Eyebrow…Fox
Side of Eye…Concealment
Under the Eye…Fox
Under the Nose…Camouflage
Chin…Fox
Collarbone…Knowledge
Under the Arm…Fox
Top of Head…Silent
Eyebrow…Fox
Side of Eye…Keen senses
Under the Eye…Fox
Under the Nose…Recognizing opportunity
Chin…Fox
Collarbone…Trusting instincts
Under the Arm…Fox
Top of Head…Finding and accepting blessings
Eyebrow…Fox
Side of Eye…Sexuality
Under the Eye…Fox
Under the Nose…Cunning
Chin…Fox
Collarbone…Protector of family unity
Under the Arm…Fox
Top of Head…Adaptation
Eyebrow…Fox
Side of Eye…Swift thought and action
Under the Eye…Fox
Under the Nose…Decisive
Chin…Fox
Collarbone…What message do you have for me?
Under the Arm…Fox
Top of Head…Open to the wisdom of the fox
Eyebrow…I like the idea of being silent
Side of Eye…Becoming like the wind
Under the Eye…And being undetected in my observation of others and situations
Under the Nose…The downside is that I can feel I am not worth noticing
Chin…Sometimes I think I am too visible
Collarbone…Striving for recognition
Under the Arm…Experiencing jealousy or envy
Top of Head…Or putting myself in a position to be attacked
Eyebrow…The fox has the ability to shapeshift
Side of Eye…And choose when to be visible
Under the Eye…And when to be invisible
Under the Nose…It also can move silently
Chin…And not reveal its intentions to anyone
Collarbone…I need to learn more of this
Under the Arm…And I call upon the wisdom of the fox to teach me
Top of Head…I would like to be more mindful of how I interact in the world
Eyebrow…And learn to control my aura
Side of Eye…To be more harmonious with my environment
Under the Eye…And the people around me
Under the Nose…This totem teaches us
Chin…That we don’t have to reveal everything we know
Collarbone…This is another skill that I seem not to have developed
Under the Arm…I used to feel bad
Top of Head…When I wasn’t noticed
Eyebrow…But maybe that is just my inherent and unrecognized fox energy
Side of Eye…Working its magic
Under the Eye…Once recognized, I could learn to control it
Under the Nose…And enjoy being silent and invisible
Chin…When it suits me
Collarbone…And becoming visible when I think it is important
Under the Arm…Claiming the energy of the fox
Top of Head…Exercising my fox-ness.
Take a deep breath and let it out gently. If certain thoughts or feelings came up, be sure to write them down, or continue tapping with them now. As noted above, the fox tends to be invisible so I haven’t had very many personal experiences with them. I find them intriguing and am excited to seek out more opportunities to learn from them.
A couple of situations and tendencies did pop into my awareness and will need further tapping. I became aware of my tendency to call people out on things, just to let them known that I know what they are up to. This has not always worked to my advantage. To divulge the knowledge just so they don’t think I’m naive or gullible is not very fox-like. I also became aware of how my previous tendency to stay in the background is at odds with my desire to be known as an author. Obviously, to sell books and make a living I will need to be more in the spotlight. Some tapping about how that could be congruent with fox energy will be quite interesting I think.
You can find a video of tapping with this animal here.
I do believe that it is important to choose your thoughts wisely. And yes, you can choose. Today while swimming I had the opportunity to practice choosing my thoughts. I wish I could have tapped at the time, but swimming and tapping at the same time exceeds my coordination skills. I went to the gym today, expecting it to be empty since it was July 4th. It was quite surprising to see that it was packed, but then relieved that the pool wasn’t.
I swam in one lane for a while. When the person in the lane next to me left, I moved over to the middle lane (my favorite). I was on lap 22 when I saw another woman swimming in MY LANE. I’m used to sharing, but I don’t really enjoy it. Usually swimmers at least let you know that they are joining your lane. It seems like a safety and courtesy thing to me. I didn’t know she was there until we almost crashed.
That started a cascade of negative thinking. Why did she have to pick my lane when there was room to join a different lane? She is rude. It got really personal like she did it just to make me miserable. Then, I remembered something my friend Zach said to me once. He told me that not everything was about me. Remembering that comment caused me to re-evaluate how I was thinking about this situation.
I started with a statement of gratitude (in my head because I still had my face in the water swimming) that I had been given the opportunity to swim 22 laps without needing to share my lane. Then I chose another statement of gratitude that I am able to swim 22 laps and general gratitude for my health. Another gratitude statement about being able to afford to go to a gym that has a pool where I can swim popped in too.
As soon as I started feeling good about myself that I was able to turn my thoughts around, those other negative thoughts popped back in. This pattern continued for all 33 laps. When I was purposely engaged in the positive thoughts I enjoyed my swim but when I allowed the negative thoughts to linger I did not. While I wish that the negative thoughts didn’t even occur, I am pretty excited to have had the experience of feeling good when I choose my thoughts wisely. Just imagine how effective it would have been if I was also tapping while choosing my thoughts. Mind Blowing!
There seems to be a prevalent belief that life is hard and that we should just accept it. I’m not sure where that belief actually comes from, but that prior programming is likely to get in the way of having the life I desire. As with all prior programming, tapping can eliminate or decrease its impact on my life.
Say this problem statement, “Life is hard.” Rate the intensity you feel on the 0-10 scale.
Setup (karate-chop point) – Even though life is hard, I deeply and completely love and accept myself. Even though life is hard, and anything that seems easy is therefore suspicious to me, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, including my old ways of doing things – those old, really hard ways. Even though life is hard, I am open to the small possibility that not all things have to be hard.
Eyebrow…Life is hard
Side of Eye…It is supposed to be hard
Under the Eye…If it isn’t hard, I’m probably not working at it enough
Under the Nose…If it doesn’t feel hard, I’m probably slacking
Chin…Everyone knows that hard is better than easy
Collarbone…That good old Puritan work ethic. Its got to be hard
Under the Arm…Life is hard
Side of Eye…The harder the better
Under the Eye…Maybe I can make it even harder so that I can feel good about how hard it is
Under the Nose… Maybe I could make it so hard that no one could succeed
Chin…Now I’m just being silly
Collarbone…At least part of me knows that it doesn’t really have to be hard to be good
Under the Arm…I’m trying to remain open to clarity about this
Top of Head…I’m trying to remain open to the possibility that easy can be good too.
Take a deep breath and let it out. Check the intensity of your original problem statement, “Life is hard.” Write down your new rating then continue tapping with these, or similar reminder phrases until your intensity around the problem statement is significantly reduced.
