When Work Feels Like Hard Work

In this article, Yolanda Saez Castello, of Tap It Better introduces the powerful practice of Emotional Freedom Technique Tapping as a tool to reduce stress and regain clarity.

In a previous article for Channel Eye I discussed how much your own state of mind can help or hinder you, and how you can experience the same situation in a number of different ways depending on how your mind deals with it in the moment.

In this article, I am going to show you how you can use the powerful and proven tool of Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Tapping to decrease negative feelings and induce calm and clarity to get through the challenges of a stressful workday.

EFT Tapping (which is based on acupuncture) involves tapping on certain points, on your face and torso. This sends calming signals to the amygdala, the brain’s stress centre. In rigorous studies carried out using functional MRI brain scanning, the amygdala has been shown to display reduced blood flow during tapping (translating as less activity and therefore less stress).

Tapping has also been shown to reduce cortisol, a key stress hormone, by up to 43% in just one session, as well as bringing about powerful decreases in stress, anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, depression, food cravings and even physical pain.

With around two hundred scientific studies now published showing large to very large effect sizes of this intervention, it is little wonder that EFT Tapping already appears in the UK National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines for treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

EFT tapping is self-administered and can work fast. Here’s how you do it:

1. Start by identifying your predominant negative feeling (e.g. being stressed about a deadline) and rating the intensity from 0 to 10.
2. Tap on the outside of one hand with two fingers of the other hand while you think up your set-up statement and then, whilst continuing to tap, say it out loud (or in your head), ideally three times, e.g. “Even though I feel so stressed out right now, I accept myself and how I feel.” (See below for more examples of possible set-up statements). Alternate your hands if you like.
3. Then think up a summary sentence (taking the above example, “this stress”), and repeat it either in your head or out loud, as you continue to tap – with two fingers is easiest – on the rest of the points as per the attached diagram: top of the head, (“this stress”), eyebrow point, (“this stress”), side of the eye, (“this stress”), under the eye, (“this stress”), under the nose, (“this stress”), collarbone, (“this stress”), under the arms, (“this stress”). This is called “a round of tapping”.
4. Once you have done at least two rounds of tapping, rate the intensity of your feeling again. If it hasn’t dropped low enough to enable you to continue with your day or the task in hand, repeat the tapping procedure. Only stop when you are feeling sufficiently relaxed to be able to cope again.

Here are some examples of specific set-up statements and summary sentences for the most common issues I have seen with my clients over the last ten years. I experienced many of these myself during my banking career.

• Too much to do: “Even though I feel overwhelmed, I accept myself and how I feel.” And then: “This overwhelm.”
• Tricky colleague: “Even though this colleague really seems to trigger me, I accept myself and how I feel.” Then: “This cross feeling.”
• Feeling insecure about a new job or role: “Even though I feel insecure and nervous about my new job, I accept myself and how I feel.” Then: “This insecure feeling.”
• An issue at home which is affecting your work: “Even though this personal issue is affecting me at work, I accept myself and how I feel.” “This [insert feeling].”
• Target/deadline pressures: “Even though I feel all this pressure, I accept myself and how I feel.” “This pressure.”
• Festive preparation worries: “Even though I have so much to do before the holidays, I accept myself and how I feel”. “This long to-do list”.

You may need to persevere for several rounds of tapping until your feeling begins to subside; however, do not be surprised if you feel calmer quite fast, as this is relatively common. This is because the physical process of tapping, combined with the associative mental focus, has a swift physiological effect. In lowering your cortisol and reducing amygdala activation, it allows your frontal lobe to facilitate clearer thinking, leading to calmer and more effective decision making.

Don’t underestimate your ability to help yourself to manage your situation and your own negative or disruptive emotions. You have more power than you might think to define how you experience or deal with the sorts of situations that the workplace – and your life – will throw at you.

It is tempting to think that the workplace ‘happens to you’ or ‘presents you with situations’ which then require you to deal with them as objective and external issues. Instead, it is better to think of workplace interactions as a mix of external situations and your internal or subjective reaction to those situations. By taking control of this latter aspect, your ability to deal effectively and proportionately with the challenges of the workplace will be reframed for the better and allow for a more manageable, effective, and positive workplace experience.