Tapping into a Delicious Life in No Time Flat

Can’t remember when or how I first heard about EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) Tapping. It was about 5 years ago when I was in massive download mode and a sponge to all things related to living a more delicious life.

I went on to become a certified health coach with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition ( Want to Become a Certified Health Coach? ) and a licensed independent educator with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. I love teaching others the why and how of incorporating more healthy whole plant foods into their diet. It’s even more powerful when helping someone fully transition to a healthy whole food vegan diet. But often, a level of sweeping change comes from an emergency or struggle, like a heart attack, type 2 diabetes diagnosis or severe complications arising from a chronic disease. Whether the decision to make a lifestyle pivot comes from a place of urgency or not, it’s our mind and emotional body that will determine the level of lasting change.

Enter EFT Tapping. First, I must quickly gush about my recent week at the Omega Institute in upstate New York. I was there for professional training, being taught by one of the foremost EFT experts alive on the planet today, Dawson Church. Want to keep this blog shorter and sweeter for you, but Omega is worthy of its own post. AMAZING setting, quaint cabins, scenery, people and programs. The bonanza of locally grown plant-based meal options made my taste buds and body swoon. Worth Googling, if that sort of thing interests you. Back to Tapping.

What does EFT Tapping do? As you are tapping on meridian end points, areas of the body where acupressure/ acupuncture points converge, the tapping protocol calms the amygdala, a set of almond shaped “organs” in your brain that regulate emotions, especially fight or flight responses. In modern life, many of us live in some state of fight or flight most of the time. Traffic, deadlines, bills and bosses stress us out and flood our blood stream with cortisol, the fight or flight hormone. As you tap, you are also addressing different aspects of the issues that are presenting, breaking through emotional blocks and barriers. In a nutshell, tapping combines ancient acupressure with modern psychology to calm the nervous system, which opens up the potential to rewrite your story (and history) from a different point of view. It has been scientifically proven to be highly effective in transmuting cravings, trauma, PTSD, anxiety, depression, pain and more. Continue reading “Tapping into a Delicious Life in No Time Flat”

The Astonishing Effects of Food on Your Mood

Nearing the end of a weeklong workshop at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York, I’m in a really good mood. As I write, I’m watching fellow visitors enjoy the beautiful wooded setting and magical energy of this place. People here break into spontaneous laughter, song, music and dance. The energy at Omega is palpable, and its Energy Work, specifically EFT Tapping, that brought me here.

Food has the power to heal many things. It’s my go to medicine and first line of defense against anxiety and chronic disease. But, how do we maintain a healthy lifestyle long term? What is the best way to manage stress and daily triggers? Core beliefs about ourselves, the universe and how we fit into the world shape our life experience and our choices. And if we are seeking positive change in our health and want long lasting transformative shifts to occur, we need to uncover limiting beliefs and emotions that lay locked in our mind and even in our bodies. Often, it needn’t be a long or difficult process. That is what energy work can help us to do; dissipate stress and habits that don’t serve us. EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) has been well documented, studied and has been proven to be extremely effective. More on that next week.

What I want to talk about this week is how food effects your mood. When I stopped eating meat cold turkey on January 1st, 2012, I had no idea that I was on a journey to a more peaceful and delicious life. If you read my blog on Rewriting Your Story, you know that I narrowly survived a suicide attempt in 1981. What I didn’t know back then is that I was overfed and under nourished. My body was overloaded with sugar, processed foods and chemicals that triggered mood swings and depression. My body was also starving for healing foods and mood regulators found in whole plant foods. Continue reading “The Astonishing Effects of Food on Your Mood”