Stress is one of the key ingredients in weight gain and retention. We have to pay attention to stress if we want to be healthy and weigh less.
What is stress? The simple, non-medical answer to that question is this: Stress is anything that bothers you! It is the opposite of peace. If you want peace and joy, you need to learn how to release stress. It is that simple – but we are not taught how to release stress in this culture. Tapping is the easiest way to release stress, because it works on both body and mind at the same time. You can go get a massage and you can do yoga, and both of those are great at releasing stress from the body. But if your mind is still roiling over some fear or anger at something that has happened, it will not take long for the body to tense up again.
Similarly, if you go to talk therapy, you can talk a lot of things out, but if you do not take care of the body-memory, talk therapy can go only so far before the body reasserts familiar patterns of tension. When you tap for things that are bothering you, that is, when you tap for stress, you automatically are working on both body and mind at the same time. When you get release, it releases both body and mind, which is why the results are both so phenomenal and long-lasting.
Further explanation:
Stress is a killer. Why? One of the things that the neuroscientists tell us is that the brain does not differentiate between an actual event that caused trauma, and the memory of that event. This is critical, because what it tells us is that the same cascade of chemicals that properly floods your body when there is a traumatic event does so again every time that you remember this event – which can be hundreds of times! The body is not equipped to handle this, and it literally starts breaking down because of the constant overflow of these chemicals. Releasing the trauma using tapping allows the brain to stop bombarding the body. Meditation can also do this for you, and some people combine tapping into their meditation practice.
You can lower stress even more by looking to the past to prepare for the future. How does this work? Supposing you have a meeting coming up with a difficult person. You have labeled them as “difficult” because of something that has already happened with them in the past. So look back at a previous interaction as though it were in a movie out in front of you, and, as dispassionately as possible, look at what happened. Of course, you are tapping while you look at this movie, and as necessary, “stop” the movie and tap for specific things that happen. Do this until you can watch the movie without any interior reaction. Now think about your upcoming meeting with this person. What do you expect to happen? Imagine now the movie of what will happen, and again, tapping while you look, see the new future movie with the two of you dealing kindly and gently with each other. Doing this kind of preparation makes a huge difference in the outcome, and it usually only takes a few minutes once you are used to tapping.
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