Implementing UEFT for Stress Relief

Universal Emotional Freedom Technique (UEFT) and Stress Relief

Managing stress is not a linear process. Treating the physical symptoms of stress is just a band-aid, so for long term results, getting to the root cause of whats causing the stress, and removing or balancing onself to that will provide longer lasting results for stress relief.

There are different types of stress and each type of stress has its own characteristics, symptoms, duration and treatment approaches to find stress relief. One of the difficulties in finding stress relief is that everyone experiences stress and stress relief differently.

Endocrinologist Hans Selye coined the term ‘eustress’, which means ‘good stress’ where ‘eu’ (the prefix part of the word) means ‘good’ or ‘well’ originating from the Greek language. ‘Eustress’ may help you stay alert, focused and energetic and stress relief is not associated with this stress and what one individual may experience as eustress could be experienced by another individual as stress, which they would need stress relief for.

If we perceive stress, real or perceived, in our environment then we will by default (due to our hardwired neurology and physiology) experience a physical response that is the effects we feel when our “fight-or-flight” response has been activated. The fight-or-flight response is an autonomic nervous system reaction hard wired into us all, which heightens our body's self-defense processes to protect us from danger so we can live another day. We go into protection mode. This automatic system is essential to save our life when faced with an emergency, life-death situation. A problem will arise physically when this system is activated and does not ‘turn off’ and continues to be activated because of imagined threats. The parasympathic nervous system does not kick in once the threat is over. That is, we perceive life to be ‘stressful’ (a threat) but in reality, there is no immediate danger to our life, nor is the ‘stress’ life threatening. What I am discussing above is an example of the exact opposite of eustress, that is, ‘distress’.

Feelings of ‘distress’ arise when we perceive events or things as being stressful and overwhelming; this stress is no longer seen as a ‘good stress’! ‘Distress’ literally means you are in trouble, either mentally and or physically. Uncontrolled or prolonged ‘distress’ will affect your:

• Mood,
• Physical health,
• Relationships,
• Friendships,
• Productivity and,
• Essentially your quality of life.

HPA-Axis and Stress Relief

When ‘distress’ is prolonged or is perceived to be severe, it has the potential to overwhelm a person’s coping mechanisms to life, including negatively impacting on the function of the immune system via the impact on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. In situations of prolonged or severe distress the need for stress relief intervention is a priority.

Immune system and Stress Relief

According to Reiche, Nunes and Morimoto (2004)¹ it is widely recognized that ‘distress’, in either its acute or chronic forms, will down regulate the immune system via the activation of the HPA axis and if left unchecked may contribute to cancer development and progression. This was certainly the case for Julie Richardson who was diagnosed with invasive carcinoma (breast cancer) on the 2nd of February 2015. During her cancer recovery Julie used the whole pro·m·emo elixir set, which in Julie’s own words from her Facebook page “allowed me to keep the fear and anxiety in check”.

Understanding that prolonged or severe ‘distress’ has the potential to negatively impact our immune system and leave us vulnerable to a host of dis-ease causing states should be enough of a stress for people to begin implementing some form of stress relief management program in their life. The ‘elephant in the room’ here is that many people do not realize they are suffering ‘stress’ let alone ‘distress’ and often even when someone does realize they are suffering either stress or distress, they do not want to admit it for fear of being perceived as weak. In this case that person could take the pro·m·emo elixir ‘LOVE’ for processing fear, so that they could begin prioritizing their health and not suffering for the sake of appearances.

Mental health and Stress Relief

The Mental Health Association of New South Wales, Australia², confirms that many people ignore or simply do not realize they are stressed or distressed by stating in their literature that “rather than acknowledging the signs of ‘distress’, people may ignore them and instead push themselves harder whilst acting as if everything is under control”. As children in Australia (and most Western) societies, we are taught not to freely express our emotions for many reasons, for example, fear of embarrassment, being ridiculed or being seen to be weak or not being manly enough, or not being womanly enough as illustrated in the song ‘Big Girls Don't Cry’ written by Tobias Gad and Stacy Ferguson. Instead we are taught to block, avoid, and / or hide our emotions which results in stress and distress and can also lead to the dreaded ‘emotional outburst’ where a person usually ‘snaps’ and has an outpouring of emotions, which is usually done mindlessly and often destructively where they blame ‘others’ or ‘things’ for making them feel a certain way. I explain this scenario in more detail in my book The Eternal Worrier’s/Warrior’s Smile (TEWS) where I refer to it as the person being stuck in their blame vehicle! The issue with both these situations (blocking, avoiding, and / or hiding emotions or having an ‘emotional outburst’) is that our emotions are not effectively being processed and we get ‘stuck’ in the emotion (or in the blame vehicle). The being ‘stuck’ in an emotion is the problem, which if not dealt with (processed) immediately may lead to overwhelm and feelings of being ‘distressed’, hence the need for stress relief such as when using the Universal Emotional Freedom Technique to release unprocessed emotional stress.

TCM and Stress Relief

From a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) perspective, stress, such as getting stuck in an emotion, impacts on the Liver organ-meridian system (referred to TCM as Liver Qi stagnation). This means that the free flow of energy, which is under the control of the Liver organ-meridian system, around our body is decreased and may result in the following signs and symptoms:

• Hypochondriac (the sides of the body) pain or discomfort anywhere along
• Hopelessness
• Depression
• Anger and irritability
• Frequent sighing
• Hiccups
• Frustration
• Plum stone throat
• Problems with swallowing
• Bitter taste in mouth
• Constipation
• Decreased appetite
• Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
• Swollen or painful breasts
• Irregular or painful periods for women

If you are experiencing any of the signs and symptoms from the list above then the Universal Emotional Freedom Technique natural therapy course could help you. You would focus on the emotion of Anger as this is the meridian that is compromised due to unprocessed Anger. As I advocate that 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure', whenever I feel stressed or angry I do a round of UEFT as my natural stress relief. My family also benefits from this approach because I am emotionally stable and they too can use UEFT as it is such a simple technique and routine to learn, it’s child friendly too as their stress relief.

Having a secret weapon for stress relief that is easy and efficient to implement, such as the UEFT technique, is crucial in our Western society due to the continual denial of- and exposure- to stress and ‘distress’, which only serves to reduce one’s ability to functioning effectively in all aspects of life. Recognizing ‘distress’ before it gets out of control (for example quickly and discretely doing a round of UEFT as your stress relief when you are feeling angry) and escalates into something worse is therefore an important step in the process of managing ‘distress’ and being able to implement your stress relief program. Learning to recognize the signs and symptoms of stress overload (‘distress’) and implement our stress relief strategies not only protects our immune system and our health, it allows us to be open to the possibility of experiencing ‘eustress’ which can inspire us to reach our life’s fullest potential.

Indeed, as a doctor of Chinese medicine, I have assisted many clients who have presented to me with their major complaint, being ‘stressed’. Not only did I have to create a stress relief treatment plan to support what is referred to in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as internal organ disharmonies, which were expressed in physical and mental signs and symptoms, I needed to establish a stress relief management plan for my clients to implement otherwise they would have to keep returning to me for treatment. As I stated above 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure' and indeed my ethos is that ‘prevention is better than cure’, and being able to honour my ethos was to assist my clients become self-sufficient at managing their own emotional health to process distress with their own stress relief plan, namely by using the UEFT emotional healing tool.

The technique has been specifically advanced upon EFT therapies to process emotions of any event or situation, at any time, in any circumstances.

In the UEFT workbook which comes with your course, I discuss in more detail the science and research behind why we should not tap on specific points in which EFT does. It is important to understand how I encouraged my clients to implement their stress relief management program supported predominately by UEFT, the pro·m·emo essences set and my signature healing system, FlameTree: the personal development & healing system and how they use these tools for natural stress relief, which I have described below.

Another tool for Stress Relief is the Process My Emotions essences (pro·m·emo)

How to use pro·m·emo essences for stress relief:

• Firstly identify the emotion you are feeling associated with feeling distressed, for example, I feel distressed and angry.
• Secondly rate the intensity of your feeling as either mild or severe, for example I am severely distressed and angry.
• Thirdly, select the appropriate pro·m·emo elixir(s) based on the emotion you identified with feeling distressed, such as anger, or fear, worry and so on, and take the recommended dosage. If you are suffering a mild emotional disturbance then place 3 drops under your tongue. If you are experiencing a severe emotional disturbance then place 5 drops under your tongue. Repeat this process a minimum of four times a day, for example for stress relief.

By completing the above three step process and using the pro·m·emo essences you are well on your way to stress relief. Each pro·m·emo essence is a synergistic blend of specifically selected Chinese herbal medicine, Western herbal medicine (Naturopathy), Bach flower essences, homeopathic medicine and bio-energy medicine, which was inspired by my science degree honours project at Melbourne university where I scientifically validated the concept of synergism between herbal medicine. A potential outcome of using pro·m·emo to process your emotions is that you do not get stuck in the emotion, and as such, you regain your power of choice, peace, calmness and inspiration to deal with life events and avoid ‘distress’ and that is a well-balanced stress relief plan.

Start your UEFT course here or purchase a set of the pro·m·emo essences here.

Reference

¹Reiche EM1, Nunes SO, Morimoto HK. ‘Stress, depression, the immune system, and cancer’. The Lancet. Oncology [Lancet Oncol] 2004 Oct; Vol. 5 (10), pp. 617-25

² Mental Health Association NSW, Recognising and Managing Stress - A fact sheet produced by the Mental Health Information Service, Mental Health Association NSW Inc, Level 5, 80 William Street East Sydney NSW 2011