EFT and Health Coaching for Stress Management
Clinical EFT & Health Coaching
EFT and health coaching are two separate, yet effective approaches that drastically improve overall health. When both modalities are used in conjunction with each other, the client can assimilate new healthy habits with much more ease. EFT is a fantastic tool to accelerate the process of behavioral changes that are discovered through the health coaching process. Where health coaching draws a clear picture of optimal health and creates a plan to follow, EFT is the catalyst to get there. After all, it’s the emotional blockages and distress that keep us from moving forward and making necessary change in life.
Cherie V.
I’ve spent a couple of years processing and healing my traumas on my own, so when I heard about EFT, I was so interested in seeing what it could do for me! I’ve gone to therapy, and I’ve definitely learned better coping skills throughout my adult life. I know that healing isn’t ever linear, so processing the bigger traumas in my life seemed a bit more difficult, and honestly took me years to even want to acknowledge them. Initially, I had no idea how EFT worked, and the idea of opening up to a stranger about my deep rooted traumas made me uncomfortable (who wouldn’t be!). Vannessa made space for me and all my emotions, and made me feel so safe that sharing dark parts of my past was far from difficult or uncomfortable. She made me feel heard, and allowed me to really feel all the emotions that would come up during our sessions. No emotion would be unaddressed! Having done a couple of EFT sessions now, I have noticed that I don’t react the same way I normally do with my triggers. Certain thought processes don’t come up like they normally would. EFT has definitely helped me process things I never could on my own! And I am so thankful that I had Vannessa with me through this experience. I am grateful to have found another tool in helping me process my emotions and experiences through this lifetime.
What is EFT?
EFT or “Emotional Freedom Techniques” is a powerful self-help stress reduction technique developed based on research conveying that emotional trauma contributes significantly to disease. Through clinical trials, EFT tapping has been shown to rapidly reduce the emotional impact of memories and incidents that trigger emotional distress.
EFT uses elements of Cognitive Therapy and Exposure Therapy, and combines them with Acupressure. We self-tap on specific acupressure points with the fingertips which makes this easy to do on your own and with a practitioner online.
Utilize this tutorial video on the basics of EFT whenever you want to reduce and work through unpleasant emotions on your own. In this video, you will learn the basic acupressure points that send signals of safety and calmness to the emotional centers of the brain. By gently tapping on these acupressure points while experiencing and paying attention to your difficult emotions, you can shift out of an emotionally distressed state and transition naturally into a state of calmness and clarity. These techniques can be applied to any unpleasant emotion like anxiety, overwhelm, grief, anger, frustration, disappointment, guilt, despair, rejection, and fear to name a few. Try it out for yourself when you desire to feel a shift!
Julie Bernier
I got so much out of my sessions with Vannessa. She helped me work through some repetitive thoughts that I wasn’t able to overcome through any of the other methods I had tried. The tapping helped to neutralize the grip these thoughts had on my mind…it’s quite amazing! Vannessa is a wonderful practitioner: kind, non- judgemental, and very insightful. It’s intimate work, and she is definitely a trustworthy guide.
What is EFT used for?
Over 100 papers published in peer-reviewed medical and psychology journals, including dozens of clinical trials, have demonstrated that EFT is effective for many problems caused by trauma. Here are just a few:
Stress Reduction
Phobias
Anxiety
Depression
PTSD
Pain
How does EFT work?
EFT is better understood when you understand how trauma gets stored in the body. In a nutshell, when we experience a trauma it gets interpreted by our body and downloaded and stored in our limbic system (brain’s emotional center) like software being downloaded on a computer system. Every trauma is its own software program, and whenever we get triggered by something that reminds our body of the original trauma, our computer (limbic system) runs that software program and makes us experience the same distress we felt when the original trauma occurred. Sometimes we don’t even know what the original trauma is until we start tapping.
When EFT is performed, we use a phrase that reminds us of the traumatic event and we tap just long enough to access the traumatic software program and delete it.
It is important to know that some traumas are big, memorable, traumatic events that a leave a noticeable impact on our lives whereas smaller traumas that were significant at the time, may not be consciously thought about regularly or if at all. It can be surprising how some unconstructive criticism from a 3rd grade teacher can affect self esteem present day and no one would’ve connected the dots. The point is that either way, big or small, EFT is a great tool to address traumas that are running their programs and affecting our lives.
Will I forget my trauma after EFT?
When a trauma is completely collapsed through EFT, you will be able to recall the event; however, you won’t experience the emotional distress associated with it because it will simply be gone. It will seem more like a movie; almost like it happened to someone else.
How does EFT affect my health?
When we experience mental and emotional stress regularly, it affects our bodies in a multitude of negative ways. Tapping enables our body to go from experiencing a stressful state like fear, anxiety and anger to a calmed state of rational, creative, solution-minded thinking.
Once the distress in the body is reduced or removed, the body can often rebalance itself and accelerate healing. Clinical studies have proven a whole host of health benefits from EFT. In addition to reducing fear, anxiety, depression and phobias, tapping can lower cortisol levels (our stress response hormone), help the body assimilate more nutrients, positively change the expression of genes, reduce pain and cravings to name a handful.
With regular and consistent tapping, your emotional state changes. It then sends a positive domino affect to your physiological state, then your chemical state all the way down to your genes just by simply changing your emotional state. That’s how powerful this is! It is a testament to true emotional freedom.
Why should I work with a Clinical EFT Practitioner?
The benefit of working with a clinical EFT practitioner is that they guide you through the process, and can help identify root cause events that contribute to the emotional distress that you may not recognize yourself. When root cause event(s) are collapsed, similar events are very likely to collapse as well. It is also beneficial to the client to learn the basic techniques of self-tapping from a practitioner through several sessions so it can be performed whenever emotional distress occurs.
Health Coaching for Stress Management
What is a Health Coach?
Health coaches are change agents. We support and empower clients as they make positive diet and lifestyle changes in order to live life optimally and to take stress off the body both physically and mentally.
While many clients are direct referrals from other clients, I work collaboratively with Functional Medicine practitioners, acupuncturists, dietitians, and the like to help implement the dietary and lifestyle recommendations set up by the practitioner so you can incorporate and ingrain the healthy lifestyle habits into your life.
What is the purpose of health coaching?
The chronic disease epidemic is spreading wider and wider, and over 85% of chronic disease and illnesses are driven by our behavior and environment, not just our genes. In fact, our genes are only responsible for a very small percentage. This news is empowering because it means we all have the power to prevent or reverse chronic illness just by adopting healthier lifestyle habits. Though it sounds simple, it’s easier said than done. It involves change, drive, motivation, and implemented strategies to change old habit patterns and to make new ones stick. What it really takes is support, because new habits don’t happen over night, and that’s where a health coach comes in.
By collaborating with you and your health care team, we work to co-create the outline of optimal health for you as an individual (not as a statistic), and identify the lifestyle changes that need to be made. Then, we can address ways to implement new healthy habits. We apply your personal strengths, resources, and support systems, all while chipping away at old behavioral habits that no longer serve your life. This is how effective, long-lasting change is embraced and sustained.
What does a health coaching session entail?
Prior to the first session, each client is given an intake form that involves a thorough account of the different factors of good health and how they are reflected in their personal life. At the initial “Healthy Lifestyle Vision Session,” the client and I will assess the intake form and discuss the areas that the client wishes to improve in addition to any recommendations from their health care practitioner. The focus it to find out what a healthy lifestyle will look and feel like to the client. From there, follow up sessions will break up the big picture into measured goals. Next, we distill it down into bite sized doable action steps to put it all into place.
Each session is different because it addresses the current progress, life changes and setbacks that are occurring at the time of the session.