October 1, 2018

By Catherine Nyika, M.Ed, Accredited Social Worker, Counsellor, Coach and Certified EFT Practitioner

I’m cringing as I think back to the days when my friends and I used to take caffeine pills we’d got hold of from the petrol station in order to stay awake all night and ‘cram’ in any last minute study before exams. Goodness only knows what those pills use to do to my strung out adolescent body and mind. I wonder now if all the stress and pressure was even worth it? I know I could have done better if I’d pushed myself harder and yet I remember vividly, my mental wellbeing took a battering over that time.

Now, more than ever before, our young people struggle with increased levels of stress and pressure. With HSC looming around the corner, this stress and pressure can easily build up and become too overwhelming for many adolescents. This is the time of year we need to keep a close eye on our children sitting senior exams. Whilst we want them to do well and achieve to their highest potential –we also know that mental health statistics for our youth in this country are not looking positive and the reality is that extra pressure can lead to young people feeling on edge. According to the 2017 Mission Australia Mental Health Youth Survey, the top issues of concern facing our teens are 1) coping with stress, 2) school or study problems and 3) body image.

The constant pressure on our teenagers to deliver top HSC exam results in this country is neglecting their harder-to-measure qualities and character such as self-reliance, emotional balance and determination. We often read in parenting education forums about how we need to teach our kids to have ‘grit’ and become more resilient. But does ‘grit’ go hand-in-hand with unhealthy behaviours such as staying up all night or staying hidden in the bedroom eating poor quality food for weeks on end in the quest for achievement?

This leads me to the following questions; how is HSC preparation readiness impacting on you and your child in the lead up to exams and what are YOU doing to ensure your child’s emotional and mental wellbeing stays intact over the next month? Do you find yourself feeling on edge and constantly nagging at you’re child to stay focussed only to find them retreating further and further from you? Do you wonder how much work they are actually getting done but mindfully set out to not stress them out more than they already are? Do your own personal needs for success and achievement get in the road of hearing your child’s academic goals? How confident are you that your child is coping OK emotionally and mentally right now?

Recent Australian research conducted by Bond University Clinical Psychologist Dr. Peta Stapleton has shown that EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) significantly reduces fear of failure in adolescent students and also improves their self-perceived difficulties. Many other studies in the USA have examined the effects of EFT on test-taking anxiety and depression in students (Church, De Asis, Brooks, 2012).

EFT is an easy to master and use stress management tool, that achieves immediate results and young people really enjoy it, as it’s a self-empowering tool that ultimately allows them to feel better about themselves. The Inner Shine Clinic works with teenagers as well as adults to realise their goals, and to highlight and eliminate the barriers that get in the way of their desired performance results. We use EFT (emotional freedom techniques) which a combination of ancient acupressure and modern psychology, also known as ‘Tapping’.

Game Changing Outcomes for HSC Students:

When your child comes for an individual coaching session for HSC wellbeing and success session at The Inner Shine Clinic, it will:

• Help your child to have better focus and concentration and therefore less stress and anxiety
• Eliminate anxiety/nerves heading into exams therefore increasing performance
• Help your child to feel calm and respond to difficult emotions in a self-empowered way
• Help your child to reach their highest potential academically and personally
• Reduce the fear of not feeling confident or not having the skills to complete a task
• Increase optimism

Outcomes for you as a parent:

• Encourages self-management therefore less nagging from you
• Allows parents to empower their children so no need to motivate them to study
• Creates better mood and temperament in your child
• Creates a ‘team’ approach i.e. “we’re all in this together”
• Helps parents to manage their own expectations

When combined with talk therapy, tapping with HSC students does three important things:

1. It calms the nervous system: EFT Tapping on specific acupressure points give the nervous system the signal to RELAX. When your body is in a state of fight-flight-or freeze it cannot do any therapeutic or calming work because it’s in survival mode. Your child’s body can’t tell the difference between feeling nervous about an English exam and running from a volcanic eruption. When your child experience distress, trauma or fear, their brain’s own personal alarm system (the amygdala) gets triggered and releases the stress hormone, cortisol. When cortisol is too high for too long it can do serious damage to our bodies including adrenal fatigue, high blood pressure and heart disease. When your child’s nervous system is calm, it is in optimal condition for focussing and productive study.

2. It rewires the brain enabling a change in mindset: EFT Tapping assists in rewiring the cognition of the brain to enable a change in mindset. Tapping goes deeper into making changes in your child’s life than traditional talking therapy. It is simple, gentle and incredibly effective. When your child taps with their coach they will tame some of the constant negative chatter that’s been stressing them out. Once your child’s mind is relaxed they will be supported to identify some of the destructive scripts and limiting believes that have been playing out in their life. Once they have tapped out the negative feelings in the body, they can then tap in the feelings they want to move towards, therefore changing their mindset for growth and optimal health and wellbeing.

3. It restores the body’s energy: Tapping can restore the body’s energy. Your child’s body like everything in the universe is made up of energy. When your child restores energy back into their body they will relieve the negative feelings, emotions and physical ailments that originate from the energy disruption. Even problems such as phobias, post-traumatic stress alongside other imbalances in their energy system will be gently relieved during their session.

During the 60-minute session we will:

• Tap on setting positive intentions for achieving specific academic goals
• We will look at the specific barriers to achieving the goals
• We will teach your child the technique to reduce stress instantly and with long lasting results – this technique can be easily applied before and during the exam so enable them to stay focussed and relaxed.

Studies at Harvard Medical School have revealed that by using EFT Tapping, the distress that gives rise to the problems your child faces heading into HSC can be drastically reduced. If you would like your child to learn this powerful technique before exams start you will be investing in both their academic and mental health wellbeing. The tools learned in their individual coaching session will ultimately place the power back into their own hands. They will identify their limiting beliefs around achievement and success and these simple yet profound tools will assist them to become balanced, healthy, emotionally intelligent and confident adults. 

It makes sense that you would like your child to do well at HSC and get the ATAR they deserve. It is also important that we keep our own stress and anxiety in check as ultimately it won’t support our kids to shine. If you would like your child to thrive rather than merely survive during their up and coming HSC exams, please click on the link to book in for this amazing investment in your child’s mental and academic wellbeing. For this month only to celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month (which we are super passionate about), we are reducing the cost of our 1:1 consultations by 40% when you book and pay online for our Facebook Mental Health Awareness Month Promo. Limited sessions available so please book now: https://www.theinnershineclinic.com.au/bookings/

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September 26, 2018

By Catherine Nyika, M.Ed, Accredited Social Worker, Counsellor, Coach and Certified EFT Practitioner

You didn’t even realise things were getting too much to handle until you couldn’t ignore it anymore. Then that stoic part of you went and did ALL the right things to cope with it and to even conquer it. You read every self-help book you could get your hands on, spoke to your doctor, looked at your diet, your exercise, your sleep habits. You booked in to see a counsellor and you even ended that relationship, quit that job and took those pills. Everything seemed to calm down soon after and you thought storm was over and were able to get your life back on track. You were back to feeling like your old self again, until the dark cloud hanging over you reappeared.

Recent surveys on women’s health indicate that two thirds of Australian women report feeling nervous, anxious or on edge nearly everyday. It’s hard to feel inspired by yet another self-help blog post. No one would blame you for feeling sceptical about trying something new especially when that technique requires you to ‘tap’ on your face and body. You are open to suggestions but ‘tapping’ just seems a bit ‘woo-woo’ even though someone you know tried it and liked it. Perhaps your curiosity gets the better of you because this blog will claim that tapping will reduce stress and anxiety and make you feel better, with long lasting effects in a short space of time.

It’s a long shot.

Reality kicks in to remind you that; NOTHING has worked for you yet, it’s cost you a fortune in therapists, supplements, self help books and mindfulness apps and you are done trying. Maybe you’ll just have to face the fact that this anxiety is a part of you now.

We live in an increasingly time-poor, disconnected, rest-deprived society. We are more stressed, unhappy and disconnected than ever before. Life gets messy at times and we all get overwhelmed with the pressures of life and can sometimes feel like we are “close to the edge”. In today’s social media culture, we are continually comparing ourselves with others and will be instantly gratified with ‘likes’. We seek comfort in switching off the mind with online games and other addictions that we think will help us to calm down but in actual fact cause us more anxiety in the long run. Imagine how hard it is to cope when major life transitions occur for us such as grief, loss, divorce, financial worries, parenting stress and trauma. No wonder our mental health statistics for adults and teenagers are so grim. With so much going on alongside the usual daily challenges of life, we are facing a whole new set of struggles like never before. This is why as a mother, an educator, therapist and clinical social worker, I believe society is in need of a new set of tools to help with these challenges.

EFT is that tool as it gets to the root cause of the issue and puts the power back into the clients hands, so you are actually healing yourself. So many of us are just trying to survive when really we would love to be thriving. Imagine learning a tool that can greatly reduce stress, overwhelm and anxiety in a short space of time with often long lasting effects. Once you have learned how to help yourself, you can teach to your family, your work colleagues, your students, your clients, your community. EFT is a tool also reduces the need to spend money on on-going therapy.

I know it’s hard to feel inspired by optimistic words like ‘find your inner shine again’ and ‘heal yourself’ when most days you feel increasingly stressed-out, stretched in all directions and that you are just not coping. You SHOULD be coping however because “you’re the strong one” and that’s what others expect of you, so that’s what you show them even though deep inside it hurts so much. You may be telling yourself, there is just no time to put yourself and your needs first because there’s the stuff that’s going on with your kids, your partner, your friend’s separation, your work. You know that you just have to “suck it up” because life just goes on – your ‘stuff’ will just need to wait. If you are to speak honestly, you feel that you are merely surviving in a world that’s become increasingly wearying to you. So many people out there are feeling just like you. Some will put on the ‘bandaid’ to make it feel better for a while. Some may even re-apply it over and over again as a coping mechanism for the mess and the pain, and some will try to find the courage to face this thing head on and be done with it once and forever.

There is hope and there are two paths.

Which one with YOU choose?

“F-E-A-R has two meanings; Forget everything and run OR Face everything and RISE. The choice is yours” –Zig Ziglar

You choose to move out of your comfortable zone because you KNOW that’s where growth happens and sticking with what you know hasn’t worked for you.

The hard evidence

Over 100 research studies, review articles and meta-analyses that have been validated and published on the science behind energy psychology, and it appears that EFT (emotional Freedom Techniques) isn’t nearly as ‘woo-woo’ as it sounds. Studies have found that EFT effectively treats; depression, anxiety, food cravings, pain, trauma and PTSD

Latest research shows that EFT works to calm the central nervous system, rewire the brain for positive mindset and restore the body’s energy, which is naturally wired for wellness. Whilst the evidence based research is still in it’s early stages here in Australia and New Zealand, the results for clients in my wellbeing clinic are proof enough that EFT can make you feel relaxed and calm almost instantly with long lasting results. Research in Australia is being led by a game changing Clinical Psychologist, Dr. Peta Stapleton at Bond University in Queensland. Dr. Stapleton is paving the way for healthcare professionals to feel more confident in their delivery of energy psychology. Due to the profound results of her clinical trials, many other clinical health and wellbeing practitioners like myself feel confident that this innovative intervention is set to become the future of therapy. Just like acupuncture and Mindfulness, new things take time to grow on people and that’s ok. It’s just unfortunate many people like you continue to suffer while waiting for a major breakthrough in our mental healthcare system and a time that practitioners who actually practice energy psychology feel safe enough to come out of the closet to their sceptical peers.

When you book into The Inner Shine Clinic you will be taught how to use this simple, gentle, incredibly effective tool to enable you in your own healing abilities at home. Talking with your counsellor in conjunction with tapping is enough to help you start living the life you truly deserve. EFT can put the power back into your own hands to facilitate your own inner healing. Why wouldn’t you want that for yourself and your loved ones?

If you are still thinking EFT is too ‘woo-woo’ for you, believe me, I get it. The first time I ever watched an EFT You Tube video I was a little sceptical but had an open mind. I was being instructed to use my fingertips to tap on certain pressure points on my face and body. As a traditionally trained and evidence based clinical therapist, my initial thoughts were, “that looks really weird and a bit ridiculous’ and then ‘how can that possibly do anything to help my clients who are struggling with serious and distressing issues”? Yet today I am an accredited certified EFT Practitioner and integrate EFT into almost all of my sessions. I work to empower people like you to ‘tap’ on themselves because what I know for certain is that, IT WORKS! After tapping along with that You Tube video I mentioned I felt ready to book a session with an EFT Practitioner I’d found online. What happened for me during that session was quite profound and after 12 years of working therapeutically with people, I had what Oprah would describe as, “an a-ha moment.” I realised I had found the missing tool in my empowerment therapy tool box and I needed to read every research article written about Emotional Freedom Techniques and why it works the way it does.

EFT is not a new therapy, in fact it’s been around for decades. It is derived from the work of Psychologist Dr. Roger Callahan’s Thought Field Therapy (TFT) from the late 70’s and early 80’s. His research was the being of the new era of energy psychology. Energy Psychology simply refers to a collection of mind-body approaches to human wellbeing with a focus on the relationship between our thoughts, our emotions, our behaviours and sensations in the body. In asking people to tap on all of the acupuncture end-points of the body whilst thinking about their issues and using affirmations, Dr. Callahan was able to help his clients in ways that had never been possible before.

This all makes so much sense to me because we are all made up of energy. Even Albert Einstein said: “Everything is energy and that’s all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics”.

Then came along Gary Craig, the man who developed Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) who was actually a student of Dr. Callahan’s. He recognised where the technique could have more instant and long-lasting effects for clients and having a background in engineering, he redesigned and perfected the technique to where it is today. Gary Craig believed that ‘tapping’ could become a “universal healing aid” and he wanted to share it with the world. This is a sentiment that I’m sure all EFT Practitioners around the world share.

EFT as a helping tool incorporates elements of many therapeutic interventions such as acupuncture, NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment therapy, motivational interviewing, narrative therapy, cognitive therapy and exposure therapy. You don’t need to understand all these therapies or to have ever heard of them because that’s not your job. What I am hoping to highlight is that EFT is a magnificent combination of so many other already accepted evidence-based interventions – It’s like you are getting eight for the price of one.

For me as a counsellor and wellness coach, EFT is the butter cream icing on the cake. It’s a serious game changer for the mental health and wellbeing industry. This tool enables me to empower you to heal yourself. Whatever drew you to reading this blog right now, and whatever you are going through, an EFT coaching session where you learn the basics of EFT will support you to take the power back into your own hands again. You have just lost your way but you already have all you need to heal inside of you. You just need someone to guide you on your way home, back to that person you were always meant to be.

I get that it’s over-whelming, there are SO many counsellors, therapists and life coaches out there. How is it that I can I help you to feel better and WHY will these specific techniques I show you help? Here’s the science:

1. Tapping on specific meridian points gives the nervous system the signal to RELAX. When you body is in a state of fight-flight-or freeze it cannot do any healing work because it’s in survival mode. Your body can’t tell the difference between feeling nervous about a job interview and running from a volcanic eruption. When you experience distress, trauma or fear, your brain’s own personal alarm system (the amygdala) gets triggered and releases the stress hormone, cortisol. When your cortisol is too high for too long it can do serious damage to your body including adrenal fatigue, high blood pressure and heart disease. When your nervous system is calm, it is in optimal condition for self-healing.

2. Tapping assists in rewiring the cognition of the brain to enable a change in mindset. Meridian tapping goes deeper into making changes in your life than traditional talking therapy. It is simple, gentle and incredibly effective. When you tap with your therapist you will tame some of the constant negative chatter that been stressing you out. Once you mind is relaxed you will be supported to identify some of the destructive scripts and limiting believes that have been playing out in your life. Once you have tapped out the negative feelings in the body, you can then tap in the feelings you want to move towards, therefore changing your mindset for growth and optimal health and wellbeing.

3. Tapping can restore the body’s energy. You body like everything in the universe is made up of energy. When you restore energy back into your body you will relieve the negative feelings, emotions and physical ailments that originate from the energy disruption. Even problems such as phobias, post-traumatic stress alongside other imbalances in your energy system will be gently relieved during your session.

Once you book in for your session, learn the basics and start to clear aware some of your stress and anxiety, you will then feel confident in supporting the well-being of your stressed partner, your anxious Year 12 teenager, your child with learning difficulties, school issues or big emotions and even you sensitive or anxious dog! Yes EFT for animals is a thing!

Emotional Freedom Techniques is a simple but powerful technique where you get to change how you feel in a matter of minutes AND make it long lasting. When you tap with your EFT practitioner they will show you the acupressure points on your face and body and help you know what to say. When you work with an accredited, certified and experienced practitioner, tapping can:

• Act as a potent stress reliever and help you become anxiety free
• Help you recover from the pain of grief and loss
• Support your relationships to become happier and more fulfilling
• Improve your self-esteem and body image
• Eliminate limiting beliefs
• Free you from the pain of a traumatic experience
• Help relieve sadness and depression
• Help you with chronic pain
• Help you heal from bullying or a toxic relationship or bullying

Why do I choose to “tap” with my clients?

I’m going to share my story with you here with the hope you will see that I was just like you. My “thing” was my self-esteem around body image and the anxiety it caused me. For as long as I can remember I’ve never felt comfortable in my own body. I have always carried a little extra weight that might leave temporarily after the latest fad diet but would always come back to haunt me and tell me “see, I told you so, you can’t get rid of me”. I was constantly teased about my weight my whole life and yet I told myself “I’m not strong enough” to do anything about it. Issues of weight and the stories created about why I carried this weight have taken up a huge place in my life and it was starting to get old, boring and tiring. I was sick of hiding behind others in photographs and feeling embarrassed looking at the photos once they were developed. I would then feel bad about myself and if I felt bad I would turn to my best friend ‘food’ to comfort me. You can see where I’m going here. Then my daughter came along and I knew I needed to get a handle on my food issues because I couldn’t bear to be responsible for passing on a negative body image mindset to my beautiful daughter.

To cut a long story short, that day I had “the a-ha moment” experiencing EFT in action, my issue I presented to the practitioner was the desire to lose weight and permanently. That was what my cognitive mind wanted to work on and yet my body led me to work on something else. Something much more profound and long lasting, and that was self acceptance and the self love I’ve searched for my whole life. I can’t even tell you if I have lost any weight at all because that wasn’t the issue. I no longer weigh myself, or work out like a dog in order to make up for what I eat. And I can finally look in the mirror without berating myself, I can honestly say the ‘weight’ has zero charge in my life any more and I realise it was never the issue. A life-time of stress and anxiety over food and weight just disappear over 2 weeks of tapping because I got to the root cause of the issue and finally LET IT GO! As far as I’m concerned that was the biggest gift I could ever offer my daughter –a mummy who loves herself completely and unconditionally no matter what shape or size.

So now that you know that EFT is;

• evidence based,
• is the future of innovative client centred therapy,
• can help you to heal yourself quickly and effectively with long lasting effects on a wide range of issues.

What will you do? Will you forget every and run? Or will you face everything and RISE. That choice is yours.

Click here to get started or to arrange a free 15 minute consultation. https://www.theinnershineclinic.com.au/bookings/Sessions available in person, on the phone or online.

[When you invest in your wellbeing by booking the recommended 3 sessions for best results, the third session is half price when you mention this article].

*Please pass this article on to your friends and family so we can start making this important work the norm instead of the “woo-woo”.

Disclaimer

The holistic and, evidence-based services and interventions provided at The Inner Shine Clinic do not replace medical treatments. EFT is a way to address the emotional parts of your problems so that medical doctors can take care of your medical needs. By engaging in a session with our practitioners and by using techniques provided by our clinic, you must agree to take full responsibility for your own well-being or that of your child’s. Whilst there are no known side effects to EFT Tapping, this does not mean you will not experience side effects. You agree to never hold The Inner Shine Clinic or it’s practitioners liable for any side effects or results of the treatment.

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