Replace Negative Thoughts with God's Holy Word

Tapping while using prayer and Scripture produces an amazing result!

As we allow God's Word to penetrate our souls, it provides another barrier to the enemy's negative thoughts getting through to us.

I believe this is part of the "renewing of our minds" Apostle Paul talks about in Romans 12:2 where it says in the New Living Translation: "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."

Becoming mindful of our thought pattern and when a negative demeaning thought enters, counter it with a positive Scripture. Personally I tap while I do that.

Emotional Freedom Techniques is not a substitute for medical care. Please take full responsibility for all of your own emotional and medical needs. #eftforchristians

Sherrie Rice Smith, R.N. (Retired)
Certified EFT Practitioner
Author of EFT for Christians (2015)
EFTforChristians.com

Publisher Writes a Blog about New EFT Book!

My publisher wrote a company blog about my new EFT books.

Check it out here: True Potential Blog.

Remember, EFT is not a substitute for medical or psychological care, so please take care of your own personal needs. #eftforchristians

Sherrie Rice Smith, R.N. (Retired)

Certified EFT Practitioner

EFTforChristians.com

Author of EFT for Christians (2015)

Author of EFT for Christians, Tapping in God's Peace & Joy (2016)

Author of EFT for Christians Advanced (2017)

Christian EFT Practitioners

I'm looking for those who are interested in becoming a Christian EFT Practitioner or Christians who want to tap with a Christian practitioner.

Are you a person who loves to help others?  Do you have an interest in spiritual things?  An interest in how the body heals?

You might be one I'm looking for!

I have a list of Christian EFT Practitioners to whom I can refer you.

Contact me if you are at:

EFTforChristians@gmail.com

EFT is not a substitute for medical care. Contact your physician if you have a medical problem.

Sherrie Rice Smith
Certified EFT Practitioner
Author EFT for Christians - available on Amazon
EFTforChristians.com

Vagus Nerve, Breathing & EFT

“Vagus” is the Latin word for “wandering”. The bundle of nerves, called the vagus nerve, starts at the top of your spinal column at the base of the neck, wanders down your neck muscles, as it controls your breathing and heart rate, and then continues further into your abdomen to your spleen and liver where it regulates parts of your digestive system (back in the day when people had peptic ulcer disease, doctors would sever the vagus nerve in an attempt to settle down the stomach). The vagus nerve is connected to oxytocin receptors, helping you communicate and empathize with others. Some call the vagus nerve the “love bundle” of our body because of its connection to the oxytocin hormone, which is called the “love hormone”.

Several years back, I had a fitness trainer who attempted to convince me during a rather traumatic grieving time in my life that I needed to learn to properly deep breathe to “slow down”. I totally resisted her.

I’ve told hospital patients with whom I’ve worked for decades to deep breathe during painful procedures, but I never understood the mechanism of why we told them to do so. I was just doing what I had been taught to say.

Well, things have changed!

I’ve learned a few things along the way, and now I understand the mechanism behind deep breathing. I want to explain that to you now, so you don’t look as foolish as I did when I refused to understand or to learn. Sorry, Dana, you were right!

Japanese research has shown that effective abdominal breathing slows down our brain waves, slipping them into a very relaxed state, moving us away from stress. There are 3 types of breathing – clavicle, chest, and abdominal. The first, clavicular is the type of breathing we see when someone is panicked. The breaths are short and only move the top part of the shoulders and chest area, and those breaths are very rapid and stressed.

Chest breathing is a bit deeper, but not much more effective. This is the common, everyday breathing method most people do. The chest moves, but little quality air is actually exchanged. Oh, you move enough to keep vital functions going, but you tend to breathe too quickly to pull in significant amounts of oxygen.

The third kind of breathing comes from the abdomen and uses the diaphragm, which, as it contracts, fills your lungs. When you breathe from your abdomen, your belly will expand and move out with each inhalation. Your chest rises only slightly, as your abdomen is doing all the work. This is the type of breathing we all should learn to use on a continuous basis. It takes a bit of mindfulness to do so, but it can be done.

And, if you don’t choose to use this all the time, teach yourself to remember to stop several times a day and simply take one minute and do 5 to 7 sets of the breathing exercise I will outline below.

Dr. Andrew Weil recommends that if you are doing an activity that requires alertness; don’t do any more than 7 sets because this breathing will put you in a very relaxed state. I’d hate to have you fall asleep while driving because you were doing abdominal breathing!

This restful state abdominal breathing facilitates helping you to fall asleep. It is an excellent way to begin your night. There is some research, and I wish I could cite you the source, that states doing 5-10 sets of deep abdominal breathing can replace up to 2 hours of good sleep per night. Here is the explanation as I understand it.

By doing a short 2 minute breathing exercise, you have already dropped yourself quickly out of the beta state, high speed thinking part of your day, into the pre-sleep, slowdown mode of the alpha-theta brain states. Normally, if you do no deep breathing, it will take you 60 to 120 minutes to slowly descend through the beta into the theta state before you eventually drop off into the deep delta state of REM sleep. By deep breathing, you just short-cut the process! That deep breathing signals your body that a change has occurred in your physical and mental status and it is time to settle down, forgetting the wear and tear of daily life, and relax for a while.

Abdominal breathing activates the vagus nerve and triggers a relaxation response. The relaxation response, which is opposite of the stress response, is necessary for your body to heal, repair, and renew itself. Once your stress induced cortisol levels drop to acceptable levels, the growth and repair hormone, DHEA, is released to heal your body. Think how well your immune system will function if you can simply take a few minutes each day to stop and do a few rounds of abdominal breathing that actually will lower, or help to keep, your stressed cortisol level at a lower level in order to keep your DHEA level higher.

A high cortisol leveland a high DHEA level cannot co-exist. If one is high, the other is low. The best combination is to have a high DHEA level and a low cortisol level in order for optimum health to exist. Stress levels are regulated by the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS has two parts that balance each other, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The SNS revs up your overall nervous system when it perceives a need for quick action to deal with a threatening emergency. The PNS calms us back down after the problem no longer exists. The vagus nerve comes from the brain to control the PNS, and activates your relaxation response. It does so by using the neurotransmitter, acetycholine (ACh). Without the release of acetycholine from the vagus nerve (for example, when the release is impaired by botulism toxin), you simply stop breathing and die. Acetycholine is also responsible for learning and memory.

ACh is a major anti-inflammatory in the body, so not only does the vagus nerve relax you; it also stops the inflammation effects of stress from causing further damage to your body. There is some evidence that the vagus nerve possibly improves neurogenesis (nerve regrowth) by increasing the BDNF (brain-derived neurotropic factor) output which repairs brain and other body tissues.

Taking a good abdominal breath stimulates the vagus nerve, which turns on the PNS and relaxes your body, turning off the stress response, stopping the release of cortisol and adrenaline, etc.

Teaching yourself to breath more slowly and mindfully, about 7-9 breaths a minute, rather than the usual 12-20, will improve your health by increasing the oxygen supply to your body’s cells. The PNS also produces endorphins, which will make you feel better and relieve pain and depression, in addition to lowering stress and blood pressure, and boosting your immunity levels.

Learning the art of intentional breathing I’m talking about here includes taking in a deep belly breath where your abdomen puffs out and your chest only rises a little bit and it does so at the end of the breath, not at the beginning. Breathe in for 5 to 7 seconds, pulling air in the abdomen, hold your breath for 2 seconds, then slowly release the air by either breathing slowly through your nose, or through a tiny hole between your lips, taking another 5 to 7 seconds to do so. Don’t just blow the air out all at once in one great big huff!

Another method of slowing down respirations and stimulating the PNS is plunging your face in a basin or sink full of cold water. This is particularly helpful after an intense exercise session where the SNS has been revved up. This method makes me laugh, as this has been done for years to settle down a hysterical person. In the movies, we see a glass of water being tossed into the face of someone in full blown panic, or we see a cowboy participating in a fist fight with another cowboy dunking the riled up one’s head in a horse trough to quiet him down. The water soaked person gasps, blinks, and then almost immediately settles down. Or have you witnessed a mother blow a puff of air into the face of a child who is in the middle of a tantrum? The child rears back a bit, closes his eyes, and then opens them wide as a dinner plate. Sometimes, the tantrum ends, or sometimes, once the child regains his composure and thinks a minute, the tantrum resumes. We also see in the movies, and I’ve seen this in real life, where someone slaps another person across the face to settle them down during a fit of hysteria. I assume this to be the same mechanism.

There are several places on the face and head where the vagus nerve is nearer the skin surface where it can be activated. I certainly don’t advocate hitting anyone, but nonetheless I find the mechanism interesting physiologically.

In a class I attended I was taught another exercise to relieve stress and now I’m wondering if this has anything to do with the vagus nerve. We weren’t given any reason why this works and I can’t find any information about it either.

The technique is a simple one. Relax your tongue on the floor of your mouth. It really is simple, isn’t it? Try it and see how differently you now feel.

This is another of those learned traits that would be useful in high stress situations. Teach yourself to deal with the situation with a relaxed tongue. You will find it extremely difficult to get angry or upset if you can keep that tongue quiet on the floor of your mouth. Try it during your next rush hour drive, or when you have a car load of kids yelling with excitement! It might be your best technique yet.

In the end when all is said and done, deep breathing is a great technique, but EFT still accomplishes the exact same thing. While I personally use the deep breathing to assist me in falling asleep, I still prefer EFT. I like the ease and the convenience of how quickly and how well it works.

For more information, go to www.EFTforChristians.com.

To schedule a free EFT consultation coaching session, email me at: EFTforChristians@gmail.com

Always remember to take complete responsibility for your own health and well-being.

EFT for Christians Video # 18: More Aspects & Using Confession While Tapping

Here is another YouTube Video from EFT for Christians: Video # 18:  More Aspects & Using Confession While Tapping 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xHsm5ybhjo&t=12s

Remember, EFT is not a substitute for sound medical or psychological advice or care, so please consult your own personal physicians for all your physical needs.

Sherrie Rice Smith, R.N. (ret.)
Certified EFT Practitioner              
Author EFT for Christians (2015)
Author of EFT for Christians, Tapping into God's Peace & Joy (Autumn, 2016)

www.EFTforChristians.com  

Repentance & Tapping

Repentance is tied tightly into healing. Acts 28:27 where Apostle Paul repeated Isaiah 6:9-10. is one example of where this is stated.

This is one of the difference between Christian EFT and regular tapping. God rains on the just and the unjust, but because of Jesus and our chance to repent before Him of what we do to others which offends Him, we get a complete healing now and in eternity.

Repentance means "changing our minds" and that often is exactly what we do when tapping. We think one way, usually negatively, until we tap & God changes our mind. Some of that changing is forgiving those who have offended and hurt us.

There are so many different levels of healing going on here!

Isn't our God amazing?

Your thoughts? We'd love to hear them!

Remember, EFT is not a substitute for medical care, so please phone your own personal physician for all medical and psychological needs.

Sherrie Rice Smith, R.N. (Retired)
Author of the EFT for Christians series on Amazon

EFT & Marriage

Marriage is that psychosocial arrangement we all enter into with happiness and bliss, isn’t it? Normally, it all works great until we learn way too much about our spouse; leaving us with feelings of what in the world did I get myself into. I suspect there are few people in a married or committed relationships that don’t at one time or another wonder what happened to make it all go so very wrong. Well, I’m here to tell you from first-hand experience there is hope! I’m going to make this story very personal, with permission from my husband Brad. I opened up, making myself a bit vulnerable, while in NYC helping with EFTU Level 1 and 2 classes. I’m going to do the same here.

Both Brad & I came from nasty childhoods, dealing with episodes and incidences no child should have to ever endure. It was this early abuse that actually brought us together. I know, for me, I figured it would draw us together, as we both would surely instinctively understand where the other had come from. This was all pre-EFT and I have since seen and well understood how very wrong we both were!

As the years progressed, the relationship became more embattled. I now see what exactly went on. I married a man just like my parents. Oh, he didn’t resemble anything they actually did, nor were the external behaviors even remotely similar, but his style of dealing with life’s ups and downs surely was. Denial was his best defense. If one ignores it all, it all will go away. No matter how many ways I explained to him what I needed in the relationship, nothing changed. And then I caught myself nitpicking just like Mom did to me. Nothing Brad did was good enough. The downhill slide had begun in earnest. We raised his two sons from a first marriage in our house. The boys’ mother was still involved. The tension from that was on. Then about ten years ago Brad was laid off from his engineering job permanently; the company closed. Now, we had 24/7 together.

The problems really started. It was too much time spent in each other’s company. I had plenty to nitpick about now. It wasn’t too long until we were literally fighting every day. It soon led to nothing but fighting. I, as a RN, had no idea how to stop it. I was a depressed, embittered, angry, crying, lashing out woman. My Dad’s words of, “No man will ever put up with you for long,” rang hourly in my ears. I was going to lose my marriage and Dad would be right. What was I going to do? I’m sure Brad felt the same way. Were two women going to walk out on him? At the Eleventh Hour, God provided. Emotional Freedom Techniques walked into our lives! I hired, without Brad’s permission, an EFT practitioner to work through his hatred for his parents. He never believed me when I told him he hated his parents; he does believe me now. Hatred eats us up. It burns holes in everything and everyone around us. It supersedes and melts any love that existed. Nothing survives in its wake. It’s impossible.

I hired my own EFT coach, too. I took EFTU’s Level 1 and 2 classes. What I want now to tell all of you readers is this: Please don’t give up on your marriage. Divorce costs big money, discounting the emotional pain involved, too. My best advice to you based on personal experience. Convince your spouse to take EFTU Levels 1 and 2 classes together.

Seriously, work on your own issues. Your spouse is not the problem. The problem is you. You aren’t a bad person! Your background and cognitive childhood learning has led you to the specific person who triggers you. You have attracted what you know. But there is hope! Work through all those childhood personal issues.

Free yourself to be the person you know you can be and in that process watch your marriage heal. It can work unilaterally, but it works even better when both of you are willing to use EFT on your own stuff!

 Today, I stand amazed to say our marriage is mostly healed. Yes, it worked that well. It’s taken a few years of a lot of tapping on both our parts, but we are stronger and healthier than I ever imagined. My Dad is NOT going to be right this time around! Oh, we have our moments. For heaven’s sake, we are still married! Now, we stop and tap before either of us says something stupid that we will regret later. It usually tends to be one of us starts tapping right in front of the other. We’ve made a commitment not to get angry about that, but to take it as an act of love for the other. And, it is. Hurtful things don’t tend to come out of the mouth of someone tapping. We then both go to our respective tapping places in the house, tap away what is going on INSIDE each of us, not the other person, and come back sometimes to talk about it, but many times all the tension simply dissolves, and we go on our merry way finishing up the day’s activities.

These fights and arguments have nothing to do with us. Really, you might ask. The triggering mechanisms behind them are all those perceptions and ideas we picked up from our parents, grandparents, neighbors, aunts and uncles. Those run our lives and our marriages. Tap them away; save your marriage. Give your children the greatest gift on earth – parents who love each and act like they do! About $1500 for EFTU classes with a certified trained instructor is cheaper than any attorney on planet Earth, or marriage counselor, for that matter. Oh, we tried all the conventional marriage counselor routes with no improvement in our relationship.

I highly recommend trying EFT. Go the EFTU “EFT Training” page and sign up for classes today and watch your marriage heal before your eyes. Hire a certified EFTU practitioner, if your issues are difficult or heavy. You can find them under “EFT Resources” tab. You’ll be surprised how well EFT works. I know Brad and I were!

 For more information, go to www.eftforchristians.com To schedule a free EFT consultation coaching session, email me at eftforchristians@gmail.com

Always remember to take complete responsibility for your own health and well-being.

Sherrrie Rice Smith, R.N. (Retired)
EFTforChristians.com
Author of EFT for Christians