There's a technique out there that could help out anxiety issues that some might not have ever heard of and it's called tapping.
Yoga and meditation have been used for ages to help conquer anxiety issues and relieve stress. The therapeutic exercise known as tapping is also called Emotional Freedom Technique. It is when using your fingers to gently drum on energy meridians on the body, according to life coach Gabrielle Bernstein. She told the Huffington Post that she is trained to teach the technique and said it is one of her favorite tools to relieve stress.
"What you're doing is you're tapping on these different energy meridians -- and there are energy meridians on your head, in your face, in your neck, under your arm, on your karate chop point -- and as you tap on these energy meridians, you're also speaking and emoting about what's coming up for you," Bernstein told the Post in a video.
It might be something painful, a source of anxiety, or anything pressing going on in your life. "And while you're talking about the discomfort and tapping on the different meridians, you're sending a message to the amygdala that it's safe to come down," she explained. "That it's OK to let go of that addiction. That it's OK to let go of that fear of phobia."
In the video, Bernstein is sitting across a round table with Alexa, who is a 22-year-old woman who contracted a bacterial infection during her final semester at college. The infection caused her to go to into a coma for five days. Two out of three people with the infection, don't survive, but she did.
Alexa has been dealing with anxiety and stress as she lives in NYC in the fashion industry, but doesn't have the comfort of her family and friends back home in Florida. Bernstein would teach her the tapping techniques while discussing her mindset on everything she is dealing with.
"It's very hard for me to be at peace with the past and how it's affected my future," Alexa said in the video. "But most of all, I don't know who I am anymore."
As Bernstein has Alexa tap on her energy meridians, she asks her to repeat after her. "Even though I don't know who I am anymore, I deeply and completely love and accept myself. I'm scared to face the world. I'm so uncomfortable with all that's happened. Why me. I don't deserve this."
As they continue to tap, Bernstein changes her tone. "But I survived! I'm a survivor. I'm healthy. I'm alive. And I can explore new diets and ways of living. And with my health I can live beyond my wildest dreams. I am supported."
After taking a deep breath together, Bernstein asks how much anxiety Alexa is feeling on a scale of zero to 10. Before the tapping exercise, she was at a 9. Now, she is at a 4, according to the Post.