Tapping can take us directly to the present moment where Grace flows. Grace can be understood as the flow of the Divine, Spirit, God, Source Energy, Life Force, Shakti, Love, blessings.

EFT/Tapping has been explored alongside EEG, brain wave monitoring and the brain waves that are see when a person is tapping show the magic of the deeper mind, which reaches beyond the body. The EEG monitoring shows an increase in Delta waves which are also seen in psychic, healing, mediumship, out-of-body experiences and deep states of consciousness.

This means that EFT can help us access a direct experience of the truth of who we are beyond thought and the other experiences of our human form. With EFT we can experience a spacious experience of completeness, of Grace, of the Divine.

You might think well this is a very lovely possibility that can arise through EFT, but the benefits can be far reaching.

• Feel a deeply peaceful even blissful space.
• Access fresh new insights or intuition into an issue you are grappling with.
• Receive blessings, for example strength, courage, loving feelings, wisdom, self-awareness, a sense of forgiveness, self-compassion.
• Notice changes in your outer life, new opportunities arise, problems seem to ease.

Acceptance is the way to Grace.

The EFT set-up phrase usually contains a few words that go something like this……

“I completely love and accept myself or I choose to accept myself, or I’m OK.”

These words are such an intrinsically powerful aspect of why EFT works. Universal wisdom says that what we resist persists; this moment is the way it is, push against it at your peril. Arguing with what is already here causes more suffering. EFT encourages absolute cooperation with the inevitable.

What is here right now is ‘Life’ flowing through us. We may think what is here is bad, but turning towards our challenges, leaning into our suffering is the way to start relieving it.

When we open to ‘this’ difficulty, when we allow ourselves to witness whatever is showing up rather than avoiding it, Grace arrives and we can access real support and open to lasting change.

Lean in.
Lean into this moment, with all of you,
and let it grow you.

Spiritual Activism, Self-care, EFT and Tonglen

When we see images of thousands of people devastated by earthquake or floods or the refugee situation or people suffering from some serious illness like cancer, your heart goes out to them and you want to do something to lessen their grief and suffering. But looking at the enormity of their difficulties you feel that your potential to help is so small. We often wonder how can we can help in this kind of situation. Working with people who are suffering can also be draining to ourselves if we are not resilient enough.

Logically it may be difficult to understand, but there is another reality of life which is not visible to the conscious mind; the reality of the heart in which humans are all connected together. The vast ocean of the collective unconscious connects human beings to each other at a deeper level. We are not as separate as we appear to be. Hence, the enlightened masters talk about oneness and one world. As we are plugged into the same life energy, we can help each other if we sincerely wish to.

There is an ancient meditation called Tonglen, a “Heart Meditation” originally devised by Atisha, the great Tibetan mystic and Tantra master who lived from 982-1084 AD. This meditation contends that one can absorb the miseries of the world into the heart riding the in-breath, transform it into blessings and give it back to the world with the out-breath. This sounds oversimplified for sure but that is the magic of the heart: it is simple and extraordinary.

The positive thinkers ask you to breathe in joy and happiness and breathe out misery and pain. But this means you are adding your misery to the already existing mass of misery in the world. Also, there should be joy in your heart in the first place or else how would you give it to the world? It is like lending money when you have gone bankrupt.

The spiritual teacher Osho says, “The positive thinkers don’t know about the miraculous transformative power of the heart. The moment you take all the sufferings of the world inside you, sufferings cease to exist. The heart immediately transforms the energy. The heart is a transforming force: drink in misery, and it is transformed into blissfulness. Then pour it out. And when you breathe out, breathe out all the joy that you have, all the blissfulness that you have. This is the method of compassion: drink in all the suffering and pour out all the blessings. Once you have learned that your heart can do this magic, you will like to do it again and again.”

Once you experience how pain and suffering can be transformed through the breath and heart, you may like to apply this method silently whenever people or events around you become hard to witness.

Instead of being disturbed by them breathe in the negativity and breathe out your peace. You have found the trick of being in the world and not belonging to it.

Don’t forget to tap too, using either the usual points or, if necessary, the subtler hand points. Tapping without a doubt empowers the process by connecting us into the delta brain wave state of higher consciousness.

Tonglen can also be extremely useful in your own EFT practice. If you find that you are unable to completely clear thoughts and emotions, perhaps you can’t find a specific event at the root of your issue, this is a perfect time to use Tonglen alongside your tapping. Bring your own thoughts, feelings and sensations and take these into your heart and the transformational Grace that is available there.

The Dalai Lama, who is said to practise Tonglen every day, has said of the technique:

“Whether this meditation really helps others or not, it gives me peace of mind. Then I can be more effective, and the benefit is immense.”

Another thing I love about Tonglen is its overlap with Heart Math. Could we be seeing a cross over between an ancient spiritual wisdom practice and a modern-day evidence based resilience building tool? To me this is higher intelligence in action!

I created a Tonglen meditation so that you can try this for yourself. You can listen to and download your copy here. (If you’d like a copy that you can use whenever you like and you don’t see the download arrow once this audio has opened in your browser, right click and select ‘save as’ to save the meditation to your computer.)