Innovation Into Schools

Posts Tagged ‘Anxiety’

One of the many benefits of teaching EFT to your students is that they are able to quickly and quietly show you by tapping that they are feeling anxious or frustrated or in need of some assistance. 

I realized this shortly after I introduced EFT to my class. I had just completed a lesson on equivalent fractions and saw that I had done a poor job of it because many of my students were struggling with their work.  When I attempted to re-teach the concept I noticed several students tapping on their karate chop points. I smiled and asked, “Do equivalent fractions make you feel that anxious?” One girl grinned right back at me while continuing to tap and announced, “Yep!”

I realized then what a wonderful teaching tool EFT is. Not only does it enable children to relieve anxieties and improve test scores, it can also alert us to their need for assistance. Often the children who are the least vocal are the ones who experience the most anxiety, and tapping is a polite way for them to make us aware that they need some help or compassion.

Not long after that occasion, I noticed a boy quietly tapping while working at his seat.  This immediately made me aware of his need for some assistance, but when I asked if I could help him he responded, “No, I’m just tapping because I’m worried about the District Bike Race this afternoon.”  I invited him to do some tapping with me, but by this time the whole class was listening in. Everyone else wanted to tap as well! They all opened up about their worries and we tapped as a group to alleviate their fears.

Once we arrived at the bike race I was intrigued to notice many of my students tapping on the start line. Later, I was excited to see several of them complete the race so well. But I was especially delighted to notice the boy who had expressed the most anxiety before the race (and had incidentally taken a bad tumble off his bike while riding) come in last with a huge smile on his face.

The most important lesson for me on this day was that because I had noticed just one of my students attempting to tap away his worries, I was able to give everyone in my class the encouragement and understanding they needed, enable them to enjoy the bike race with a worry free attitude, and allow them to affirm that they were awesome kids whether they won or lost this race or finished somewhere in between.

Since then, whenever I have seen children tapping quietly their own, I have tried my best to give them the help and compassion they need and deserve.

6 year old Josh had recently been on a school bus trip and on the journey home, was hit over the head with a school bag by one of the other boys.  Not only did Josh have a stiff neck but he had refused to return to school feeling traumatized after the event.  His mother was naturally concerned on both counts.

When I saw Josh I asked him to show me with his outstretched hands how scarey it was for him to return to school and see this boy again.  He reflected back with both arms outstretched  to the maximum indicating a 10 out of 10 on the SUDS scale.

We tapped on:

• Even though Tim hit me over the head, I’m still a good kid.

Just 2 rounds of this and Josh had no further anxiety and said to his mother with big smiles, that he was happy to go to school this afternoon.

Interestingly, (many know it often happens) when addressing emotional issues that Josh’s neck had totally freed up also and he was in no further discomfort.

Such a quick and easy resolution is truly heart warming.  One can only imagine how long this drama may have taken to resolve itself.

Robyn Wood
http://www.tappingyourpotential.com.au