Often willpower isn’t enough to successfully overcome an addictive craving. Old habitual behaviors can seem to be running on automatic making it much easier to repeat and reinforce them than to alter them.
Over time, this is a pattern that not only keeps us stuck but can also be very discouraging.
One of the approaches that I found to be extremely helpful in changing outdated and unwanted behaviors is Energy Medicine.
Where I’m from in South Florida acupuncture has been used in the drug court program for over 20 years. It’s proven to increase self-esteem and to reduce both withdrawal symptoms and recidivism.
There are many energy medicine techniques that incorporate the use of acupuncture points without the need for needles. The points are stimulated by touching, tapping, or rubbing and can be done by the patient at home.
I’ll share a specific protocol with you, but first it really helps to know that there’s more to us than meets the eye … or the microscope.
You Are More than Your Physical Body
To appreciate the value of Energy Medicine it helps to know that you are more than the measurable bits and pieces of physical stuff that comprise your body.
In the 1930’s Dr. Harold Saxon Burr was a neuroanatomist at the Yale University School of Medicine. In a nutshell, he discovered that there was a weak electromagnetic field surrounding an unfertilized salamander egg. It turns out that this field was an electromagnetic blueprint for an adult salamander. The blueprint was activated by the fertilization of the egg. The point is that the field or ‘energy’ was guiding the biology and not the other way around.
Fast forward to today and we have biophysicist Dr. Fritz Albert Popp
who’s work is showing that biophotons … light … is a primary guiding and information sharing force in the body. His work is showing that neurological and biochemical systems don’t have the speed or information carrying capacity to manage the complexity of the human body.
I share this research simply to support what many of you already know through experience or intuition. You are more than your body and you have a potential for healing that can’t be calculated, measured, weighed, or even imagined by conventional medicine.
So let’s take advantage of the noncognitive intelligence (energy) of our bodies to support our health and well-being.
If you already know a technique like EFT or Havening you can use it instead of what I’m showing you below …. or you can add this new technique to your Energy Medicine toolbox.
The Temporal Tap
The temporal Tap is another option for balancing your body’s energy that uses focused awareness and touch.
Long before EFT tapping became popular Dr. George Goodheart, the developer of Applied Kinesiology, was tapping around the ear to support behavioral change.
The tapping helps to input new information more quickly in support of a desired change.
For example, I’ve used this process to temporarily reduce the gag reflex while working on muscles inside a patients mouth for a TMJ problem. In this situation I’m doing the tapping while the patient verbalizes “I’m free of the gag reflex”.
Here’s a simplified version of this process that can be used very successfully to encourage a new behavior, or simply a new attitude.
- Identify a behavior that you would like to change and create a positive affirmation that reflects your intention. For example, let’s say that you have a sugar craving that you’d like to change. The positive affirmation could be: “I nurture myself with whole healthy foods”.
- While you speak the affirmation tap with your four fingers following the arrows around both ears. You’re tapping along the line formed by the arrows in about 5 seconds or so while you’re saying the positive affirmation. Repeat that tapping and verbalizing process 3 times.
- You can do this temporal tap periodically throughout the day (say 10-15 times) to support your desired behavioral change. Repetition is the key. Also, be sure to do the temporal tap at the times when you do have a craving.
If you’d like to know more about the Temporal Tap process here’s a paper from the 1990 edition of the Touch For Health International Journal.
My next blog post will focus on how technology can assist us in balancing our body’s energy.
Steven Templin, D.O.M., Dipl. Ac. specializes in Acupuncture and Limbic Brain Reprogramming to address the roots of chronic pain and illness. He offers a comprehensive mind-body program for addressing the underlying inflammation, toxicities, and stress-induced causes of most pain and illness.
He places special emphasis on resolving the stress response and repairing adrenal gland and digestive system function to address the root causes of many common and often difficult to treat illnesses.
He translates emerging research in the fields of Epigenetics, Energy Psychology (EFT and much more), and Functional Nutrition into effective practices that you can perform at home.
You can work with Dr. Templin in his Lakeland office, or online. You can visit his website at www.stevetemplin.com and contact him via email at drtemplin@gmail.com.
You can schedule an office visit with Dr. Templin by calling 863-838-2779.
Steve is a retired Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Acupuncture Physician, and HeartMath Trauma-Sensitive Certified Practitioner with over 35 years of clinical experience in Energy Medicine, Energy Psychology, and Biofeedback.