Stress and anxiety disorders, in varying levels of intensity, affect many of us at some time. Stress, anxiety, worry, tension and panic are common issues brought to an EFT session and can cause problems on a daily basis. Sometimes the cause and triggers are known, but frustratingly for the sufferers often symptoms can arise as if from nowhere.

If you are already familiar with EFT you may want to know how this technique can help you manage stress and anxiety, so this short article will aim to give you some practical advice on how to tackle these emotions.

1. Pinpoint when anxiety strikes
If you know your triggers make a list of the most common ones, limiting yourself to up to five at first. Once you have this list work through them one by one, and imagine a situation where you are faced with this trigger, or remember a recent time you experienced it. For example one of your anxiety triggers may be having to chair a meeting at work. Keep in mind how that trigger makes you feel and apply EFT until the negative emotional response is as low as possible. Work through all five triggers you have noted in the same way, then start and work on another list until you have resolved all your anxiety triggers.

2. Discover why the anxiety started
You may already know exactly when and why your anxiety started. If you do, apply rounds of EFT to this event until you feel that you can leave it in the past where it belongs and it no longer has an emotional impact on you. If however you are not sure why your anxiety started, you will need to do some detective work to find out. There must have been a time when you weren't anxious. Remember back to that time - perhaps it was as a child - and then move forward in your life to pinpoint when you can remember the anxiety first starting. What was happening then? Were there any significant stressful events? Even if they don't seem connected to your anxiety still apply EFT to them until you feel at peace with those memories. Perhaps you can't remember when it started. In that case apply EFT to any stressful events you are aware of happening before the anxiety started or in the early days. This can be a long process and is often more effective when working with a practitioner. See this article to read up more on how to approach issues in this way.

3. Use EFT when anxiety strikes
This is the easiest way of applying EFT to your anxiety and you can make the most of every opportunity to make real improvements. If you haven't done so already learn the EFT procedure thoroughly and if you will find it useful print off the instructions from the 'EFT Basics' ebook to keep with you at all times. Then whenever you feel the signs of anxiety and tension arise use EFT on the spot to bring down the emotions. Every time you do this you will be working on the triggers to your anxiety without having to recognise what they are. The more you use EFT the more benefits you will notice.

If you feel that any of the above may be too difficult for you to tackle by yourself please do consult the advice of a qualified EFT practitioner. If you wish to use EFT by yourself please take a look at my tips to make your EFT more effective.