Exercise-Induced Tension Headache

Have you ever had a tension headache caused by something you did? I woke this morning at 5:30am with a crushing tension headache—the second in just the past two weeks brought on by swimming. The relaxation exercises and self-massage I tried in bed for a half hour did not help much. I prayed for guidance, and what I received was: “Get up, put on your headset, and record a tapping session for the headache.” That is what I did!

You can listen to this 26 minute session session by clicking on the Play button above. The session shows how I use EFT for my own pain, as physio-emotional self-care. You will notice that:

- I use whatever words come to me (it’s not about the “formula” or getting the words just right).
- Sometimes, a round doesn’t help much, or the pain can intensify.
- I chase the pain.
- Body sensations change, and as they do, I add those specific changes to the tapping sequence.
- Emotions, memories, and beliefs are included as they come up.
- Deep breaths happen both spontaneously at certain points as well as being consciously used between rounds to allow the energy to balance (and give time for self-observation).
- I persist until it is close to zero.
- Positive statements and gratitude, particularly at the end of the session, help to raise my overall sense of well-being.

You can listen to this session and tap along to “borrow benefits” for your own pains and discomfort. I hope you find this type of recording helpful. Please let me know.

Follow-up 10pm: I have had a great day! My headache and tension have not returned. After the tapping session, I did movement (gentle, like Tai Chi only without any specific pattern), stretching, self-massage, and meditation—not to “fix” anything but because they feel good to me. Later this morning, I got a massage that continued to loosen up my muscles using jojoba oil (great for the skin, too) and that continued the healing process. I tapped a few times for various thoughts and body sensations. As I re-listened to the recording I also made note of some of the specific memories that came up and used the EFT movie technique to take those quickly down to zero.