Tracy Eleftheriadis‘ speech at The Healing Conference in Colorado Springs:
Emcee
“Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for, once again, Tracy Eleftheriadis. Alright, good job, good job.”
[Applause]
Tracy Eleftheriadis
“Hi, everybody. Yeah, my name is Tracy Eleftheriadis, and in case you don’t know, that is a Greek name. In Greek, it actually stands for liberty or freedom. I love starting out by discussing my name with everybody because it’s kind of unusual. I just want to stop for a moment and thank Toni for inviting me to speak here with everybody because I am learning so much today about all of you and myself. This has been super fun so far, and I think it will just keep improving.
I am here today to talk to you about courage. As you know, courage is a muscle we need to exercise to have it show up in our world more. The more you practice it and feel it inside your body, the easier it is to access. As I think about how I got to where I am today, I want to go back to my former self. I taught high school for a long time, for 25 years, and I taught psychology, economics, and government. I just really loved working with that kind of people because they were so open to what I was sharing with them, but they also are very vulnerable, just like we are as adults. A lot of times, we shut down, even more, the older we get, but with what I’m doing now, I’m hoping the tools that you’ll learn today from me will help you shed a little bit of that skin so that you can feel better about who you are.
So, as I think about my own nervous system, in about 2018, I started to really show signs of what I know now to be a lot of anxiety that actually developed into chronic pain. I wasn’t ever, thankfully, one of those people who ended up in bed or on the couch for years and years. I was one of those people who didn’t quit, and that’s part of why I ended up in that situation. So, taking the time to really check in with yourself is super important. That’s one thing that we’re going to do together today.
Just getting to the point where I realized that I had this power inside of me, this courage, so that I could really change how I had actually patterned my own behavior, owning that was the first step. I spent a lot of money, I saw a lot of different doctors, and nobody could really just give me the magic pill. Because, as maybe you know, there is no magic pill. It’s the work that we do that helps us really change who we are.
So, as we think about courage, I don’t know if you have a definition of that yourself, but to me, courage is this fiery spirit that we have inside of us that we can tap into at any moment. It helps us to really lean into any experience that we’re having. Courage is not an absence of fear. I don’t want anybody to think that if you’re courageous and brave, you can still feel the fear, as it’s been said before, but it’s the ability to triumph over it that changes everything in your life when you can do that.
But I also want to link courage with confidence. Because when we look at the bigger picture, as you are courageous in your life, then that fills up this confidence tank that we have too, and it helps us do things like this, like come and talk to people in person. It helps us to share our story. Because really, when you look at going through those sorts of experiences, it’s not easy, especially when it is, as Jeff was talking about, this invisible sort of condition where people would look at me, and they’d be like, ‘You’re the most chill person I know.’ And I would be like, ‘On the outside, but on the inside, I wasn’t.’
So, practicing the practices that I have now in my life helps me to tap into courage and confidence. So, as you think about this difference in those two things, I want you to, for just a moment, really think about some time in your life when you were courageous. Just think, and probably now that I’m accessing those thoughts with you, you’re able to think of more than just once that you were full of this bravery.
If you want to just close your eyes for a moment and really think about how you felt during this experience… as you’re doing that, I want you to think about how you looked. If you can get a picture of yourself, just really zoom out so you can look back on yourself. And as you
‘re bringing that picture into your vision inside your beautiful mind. I want you to really tap into the sensations that you experienced in that moment. Feel into the temperature, notice if there was a breeze, and think about how both of those felt on your skin. What can you see in your mind’s eye? Notice the colors and the points of interest that help you to remember this whole experience. What can you smell? We’re tapping into all of those sensations. Notice what you can hear around you, including your own heartbeat. Can you hear it beating inside your chest now?
I can. So, as you tap into that, I want you to just check in with your breath. Where is it right now? Is it in your upper chest, or is it lower in your belly? So, as you’re checking into where you are breathing into, I want you to take your right hand and put it over your lower belly, and just rest your thumb over your belly button. Because this is where our center is, this is where our courage lives. And as you notice how you feel as you access this part of you, you can even imagine this fiery ball of energy radiating there.
The thing is, this courage has been there all day long for your entire life. And if you want to slowly open your eyes, you can. But I just really want you to understand that tapping into your courage is as easy as that. It’s as easy as taking the time to close your eyes just for a few moments, to place your hand over your belly, and just using this technique, it’s called the Hara technique. And being able to tap into your own courage so that you can quiet down everything around you and move through anything. Then I know I feel better.
The other part of working through our anxiety, something that isn’t a popular thing to do, is acknowledging our own negative talk and our own negative emotions. Nobody teaches us how to be angry. Actually, most of us know that my chronic pain was caused because of the anger I felt inside of me. And I know that a lot of people look at me and they think, ‘I’m 5 foot 2, how could I be filled with the rage that I was filled with?’ But I really was. Being the oldest girl in my family and having everything how I felt, it was I was in charge of making sure everybody else was happy except for me. So, over time, I know I’ve had some incredible life experiences, but it finally caught up with me.
So, as I was able to acknowledge those critical, negative voices we heard about earlier, the itty-bitty committee in my head, and being able to just really embrace them and love them and let them be heard, that was very important to my healing. So one of the things I do in my work is tap with my clients, and I tap also daily. It’s called the Emotional Freedom Technique. I don’t know how many of you have heard of that. And so, I don’t know how many of you practice it on a daily, but it really changes everything for me.
As I think about fighting for what we want, there are new devils at every level we ascend to. You know that saying, ‘New level, new devil.’ As I said before, we aren’t taught how to acknowledge all of the negative emotions, but tapping helps us do many things. But I’m just going to point out three things that I like to share with my people that it does for us. And these are all scientifically proven statistics because that’s how my brain works. Sometimes, the smarter you are, the more dangerous it is when it comes to healing because you need to have those facts. Your brain is always researching, ‘Well, if it doesn’t have a scientific basis to it, then it won’t work for me.’ But these are science-backed.
When I don’t know how many of you have heard about cortisol levels, but cortisol is a hormone that we all have inside of us, and we have to have it inside of us because it’s the hormone that helps us wake up in the morning. So, if you feel especially nervous right after you wake up in the morning, it’s because that is when your cortisol levels are actually the highest. So tapping in the morning is a great thing to do, or even realizing that helps as well. But tapping helps to reduce our cortisol levels. It also helps to quiet the amygdala, which is this almond-shaped part of our brain that we also have to have, just like cortisol, because it works to keep us safe. It’s kind of like the home for our fight-or-flight reflexes. Tapping helps to quiet that down as well.
The third thing that I would like to point out is that tapping also helps to create neuroplasticity, and it becomes easier to access. As I think about how I got to where I am today, I want to go back to my former self. I taught high school for a long time, for 25 years, and I taught psychology, economics, and government. I really loved working with those kinds of people because they were so open to what I was sharing with them, but they also were very vulnerable, just like we are as adults. And a lot of times, we shut down even more the older we get.
But with what I’m doing now, I’m hoping the tools that you’ll learn today from me will help you to shed a little bit of that skin so that you can feel better about who you are. So, as I think about my own nervous system, in about 2018, I started to really show signs of what I know now to be a lot of anxiety that actually developed into chronic pain. I wasn’t ever, thankfully, one of those people who ended up in bed or on the couch for years and years. I was one of those people who didn’t quit, and that’s part of why I ended up in that situation. So, taking the time to really check in with yourself is super important. That’s one thing that we’re going to do together today.
I was just getting to the point where I realized that I had this power inside of me, this courage so that I could change how I had actually patterned my behavior. So, owning that was the first step. I spent a lot of money and saw a lot of different doctors, and nobody could really just give me the magic pill. Because, as maybe you know, there is no magic pill. It’s the work that we do that helps us really change who we are.
So, as we think about courage, I don’t know if you have a definition of that yourself, but to me, courage is this fiery spirit that we have inside of us that we can tap into at any moment. It helps us to really lean into any experience that we’re having. And courage is not an absence of fear. So, I don’t want anybody to think that if you’re courageous and brave, you can still feel the fear, as it’s been said before, but it’s the ability to really triumph over it that just changes everything in your life when you can do that.
But I also want to link courage with confidence because when we look at the bigger picture, as you are courageous in your life, then that fills up this confidence tank that we have too. And it helps us do things like this, like come and talk to people in person. It helps us to share our story. Because really, when you look at going through those sorts of experiences, it’s not easy, especially when it is, as Jeff was talking about, this invisible sort of condition where nobody, people would look at me. They’d be like, “You’re the chillest person I know.” And I would be like, “On the outside, but on the inside, I wasn’t.”
So, practicing the practices that I have now in my life helps me to tap into courage and confidence. So, as you think about the difference between those two things, I want you to, for just a moment, really think about some time in your life when you were courageous. So, just really think, and probably now that I’m accessing those thoughts with you, you’re able to think of more than just once that you were full of this bravery.
And if you want to, just close your eyes for a moment and really think about how you felt during this experience. As you’re doing that, I want you to think about how you looked. If you can get a picture of yourself, just really zoom out so you can look back on yourself. And as you bring that picture into your vision inside your beautiful mind, I want you to tap into the sensations you experienced in that moment.
Feel into the temperature, notice if there was a breeze, and think about how both of those felt on your skin. What can you see in your mind’s eye? Notice the colors and the points of interest that help you to remember this whole experience. What can you smell? So, we’re tapping into all of those sensations. Notice what you can hear around you, including your own heartbeat. Can you hear it beating inside your chest now?
I can. So, as you tap into that, I want you to just check in with your breath. Where is it right now? Is your breathing in your upper chest or lower in your belly? So, as you’re checking into where you are breathing, I want you to take your right hand and put it over your lower belly, and just rest your thumb over your belly button because this is where our center is. This is where our courage lives.
And as you notice how you feel as you access this part of you, you can even imagine this fiery ball of energy radiating there. And the thing is, this courage has been there all day long for your entire life. And if you want to slowly open your eyes, you can. But I just really want you to understand that tapping into your courage is as easy as that. It’s as easy as closing your eyes, just for a few moments, to place your hand over your belly. Just use this technique, it’s called the Hara technique, and tap into your own courage so that you can quiet down everything around you and move through anything.
Then, I know I feel better. The other part of working through our anxiety, something that isn’t a popular thing to do, is acknowledging our own negative talk and our own negative emotions. Where nobody teaches us how to be angry. Actually, most of us know that my chronic pain was caused because of the anger I felt inside of me. And I know that a lot of people look at me, and they think, “I’m 5 foot 2. How could I be filled with the rage that I was filled with?” But I really was.
Being the oldest girl in my family and having everything how I felt it was, I was in charge of making sure everybody else was happy except for me. So, over time, I know I’ve had some incredible life experiences, but it finally caught up with me. So, as I was able to acknowledge those critical, negative voices as we heard about earlier, the itty bitty committee in my head, and being able to just really embrace them, and love them, and let them be heard, that was really very important to my healing.
So, one of the things that I do in my work is tap with my clients and daily. It’s called the Emotional Freedom Technique. I don’t know how many of you have heard of that. And so, I don’t know how many of you practice it on a daily, but it really changes everything for me. As I think about fighting for what we want, there are new devils at every level we ascend to. You know that saying, “New level, new devil.”
As I said before, we aren’t taught how to acknowledge all of the negative emotions, but tapping helps us do many things. But I’m just going to point out three things that I like to share with my people that it does for us. And these are all scientifically proven statistics because that’s how my brain works. Sometimes, the smarter you are, the more dangerous it is when it comes to healing because you need to have those facts. Your brain is always researching, “Well, if it doesn’t have a scientific basis to it, then it won’t work for me.”
But these are science-backed. When I don’t know how many of you have heard about cortisol levels, but cortisol is a hormone that we all have inside of us, and we have to have it inside of us because it’s the hormone that helps us wake up in the morning. So, if you feel especially nervous right after you wake up in the morning, it’s because that is when your cortisol levels are actually the highest. So, tapping in the morning is a great thing to do, and I even realize that it helps as well.
But tapping helps to reduce our cortisol levels. It also helps to quiet the amygdala, which is this almond-shaped part of our brain that we also have to have, just like cortisol, because it works to keep us safe. It’s kind of like the home for our fight-or-flight reflexes. Tapping helps to quiet that down as well. The third thing that I would like to point out is how tapping also helps to create neuroplasticity.
And probably as short a time ago as five years ago, nobody was talking about how the brain can actually change, but we know it can. I see many of you out there shaking your heads. Yes, it can. I know it can, thank God because I didn’t want to live with the pain I had every single day. I didn’t want to feel like I was always on. So, just knowing that our brain can change is super helpful.
If you are interested in going through a tap with me, I have a short tapping script to do with everybody. EFT works on the body’s energy system, and some meridians run through us. If any of you have had acupuncture before or done acupressure, we’ll hit nine different points. I’ll go through them if you want to follow me and do them after. You can. I have statements that I’ll say as we go through it, and you can repeat them after me. The key is, and I ask you to say this because your brain is always listening to you and believing everything you say. It believes every thought you have. As you said earlier, we have 80 to 90,000 thoughts daily, and they’re on repeat. The same thoughts that we had yesterday are the thoughts that we have today, and they’re there for a reason – they’re there to keep us safe.
So, I cannot open up your brain, I can’t undip your skull and open it up and take an eraser and take away those negative thoughts. But what I can help you do is I can help you shine a brighter light over those thoughts, and through tapping, we can take away some of the negative ones. So, if you’re up for it, then if you will, just in your seat, kind of scoot to the back. I like to disconnect my sit bones with my chair, so that would entail reaching underneath you and pulling your flesh out so that you can bring your hips over your sit bones and make your side body long. You can take your shoulders, scrunch them up, and then roll them back, so we’re opening up our heart space. And then think about bringing your ears over your shoulders so we have this nice alignment going on.
So, you can imagine having this imaginary golden thread coming out the top of your head, connecting you with God, with source, with the universe. And what we’ll do then is start tapping on the karate chop points. The karate chop point is right here. You can do it like this, however. But before we start, I just want you to stop for a moment and think about how you feel right now on a scale from 0 to 10. If you feel super relaxed right now, you would rate yourself lower, closer to a zero, and if you feel more anxious, you would rank yourself a little bit higher, closer to a 10. Just go with your intuition. I’m having you do this because then we’ll also check in after the tap to see if it works for you.
So, if you have your number, we’ll start, and we’ll start on the karate chop point. “Even though I face challenges with my health, I deeply love and accept myself.” You can be my echo, however, or you can do it in your head, whichever is more comfortable for you. “Even though I feel scared and uncertain, I choose to believe in my inner strength and resilience. Even though I don’t think I’ll ever completely heal, I am choosing to believe in my inner power. I know I can really have my own back.”
Okay, moving to the eyebrow point, which is right here. “Even though I still feel like I’ll never heal, I choose to believe in my inner strength.” To the side of the eye, “I know I’ve been through some tough times, but I’m still standing.” Under the eye, “I release the fear and doubt that have been holding me back.” Under the nose, “I am strong and capable and worthy of love and happiness.” To the chin, “I’m proud of myself.” To the collarbone, “I’m tapping into my inner courage and happiness.” Under the arm, “I choose to face my fears with bravery and grace.” To the top of my head, “I’m embracing my power because I’m worth it.”
Back to the eyebrow point, “Even though I still feel scared, I’m choosing to trust in my strength and resilience.” To the side of the eye, “I’m letting go of my past experiences and focusing on my present.” Under the eye, “I’m proud of myself for overcoming the obstacles that have gotten in my way.” Under the nose, “I’m building a life that I love that aligns with my values.” To the chin, “I am worthy of love and happiness.” To the collarbone, “I’m tapping into my inner wisdom and intuition.” Under the arm, “I’m taking action towards my goals with courage and confidence.” To the top of the head, “I’m grateful for my progress and excited for my future because I am so worth it.”
To the eyebrow point, “Even though I faced so much pain, I’m still here and still fighting.” To the side of the eye, “I’m letting go of any self-doubt and negative beliefs about myself.” Under the eye, “I am capable of overcoming any obstacles that come my way.” Under the nose, “I’m so grateful for the strength inside of me.” To the chin, “I’m embracing my inner courage and taking risks that lead me to my dreams.” To the collarbone, “I am worthy of love, success and happiness, success and happiness.” Under the arm, “I’m so proud of myself.” And finally, to the top of the head, “I am creating the life I know I deserve because I’m worth it.”
So, as you slowly stop tapping on the top of your head, if you want to bring your hands over your heart and just really check in with yourself. Notice any changes that you have right now in your emotional state and congratulate yourself because you’re worth it. You are so worth it, just taking this little bit of time. I hope that you feel more centered and more relaxed, and if this worked for you and you’d like to explore more, that’s what I do. I help people learn how to tap. It’s a powerful tool that I’ve used for about three years now, and I am proof that it works. I don’t have pain anymore; I have a healthy amount of anxiety.
And I would love to connect with you. So, I have business cards to hand out to everybody, and there’s a QR code on there that you can use to connect with me through my calendar. I also have a free Facebook group that Toni has been in, and I do weekly TAPS there for free. I would love to have you join me there. As we go through the rest of our afternoon, just know how grateful I am for all of you paying attention to me, and I’m excited to connect with all of you. Thank you very much.
[Applause]
That was amazing, ladies and gentlemen. Give it up for Tracy Eleftheriadis one more time!
