There are 2 important aspects to address when tapping on the possible emotional contributing factors to a physical pain or symptom. These are:
1) What we think caused the pain or symptom and how we feel about that;
2) The future consequences we anticipate might take place as a result of having this pain or symptom and how we feel about that.
A few examples of how this might sound like:
– Even though I’m so angry at myself, how could I be so stupid to not notice that chair was in my way and now my toe hurts a lot! and I feel this anger in my chest, I accept this is what I’m feeling right now.
– Even though I feel really sad that now I’m not gonna be able to take that ski vacation that I was really looking forward to, because I caught my finger in a door, and I feel this sadness in my throat and eyes, this is what I’m noticing right now.
By tapping on these “past and future” emotionally contributing aspects, our nervous system can get out of “survival mode” (sympathetic nervous system fight or flight, or dorsal vagal shutdown) and into a more relaxed and grounded state. This allows our body to not be so tense and provides a more conducive state for rest, healing and regeneration to take place.
A caveat worth mentioning is that if the pain or symptom was brought about by a traumatic incident, I recommend you tap on that with a certified practitioner, so as to ensure you can process that memory safely.