Can something as simple as tea, slow movement, or tapping shift your nervous system?

In this episode of Healing Is My Hobby, Jessica Colarco steps into the Healing Lab to test gentle, accessible tools for calming anxiety—Tai Chi, herbal tea, and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) tapping. She shares honest reflections on what felt grounding, what surprised her, and what truly helped regulate her nervous system.

You’ll experience a guided tapping exercise, learn how ritual and movement can support emotional regulation, and hear why curiosity and self-acceptance might be the most powerful healing tools of all.

👉 Click here for your free Gentle Grounding Menu

Key Takeaways

1. Healing is personal and curiosity matters.
2. EFT tapping is a standout tool for emotional regulation and anxiety.
3. Tai Chi has real powerful grounding rituals.
4. Herbal tea is a low-cost, accessible grounding tool.
5. Curiosity is a powerful part of healing.
6. Tapping on specific points can reduce stress.
7. Research supports Tai Chi as a mind-body practice.
8. The ritual of tea can act as a mindfulness practice.
9. Self-acceptance is crucial in emotional healing.
10. Finding the right class and mindset is important for Tai Chi.

Chapters

00:00 Exploring Healing Modalities for Anxiety

03:11 Introduction to Tapping Exercise

07:36 Introduction to Tapping Exercise

13:18 NEWCHAPTER

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anxiety, healing, Tai Chi, emotional freedom technique, herbal tea, mindfulness, self-acceptance, emotional regulation, tapping, grounding

Welcome back to Healing is My Hobby, and this is our Healing Lab segment where I try different tools, practices, and modalities so you don't have to, and we learn together. This month, we're focusing on anxiety. And for this Healing Lab, I experimented with three tools. Tai Chi, emotional freedom technique, tapping, and herbal teas. I'll share what I loved, what didn't quite land for me,

and what research actually says about these tools. And at the end, I'll guide you through a short tapping exercise you can try now. Because healing is personal and curiosity matters. So let's start with my Tai Chi experiment.

I went to a local class at the library with a friend and it was an interesting experience. One of my good friends, Karri I know you're listening, her and I love to try new things. We went and did reflexology before, we did a salt lounge, and so for the healing lab, she is like, Jessica, let me know if you're doing anything. I am down to try whatever you're doing.

So I told her wanted to do Tai Chi and she wanted to do it as well. We looked up some places. A lot of Tai Chi classes are at martial arts studios and that was not the vibe I was looking for. So we were trying to look for a different kind of place and we also had to look at what times we're working. We're both business owners, we're both mothers of three and with very busy schedules.

And so we were trying to find a class that work for us and she found a free class at our local library at the Henderson-Paseo Verde Library. So we went to check that out and what was great about it was you didn't have to sign up and it was free. So we showed up to the class and noticed that a lot of people were retired and older, everyone kind of knew each other.

So we wanted to look up this place called Body and Brain in Henderson and that looked so great, but we had a difficult time finding that work. So we show up.

at the Henderson Local Library. We see a woman that had gone to Body and Brain. She loved it. She said they had retreats. It was amazing and she was looking forward to this library class because if it was wonderful, it would be a supplement to her and it was at no cost. So let's just say she left after 10 minutes of the library class. So the library class, the instructor has been teaching Tai Chi for a very long time, but she did it with joy and humor, a lot of talking, a lot of storytelling.

and minimal movement or like you would be walking through like we're doing pose number 29. my friend and I do yoga and Pilates and we've meditated and done meditation classes. Her and I have gone to sound bowl sessions together before. And so we were looking for a really meditative, know, maybe more of a spiritual.

experience and that is not what happened. This class felt more focused on gentle movement, connection, and flow rather than traditional language around energy. So my honest take about Tai Chi is if you are someone who is a perfectionist or tends to get anxious about doing things the right or correct way, Tai Chi might feel frustrating at first.

There are moments where I felt more focused on whether I was doing the movements correctly than actually feeling calm. For me in particular, this class Tai Chi wasn't immediately helpful in managing anxiety, but I'm still very interested in it and plan to explore other classes. think the environment, instructor style, and your expectations really matter. Research actually supports Tai Chi as a mind-body practice that can reduce anxiety and improve mood.

Studies have found Tai Chi can help.

lower stress, improve sleep, and increase emotional wellbeing. It combines gentle physical movement, breath awareness, and mindfulness, all of which help regulate the nervous system. Tai Chi may be especially helpful if you're looking for a moving meditation or a gentle way to reconnect with your body. So the key takeaway here is Tai Chi can be powerful, but the right class and mindset

make a big difference. I am proud of myself and Karri for putting ourselves out there and showing up to a class. I even recommended the class to my parents because it was absolutely a retirement age crowd and you could tell the people were there, like I said earlier, for connection and friendship and to get a little bit of movement in. And again,

we were looking for a mind-body connection experience and we still wanna find that. So I'm not ruling Tai Chi out as an anxiety management tool, but I do think it takes a while to find what class and what vibe you wanna have. And like I said, the research really supports it being an anxiety management tool. But that was a healing lab fail for me this month, which is interesting.

Next, herbal teas. This one surprised me in the best way. I found herbal tea incredibly grounding and soothing for anxiety. And honestly, I don't know how much of that was the herbs themselves versus the ritual. Holding a warm mug, sitting down, slowing down, sipping. Those sensory experiences alone can help bring us back to the present moment. There's something regulating about warmth, smell,

taste and taking a pause. So I think that's why that was really helpful and I was able to take my hot beverage. If you follow me on social media, if you see me on Instagram or YouTube, you can see I had hot tea in the car during my son's practice. I had hot tea in the office. And research shows certain herbal teas may support relaxation. I tried Cup of Calm, which is a tea blend I have in my office as my.

clinical practice, I specialize in anxiety, anxiety-based disorders. And also I tried a lemon balm because I was looking up various teas that help with calming. So camomile has a mild sedative effect and may help reduce anxiety and improve sleep. Lavender has been linked to calming effects and reduced nervous system arousal. Lemon balm may help improve mood,

and reduce stress. Passionflower has been studied for anxiety and sleep support.

Even beyond the herbs, the ritual of tea can act as a mindfulness practice similar to a grounding exercise. Your nervous system loves predictable, soothing routines. So my takeaway here is whether it's placebo, physiology, or ritual, herbal tea is a low-cost, accessible grounding tool.

Finally, we get into what I found to be most exciting, and that is the emotional freedom technique.

It also goes by other names known as EFT. I have been wanting to try tapping for a very long time in my clinical practice to help my clients. And so that is why this was my favorite experiment this month. I absolutely loved it. I've been using it personally, introducing it to clients, and I find it to be an incredibly accessible way to regulate emotions.

Research has shown some promising results. One study found EFT increased happiness by 31 % and another found up to a 43

in cortisol, which is one of our primary stress hormones.

Why EFT works?

EFT phrases help you acknowledge the problem, express emotions, maintain focus on what you're feeling, promote self-acceptance, rewire thought patterns, and rewire thought patterns. You'll hear three types of statements. Setup statements, which are acknowledging the issue and offering self-acceptance. Reminder phrases, short phrases to keep

focused on the feeling and empowering statements which are shifting toward calm, capability, and safety.

Let's try a brief tapping exercise together. If you're driving, walking, or doing something that requires attention, you can just listen and try this later. Think of something that's making you feel anxious right now. Notice where you feel it in your body. Rate it from zero to 10.

Now we're going to tap what we call the karate chop point. So have your hand out, one hand out, like you're doing a karate chop or if you think you're putting your palms together like a prayer and take one hand off and put four fingers below the outside of your pinky and start tapping. You can go back and forth between each hand or just pick one hand, it doesn't matter. And repeat after me.

Even though I feel anxious,

I deeply and completely accept myself. Even though my mind is racing, I am open to feeling a little calmer. Even though I feel overwhelmed, I am safe right now. Now we're going to tap different points and you'll repeat after me. So first, take each of your fingers, your first two fingers, your pointer and your middle finger on each hand.

and start tapping at the eyebrow where your eyebrow meets your nose. And repeat after me, this anxiety.

Move your tapping to the sides of your eyes, not your temple, but a little bit below that where the bone is. Repeat after me. So much overwhelm.

under the eye where you feel the bone there. My body feels tense.

using one hand tap under your nose. All this pressure.

below your lips, above your chin where that little dip is, below your lips. Feeling on edge.

Now tap four fingers, your four fingers, about two inches below your collarbone.

this anxious energy.

Four fingers choosing below your arm. Lift one arm up below your arm, below like a bra line below your armpit, maybe about four to six inches below your armpit. Repeating after me, it's a lot.

one hand tapping at the top of your head. All this anxiety.

Now we're going to repeat the tapping and moving to our empowering statements. Tapping above the brow bone, repeat after me. I choose to feel calmer.

moving to beside the eyes, my body knows how to settle.

tapping below the eye, I can handle this moment.

below the nose. I am safe now.

below the lips, I choose to feel calmer.

Tapping the collar bone: My body knows how to settle.

Tapping under the arm again: I can handle this moment.

Back to the top of your head: I am safe right now.

Take a deep breath in… and out. Notice any shift, even a small one.

Here’s what I learned from this Healing Lab:

Tai Chi has real potential, but environment and mindset matter.

Herbal teas are a powerful grounding ritual, whether through herbs or sensory experience.

EFT tapping is a standout tool for emotional regulation and anxiety.

Curiosity is a powerful part of healing. Trying things, noticing what works, and giving yourself permission to experiment is healing in itself.

Next week, we’re diving into a segment called This Might Be a Trauma Response, where we’ll explore how anxiety can be connected to past experiences, how your nervous system learned certain patterns, and how to respond with compassion instead of judgment.

We’ll talk about what trauma responses can look like in everyday anxiety, how to recognize them, and gentle ways to rewire those patterns.

Jessica:

Thank you for joining me in the Healing Lab. If you tried any of these tools, I’d love to hear what worked for you. And remember—healing is personal, and curiosity matters.