Inspiration

The Cure for the Common Cold

Written by: Nick Ortner

The downside to having a cold/the flu/whatever other bugs: Sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy-head, fever, all that other really nasty stuff…

chicken noodle soup with a carrot heartUpside: Warm soup, someone taking care of you, an excuse to do nothing, cuddly warm blankets, and hopefully, an extra hug or two.

A few months back, I caught a nasty bug that swept throughout my family in a matter of days. It wasn’t pretty, you probably know the type. I don’t want it ever again. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemies.

I mean, truly, awful 24 hours, I’ll skip the details for your sake.

But, the warm soup was nice, sitting on the couch watching TV was nice. And knowing there wasn’t anything else I “should” be doing was nice. When I asked my wife Brenna for things I needed (foot rubs included, gosh do they help) it was genuinely enjoyable.

Finding Mental Strength in Physical Sickness

And as I started to feel better, the moment approached where I knew it was passing. I was SO grateful for relief from pain and discomfort, I said to Brenna, “I’m actually feeling a lot better. The nausea has gone away and I’m getting some food down, but can you still take care of me a while longer?”

couple-cuddling-on-sofaShe laughed at my honesty and said, “Of course!” and we had a great discussion about how neither of us needed to feel awful to ask the other person for help or to be nurtured a little bit extra.

It was a wonderful moment of clear communication and acknowledgment of our needs. We discussed what’s stressing us out, and contributing to our physical state.

I’ve had several experiences working with people who had colds/flus/ and so on. In fact, my first experience working with my sister Jessica was around a sore throat and sinus headache. She thought I was nuts telling her to tap all over her body to help with her symptoms. Part of her probably thought it was a practical joke as well because I’ve got a history of that.

But when we drilled down to what was going on in her life, the stress she was experiencing, her throat stopped hurting and her sinuses cleared in a matter of minutes! (I detail the whole story and wider implications for it in my book here)

Be Present, Be Aware

Now, I don’t think tapping magically kills cold viruses. I don’t think tapping can stop a 24-hour stomach bug in its tracks. But I do believe that being aware of the stress in our lives, of our emotional needs, and tapping on them, can keep the immune system strong and healthy and able to fight these bugs off in the first place. The connection has been studied and clearly established: Stress, of virtually any sort, depresses our immune system.

So when we acknowledge what we need, when we have that warm soup or extra hug without being sick, when we tap on our stress, overwhelm, anxiety, whatever is going on, our immune system can stay strong and resilient. And if we do happen to catch that bug, tapping can be extremely helpful on the symptoms, on nausea, pain, and so forth.

So take a moment to acknowledge what you might be stressed out about. Even taking just 5 minutes to be mindful and clear even a piece of it will help. Feel how when you let it go, your immune system strengthens, your body relaxes, you feel at peace.


What’s your “favorite” part of being sick? Can you incorporate those things in your life WITHOUT getting sick?



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27 Comments on this post

  1. TRUDIE says:

    Sitting at my desk I felt cold coming on. That familiar scratchy throat which always leads to cold. So I went home and started tapping. First rounds on acknowledging the fact that I had a virus. Next rounds on gratitude/ good timing, I wasn’t traveling, an ok time if I had to be sick. Final rounds were saying “I release these toxins…I release these toxins ….nowI feel the healthy cells appearing”. This was the mildest cold ever. 6 days of mild symptoms. Tapping works!!!

  2. Blanaid says:

    Namaste toThe Tapping Solution and thank you for helping me heal my body, love from Blanaid

  3. Tanya says:

    I have to admit that one of my upsides of being sick is taking a day off because usually I have a really hard time taking a day off for fun… So my body does it for me… Now I’m aware of my deserving issue and working on it and a whole bunch of other things with tapping. Thank you for making EFT such a common tool!

  4. Jennifer says:

    Hi Nick, love your article. I ‘got sick’ a few months ago and was encouraged to understand( by the group of helpers that I have) that I wanted time off from the stresses and responsibilities of work and family and did not feel that I could ask for it so I gave myself the excuse by getting ‘sick’.
    I have worked with metaphysical causation of dis ease for years so the timely reminder was taken on board as they say and I anticipate a flu free future
    Tapping has been an important tool I use to maintain health and life balance so thank you all for the gift of tapping.
    xo Jenni

  5. kitty says:

    Thanks so much, Nick! I’ve forgotten about tapping until I read your message. I guess I have too many things in my mind lately besides having the bug. Of to my tapping now…you’re an angel!

  6. Judith Rivera Rosso says:

    Thank you for taking the time to write this. So happy that you’re feeling great again. I’m an EFT Practitioner here in Italy. There is a lovely thing Italians say when they wish someone well; “stammi bene”. That means, stay well for me. So, Nick, for all of us out here in the world, stammi bene, ok?
    Judy in Italy 🙂

  7. Anne Aiken says:

    Nick, I know something about those foot rubs. They are simply the BEST!!! My husband has wonderful hands and while he rubs my feet, it puts me to sleep and he doses off as well. He enjoys me giving him manicures. We both cook and have a great time treating each other well. These treatments work well when making up too…LOL. Thanks for the article.

  8. denise says:

    Nick … I’m glad you’re better and that you have someone there who loves and cares for you. Re tapping, I still can’t seem to do it in a way that reduces my almost constant anxiety. Any hints, can’t do the tapping one on one with someone. Do you have any videos on youtube that would help me learn more? Thanks.

  9. diane says:

    Hey Nick…..liked this article (soup sounds really good) Already have the Tapping Solution and try working with it often. Also really liked Jessica’s workshop on weight loss. You guys are both great. Thanks for all the great work you share!

  10. Kimberly says:

    Something I do with my children when they are sick is to tap their immune system into action. One of my daughters woke up just this morning with a really froggy voice and a sore throat. We tapped about the voice and the throat, but then as we were tapping around the points, we also said, “Attention white blood cells. There is a possible infection in the throat. All available white blood cells, please proceed to the throat to investigate and defend.” After a few rounds mixed like that, her voice cleared, the pain left and she went off to school her normal chatty self. I don’t know what tonight will bring, but we’ve had very good results with this approach. My daughters don’t actually get real fevers anymore, just an elevated temperature between 99 and 100F. It’s a bit of a problem, because I don’t know if they are contagious or not! But it’s a great problem to have!

  11. Brooke Pugh says:

    Nick and Brenna;
    Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. The more I read about this, the more positive my outlook on the future of alternative health. The soup looked brilliant; Brenna was spot-on with the reflexology angle, and Nick, this next may sound a bit snide, but it is not intended to be…not bad for a Connecticutian!!! 🙂

  12. Maureen says:

    Always sort of believed this since I was a kid. Nice article–for explaining how it really happens.

  13. Herachik says:

    Thank u so much, I am feeling the same way as you wrote. Its about 10 days I have cellulitis in my leg, I was in hospital 6 days, I do tapping, some qigong, etc. Your work is so helpful.

  14. Adeline says:

    Thank you. It’s so good. My friend’s husband is recovering from a surgery and he behave the same way you did. I’m sending your e-mail to the wife. She will laft as I did, she’ll know what to do and say. I hope both of them will appreciate it as I do. Thanks again!

  15. Katie says:

    Very interesting perspective. Just a few days before Thanksgiving, I turned down working with a client who is very difficult and I knew was going to suck the life out of me and wouldn’t appreciate any of my efforts but yet I felt tremendously guilty about it. Literally, the next day I got sick and I NEVER get sick. and this bug thing kept me from being with family over the holiday. I should have tapped about the guilt rather than letting the guilt manifest into illness. Holy smokes. didn’t put the two things together until reading your comments. Thanks for the insight!

  16. Martha says:

    Your email is timely as this is my 6th day battling sinus issues! Stress? Oh yes, i can relate! I actually went for a NAET treatment this morning and when the Naturopath went to put in the acupuncture needle in my left sinus above my eye, the pain was excruciating and I actually began to cry and also hyperventilate. She remained quite calm and explained that I was releasing emotion. This practitioner also does EFT and will guide me when the time is right. I do some tapping with the help of you and Jessica. Thanks, Nick!

  17. Pat Boyer says:

    Wish I had someone to rub my feet when I get sick!

  18. Muriel says:

    Hi Nick and yes great your blog. and yes tricky putting into writing what Tapping actually does, but it DOES!!! and that’s the best bit cause I think that trusting something to work is half the battle, the old placebo effect? but not only, tis’ t more like a green light saying, yes tapping can help, you may go forward. And for me, what I’ve found is that once I’ve given the go ahead to tapping then all the emotional stuff is allowed to appear as I now have a tool to deal with it and not be submerged … otherwise i’m gonna get a cold right ? to deal with the confusion and feel sorry for myself. With the tapping I can get to the real causes and let them go, as best I can of course, and even if it doesn’t all go in one go, it’s always that much clearer after a tapping session ! thank you guys for all your work !!!! and keep enjoying your foot massages, even without a cold ! (-:

  19. Babs says:

    What a great, great article. You’ve distilled the good and bad of being sick and given us such clarity on this matter! I love your suggestions, too. And, I’m thankful that you are surrounded with such love and caring. No wonder you can do so much for all of us.

    Have a lovely holiday season and Christmas (or Hanukkah).
    Babs

  20. Glenda Westphal says:

    I would love a foot rub too Brenna but I live a bit too far away in a little town called Hopetoun on the great southern coast of Western Australia. I flew to Melbourne from Perth for the I can Do It conference where I enjoyed your session Nick on Tapping and it was the first Time I had heard of it. I’m hooked. I have very severe Tinnitus and at times I get bad anxiety as there is no relief from the head noise however doing tapping when anxiety starts has helped me control it better.. I have the Tapping Solution book and loving it. Thank you for your wonderful work. Have a lovely day.

  21. Nina Manston says:

    Something in all this ‘soup’ to remember…

  22. Marianna Maver says:

    I’m writing this three days after I was laid-low by a stomach bug that swept through 5 of my family members gathered for Thanksgiving (the bug brought on by my 8-month old great nephew & his young parents, who’d been just as sick a couple of days before). I was probably hit the hardest — I didn’t even get out of bed except to run to do “the essentials.”. It to occurred to me to tap, but I just felt too weak & bad. I wanted to mention the circumstances…my mother died last summer, so this was the first holiday we have had without her. None of us 3 siblings, nor or niece or nephew were talking about it, acknowledging her absence. Interestingly, my 3 sibs, who’ve spent massive amounts of time digging through the stuff in my mom’s house, didn’t get sick…and they didn’t appear distressed. But I haven’t been able to get away to my mom’s house to “deal with” my mom’s death in the same way…by delving through my family’s life history and reflecting methodically on all the memories dredged up. I realized while I was laying there moaning that my body/mind was reacting to the stress of my mom’s death & her first-holiday absence. ( It’s possibly, too, all the unspoken tension just wratcheted up to me, the oldest). It also occurred to me (and I told my niece, one of the “carriers,” who is a doctor), that maybe I’d really needed to go to bed for a total rest for a day. Except for my sister bringing me ginger tea (which I requested) all the well ones steered clear of me, but that might have been what I needed. Next time I get sick I’ll try tapping to see if it eases the discomfort & the duration.

  23. raye says:

    LUV ur article on emotional needs addressed and comforted to aid our resilience in order to strengthen our immune system to fight STRESS
    NOW HOW ABOUT UR WIFE’S CHIX SOUP RECIPE! IF THAT IS WHAT IS IN THE PIX- LOOKS UMMIE

  24. Angie says:

    Hi Nick,
    Well what i’ve become aware of over the years of being sick, is usually around the time i’m about to integrate something new… have a growth in consciousness… i get sick. Its my body’s way of making me completely stop the only way it knows how… by shutting down. It then catches all the old stuff, beliefs, perceptions etc, and as i get better and start purging it all out… by the time i’ve recovered, i feel like i’ve had a complete rebirth.
    These days i dont even really get sick… i might start one day with a sore throat and immediately the next day i’m at the end process which is the old stuff becoming trapped in the body’s natural mechanism of ridding itself of sickness by creating phlegm (sorry but i love the stuff), trapping it all within that amazing phenomenal most powerful superglue i’ve ever seen, and then purging it out! Haha!
    I dont tap often except when i watch one of your clips & go thru the process with whoever you’re helping out, but i do appreciate your emails, yours & Jessica’s awareness and your energy and enthusiasm at making a difference. You have wonderful energy which i can sense thru the emails.
    Thank you,
    Angie

  25. Nicole martino says:

    Hi nick, I have to thank you for your tapping experience. I found Marcus, and read some of his stuff and don’t really know how I got on to your website, but there you go! I started looking regularly at your emails about 6 months and attempted a couple of trappings, including some by Jessica, and got into the habit of listening to her on Hay House radio at work. I bought your book, and chuckled every time you reminded me to stop reading and start rapping!
    Over the last 5 years, I have had 6 months of work bullying, followed by my youngest daughter being kidnapped by my ex- husband (it will be 4 years on April 19th that I have not seen her). Then my mother who suffered from alcoholic dementia for some years, took a turn for the worse, and passed away dec 31 2013. I thought that at least she had passed last year, so this year would be a turning point. In September my husband found a lump in my breast, which was cancerous and although was removed before spreading, it was categorised as aggressive, requiring chemo and to be followed by radiation. I have now lost all my hair that went all the way to my bottom, but I am very thankful that that is probably been the worse of the side effects. So I have been lucky in that respect. Jan 12 2015 will be my last intravenous injection, and so radiation should all be complete by my 52nd birthday! So why am I thanking you?
    As soon as I got the word that it was cancer and needed to be removed I googled tapping in Australia, and found this wonderful psychologist who deals with tapping, colours and the universe! I knew, that although I had previously gone to a psychologist, done meditation and tried to look after myself, that I had still not dealt with it, and the stress had simply “gone under cover”. Despite my oncologist saying that stress does not cause cancer, I know that the cortisol, and whatever else gets triggered has been streaming through my body for years probably most of the time, as the past just doesn’t go away. So I will have to disagree with her on that point. Her job for me is to heal the physical so I can concentrate on the mental, and make sure I don’t get any other major health issues to deal with.
    Obviously I have a long way to go, but I feel that the tapping kind of gives you a physical feeling of doing something about it for yourself, that I can do with the psych, and also continue to do at home. I find the tapping mostly helps with quietening the chatter in my head, so that I can then concentrate on sending healing colours around my body, to the areas that need it.
    So thank you for your wonderful outlook on life and the examples you regularly put on your website of people being able to help themselves and clear away past pain and hurts.

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