Do you know about EFT tapping? It can help you self heal and improve different physical and emotional conditions.
Is your life riddled with emotional baggage and unhealthy lifestyle choices? Are you settling for a life full of chronic physical pain, trauma, addictions, and emotional emptiness? Do you struggle to experience mental peace, joy, and happiness? Then it’s time for you to ditch those pills and try EFT tapping to heal your trauma.
Most of us are trapped in a life of feeling anxious, sad, depressed, and generally unwell. We are tired of relying on expensive doctors, psychologists & ineffective treatments to feel relief from physical pain and experience happiness. The fact is our physical body and our emotions are paradoxical allies. And this is where tapping comes in.
It can enable us to experience emotional wholeness and relief from physical pain. Tapping is a simple, free and effective technique that anyone can utilize to boost their overall well-being.
What Is EFT Tapping?
Emotional Freedom Techniques or EFT is a practical self-help healing tool that can help you treat issues related to emotional distress, physical pain, and performance. Also known as Tapping, it is universally used as psychological acupressure. Developed by Gary Craig, author and Certified Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, EFT is an alternative treatment that helps to treat anxiety, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) & other conditions.
EFT tapping requires that you use your fingers and tap gently on the acupuncture points on your body. However, this should be done along with the meridian lines of Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The method involves tapping different points on our body, mainly on the face and the head, in a specific sequence. While tapping, you need to focus on a particular issue that you want to heal.
Tapping is a revolutionary form of acupuncture that helps to heal physical and emotional pain by using fingertips to tap and stimulate our body’s energy points. EFT is a simple technique that can be practiced almost anywhere and mastered easily.
This therapeutic technique can help you treat –
- Chronic pain
- Soreness
- High blood pressure
- Autoimmune diseases
- Weight loss issues
- Insomnia
- Depression
- Stress
- Anxiety
- PTSD
- Addictions, compulsions & phobias
- Other physical & emotional conditions
Related: The Chinese Body Clock: Why You Wake Up Every Night At The Same Time
Can Tapping Help You?
“The cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body’s energy system.” – Gary Craig
According to the above EFT discovery statement, our negative energy develops with difficult emotions, thoughts, and memories. Tapping our body can allow us to tune into this energy and find a balance to treat various emotional and physical issues. All we need to do is tap the body on precise pressure points while being aware of our negative patterns. The objective is to promote emotional & physical healing and achieve relief from issues that affect us.
According to Gary Craig’s official website, the entire healing technique is based on the premise that regardless of which aspect of your life needs to be treated, you first need to address the unresolved emotional issues that are blocking the way. This includes chronic pain, physical issues, and even diagnosed conditions. Craig believes that emotional stress can seriously affect our body’s natural healing potential.
“EFT can be applied directly to physical symptoms for relief without exploring any emotional contributors. However, for the most powerful, longest-lasting results with EFT, we do expect to identify and target related emotional issues…. EFT can be an ongoing process that we use to clear out the old traumas.” – Gary Craig (emofree.com)
But is this all just a claim of a well-meaning person? Or is there any science behind it?
What Does Research Say?
The fact is, several scientific studies have been conducted to validate the effectiveness of EFT Tapping and most of them have concluded that it can help greatly in healing different conditions. One study examined how EFT therapy can specifically help veterans with PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) symptoms. It was found that over 90% of the veterans undergoing EFT treatment showed signs of improvement after only 6 sessions. In fact, the veterans no longer had the symptoms that met the clinical criteria for PTSD.
A 2016 research report on 14 EFT studies found that individuals who have practiced EFT tapping have experienced a significant reduction in the levels of anxiety. Another 2019 study analyzed the physical & psychological reactions of 203 people participating in EFT workshops.
The study found that almost all these individuals experienced notable reductions in PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety, and pain. They also showed improvements in cortisol levels, blood pressure, and heart rate. The participants even reported feeling a lot happier after the EFT workshops.
Several more studies have been conducted and more research is being currently undertaken to determine the efficacy of EFT & similar practices and how this technique can help us, physically, mentally, and emotionally.
In fact, a 2016 report which reviewed 20 studies found that EFT was exceptionally effective in managing and reducing depression in practitioners. >The findings revealed that the self-help healing method was “equal to or better than” various standard depression treatments. Another 2017 research revealed that EFT can be a highly effective and helpful tool for students as it improves their communication skills and enables them to feel more relaxed and calmer.
Related: Emotional Muscle Memory: How To Release Painful Emotions Trapped In Your Body
How Does EFT Tapping Work?
Tapping works in the veins of acupressure and acupuncture. Instead of using needles, this technique uses the fingertips to put pressure on the energy hot spots or the meridian points. According to TCM, meridian points are pathways through which the body’s energy flows. These spots help to maintain balance in the flow of energy in our body. However, imbalances in the energy flow can affect our physical, emotional, and mental well-being.
EFT helps to restore the balance of energy so that it flows smoothly in the body. It also helps to relieve signs and symptoms associated with difficult emotions caused by negative experiences. Practitioners believe that tapping allows us to access the energy in the body and send signals directly to the area of the brain which manages stress.
It is believed that by stimulating our meridian points with tapping, we can reduce stress and restore balance in our disorganized energy flow. This helps to resolve various physical and emotional issues.
How To Practice Tapping
EFT tapping is widely used by individuals who experience stress and anxiety. You can also practice it if you want to resolve a specific issue. However, if you think an upcoming event or a person can make you feel stressed and anxious, then it can be helpful to do tapping beforehand.
Here are the 5 steps of tapping that will help you resolve your issues and eliminate feelings of negativity when practiced in the correct sequence.
1. Identify the issue
The first step requires you to focus on what problems and ailments are affecting you. By identifying the phobia or fear you are suffering from you can set an aim at which you will target your tapping. However, you need to make sure that you only focus on one particular issue at a time to make the technique effective.
2. Test the initial intensity
Once you have identified the issue, make sure to set a benchmark for the level of intensity of your problem. You can rank the intensity level on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the most difficult or worst. This rank will help you assess the amount of physical and emotional discomfort you experience from your issue.
Moreover, the ranking system will also allow you to monitor your progress and the effectiveness of EFT after completion of the sequence. For instance, if your original intensity level was 8 before tapping and 4 afterward, then your progress level is 50%. It means you need to improve another 50 percent.
3. The setup
Before you start each round of tapping, you need to decide on a simple phrase that explains what you wish to address and achieve. Make sure to repeat this phrase continuously as you tap the KC or karate chop point located at the center of your outer hand.
The phrase must be established in a way that it focuses on the following 2 primary goals:
- Acknowledging the problem/issue
- Unconditionally accepting yourself regardless of the issue
The standard setup phrase for EFT can usually be said like this:
“Even though I have this (issue), I deeply and completely accept myself.”
You can obviously modify this phrase based on your issues or what you aim to focus on while tapping. Your problem can be absolutely anything but should only be your own personal problem. Tapping doesn’t work if you aim at healing someone else’s issues.
For instance, if your parents are unwell, you can’t say:
“Even though my parents are sick, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
However, you can address this issue by focusing on how the problem makes you feel personally. Hence, you may address this problem by saying:
“Even though I’m upset my parents are sick, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
Related: Emotional Muscle Memory: How To Release Painful Emotions Trapped In Your Body
4. The sequence
The sequence for EFT tapping involves careful and precise tapping on the ends of 9 different meridian points. According to TCM, there are 12 main meridians that relate to an internal organ and reflect each side of our body. But EFT primarily focuses only on 9 specific meridians.
These 9 meridians include the following:
- Karate Chop (KC): Small intestine meridian
- Top of the Head (TOH): Governing vessel
- Beginning of the Eyebrow (EB): Bladder meridian
- Side of the Eye (SE): Gallbladder meridian
- Under the Eye (UE): Stomach meridian
- Under the Nose (UN): Governing vessel
- Chin Point (CH): Central vessel
- Beginning of the Collarbone (CB): Kidney meridian
- Under the Arm (UA): Spleen meridian
Start by tapping the Karate Chop point as you keep saying the setup phrase simultaneously. Make sure to recite the phrase 3 times. You also need to remember that you must utilize 2 or more fingertips for tapping and tap repeatedly for approximately 7 times on each meridian point.
Once you’re done, perform EFT tapping for the rest of the meridians while going down your body in ascending order as mentioned below:
- Beginning of the Eyebrow (EB)
- Side of the Eye (SE)
- Under the Eye (UE)
- Under the Nose (UN)
- Chin Point (CH)
- Beginning of the Collarbone (CB)
- Under the Arm (UA)
After you’ve finished tapping in the under the arm point, complete the sequence by tapping on the Top of the Head (TOH) meridian point. When you tap the 9 meridians in ascending order, make sure to recite a reminder phrase, which is different from your setup phrase. Your reminder phrase should be simple as it only needs to identify your issue with minimum words.
For instance, if your setup phrase is:
“Even though I’m upset my parents are sick, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
Your reminder phrase should be something like this:
“The sadness I feel for my parents’ sickness.”
Recite the reminder phrase every time you tap each meridian point. Make sure you perform this sequence at least 2 to 3 times.
Related: Press This Button On Your Body To Help Relieve Your Stress And Anxiety
5. Test the intensity again
Once you’re done with the sequence, assess the intensity level of your issue one more time and rank it on a scale from 0 to 10. Preferably, your practice of EFT will improve your condition and lower your rank from before. Now compare the before and after results of your intensity level. Make sure to practice the process repeatedly until the rank of your intensity comes down to zero or at least plateaus.
Tap Away Your Issues
EFT tapping is a self-healing, psychological acupressure treatment that you can use to improve different physical and emotional conditions. It is an effective therapy-based tool that can help you to restore balance in your body’s disrupted energy flow.
Several studies have found tapping to be highly beneficial for people suffering from chronic pain, depression, anxiety, and even PTSD. Although more research is required to determine its effects on other illnesses and disorders, there is no doubt that Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) can help anyone and everyone live a better, healthier, and happier life.
Although alternative self-treatment tools like tapping can be helpful, it is crucial that you also visit a doctor or seek professional help to cope with physical ailments & emotional issues.
