What is EFT Tapping?

Emotional freedom techniques

In this article, you will learn about what EFT Tapping is, how it works, and how it helps in overcoming physical and mental challenges.

With multiple responsibilities and fields in which to excel, the average adult’s pace of life has become increasingly hectic.

With the changes in lifestyle and increase in day-to-day stress, it may be difficult to find time to care for one’s physical and emotional well-being.

This leads to an unfulfilling and stressful life, offering little joy or sense of happiness. Much more than before, we hear so many people suffering from mental health conditions like anxiety and depression, and physical conditions like heart problems, cancer, and other chronic diseases.

There are so many treatments and therapies out there, but do they truly heal on a deeper level?

Well, there is this one therapeutic technique that is unique and promising. And that is Emotional Freedom Techniques or EFT.

So, what brings you here?

Are you going through a physical or an emotional problem? Or are you simply curious to know about EFT?

If you are completely new to EFT, you'll be amazed after reading this blog!

EFT Tapping is a holistic wellness and therapeutic tool to let go and be happy. But there's much more to it; keep reading to find out!

WHAT IS EFT TAPPING ?

EFT Tapping refers to Emotional Freedom Techniques. It is an alternate therapy technique that works on a holistic level. This healing modality falls under the fairly upcoming field of energy psychology, which states that all physical and mental problems are born from our unresolved negative emotions.

EFT is the only talk-and-touch therapy which involves a process of tapping (gently, with fingertips) on specific points on the face and upper body while saying certain statements out loud.

The basic EFT Tapping technique involves focusing on a negative emotion at hand. This can be a fear or tension, a worry, an unpleasant memory, or any unresolved problem.

Then comes tapping using your fingertips to tap 5-7 times on specific meridian points of the body. This has to be done while maintaining your mental focus on the issue. (1)

Tapping on these specific points, while addressing the root cause of the issue, sends a calming signal to the brain, and allows you to feel relaxed and in control.

At first, it may seem weird and woo-woo because of it's nature, but EFT has been clinically proven, and used worldwide by millions. The clinical studies show that EFT Tapping can reduce depression, anxiety, traumatic stress, phobias, pain, cravings, negative emotions (for example, anger, sadness, grief, fear, hurt, and guilt) and negative memories.

The tool works on the principle that clearing such negativity gives room to well-being and calmness to enter the mind.

EFT can be used for:

Fear and phobias
Pain relief & management (Chronic pain)
Decision making and self-image related challenges
Anger management
Stress and anxiety management
Productivity & consistency
Goal setting and performance enhancement
Trauma and depression
Weight loss
Physical ailments
Abundance
Addictions
Schools & institutes
ADHD/ADD/Dyslexia
Sports performance
Relationship issues
Parenting Issues
Lifestyle diseases like hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, cardio-vascular, cervical etc

HOW DOES EFT TAPPING WORK?

EFT has its roots in ancient Chinese medicine with a combination of modern psychology. It involves tapping on acupressure points and repeating specific phrases, which releases stress and emotional traumas.

According to the founder of EFT, Gary Craig, whenever we experience a negative or traumatic event, it is stored as a distressing memory. Even if we may consciously not remember it, it's stored in our body, causing a disruption in our body's energy system. This disruption in the energy system causes unresolved negative emotions.

These emotions if pent up for long, take the form of physical illnesses.

The goal of EFT is to clear the energy disruption. The memory is still present, but without the disruption in the energy system, the memory no longer causes a negative emotion.

Some people are bothered by their memories and others are not because some people's energy systems become imbalanced from a memory, while other people's energy systems do not.

Tapping on the acupuncture points and saying phrases out loud rewires this system and balances our energy.

This creates a feeling of peace, calm, and liberation. It also engenders a cognition that is more empowering, and the individual is left feeling motivated and cleansed.

EFT is often called "tapping" because of its central feature that involves tapping with your fingertips on acupuncture points on the body. These points are usually referred to as "acupoints". Research has shown that pressure on acupoints, can be as effective as acupuncture itself. Some also call EFT as 'acupuncture without needles'. (2)

When you think about any negative experience, like an embarrassing incident at work, a fight with a family member, or a miserable childhood event, it produces emotions like anger, fear, shame, resentment, guilt etc. These emotions cause your stress level to rise. When you use EFT, the intensity of these emotions reduces, often to nothing, and often in just a few minutes. (2)

This reduction in emotional intensity indicates that your stress level is diminishing. Stress affects your whole body, from your heart rate to your breathing to your blood pressure to your degree of muscle tension. Your body, brain, and emotions function as a whole and when you feel an emotional response, your body translates it into physical changes in circulation, respiration, digestion, and every other organ system. (2)

Tapping on the meridian points while thinking about what is causing you stress sends a calming signal to the brain and helps your mind understand that you are not in any real or physical danger and it is safe to relax, reducing stress levels.

This is also why EFT works with such a wide variety of physical as well as mental problems, as they’re all affected by stress.

Tapping gives you the chance to bring your life back into balance and reduce stress around your relationships, finances, weight, pain, fears, and so much more.

"Tapping is one of the most powerful ways to peel those layers away of chronic stress" - Dr Mark Hyman

A BRIEF HISTORY OF EFT

The theory of Acupuncture teaches that energy flows through our body through pathways called meridians. When there is a blockage or interruption of that flow, diseases are caused. Acupuncture or acupressure can be used to remove those blockages.

The idea that stimulation of the physical body could play a role in psychological healing arose gradually in the second half of the 20th century, when clinical psychologist Roger Callahan combined tapping on acupoints with exposure therapy.

He first discovered that he could cure phobias with this technique. Later, he went on to apply it to other psychological conditions like anxiety, depression, and PTSD. This method is called Thought Field Therapy (TAT).

Then, one of Callahan's students, named Gary Craig, simplified Thought Field Therapy and called it Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). While TFT used detailed diagnostic methods to assess which acupoints to tap and in what order, EFT simply involves tapping on 12 specific points in any order.

WHY EFT?

Besides being clinically proven to resolve such a vast majority o issues, there are many reasons which make EFT a unique and feasible therapeutic technique.

1. No-Side Effect: There aren't any negative side effects from EFT. This is because there are no surgical procedures, no needles, no pills or chemicals, and no pushing or pulling on the body. Instead, there are just a few seemingly harmless procedures that involve tapping, humming, counting and rolling your eyes around in your head.

2. Simple to Learn: Basic EFT takes only minutes to learn. You can easily find many tutorial videos on our Instagram page - https://www.instagram.com/vitalitylivingcollege/ and youtube page- https://www.youtube.com/c/VitalityLivingCollege

3. Easy to Use: All you need to use EFT are your finger tips, a simple script and a few minutes. Since you are the one tapping with your own fingertips with a comfortable amount of pressure, it’s very gentle on your body.

4. Only Take Minutes: It only takes a few minutes for each round of EFT. You can easily find a few minutes each day to work on your chosen issue.

5. Take it anywhere: You can easily take EFT with you wherever you go. You can do EFT while at home, on vacation, and even in the shower.

6. Versatile: EFT can be used on a wide variety of issues. You can use it for addictions, cravings, anger management, weight loss, limiting beliefs, anxiety, emotional issues, doubt, stress, public speaking, self-esteem issues, pain management, guilt, forgiveness, fears, phobias, and sports performance.

7. Help Others: One of the most rewarding reasons to learn EFT is so you can help others. Family, friends, or clients will be amazed at the quick results. You can easily help them perform EFT on themselves.

8. Great Results: The effectiveness of EFT is very well documented. Everyday people are amazed that something so quick and easy can give so effective and lasting results. We often have client's scratching their head, wondering how their issue has improved in just minutes.

"If you don't think your depression, anxiety, stress and sadness impact your health, think again."

kris carr

THE 7 STEPS TO THE EFT TAPPING PROCESS

Now, after having got a basic idea about EFT, you must be curious to know what exactly are these meridian points, and how to get started with tapping.

So, finally, below is the basic process of EFT Tapping, that you can do on yourself.

1. Identify the problem by asking yourself:

What am i stressed about? What is upsetting me? Who is upsetting me?
How does that make me feel? How does that really make me feel?
Where in my body do i feel this stress or upset? What kind of a sensation is it? How does that make me feel?

2. Measure the problem by asking yourself:

Where 10 is high severity and 1 is low severity, how severe is the stress?
Where 10 is high severity and 1 is low severity, how severe is the emotional upset?
Where 10 is high severity and 1 is low severity, how severe is this negative feeling?

3. Start the EFT Tapping process by tapping on the side of the hand (also known as the Karate Chop). Use the middle three fingers of one hand to tap on the side of the hand of the other hand, and say and believe the following statement: “Even though I am faced with…(state specific, detailed problem – what you feel, the severity number), I deeply and completely accept myself. Repeat 3 times.

4. Use EFT tapping to tap each point seven times as you say a phrase from each problem’s statement.

Repeat key phrases out loud while tapping on the following points:

Eyebrow – at the edge of the eyebrow just above the nose
Beside the eye – on the bone bordering the outer corner of the eye
Under the eye – on the bone just under the eye
Under the nose– between the bottom of the nose and the upper lip
Chin – midway between the point of the chin and the lower lip
Collarbone– at the junction where the breastbone, collarbone, and first rib meet
Under arm – under the arm about 10cm from the armpit
Thumb – on the outside of the thumb, in linewith the base of the nail
Index finger – on the side of the index finger closest to the thumb, in line with the base of the nail (refrain if pregnant)
Middle finger – on the side of the middle finger closest to the index finger, in line with the base of the nail
Little finger – on the side of the little finger closest to the ring finger
Karate Chop– on the edge of the hand(refer to diagram)

5. To begin the final clearing stage, tap on the Karate Cop again with the following statement: “Even though I am faced with…(state specific, detailed problem – what you feel, the severity number), I deeply and completely accept myself.

6. Relax, inhale gently, then exhale gently. Take a sip of water.
It is important to drink water to flush out the toxins that this treatment will release.

7. To test the results, measure the problem again from 1 to 10. Notice how the problem and associated emotions have been altered in severity. If any emotional charge persists, repeat all step still you feel liberated.

"Put away your skepticism, this really works. I've had great results with tapping in my own life."

wayne dyer

DOES EFT ACTUALLY WORK?

In recent years, there's been a growing pool of undeniable research proving that EFT Tapping produces real, lasting results.

Here are a few most popular research studies (3):

Renowned psychologist and EFT researcher Dr. Peta Stapleton, published a study in 2012 in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, which found that EFT Tapping lowered cortisol significantly more than traditional talk therapy or resting.

Cortisol levels of participants were measured via their saliva before and after treatment. Each group received EFT treatment for 50 minutes and cortisol was measured in their saliva before and after as well as psychological symptoms. The EFT Tapping group had a 24% reduction in cortisol, while the non-treatment group only had a 14% drop in cortisol.

Another study showed a 90% drop in PTSD Symptoms after 6 weeks of EFT Treatment.

Not only did EFT far outperform the effects of standard care for PTSD, but the results were also stably maintained at the 3- and 6-month marks. A group of 60 veterans clinically diagnosed with PTSD were randomly assigned to either EFT treatment or standard care.

Each participant in the EFT treatment group received one 60-minute EFT session per week with a practitioner, over the course of 6 weeks.

After the 6 weeks, 90% of participants who received EFT treatment no longer met the criteria for PTSD (moreover, they would no longer be diagnosed with PTSD).

Among those who received standard care, only 4% no longer met the criteria for PTSD. Moreover, 96% of that group remained clinically diagnosable with PTSD.

Brain scans confirmed that 76% of patients treated with EFT experienced complete remission.

This study included an observation of brain changes after treatment for anxiety.

This study was first of its kind and used pre- and post-treatment functional brain imaging (through computerized EEG, evoked potentials, and topographic mapping).

The brain scans showed a shift toward normal levels of brain activity in patients treated with tapping (EFT). After a few sessions of EFT, the images shifted from red (highly dysfunctional waves) to blue (calmer state), and this corresponded with a decrease in the frequency and intensity of anxiety symptoms.

Patients who received CBT treatment along with medication also showed similar changes in their brain scans, but they took a longer treatment time to achieve this.

Also, after 1 year, CBT patients’ brain scans were more likely to have returned to their pre-treatment levels than the EFT patients. The EFT patients were more likely to maintain their improved state of lessened anxiety.

After EFT Tapping, MRI scans proved that those parts of the brain that usually activate cravings and hunger in response to certain foods no longer did

In this study 15 obese adults in total were randomly chosen. 10 were allocated to an EFT Tapping treatment, and 5 received no intervention for their cravings. They were all scanned using fMRI before and after a four-week EFT Tapping treatment phase.

It was proved that the amygdala, which used to light up when exposed to certain foods, stops getting activated upon the exposure of the same food after the EFT treatment.

Just 4-hours of EFT Tapping produced a remarkable reduction in psychological distress, pain, and cravings in health care workers.

Participants received a 2-hour workshop on EFT Tapping and then a 2-hour session where they self-applied the technique. Immediately before and after the workshop, participants measured their pain levels, emotional distress, and food cravings. After the 4-hours, they reported significant improvements.

All participants were contacted 90 days later to see if they had continued to self-apply EFT Tapping once a week, 3 times a week, or not at all.

It was found that higher use of EFT Tapping was associated with a steeper decrease in psychological symptoms. The study found EFT Tapping to be effective for immediate as well as long-term relief from issues typical in burnout: pain, distress, and cravings.

Test anxiety in high school students went down significantly after EFT Tapping.

In a large study, 70 students were identified with high-level test anxiety using the Test Anxiety Inventory. They randomly assigned these 70 students to a group that received progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) techniques or to another group that received EFT Tapping treatment.

A statistically significant reduction occurred in the test anxiety scores of both the groups, but The EFT group had a significantly greater decrease than the PMR group.

Not just research, our participants have so much to say about EFT. Take a look:

Dr Rajesh CM healed his back pain completely after attending EFT training and now routinely helps his patients heal from body pain with results in only a single sitting.

“After attending EFT Training with Vitality Living College I became even more powerful and effective in my private practice. I now have 5 to 6 patients daily and every patient is satisfied through EFT. For any kind of pain, for example in the knee, back or head I am getting good results.

"The best part is, in a single sitting my patients get more than 70% and sometimes 100% relief. In my own case before attending EFT Training I used to have severe back pain and through attending the EFT Training session it has gone completely.”

Even though London based working professional, Avni Radia wanted to lose weight, she found it hard to adhere to a regular exercise and nutrition regime, until EFT.

“After learning EFT, I motivated myself to commit to a health nutrition, diet and exercise program and I lost 20 kg in12 weeks.”

Software Engineer, Uma Anguraj, overcame her fear of public speaking and spoke from the heart to the EFT class at the end of the Fears and Phobias Sessions.

Sadhna Batouri Singh was able to rid herself of anger and irritability and is now free from unwanted feelings and emotions.

“Today, while I was cleaning the book shelf, I found some old letters and photos from years ago which always made me feel agitated before and used to remind me of the very bad days. But this time while I was looking at them, I didn't feel that way.

"Actually now, there comes a smile on my face by remembering those days. A few months before I worked on my memories, by using EFT, to release the anger and annoyance related to those painful experiences.

"I was really surprised today as I saw those old pictures, that there was no more pain or anger while remembering those days… I have really tapped them away! I am now free from unwanted feelings and emotions. It’s really due to the Emotional Freedom Technique, I thank dear Rangana for that.”

Father Leo, who has a busy psychotherapy practice, found that EFT reduced the number of sessions needed: “I've been practicing as a counsellor with many other therapies. This is the first time I discovered a therapy that is so effective in a short duration to bring out the core issues of people.

To help them to be in touch with themselves and to discover the areas that they need to become aware to grow and to make a change in their life, to acquire this new freedom that this technique gives to all of us.

Anushri Shah, Counselling Psychologist, agrees. "EFT is a great therapy. It is quick as it works by balancing the client's energy system. Negative emotions are released much faster and through a safe mechanism, which providesthe client much relief in just a couple of sessions.

I have been using it with my clients and they have all found it to be an effective technique; most of them see immediate results. It is highly recommended.”

Love,

Dr Rangana Rupavi Choudhuri

P.S. Want to discover if EFT is right for you? Book a Complimentary Discovery Call.

How To Self-Heal & Become An EFT Practitioner

Discover how EFT Tapping can help you to self-heal or to become professionally qualified as a Certified EFT Practitioner. Emotional Freedom Techniques (Tapping) is clinically proven to lower stress, tension, anxiety, past trauma to enable health, happiness and vitality.

BOOK A COMPLIMENTARY DISCOVERY CALL

In summary, EFT is one of most powerful healing tools today and can be used for healing any physical and mental problems. Once you learn it, it becomes very convenient to apply it on various everyday stressful situations as well. Use EFT on yourself or others for a happy stressful life and see the wonders!

References:

https://www.thetappingsolution.com/
The EFT Manual by Dawson Church, PhD
https://www.thetappingsolution.com/science-research/

Disclaimer: The information on this website is purely for educational purposes and does not in any way replace the requirement for medical and psychological diagnosis and treatment. Please seek professional medical and psychological diagnosis and advice for all medical and mental health conditions. It is advised to always book any consultations with qualified professionals.

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