Why is EFT (Tapping) helpful when we’re stressed, fearful or anxious?
Firstly, what is EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique Therapy or Tapping?
Emotional freedom technique (EFT) is a method used to help us manage emotions and troubling thoughts.
We can use it to lower our stress and anxiety. For example, EFT may help calm us if we feel angry, fearful, anxious. Or it may help ease our thoughts if we’re worried or stressed about something, someone or an emotional situation.
How does EFT heal trauma?
- Emotional Freedom Techniques, EFT or ‘Tapping’ is a scientifically proven technique which can release any ‘blockages’ in this energy, which can be the source of emotional intensity and discomfort, and has shown to be incredibly effective at treating PTSD, including for returned soldiers from any war-torn conflict.
- Emotional freedom technique (EFT) is an alternative treatment for physical pain and emotional distress. It’s also referred to as Tapping or psychological acupressure.
- People who use this technique find Tapping our body can create a balance in our energy system and can treat pain. According to EFT’s developer, Gary Craig, a disruption in energy is the cause of all negative emotions and pain. Though still being researched, EFT Tapping has been used to treat people with anxiety and people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
How does EFT Tapping work?
Similar to acupuncture, EFT focuses on the body’s meridian points — or energy hot spots — to restore balance to our body’s energy. Restoring this energy balance can relieve symptoms which a negative experience or emotion may have caused.
Based on Chinese Medicine, meridian points are areas of the body, which energy flows through. These pathways help balance energy flow to maintain our health. Any imbalance can influence disease or sickness.
Although Acupuncture will apply pressure to these meridian energy points, EFT uses our own fingertips tapping on the same points to apply that pressure.
People who use EFT say the tapping helps access our body’s energy and sends signals to the part of the brain that controls stress. Users say that stimulating the meridian points through EFT tapping, can reduce the stress or negative emotion we feel about our distressing issue, thus restoring balance to our disrupted energy.
Here’s how to help yourself with Tapping
EFT tapping focuses on tapping nine of the 12 meridian points of the body to relieve symptoms of a negative experience or emotion.
There are 12 major meridians that mirror each side of the body and correspond to an internal organ. However, EFT mainly focuses on the following nine points:
- side of hand, sometimes referred to as “karate chop” (KC): small intestine meridian
- top of head (TH): governing vessel
- eyebrow (EB): bladder meridian
- side of the eye (SE): gallbladder meridian
- under the eye (UE): stomach meridian
- under the nose (UN): governing vessel
- chin (Ch): central vessel
- beginning of the collarbone (CB): kidney meridian
- under the arm pit (UA): spleen meridian
- Before starting tapping, you need to establish a phrase that explains what issue you’re trying to address. The phrase must focus on two main goals: acknowledging the issue exists and accepting yourself despite the problem.
- A common setup phrase might be: “Even though I have this (fear or problem or anxiety in my body), I deeply and completely accept myself.”
- You can always alter this phrase so that it fits your problem, but it must not address someone else’s problem. For example, you can’t say, “Even though my mother is sick, I deeply and completely accept myself.” Instead, you focus on how the problem makes you feel in order to relieve the distress it causes you. e.g. It’s better to say, “Even though I’m sad my mother is sick, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
Begin by tapping the side of the hand point while simultaneously reciting your focus you want to change or YOUR personal setup phrase three times.
Then, tap each point seven times, moving down the body in descending order from steps 1-9.
