Takeaway: Researchers in the field suggest the emotional freedom technique has the capacity to bypass the stress response and may even rewire the brain. 

Ever feel overwhelmed? Anxious? Stressed out? In pain? When those moments arise, you are perfectly poised to experience the peace, relief, and calm that follows a “tapping” session. Tapping, also known as emotional freedom technique (EFT), is a gentle self-care method to restore balance, release stuck feelings, and curtail negative self-talk. The practice of EFT disrupts the hamster wheeling of unhelpful thought patterns by generating a new body-brain feedback loop. This pattern interruption is provided by physical touch (yay, touch!), accessing meridians and intentional affirmations. The simple steps described in this article are all you need to start generating gentle, transformative healing for yourself.

East Meets West

EFT was initially developed in the 1990s by Stanford engineering graduate and neurolinguistic programming specialist Gary Craig, who was inspired by the work of psychologist Roger Callahan, PhD, and Thought Field Therapy (TFT). In the decades since, EFT has gained popularity globally and has been clinically proven to manage stress, reduce cortisol levels, improve anxiety, and even treat PTSD in veterans.

EFT has been described as psychological acupressure or energy psychology because it combines the power of traditional Chinese medicine with modern neuroscience and psychology to help generate potent healing results. This touch therapy technique involves tapping on specific points (acupressure points) found along meridians (channels of chi or energy) while focusing on a particular challenge, pain, or feeling. Researchers in this field suggest that EFT has the capacity to bypass the stress response and may even rewire the brain. “By focusing on a stressful thought that’s creating tension in your body and gently tapping your fingers on these specific points, you send a calming signal to your brain,” says Jessica Ortner, an EFT tapping expert and founder of the Tapping Solution app.¹

Both of us have turned to EFT over the years to assist with a project, ease a pain in the body, help let go of a nagging thought, and inspire change. We’ve found it especially helpful when wanting to create a new practice or start something new. Creating a new habit can be hard, especially when research indicates it takes an average of 66 days to create a new habit (and some studies assert it may take as many as eight months or 254 days to forge that new habit). 

We can all use help in breaking through old cycles that no longer serve us. EFT helps us transform unhelpful thoughts and habits into new attitudes and possibilities. It continues to be a reliable self-care tool, easy to access and incorporate most anytime and anywhere. Try EFT now and experience the vitality this self-care tool provides by weaving physical and mental awareness to activate your creativity and resourcefulness.

EFT Focus Phrase and Stress Scale

The basic EFT technique begins with identifying a specific distressing feeling, pain, or project you want to change. Examples might be “my neck hurts,” “I feel overwhelmed by . . . ,” or “I’m sick and tired of . . .” Rephrase the words (and even embellish with other examples of your challenge) until they reflect heartfelt and genuine meaning to you. Practice speaking unarguably by using “I” or “my” statements. 

Once you’ve discerned a succinct and authentically true statement, rate it on a 0–10 stress scale. Zero equates to no stress around the focus phrase and 10 relates to the greatest stress imaginable. There are many EFT variations available, though we find the following sequence personally beneficial, and we hope you do too. 

Begin by repeating your focus phrase, and then buttress it within the context of acceptance or affirmation. Doing this signals to your brain and neural platform that you are safe, and therefore creates the space necessary for healing. For example:

• “Even though my neck hurts, I totally love and accept my body.”
• “Even though I feel some anxiety, I accept how I feel and choose to relax.”
• “Even though I don’t know what to do next, I deeply and completely love and accept myself as I am.”

The next step is to add tapping on specific areas. As you repeat your focus phrase aloud multiple times, you will use your fingertips to tap several times on nine specific acupoints.

The Tapping Points

Following is the sequence and location of the acupressure points to be tapped, as well as their associated Chinese medicine meridian channels: 

• Side of hand, sometimes referred to as “karate chop,” associated with the small intestine meridian
• Inner eyebrow, located on the bladder meridian, where the eyebrows begin, closest to the bridge of the nose
• Side of the eye, related to the gallbladder meridian, located on the greater wing of the sphenoid (temple bone) directly lateral to either eye
• Under the eye, along the stomach meridian, located on the zygoma or cheekbone directly under either eye
• Under the nose, associated with the governing vessel, on the philtrum above the upper lip
• Chin, associated with the central vessel, located in the crease below your bottom lip and above the chin (soul patch)
• Collarbone, along the kidney meridian, located below the medial border of the clavicle
• Under the arm, along the spleen meridian, on the lateral body, approximately four inches beneath the axilla
• Top of the head, associated with the governing vessel, located on the crown of your head

Now that you have your focus phrase and you know where to tap, let’s start tapping! 

Begin tapping at the karate chop side of your hand several times while saying out loud your focus phrase at least three times. Then, tap each of the next points multiple times, moving down the body in this order saying your focus phrase out loud at least three times on each point.

Feel free to tap using one or both hands and include one or both sides of the body. And don’t worry if you skip a point. Rather than emphasizing an exact analytical repetition, EFT practice is focused on creating a new-felt experience. Repeat until you feel a shift. The goal is to feel a decrease on your stress scale or notice a shift. We know something is shifting or changing when we feel ourselves take a big breath, sigh, yawn, or burp. Notice what shifts occur for you. You know when the tapping session is complete when you are no longer bothered by—or even forget—what you were tapping about.

After you have given yourself the gift of this practice, reassess and notice. Has your stress scale number changed? Tune in to yourself and connect with your body, mind, heart—has anything shifted? Even a slight, subtle shift is a significant signal that your struggle is untangling from within to reveal and liberate the energy beneath. As you move through these steps, feel free to express your focus phrase in different ways that allow you to express the emotion you’re experiencing more fully and powerfully. The more you allow yourself to feel the challenge, the more likely you will interrupt the physiological response and transform that feeling into a new experience. 

One of the fundamental laws of physics asserts that energy cannot be created nor destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another. With EFT, we are alchemizing the distress and transforming it into a new feeling of flow, openness, and possibility.

EFT is a simple and powerful way to tend to your well-being whenever inevitable challenges or distress arise. We are using touch, intentional affirmation, and self-reflection bolstered by some of the most potent practices from global healing traditions and modern psychological innovation. EFT equips you to be in a balanced, powerful state, content in your energy and body so you are available to be present for yourself, and with your clients, friends, and family. Use it daily or weekly and repeat as many times as feels good to you—there’s no limit on how much transformation you can provide for yourself. And here’s the good news: As you fortify your resilient transformative practice, you become an invitation and inspiration for others to do the same! 

Note

1. Caitlin Kilgore, The Well, “All About Tapping,” last modified August 12, 2022, www.the-well.com/editorial/what-is-eft-tapping.

Resources

Church, Dawson et al. “Psychological Trauma Symptom Improvement in Veterans Using Emotional Freedom Techniques.” The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 201, no. 2: (2013) 153–60. https://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Abstract/2013/02000/Psychological_Trauma_Symptom_Improvement_in.14.aspx.

Church, Dawson, Garret Yount, and Audrey J. Brooks. “The Effect of Emotional Freedom Techniques on Stress Biochemistry.” TheJournal of Nervous and Mental Disease 200, no. 10: (2012) 891–6. https://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Abstract/2012/10000/The_Effect_of_Emotional_Freedom_Techniques_on.12.aspx.

Clear, James. “How Long Does It Actually Take to Form a New Habit? (Backed by Science).” Accessed June 2023. https://jamesclear.com/new-habit.

Healthline. “EFT Tapping.” Last modified April 6, 2023. https://www.healthline.com/health/eft-tapping.