Welcome! If you are reading this, then you have chosen to take charge of your mental health, and your life, in the most positive, empowering, and effective ways. EFT gives you exactly what it says: Emotional Freedom. To that I have to say, Congratulations!!! So let’s not waste any time, let’s get right to it!
What is EFT?
EFT is an acronym for Emotional Freedom Technique, and its only aim is to give you freedom from emotions that are keeping you from living your best life possible. Not only can it free you from negative emotions, it can do it easily and relatively quickly. EFT is something you can do all by yourself, you don’t need any special tools, and you can pretty much use it anywhere. It’s pretty much the perfect therapeutic tool that you have available to you at all times. I know that it has immensely changed my life! I think almost every human being on this planet has something in common, we all want more peace in our life.
EFT was developed by Gary Craig in 1995 and its first version, known as tapping, utilizes the Chinese energy meridian systems. If you are familiar with acupuncture, then I’m sure you know what the meridians are. The meridians are lines of energy that run throughout our bodies. They connect to organs, glands, limbs, etc and all have endpoints that are accessible on the outside of our bodies. There are meridian points everywhere, such as the fingertips, body, head, and face. Energy can get disrupted within the meridians because of things such as stress, trauma, and just life itself! Acupuncture uses needles to address the energetic disruptions, but EFT Tapping only uses the fingertips which is what makes it super practical and usable. With EFT Tapping, you use your fingertips to gently tap on the end points of the meridians (we only use the ones on the head and upper torso) while talking about what you want to resolve. That’s it! It really is that simple. What the tapping does is remove the energetic disruption in the meridians that occurred at the time of the trauma. I will be showing you exactly how to do this for ANY negative emotion. EFT is perfect for addressing things such as stress, anxiety, fears, phobias, anger, worry, sadness, trauma, depression, self-esteem issues, weight loss, PTSD, physical issues & pain. If you have any of these then EFT is for YOU!
What are the tapping points?
Since EFT Tapping is nearly 30 years old, Gary Craig has spent almost 3 decades perfecting what works, and eliminating what’s not needed. There used to be many more tapping points and other techniques used within the process, but throughout the years, Gary has determined that for most things, only 9 tapping points are needed. These are:
1 – The Karate Chop point
2 – Top of the head
3 – Eyebrow
4 – Outside of the eye
5 – Under the eye
6 – Under the nose
7 – Chin
8 – Collarbone
9 – Under the arm
Tips for tapping:
– tap hard enough to feel it but not so hard that it hurts
– use at least 2-4 fingers to do the tapping. I use the whole hand on the top of the head and under the arm.
– you can tap on either the right or left side, or both if you like
– tap on each point a minimum of 5 times
What types of things can I tap on?
Tapping can be used for almost anything you can think of. Things such as negative emotions, feelings, sensations, physical issues, and pain can be easily minimized or removed with a few minutes of tapping. It also goes deeper than that into physical issues like diseases, because every physical manifestation has an underlying emotional cause.
Examples of negative emotions you may want to resolve are: stress, anxiety, sadness, worry, grief, fear, phobias, depression, trauma, self esteem, PTSD, as well as more physical things like skin issues, weight loss, pain, and any physical disease.
***Before you start tapping, make a list of your current ailments, negative emotions, physical issues, and anything you’d like to get rid of.
So, how do you do the tapping process?
Before you start tapping, there are some important things you need to do first. Here is the whole process:
1 – Decide what you are going to tap on
2 – Rate the intensity
3 – Formulate the setup
4 – Create the reminder phrase
5 – Start tapping
6 – Re-rate the intensity
7 – Do another round of tapping if necessary
1. Decide what you are going to tap on: What is your current issue? Are you feeling anxious, do you have a headache, are you stressed, depressed, feeling fear, lonely, sad? Just pinpoint what you’re feeling and write it down on a piece of paper.
2. Rate the intensity: On a scale from 0-10, how intense is what you’re experiencing? 0 being nothing, 10 being the most intense you’ve ever felt. Some people find it difficult to use a 0-10 rating system. If you are one of those people, find what works for you. Maybe low/medium/high. Or a color scale. Whatever makes sense to your brain, use that! And write down the intensity next to the issue.
3. Formulate the setup: (This is what you will say when tapping on the Karate Chop point) This isn’t as hard as it may sound. Most of it is already written for you. You will just fill in the blank. “Even though I have/am feeling this _________, I deeply and completely accept myself.” Examples: If you’re feeling anxiety you’ll say, “Even though I’m feeling really anxious right now, I deeply and completely accept myself.” “Even though I have this pounding pain in the left side of my head, right above my ear, I deeply and completely accept myself.” The key is to be as descriptive as you can. If it’s pain or a physical issue, describe exactly how it feels and where it is located.
4. Create the reminder phrase: (This is what you will say while tapping on all the other points) This is just a short phrase to keep your mind focused on what the issue is. Examples: “This anxiety”, “This pounding headache”, “This sadness”,
5. Start tapping: Start tapping on the karate chop point while saying the setup phrase. Once you complete that, move on to the top of the head and say the reminder phrase. You will want to tap at least 5 times on each point.
6. Re-rate the intensity: Tune in to your issue. Close your eyes if it helps you make a better connection. Ask yourself if it’s still at the original intensity. Chances are that it has come down. If it’s at a 0, awesome! If not, do another round of tapping. If your issue was physical and it moved locations, this means it has changed aspects (the emotion underneath has changed). Readjust your setup phrase and do a new round of tapping.
7. Do another round of tapping: If your intensity is not yet at a 0, which means it is gone, then you will do another round of tapping. Most issues do not go to 0 after one round unless they were low in intensity to begin with. If you do multiple rounds of tapping and it still is not a 0, this means you will have to go a bit deeper. A lingering emotion means that there are specific events that are contributing to the issue and you will have to tap on those.
*Specific events:
Think back to all the moments in your life when you felt the same exact emotion/way you are feeling now. It will help to phrase it like this: “The moment when ___________ happened, and I currently feel __________. Write down all the moments you remember when you felt this way. To get the best and quickest results, you will want to go back to the very first event and work on that one.
*Example: “The moment when my brother said I looked ugly, and I currently feel sad”. Rate the intensity of your sadness now (NOT then) and write it down. Then your setup phrase would go something like (remember to be as descriptive as possible. Describe the setting of the event as you remember it): “Even though I feel so sad when I think about that time when I was 12 years old, I was in the kitchen with my brother, and he said I looked ugly, I deeply and completely accept myself.” Then your reminder phrase would go something like, “This sadness when my brother said I looked ugly”. Do a round of tapping and re-rate the intensity.
If you need further help with your healing goals, please contact me so we can discuss your needs. You may schedule a private session appointment or learn about my memberships which help you go deeper into your healing journey, both with me and on your own. I have something to fit the needs of everyone!
***Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and this is not to be used as medical advice or treatment. If you have a medical issue or emergency, please see your doctor. If you have trauma that may be disturbing to address, please do not attempt to address it yourself. Please make an appointment for a private session so I can slowly & gently address the trauma without the chance of you being re-traumatized.