What is EFT Tapping?
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) or "tapping" is a gentle approach to feeling better, improving our quality of life, changing stuck patterns and habits, and healing emotional wounds. It can be used alone (for self-help) or together with an experienced practitioner.
There is a lot of varying opinion as well as 275+ peer-reviewed scientific studies (both long-term and single-session studies with followup) into what tapping is, the mechanism of how it works on a bio-chemical level, and why it works. A study is currently underway (February 2023), approved by the APA (American Psychological Association), to evaluate the effectiveness of EFT for trauma and PTSD to be included as a recommended 'evidence-based' treatment.
In my experience, tapping is an intervention that helps us have our difficult thoughts and emotions. By doing so, we engage and calm the nervous system, "follow the trail" and thereby address images, thoughts or memories that arise organically. Its not a placebo, not a distraction technique - it affects us bio-chemically in ways that are measurable both by science and by our experience. If we tap and it helps us sleep better, heal from traumatic experience, or make more conscious decisions, for example – why wouldn't we do it? Also, long-term research followup shows that old behavior often does not return after we've addressed it with skillful tapping.
Tapping is empowering because we can easily learn to use it to help ourselves. To try it, tap along with the Constricted Breathing Exercise or get started tapping with the free How to Tap Guide and Free Tapping Points Chart from EFT International. Once you've learned the points, you can also download and print this handy 1-page Tapping for Self-Care sheet.
When EFT is facilitated by a skilled, compassionate and experienced EFT professional, there is a communion and collaboration that happens during a session or a group of sessions. Being assisted and witnessed is one of the reasons working with an EFT Practitioner can be a healing and transformative experience. To learn more about personal EFT sessions, click here.
What is the science behind tapping?
To begin to understand EFT, we can look to our understanding of how stress effects us.
When we are stressed out and feeling poorly – even at a so-called low level – our bodies are in a state of discomfort or even high alert. This sense of stress can continue for hours, days, weeks or months, depending upon our unique orientation to life. We might be quite used to this, or simply accept it as a part of living – even as we struggle under the weight of it – physically, emotionally, in our relationships...
This pressure can seem to come from outside of us, but consider that it actually comes from within us - from our own negative thoughts, unexpressed feelings, or as a response to the early troubling experiences we still carry.
When our stress responses have been activated, we find ourselves in a state of fight, flight, freeze, flop or fawn. Our bodies release adrenaline and cortisol - powerful stress hormones designed to help us take action for safety and survival or shut down for the same reasons. Sometimes this response is appropriate (jumping out of the way of a speeding car, for example), and sometimes it isn't (e.g. inability to express ourselves clearly, screaming at loved one, stuffing down our pain, reaching for the bottle, etc.)
275+ peer-reviewed studies (including 35+ RCTs) show that even one session of EFT can help us calm our nervous systems on a bio-chemical level and create long-lasting changes. Visit the EFT International Science and Research section to learn more. See also Dr. Peta Stapleton's The Science Behind Tapping.
How does EFT tapping work?
When we allow ourselves to have what we are having (e.g. the stress of negative thoughts, "bad" feelings, memories or symptoms we've been avoiding or pushing away), we can feel better, often in a matter of minutes. Research shows that tapping (and tuning-in to the issue at hand), slows the release of adrenaline and cortisol, and can return us to calmer state of being. In other words, tapping is a somatic (body-centered) and systematic approach we can use to experience the benefits of being present – to ourselves.
Everyone has had negative or painful experiences, and each of us deals with these in our own ways: Some of us self-medicate (with food, alcohol, drugs or shopping, for example) others externalize (scream, abuse, blame, etc.) and still many more internalize the pain in the form of self-blame, anxiety, physical symptoms or negative thinking. Sometimes it's a combination of all of these. In essence, we humans can get in the habit of pushing away or trying to bury difficult thoughts and emotions.
Simply put, EFT (or Tapping) helps us sit with these feelings in a structured and proactive way. By tapping on the endpoints of acupuncture meridians and putting words to what feels wrong or uncomfortable (thoughts, feelings, or body sensations), our amygdala (the part of the brain that regulates mood by releasing powerful stress hormones to keep us safe) – can genuinely relax. When we are no longer in a state of fight, flight, freeze, flop or fawn – we can become more naturally grounded and calm.
Can EFT help heal trauma?
"Trauma is what happens inside of us" – Gabor Maté
EFT can reliably calm our outsized stress responses – like fear, frustration or chronic anxiety – in the moment it is happening, allowing us to think more clearly and restoring our choice-making ability.
In skilled hands, EFT can further be used to address and disarm what gets activated that is often at the root of our stress – those bad things that happened, our negative thoughts about them, our unfortunate conclusions about ourselves – so our nervous systems can safely relax. We may be trying to protect ourselves – consciously or unconsciously – from bad things happening again. We may even be responding now based on how we were conditioned by what happened way back when.
It may well be that our stress responses now are trauma responses – our complex responses to difficult events, situations or times in our lives. An EFT approach allows us to begin gently having our pain (as opposed to pushing it away) so that it can ease. In many cases, as we tap and allow what's most present for us in the moment, a trail can open up back to the early times in life when we developed our strategies, behaviors and protective coping skills. By being present to the feelings, images, or memories that arise while we tap – we create the space for our discomfort (or "stress") to naturally change or evolve. In this way, tapping can bring lasting relief.
Do you think your issues might be stress or trauma-related? If you sense EFT may be right for you, a program of personal EFT sessions can help. How often do you really give yourself the opportunity to be present to yourself or notice what's going on under the surface of your current situation?
How can I learn EFT?
If you're new to EFT, I've co-written a free introductory manual (available from EFT International). Download it here to get started exploring how tapping can help you.
Are you interested in the science behind EFT or the research that's been done? There are 35+ Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs, the gold-standard for research) involving EFT and EFT-related modalities. Head over to EFT International to explore the research archive.
Finally, if you've heard about EFT, experienced it, or sense that it might be the right tool to help you better assist your clients, consider an EFT training course (with a list of skilled EFTi Trainers). During the course you can practice the ins and outs of tapping with other students in a fun, engaging and cooperative group environment – a fantastic way to learn this life-long skill.
