For those of you that haven’t really come across EFT/Tapping before or haven’t got the foggiest what it is I thought I’d put together a blog to explain this amazing tool you could all easily learn to use.

This is the official definition for Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) / Tapping:
A form of counselling intervention that draws on various theories of alternative medicine including acupuncture, neuro-linguistic programming, energy medicine, and Thought Field Therapy.

This is my definition:
It’s one of the most successful things I tried very early on in my recovery from ME/CFS and which I still use regularly to this day. It helped me deal with deep seated issues as well as day to day stress, anxiety and general ill health.

EFT was founded by Gary Craig and is similar to acupuncture (but without the needles!). Basically you tap on meridian points throughout the body whilst vocalising on areas of concern, and this releases the blockages created throughout the body by these toxic thoughts. This then releases the hold these thoughts have over us and most importantly it breaks patterns associated with these thoughts. It’s like a counselling session but without having to open up to someone about your darkest and deepest thoughts. For it to work most affectively you take yourself back to the first time you had the issue or concern and tap about how this made you feel both physically and emotionally. It’s believed that if you can address the root cause of the concern then all the other times this has effected you since then in your life will be addressed in this session also. It is an extremely powerful tool and can release a lot of hurt, emotions, toxic thoughts and long standing beliefs about yourself and others. This not only has really positive physiological benefits but it helps all sorts of physical issues that have actually started due to these underlying thought patterns or at least made worse by them. It can help anything from back pain and weight loss to your love life and depression.

If you look EFT / Tapping up you might get confused by all the different types and styles of it. Please don’t be put off, it’s really simple and is really up to you how you do it. Some people start with the head, others at the place they call the karate chop. Some start with a set-up phrase, others don’t bother. And some even do eye rolls and individual finger tapping. They are all right, no one person’s way of tapping is better than anyone else’s; they are simply different people’s preferences. I personally suggest you keep it simple to start with and once you get the hang of it, you can add other bits if you wish.

So how do you do it?
1. Think about something that is bothering you, but be specific. I am emotional would not be detailed enough, you need to list the reasons why and how this is affecting you within your body and mind. Does is make you feel sick in the tummy, tight in your chest, tearful, drained, scared etc.
2. For the sake of this exercise, let’s name your issue “stress”. Rate the intensity of your stress level on a scale of 0-10 (10 being bad).
3. Next we put together a set-up phrase. The set-up phrase not only focuses the mind on your issue, but has a deeply healing affect itself as it’s like performing affirmations directly on our meridians. Here are some options for the set-up phrase you can use:

Even though I’m feeling ‘stressed’ I deeply and completely love and accept myself
Even though I’m feeling ‘stressed’ I love and accept my young self
Even though I’m feeling ‘stressed’ I’m ok anyway
Even though I’m feeling ‘stressed’ I can choose to be kinder to myself
Even though I’m feeling ‘stressed’ I can accept that this is just where I am right now
Even though I’m feeling ‘stressed’ I want to love and accept myself

Some people find picking the right set-up phrase difficult, as they do not feel very positive about themselves. If you’re one of these people then you can use one of the options further down the list, or make your own up, or not bother with the set-up phrase at all. Whichever way works for you is best.

I know it might seem strange focusing on the negative, as we are always being told it’s important to focus on the positive. But all you are really doing here is vocalising your negative thoughts that you are already having and haven’t already eliminated. You vocalise them to clear the blockages and then you finish your tapping routine on something positive that replaces the negative issue within you.

4. To perform the set-up, tap on the karate chop point (see below diagram) and repeat your chosen set-up phrase three times: Even though I’m feeling stressed, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

5. Tap through all the points shown on the below diagram, tapping each around 10 times (starting with the top of the head and working down one side of your body only) while repeating reminder phrases (like below). Reminder phrases are all the ways this stress has made you feel both physically and emotionally. You could say things like:

This stress makes me feel sick to my tummy
This stress makes me feel tense across my shoulders
This stress makes me feel emotionally and physically drained
This stress makes me feel like there’s a dark black ball in my chest
This stress makes me feel like I want to cry all the time and I have no idea why
This stress makes so angry with everyone, I want to bite people’s heads off
It’s …… fault, they make me stressed, they….
This stress started when…..
This stress makes me feel so out of control

6. If other things pop into your mind whilst you are tapping that seem unrelated then tap on those also. More often than not you’ll be surprised what pops up and is actually related.

7. If you can remember the first time you felt this sort of stress then it’s important to tap on that time and all the thoughts and feelings around that time. This will help all the other times since, including the one you’re going through now.

8. After a couple of rounds of tapping, you should pause, take three deep belly breathes and notice the effects. Then reassess the intensity level. Has the number changed? What is it now? If it has dropped then you’re on the right track. If it hasn’t then there’s something else you should be tapping on. What could that be? What’s REALLY upsetting you?

9. If it has dropped but is not down to zero then refocus on your issue and repeat the tapping process again. The second time around, we can change the wording as follows:

Setup phrase: “Even though I still have some of this stress, I ….”

10. Then say things like: “This remaining stress…makes me feel/hurts/is/etc” (adding in any new feelings both mental and physical about this issue).

11. After several more rounds of tapping you should find the intensity of the feelings reduced to zero. If you stop making progress then sit and think about what else could be affecting this issue (however small or irrelevant and tap on that as well).

12. Either way it is important to try to finish your tapping on a positive rather than a negative. So consider saying things like:

Even though I haven’t got to the bottom of this issue I am open to addressing it and know I will find a way to help myself.
I am open to healing both mentally and physically
I now let go of my attachments to these issues
These feelings do not serve me, I let go of them now
I thank my body and/or mind for protecting me, but they can let go of this pain now
Even though I find this issue to upsetting to deal with now, I know I am on the right track and I allow myself to be open and willing to heal

If you do have deep seated toxic thoughts I would recommend going to a practitioner (at least the first couple of times if nothing else) as they can help you get the most out of your tapping and help you find and fully address the root cause to your concerns.

EFT is also an amazing tool for dealing with day to day concerns. You can tap on the bus, in the dentist’s surgery, whilst waiting for a job interview or for helping you through a presentation or a date. It’s a wonderfully versatile tool. There are loads of different videos you can follow for free online if you want to see how it’s done. Just do a search for EFT or Tapping and then the type in the issue you want to address. You’ll see that there’s pretty much an online video for every issue you can think of. There are even some of my own. Just check out my You Tube channel for these.

I noticed a big shift in myself after only one session of EFT, so I decided to train in it.  I trained with EFT UK who were super trainers and who I highly recommend.  If you are in the Edinburgh area and what to learn more about this amazing technique then check out their website, here.  And if not then I hope this blog helps you with some happy tapping at home.

For those of you that already tap, what do you find it most useful for?

Here’s some other relevant pages:

Basic steps to your emotional free-from, click here.

The Tapping Solution, click here.

The energy therapy centre, click here.