Tapping Away Emotional Problems with EFT

It may sound strange that you can resolve emotional problems by tapping on acupressure points with your fingers, but that’s just the method that many health practitioners are now using to help their clients. It has also been demonstrated a number of times on TV, including on the Richard and Judy show (no less!) and with Paul McKenna when working therapeutically. You can even learn to use the techniques for yourself.

The most popular of these techniques is EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques). EFT is about returning the mind, body and feelings to a state of balance and harmony so you are not limited by negative emotions.

Even though we are “designed” to recover from unpleasant experiences or thought patterns, nevertheless we can be affected by recurring emotions from past events such as relationships, trauma or loss. We can also be affected by ongoing or future events such as stress, interpersonal problems, depression, phobias and various kinds of anxieties.

In these examples, emotions can be stuck rather than dispersed. They can affect us physically, such as with muscle tension or headaches, and if we try to ignore them, they still affect us.

Where EFT comes from

EFT was developed in the United States in the 1990’s by Gary Craig, but it also has its roots in acupuncture, kinesiology and psychology. It is now spreading very rapidly in the UK and is starting to be used in some specialist areas of the National Health Service.

How it works

EFT is a very effective yet gentle method of directly balancing the body’s energy system for the feelings that you want to change. It’s a bit like clearing a log that’s blocking a stream where the log represents a stuck emotion in your stream of energy. You don’t have to believe in the theory though, just as you don’t need to know how a car works under the bonnet to drive one.

What you do

Using EFT involves “tuning into” the issue and then tapping with your fingers on specific acupressure points. For example if you still carry negative feelings about a past experience, you would be asked notice how you still feel. But you do not have to relive past events. You just have to be aware that the negative feeling is there. Having therefore “tuned in” to it, you are shown which acupressure points to tap, and what words to say as you do so. (Saying a few things also helps to disperse the emotion from the system). Having done that you are then asked to think about the situation again and check how you feel. Typically you will notice a significant reduction in the intensity of the feeling. If it’s not completely gone then we repeat the process, bringing the intensity down each time until full balance is restored.

But won’t the feeling come back?

Only very rarely, which would imply that there is a bit more work to do than we initially thought. Of course you can still feel angry, fearful or guilty about other things—and it might be appropriate to do so. But if you have used EFT thoroughly for a specific issue, the feeling will not return. Once you have sent the problem “downstream”, it does not come back up. The issue will no longer have the emotional charge that it had before.

Benefits of EFT

EFT can be used extensively for problems where emotions or feelings are inhibiting someone. Therefore it can also help to change habits as well, such as smoking and poor eating habits, where feelings can play a large part. Many people have found it very helpful in getting over nerves and panic attacks associated with public speaking or exams.