Emotional freedom technique (EFT) can be used to reduce chronic pain, anxiety, stress, and PTSD. Read here to discover the origins and science of EFT tapping.
How Did EFT Originate?
Although regarded as the founder of EFT, Gary Craig’s EFT has its roots in Dr Callahan’s TFT, which has its roots in ancient Chinese medicine! Let’s start at the very beginning, shall we?
The Chinese detected energy pathways throughout the human body. They used needles to stimulate different pathways, or meridians, to relieve various ailments, thereby pioneering acupuncture.
In the late ‘70s, Dr Roger Callahan studied acupuncture, Kinesiology, and other Eastern health practices in search of a remedy for patients who experienced anxiety and phobias. He made a breakthrough with a patient who suffered from a water phobia, and thought field therapy (TFT) was born.
Working from Callahan’s notes, Stanford trained engineer Craig streamlined the TFT process. His blend of acupressure and modern psychology, or psychological acupressure, is called EFT.
How Does EFT Work?
Tapping and EFT involves using your fingertips to tap on a specific sequence of parts of your body, mainly on the head, while focusing on your acceptance and resolution of the issues you wish to treat.
Proponents use tapping for healing negative emotions such as:
- Anxiety, fears, and phobias
- Stress
- Bad memories
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Depression
- Unresolved problems
- Chronic pain
- Addictions
- Weight loss issues, and other physical and psychological challenges.
All matter is made up of atoms held together by energy. That includes your body. The twelve principal meridians can be regarded as the highways along which energy flows to all parts of your body. EFT tapping points connect to these pathways.
Disruptions to the flow of your body’s energy results in ill health – mental and physical. Although an emotional release technique, the benefits can extend to physical ailments. This is because your body and mind are interconnected:
- Physical pain and disease cause emotional distress
- Ongoing emotional discord manifests as physical symptoms
Because of this constant feedback loop, your health must be addressed as a whole. Tapping therapy does just that. The tapping technique brings together tangible acupressure and mindfulness to restore the energy flow of your body:
- Identify one issue that you want to resolve.
- Rank the intensity of the negative emotions you feel NOW as you think back to when it happened, on a scale of 0 – 10.
- Decide on a tapping phrase that acknowledges the problem or issue, while also conveying self-acceptance. Repeat this 3 times whilst tapping on the side of the hand.
- Then follow the tapping sequence which stimulates EFT energy points – from the eyebrow point to your little finger and finishing on the top of your head – with approximately five taps by one or two of your fingertips.
- As you tap. express your negative thoughts.
- Re-evaluate the emotional intensity of the issue you started with (0-10) to measure the progress you are making towards clearing it,
- Continue until the negative emotions are cleared.
What Does The Research Say?
Many individuals think that meridian tapping/EFT sounds too good to be true. They ask, “Does tapping work to alleviate pain and physical discomfort or psychological and mental health challenges?”
There are numerous Google queries about the effectiveness of tapping energy healing and as many jokes about it. However, over a hundred peer-reviewed clinical studies provide strong scientific support that tapping is legit.
Even with scientific studies proving that EFT works for psychological and physiological issues, there was scepticism. It was almost as if tapping into your body’s energy and returning it to a balanced state was too weird to be effective.
Because a fundamental requirement of scientific research is testing a technique in different settings, on different participants, and with different practitioners, the results can be slow. However, thanks to a number of systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and randomised controlled trials (RCTs), the efficacy of EFT has finally been recognised and published in reputable scientific journals. The greatest area of evidence is in tapping for anxiety, PTSD, and depression.
Rather than reading about it, why not put the science of EFT tapping to the test yourself? Contact Pippa or Lucinda today to book an appointment.
