What is Tapping?

Tapping is the practice of applying repeated pressure to points on the body. These points are called acupoints or meridian points.

Most practitioners use nine points, including the side of the hand, side of the body, top of the head, and more. (I teach 17 points!)

Essentially, tapping can benefit us in two ways:

(1) As a tool to calm the nervous system when it’s paralyzed in fight or flight.

(2) To return the body to balance by clearing blockages and stimulating the movement of energy through the body.

Tapping’s most popular feature is its ability to calm the nervous system by sending soothing signals to the amygdala (our brain’s “fear center”). So those times where you feel overwhelmed and your body goes into fight or flight (or freeze or fawn)? Tapping helps reassure, relax, and calm your nervous system on a deeper level.

Think of tapping like treating a kidney stone…

When it comes to removing energy blocks, think of tapping like treating a kidney stone. Doctors send ultrasonic waves (vibrations) through the skin which break apart the kidney stone.

Tapping works in a similar way, dissolving energetic blocks along your meridians so energy can flow freely. As a result, your body and emotions can return to a state of balance.

What are meridians?

A concept central to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), meridians are pathways through the body that channel energy and facilitate balanced wellbeing. Consider them like energetic highways for all your body’s communications (including thoughts, feelings, and sensations).

A brief history of tapping

EFT tapping was created by Gary Craig in 1995, having evolved from applied kinesiology and thought field therapy (tft). However, tapping can actually be traced back 2,500 years ago to Traditional Chinese Medicine and qigong.

Qigong is a movement, breath, and meditation-focused practice of aligning the mind, body, and spirit. It’s from qigong that acupuncture and acupressure evolved. Acupuncture uses needles to stimulate the meridian points and move energy through the body. Acupressure does the same, but with physical pressure only.

Tapping can be used on its own to develop your ability to calm your nervous system. However, today tapping in the west is often used in partnership with EFT.

What are Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)?

To really boil it down, EFT is a perfect balance of tapping and modern psychology. It belongs to an evidence-based field called energy psychology. The tools in EFT’s toolbox include tapping, framing words, bringing up negative emotions, and affirmations. 

Basically, tapping calms the nervous system. EFT then leverages your calmed nervous system to help you shift the negative memories and experiences towards more positive ones.

EFT is NOT manifestation or unrealistic positive thinking. Rather, EFT is about accepting reality and re-affirming a positive outlook through that understanding.

The Basics of EFT

Tapping is a powerful tool that activates the parasympathetic nervous system to help transform overwhelm and stress to safety and calm.

Really, instead of coming from a top-down (mental, talk-based approach like CBT) or bottom-up (physical approach to healing, like yoga) approach to healing, EFT tapping offers a side door to navigating your emotions.

Instead of facing their weight head-on, you bring up the negative emotional charge with carefully selected words, defuse the negative experiences in your body with a tapping sequence, then transform your emotions towards more positive ones.

In this way, EFT heals emotional distress on a deeper level by using both words and physical techniques. This multilevel approach helps release emotions stored in your body so you can rewrite your experience.

Get Started with Your Own EFT Tapping Practice!

Want to try EFT + tapping, but not sure where to begin?

How Does EFT Work?

Thanks to ongoing research, we understand that EFT does work. But how it works is another question altogether.

The First Thing to Understand — You Are Electric.

No really — we are energy in motion. Every thought and emotion we have, every move we make — those all start as electric signals coursing through our bodies. These signals give information to our brains which then create our experience through electric impulses.

We can actually measure the energetic output of our bodies using EKG (echocardiograms) to record the voltage produced by our hearts and EEG (electroencephalograms) for the energy output from our brains.

Emotions are experiences cultivated by the meaning we attach to experiences, memories, and thoughts. When we’ve experienced trauma and distressing emotions, certain thoughts and events can overwhelm our nervous systems. This overwhelm can create roadblocks that interrupt the flow of electric communication through our bodies.

In this way, emotions can be thought of as energy in motion. When we experience distress, that energy gets stuck, and so do we. EFT gives us a multilevel approach to dissolve these energetic road blocks simultaneously across our physical, mental, and emotional bodies.

So What Are You Waiting for?

Begin Mastering Your Emotions and Cultivating Inner Calm Today!