EFT is a form of psychological acupuncture that uses light tapping with your fingertips instead of inserting needles to stimulate traditional Chinese acupuncture points. The tapping on these designated points on the face and body is combined with verbalizing the identified problem (or target) followed by a general affirmation phrase. Combining these ingredients of the EFT technique balances the energy system and appears to relieve psychological stress and physiological pain. Restoring the balance of the energy system allows the body and mind to resume their natural healing abilities. EFT is safe, easy to apply, and is non-invasive.
HOW YOU WILL USE EFT TO ATTRACT ABUNDANCE
EMOTIONAL FREEDOM TECHNIQUES (EFT)
Over the years, I have developed dozens of EFT tapping exercises for attracting abundance, and I am presenting them together here for the first time in print. The EFT exercises are designed to target the specific blocks you may have to receiving abundance in your life. Whether you are searching for an increase in financial wealth, more vibrant health or deeper and more fulfilling relationships, EFT and the Abundance Games will help you reach your goals.
Here is how you will perform the exercises. Each EFT tapping exercise will consist of a SETUP STATEMENT, followed by two ROUNDS of tapping the sequence of 8 EFT points. ROUND #1 focuses on the problem by repeating the negative reminder phrase while ROUND #2 focuses on the solution by verbalizing preferences, choices, and possible alternative outcomes.
EFT DIRECTIONS
SETUP STATEMENT:
Choose a target for EFT --- an emotion, a block, a belief, or an abundance issue.
Scale the intensity of the feeling, belief or abundance issue being addressed on the Intensity Scale of 0-10 (where 0=no discomfort and 10=strong discomfort), or just make a note of how you feel.
Tap the karate chop point (see diagram) on either one of your hands continuously while repeating the entire SETUP STATEMENT listed for each abundance issue. (The SETUP STATEMENT combines the target and an affirmation. An example of a SETUP STATEMENT might be "Even though I have these money blocks, I deeply and completely accept myself.")
NEGATIVE TAPPING SEQUENCE:
Starting at the eyebrow point, begin tapping each point in the sequence of 8 points (see below) approximately 7 - 10 times while repeating the negative reminder phrase provided for each issue.
SEQUENCE OF TAPPING POINTS:
1.Eyebrow
2. Side of Eye
3.Under Eye
4.Under Nose
5.Chin
6.Collarbone
7.Under Arm
8.Top of Head
This directs your mind to focus on the negative thought patterns that block your ability to attract abundance and allows EFT to neutralize them.
POSITIVE TAPPING SEQUENCE:
There are 8 positive phrases provided for each abundance issue.
Starting at the eyebrow point again, tap each point approximately 7-10 times while repeating a different phrase for each of the 8 tapping points indicated.
This allows you to install what you would prefer to experience emotionally in your thought patterns and in your life.
DEEP BREATH:
Complete each exercise with a slow deep breath to help move the energy through your body.
EFT TAPPING POINTS
THE 0-10 POINT INTENSITY SCALE
The Intensity Scale is a scale of measurement from 0-10, where 0= no discomfort at all, and 10= an incredibly high rating of emotional discomfort about the issue you have identified (targeted) to work on with EFT.
You can also measure the "truth" of a limiting belief or expectation with this scale. EFT practitioners take the measurement before and after completing one or more rounds of EFT. You could also call the scale of measurement the "Upset Chart" or the "Truth Meter." It doesn’t matter what you call it, the point is that using the Intensity Scale helps you track your progress when doing EFT.
The reason it is important to track your progress is that oftentimes it is easy to "forget" how terrible the original problem felt to you, and you may not give much weight to your newfound relief after using EFT. It can be difficult to notice the absence of something unpleasant, and using the Intensity Scale will help you see the "before and after" results. Also, using the Intensity Scale helps you identify which pieces or players in your "story" you need to work on – just mention them out loud and measure the intensity from 0-10.
Not everyone uses the 0-10 point Intensity Scale when doing EFT. However, it’s a great way to measure your progress so you can decide whether to move on to a new issue or whether you need to tap more on your original feeling or event you targeted.
The Intensity Scale can be used to measure a variety of responses:
How true does the belief feel from 0-10?
How intense is your discomfort from 0-10?
How true does this statement feel to you on the 0-10 point scale?
How upset do you feel about this?
How much do you want this?
How anxious are you?
Using the 0-10 point scale before starting a round of EFT will let you know how much this issue or past event truly bothers you now. I always ask my clients to measure their number on the scale from their gut feeling, not from an intellectual perspective. Sometimes people will answer, "Well I know I shouldn’t feel this way because we all deserve success..." However, it’s important to be clear: I want to hear how high or low the actual feeling and rating is on the scale, not the "should" or "shouldn’t."
So we take a measurement before and after each round of EFT. This will tell us the following information:
Are you tuned into the issue?
Are you noticing emotional improvement?
Are you getting distracted by other aspects of the problem?
Is the SETUP STATEMENT on target for you?
So, for example, suppose you don’t believe you deserve success of any kind. I would ask you to (1) repeat the sentence out loud, and then (2) measure the "truth" of it on the 0-10 point Intensity Scale.
~ I don’t believe I deserve success ______ (0-10)
After tapping for a few rounds on "I don’t believe I deserve success" measure how true this statement feels to you now. It is highly likely the "truth" of this statement will have dropped on the measurement scale. However, what is more important is to identify whether any specific events have surfaced for you that support this belief. Some possibilities are below:
The time my coach said I didn’t deserve to be on the team…
The time my father said I didn’t deserve to be successful…
The time the teacher said I didn’t deserve success…
Take each of these specific events and measure the intensity of the emotional charge when you think about them. This will give you more specific targets for EFT. Measure before and after your tapping.
SPECIFIC EVENTS
When using EFT, identifying and collapsing the emotional charge you feel from past, specific events that are contributing to your current concerns will greatly enhance your overall success. Our current feeling states, moods and levels of stress are formed by emotional responses and subsequent chemical reactions to specific events in our lives.
These events and chemical reactions are stored in our cellular, physical and emotional memories, and when something in the present day looks or feels similar to the old event, we react again as if we have encountered the original event.
When someone tells me EFT isn’t working on them, I immediately suspect that their EFT statements have been too global and too general to collapse the negative charge they feel in their mind and body about whichever target they have chosen.
For example, when someone tells me they have been tapping on "low self-esteem" I know they will not be progressing very far with EFT. While the person may indeed have low self-esteem, the topic is too general a target for EFT to yield satisfactory results.
If you want to work on what you refer to as your low self-esteem, it would be helpful to break this issue down into smaller, more specific bits of information. For instance:
How do you know you have low self-esteem?
Who taught you that you weren’t worthy?
What did he/she say to you to make you think you weren’t deserving?
When was the first time you heard or believed you didn’t measure up?
What exactly did "they" say to you?
What specific event can you remember that taught you about your worth?
The answers to all of these questions will provide more specific, emotionally-laden targets for your EFT tapping exercises to clear your low self-esteem.
Other themes and questions that may help you to identify specific events that have contributed to some of your limiting beliefs about attracting success and abundance are as follows:
Safety
Why don’t you feel safe becoming more successful?
What feels safe about staying where you are?
Identity
Who will you be if you change?
How will they react to you if you change?
Fear of Change
What else might happen in your life?
What happened the last time you changed?
Fear of Success
What are you afraid of?
Why is success not safe for you?
What is the downside of getting what you want?
What is the upside of staying exactly where you are?
If you could do it again…
Who would you like to omit from your life?
What events stand out in your memory the most?
When were you the most unhappy, the most scared?
HOW TO FIND YOUR EFT TARGET
Getting more specific by identifying the best target for EFT will help you make more significant progress when using EFT to clear the emotional issues that are blocking your abundance. Try answering the questions and filling in the blanks below:
The subject of the story with the most emotion:
When you think of your childhood or more recent times, what subject matter has the most "charge" on it for you? This will be the target for your tapping.
When you think of high school, which friend or classmate triggers the most intensity in your gut?
When you think of your family, who stands out as the one who scared you? Betrayed you? Misunderstood you?
When you say particular words, which ones give you what feels like an electrical charge in your body? These will be the targets for your tapping. For example, repeat these words and measure the "charge" on them:
School
Playmates
Dinnertime
Loneliness
Nighttime
Homework
Breakup
Anger
Resentment
Unfair
Fill in the blanks:
My least favorite emotion is ________.
My least favorite family member is ________.
My worst memory from grade school is ________.
The person who hurt me the most is ________.
The person I trust the least is ________.
The person who betrayed me the most was ________.
The family member who never understood me is ________.
The time I experienced the most injustice was ________.
The words, names and feelings you filled in to these blanks will lead you to effective tapping targets with EFT.
TELL THE STORY EFT founder Gary Craig devised some wonderful techniques to help those of us using EFT to identify specific events without flooding ourselves with too many uncomfortable emotions. One of my favorite techniques is the Tell The Story Technique.
Choose a story that gives you a significant "charge" on the 0-10 point Intensity Scale. Tell the story out loud to yourself, a friend or counselor, and tap continuously while you tell the story. There’s no need to stop and devise SETUP STATEMENTS, no need to check numbers or choose targets, just tell the story and tap while you tell it. (You may need to do this several times before noticing that thinking about the original story and telling it out loud doesn’t create any discomfort.)
As you tell your story, you will notice that certain parts or scenes from the story will feel more emotionally charged than others at different times. As you collapse one "aspect" after another, you will be able to tell the entire story, start to finish, without any emotional discomfort.
SAMPLE EFT EXERCISE This sample EFT exercise will lead you through a typical EFT treatment round. It includes the following steps:
(1) CHOOSE A TARGET
(2) RATE THE INTENSITY ON THE 0-10 POINT SCALE
(3) REPEAT THE SETUP STATEMENT (3 times)
(4) PERFORM THE NEGATIVE TAPPING ROUND
(5) PERFORM THE POSITIVE TAPPING ROUND
Repeat out loud, "I feel anxious about all my expenses." On the 0-10 point Intensity Scale, how true does this feel?
(While tapping on your karate chop point on either hand, repeat the following Setup Statement 3 times.)
Even though I feel anxious about all my expenses, I deeply and completely accept myself.
Now tap
the sequence of points while repeating the NEGATIVE REMINDER PHRASE, "I feel anxious about all my expenses."
ROUND #1: Negative Reminder Phrase
(Repeat the following reminder phrase while tapping the sequence of 8 points.)
I feel anxious about all my expenses.
Now that you have completed one full round of EFT, repeat the phrase out loud again: "I feel anxious about all my expenses" and measure how true it feels NOW (after one round of tapping) on the 0-10 point Intensity Scale. Hopefully, the level of anxiety about the topic of money will have decreased. If not, continue with one or two more "negative" rounds until your Intensity Scale rating has dropped.
Then perform ROUND #2 with positive words reflecting your desired outcome. Repeat a different phrase for each of the 8 tapping points indicated, from the eyebrow to the top of the head.
ROUND #2: Positive Phrases
(eyebrow) I love knowing I can feel calm about money…
(side of eye) I choose to feel relaxed even though I have these expenses…
(under eye) It feels so right to be free of this anxiety…
(under nose) I appreciate how much I have changed…
(chin) I love knowing I resolved this conflict…
(collarbone) I choose to release this anxiety now…
(under arm) It feels so right to be calm about my expenses…
(head) I love appreciating what I have.
And it’s all FREE!
Emotional Freedom Techniques, also known as EFT or simply “Tapping,” has been clinically proven to provide relief from stress, anxiety, chronic pain, emotional problems, addictions, fears & phobias, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), and so many other conditions.
Tapping is also a very effective tool for attracting abundance, losing weight, manifesting your goals & desires, healing relationships, and attaining inner peace.
If you are asking yourself, “What is EFT Tapping?” or “How can one technique do so much?” you need to check out our page on what is EFT Tapping and how you can start using it.
If you’re like many people, you feel trapped, caught in this cycle. You’re tired of feeling sad, depressed, anxious, discontent, and unwell. You’re sick of the expensive and ineffective treatments. You’re fed up with relinquishing the power over your health and happiness to psychologists and doctors. You’d like to grow, flourish, and thrive, putting the past in the past. You want to be your best, living a life that is filled with peacefulness, joy, and fulfillment, from day to day and moment to moment.
With Tapping, you can do that. You can discover the vital secret for emotional wholeness and physical relief. You can take your physical and emotional well-being into your own hands. It’s simple for anyone to master, and it’s free.
Tapping provides relief from chronic pain, emotional problems, disorders, addictions, phobias, post traumatic stress disorder, and physical diseases. While Tapping is newly set to revolutionize the field of health and wellness, the healing concepts that it’s based upon have been in practice in Eastern medicine for over 5,000 years. Like acupuncture and acupressure, Tapping is a set of techniques which utilize the body’s energy meridian points. You can stimulate these meridian points by tapping on them with your fingertips – literally tapping into your body’s own energy and healing power.
Your body is more powerful than you can imagine… filled with life, energy, and a compelling ability for self-healing. With Tapping, you can take control of that power.
The body, like everything in the universe, is composed of energy. Restore balance to the body’s energy, and you will mend the negative emotions and physical symptoms that stem from the energy disruption. Tapping restores the body’s energy balance, and negative emotions are conquered.
The basic technique requires you to focus on the negative emotion at hand: a fear or anxiety, a bad memory, an unresolved problem, or anything that’s bothering you. While maintaining your mental focus on this issue, use your fingertips to tap 5-7 times each on 12 of the body’s meridian points. Tapping on these meridian points – while concentrating on accepting and resolving the negative emotion – will access your body’s energy, restoring it to a balanced state.
You may be wondering about these meridians. Put simply, energy circulates through your body along a specific network of channels. You can tap into this energy at any point along the system.
This concept comes from the doctrines of traditional Chinese medicine, which referred to the body’s energy as “ch’i.” In ancient times, the Chinese discovered 100 meridian points. They also discovered that by stimulating these meridian points, they could heal. Call it energy, call it the Source, call it life force, call it ch’i… Whatever you want to call it, it works.
In some ways, Tapping is similar to acupuncture. Like Tapping, acupuncture achieves healing through stimulating the body’s meridians and energy flow. However, unlike Tapping, acupuncture involves needles! “No needles” is definitely one of the advantages of Tapping.
Acupuncture also takes years to master. Acupuncture practitioners must memorize hundreds of meridian points along the body; the knowledge and training take years to acquire.
Tapping is simple and painless. It can be learned by anyone. And you can apply it to yourself, whenever you want, wherever you are. It’s less expensive and less time consuming. It can be used with specific emotional intent towards your own unique life challenges and experiences. Most importantly, it gives you the power to heal yourself, putting control over your destiny back into your own hands.
In recent years however, there’s been a growing pool of undeniable research that proves what millions of people the world over have known for some time now: that EFT produces real, lasting breakthroughs and significantly improves or even eliminates conditions that hospital treatments, medication and years of psychotherapy often fail to adequately deal with.
Studies done at no less than Harvard Medical School verify these assertions. Research done at the prestigious university during the last decade found that the brain’s stress and fear response – which is controlled by an almond-shaped part of your brain called the amygdala – could be lessened by stimulating the meridian points used in acupuncture, acupressure, and of course, tapping.
Although these studies focused on acupuncture and as such, used needles, follow-up double-blind research revealed that stimulating the points through pressure, as we do in tapping, gave rise to a similar response!
Another exciting set of research was undertaken by Dr. Dawson Church. His team performed a randomized controlled trial to study how an hour-long tapping session would impact the stress levels of 83 subjects. To do this, Dr. Church and his team measured their level of cortisol, a hormone secreted by the body when it undergoes stress. Their findings? The average level of cortisol reduction was 24%, with a whopping reduction of almost 50% in some subjects! In comparison, there was no significant cortisol reduction in those who underwent an hour of traditional talk therapy.
Dr. Church also created The Stress Project, which teaches tapping to war veterans suffering with PTSD. [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) ... Definition. PTSD is a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event. ]The results have been astounding: an average 63% decrease in PTSD symptoms after six rounds of tapping. It’s mind-blowing and exciting research, which has converted many non-believers in the scientific community along the way. All signs indicate that this trend of revealing research and swayed skeptics will continue as millions of people around the globe continue to discover the power of tapping.
Dr. Callahan and Mary had been working on this problem together for over a year. Finally, Mary worked up the courage to sit within sight of the pool at Dr. Callahan’s house. Even doing this caused Mary extreme distress, and though she found ways to cope with the intense fear and emotional pain, she did not overcome her phobia. They discussed her problem, and how to overcome it, but without success.
Her fear of being near the water caused Mary stomach pains – a common “gut reaction.” Dr. Callahan had recently been studying traditional Chinese medicines, and learning about meridians. Suddenly he had an inspiration. Remembering that there was an acupuncture point for the stomach meridian on the cheekbone, he asked her to tap there, thinking it might cure her stomach pains.
Mary tapped her cheekbone as directed, and this little action changed medicinal history! The response seemed miraculous, to both Mary and Dr. Callahan. Her stomach pains disappeared. But even more amazingly, her phobia of water disappeared, too! She ran down to the pool and began splashing herself with water, rejoicing in her newfound freedom from fear.
Based on this discovery, Dr. Callahan began a series of investigations to develop and refine this technique, which he termed Thought Field Therapy. Gary Craig trained under Dr. Callahan’s tutelage in the 1990’s, learning the procedures for TFT. As time passed, Craig began to observe some problems with TFT, aspects that he saw were unnecessary complications.
TFT required practitioners to tap on a specific sequence of meridians (called an algorithm) for each different problem. Diagnosing the problem required a technique called muscle testing, wherein the practitioner would measure the relative strength of a muscle, while the patient explored various thoughts or statements.
Craig observed repeated scenarios in which the problem was incorrectly diagnosed or the practitioner tapped out the meridian points in the wrong order, yet the patient was still helped.. Based on these observations, he concluded that it did not matter in which order the meridian points were tapped.
Craig developed EFT as a simplified, improved version of the concepts behind Callahan’s TFT. EFT has one basic, simple sequence of points to tap, no matter what the situation.
Because of this, thousands of people have used Tapping for illnesses and to resolve emotional problems. Tapping practitioners have studied the techniques and trained to take on more complicated and difficult cases, and these dedicated practitioners report more successful applications daily. More and more people are discovering and exploring Tapping. Many are discovering how Tapping can change their lives.
Try it now with this initial sequence. Here’s how a basic Tapping sequence works:
Repeat the set up statement three times aloud, while simultaneously tapping the Karate Chop point. Now take a deep breath!
Get ready to begin tapping! Here are some tips to help you achieve the right technique.
Head (TH)
The crown, center and top of the head. Tap with all four fingers on both hands.
Eyebrow (EB)
The inner edges of the eyebrows, closest to the bridge of the nose. Use two fingers.
Side of eye (SE)
The hard area between the eye and the temple. Use two fingers. Feel out this area gently so you don’t poke yourself in the eye!
Under eye (UE)
The hard area under the eye, that merges with the cheekbone. Use two fingers, in line beneath the pupil.
Under nose (UN)
The point centered between the bottom of the nose and the upper lip. Use two fingers.
Chin (CP)
This point is right beneath the previous one, and is centered between the bottom of the lower lip and the chin.
Collarbone (CB)
Tap just below the hard ridge of your collarbone with four fingers.
Underarm (UA)
On your side, about four inches beneath the armpit. Use four fingers.
Head (TH)
And back where you started, to complete the sequence.
As you tap on each point, repeat a simple reminder phrase, such as “my anxiety” or “my interview” or “my financial situation.”
Now take another deep breath!
Here are some example phrases to guide you:
Congratulations! You’ve completed your first Tapping sequence.
HOW YOU WILL USE EFT TO ATTRACT ABUNDANCE
EMOTIONAL FREEDOM TECHNIQUES (EFT)
Over the years, I have developed dozens of EFT tapping exercises for attracting abundance, and I am presenting them together here for the first time in print. The EFT exercises are designed to target the specific blocks you may have to receiving abundance in your life. Whether you are searching for an increase in financial wealth, more vibrant health or deeper and more fulfilling relationships, EFT and the Abundance Games will help you reach your goals.
Here is how you will perform the exercises. Each EFT tapping exercise will consist of a SETUP STATEMENT, followed by two ROUNDS of tapping the sequence of 8 EFT points. ROUND #1 focuses on the problem by repeating the negative reminder phrase while ROUND #2 focuses on the solution by verbalizing preferences, choices, and possible alternative outcomes.
EFT DIRECTIONS
SETUP STATEMENT:
Choose a target for EFT --- an emotion, a block, a belief, or an abundance issue.
Scale the intensity of the feeling, belief or abundance issue being addressed on the Intensity Scale of 0-10 (where 0=no discomfort and 10=strong discomfort), or just make a note of how you feel.
Tap the karate chop point (see diagram) on either one of your hands continuously while repeating the entire SETUP STATEMENT listed for each abundance issue. (The SETUP STATEMENT combines the target and an affirmation. An example of a SETUP STATEMENT might be "Even though I have these money blocks, I deeply and completely accept myself.")
NEGATIVE TAPPING SEQUENCE:
Starting at the eyebrow point, begin tapping each point in the sequence of 8 points (see below) approximately 7 - 10 times while repeating the negative reminder phrase provided for each issue.
SEQUENCE OF TAPPING POINTS:
1.Eyebrow
2. Side of Eye
3.Under Eye
4.Under Nose
5.Chin
6.Collarbone
7.Under Arm
8.Top of Head
This directs your mind to focus on the negative thought patterns that block your ability to attract abundance and allows EFT to neutralize them.
POSITIVE TAPPING SEQUENCE:
There are 8 positive phrases provided for each abundance issue.
Starting at the eyebrow point again, tap each point approximately 7-10 times while repeating a different phrase for each of the 8 tapping points indicated.
This allows you to install what you would prefer to experience emotionally in your thought patterns and in your life.
DEEP BREATH:
Complete each exercise with a slow deep breath to help move the energy through your body.
EFT TAPPING POINTS
THE 0-10 POINT INTENSITY SCALE
The Intensity Scale is a scale of measurement from 0-10, where 0= no discomfort at all, and 10= an incredibly high rating of emotional discomfort about the issue you have identified (targeted) to work on with EFT.
You can also measure the "truth" of a limiting belief or expectation with this scale. EFT practitioners take the measurement before and after completing one or more rounds of EFT. You could also call the scale of measurement the "Upset Chart" or the "Truth Meter." It doesn’t matter what you call it, the point is that using the Intensity Scale helps you track your progress when doing EFT.
The reason it is important to track your progress is that oftentimes it is easy to "forget" how terrible the original problem felt to you, and you may not give much weight to your newfound relief after using EFT. It can be difficult to notice the absence of something unpleasant, and using the Intensity Scale will help you see the "before and after" results. Also, using the Intensity Scale helps you identify which pieces or players in your "story" you need to work on – just mention them out loud and measure the intensity from 0-10.
Not everyone uses the 0-10 point Intensity Scale when doing EFT. However, it’s a great way to measure your progress so you can decide whether to move on to a new issue or whether you need to tap more on your original feeling or event you targeted.
The Intensity Scale can be used to measure a variety of responses:
How true does the belief feel from 0-10?
How intense is your discomfort from 0-10?
How true does this statement feel to you on the 0-10 point scale?
How upset do you feel about this?
How much do you want this?
How anxious are you?
Using the 0-10 point scale before starting a round of EFT will let you know how much this issue or past event truly bothers you now. I always ask my clients to measure their number on the scale from their gut feeling, not from an intellectual perspective. Sometimes people will answer, "Well I know I shouldn’t feel this way because we all deserve success..." However, it’s important to be clear: I want to hear how high or low the actual feeling and rating is on the scale, not the "should" or "shouldn’t."
So we take a measurement before and after each round of EFT. This will tell us the following information:
Are you tuned into the issue?
Are you noticing emotional improvement?
Are you getting distracted by other aspects of the problem?
Is the SETUP STATEMENT on target for you?
So, for example, suppose you don’t believe you deserve success of any kind. I would ask you to (1) repeat the sentence out loud, and then (2) measure the "truth" of it on the 0-10 point Intensity Scale.
~ I don’t believe I deserve success ______ (0-10)
After tapping for a few rounds on "I don’t believe I deserve success" measure how true this statement feels to you now. It is highly likely the "truth" of this statement will have dropped on the measurement scale. However, what is more important is to identify whether any specific events have surfaced for you that support this belief. Some possibilities are below:
The time my coach said I didn’t deserve to be on the team…
The time my father said I didn’t deserve to be successful…
The time the teacher said I didn’t deserve success…
Take each of these specific events and measure the intensity of the emotional charge when you think about them. This will give you more specific targets for EFT. Measure before and after your tapping.
SPECIFIC EVENTS
When using EFT, identifying and collapsing the emotional charge you feel from past, specific events that are contributing to your current concerns will greatly enhance your overall success. Our current feeling states, moods and levels of stress are formed by emotional responses and subsequent chemical reactions to specific events in our lives.
These events and chemical reactions are stored in our cellular, physical and emotional memories, and when something in the present day looks or feels similar to the old event, we react again as if we have encountered the original event.
When someone tells me EFT isn’t working on them, I immediately suspect that their EFT statements have been too global and too general to collapse the negative charge they feel in their mind and body about whichever target they have chosen.
For example, when someone tells me they have been tapping on "low self-esteem" I know they will not be progressing very far with EFT. While the person may indeed have low self-esteem, the topic is too general a target for EFT to yield satisfactory results.
If you want to work on what you refer to as your low self-esteem, it would be helpful to break this issue down into smaller, more specific bits of information. For instance:
How do you know you have low self-esteem?
Who taught you that you weren’t worthy?
What did he/she say to you to make you think you weren’t deserving?
When was the first time you heard or believed you didn’t measure up?
What exactly did "they" say to you?
What specific event can you remember that taught you about your worth?
The answers to all of these questions will provide more specific, emotionally-laden targets for your EFT tapping exercises to clear your low self-esteem.
Other themes and questions that may help you to identify specific events that have contributed to some of your limiting beliefs about attracting success and abundance are as follows:
Safety
Why don’t you feel safe becoming more successful?
What feels safe about staying where you are?
Identity
Who will you be if you change?
How will they react to you if you change?
Fear of Change
What else might happen in your life?
What happened the last time you changed?
Fear of Success
What are you afraid of?
Why is success not safe for you?
What is the downside of getting what you want?
What is the upside of staying exactly where you are?
If you could do it again…
Who would you like to omit from your life?
What events stand out in your memory the most?
When were you the most unhappy, the most scared?
HOW TO FIND YOUR EFT TARGET
Getting more specific by identifying the best target for EFT will help you make more significant progress when using EFT to clear the emotional issues that are blocking your abundance. Try answering the questions and filling in the blanks below:
The subject of the story with the most emotion:
When you think of your childhood or more recent times, what subject matter has the most "charge" on it for you? This will be the target for your tapping.
When you think of high school, which friend or classmate triggers the most intensity in your gut?
When you think of your family, who stands out as the one who scared you? Betrayed you? Misunderstood you?
When you say particular words, which ones give you what feels like an electrical charge in your body? These will be the targets for your tapping. For example, repeat these words and measure the "charge" on them:
School
Playmates
Dinnertime
Loneliness
Nighttime
Homework
Breakup
Anger
Resentment
Unfair
Fill in the blanks:
My least favorite emotion is ________.
My least favorite family member is ________.
My worst memory from grade school is ________.
My worst memory from high school is ________.
The person who hurt me the most is ________.
The person I trust the least is ________.
The person who betrayed me the most was ________.
The family member who never understood me is ________.
The time I experienced the most injustice was ________.
The words, names and feelings you filled in to these blanks will lead you to effective tapping targets with EFT.
TELL THE STORY EFT founder Gary Craig devised some wonderful techniques to help those of us using EFT to identify specific events without flooding ourselves with too many uncomfortable emotions. One of my favorite techniques is the Tell The Story Technique.
Choose a story that gives you a significant "charge" on the 0-10 point Intensity Scale. Tell the story out loud to yourself, a friend or counselor, and tap continuously while you tell the story. There’s no need to stop and devise SETUP STATEMENTS, no need to check numbers or choose targets, just tell the story and tap while you tell it. (You may need to do this several times before noticing that thinking about the original story and telling it out loud doesn’t create any discomfort.)
As you tell your story, you will notice that certain parts or scenes from the story will feel more emotionally charged than others at different times. As you collapse one "aspect" after another, you will be able to tell the entire story, start to finish, without any emotional discomfort.
SAMPLE EFT EXERCISE This sample EFT exercise will lead you through a typical EFT treatment round. It includes the following steps:
(1) CHOOSE A TARGET
(2) RATE THE INTENSITY ON THE 0-10 POINT SCALE
(3) REPEAT THE SETUP STATEMENT (3 times)
(4) PERFORM THE NEGATIVE TAPPING ROUND
(5) PERFORM THE POSITIVE TAPPING ROUND
Repeat out loud, "I feel anxious about all my expenses." On the 0-10 point Intensity Scale, how true does this feel?
(While tapping on your karate chop point on either hand, repeat the following Setup Statement 3 times.)
Even though I feel anxious about all my expenses, I deeply and completely accept myself.
Now tap
the sequence of points while repeating the NEGATIVE REMINDER PHRASE, "I feel anxious about all my expenses."
ROUND #1: Negative Reminder Phrase
(Repeat the following reminder phrase while tapping the sequence of 8 points.)
I feel anxious about all my expenses.
Now that you have completed one full round of EFT, repeat the phrase out loud again: "I feel anxious about all my expenses" and measure how true it feels NOW (after one round of tapping) on the 0-10 point Intensity Scale. Hopefully, the level of anxiety about the topic of money will have decreased. If not, continue with one or two more "negative" rounds until your Intensity Scale rating has dropped.
Then perform ROUND #2 with positive words reflecting your desired outcome. Repeat a different phrase for each of the 8 tapping points indicated, from the eyebrow to the top of the head.
ROUND #2: Positive Phrases
(eyebrow) I love knowing I can feel calm about money…
(side of eye) I choose to feel relaxed even though I have these expenses…
(under eye) It feels so right to be free of this anxiety…
(under nose) I appreciate how much I have changed…
(chin) I love knowing I resolved this conflict…
(collarbone) I choose to release this anxiety now…
(under arm) It feels so right to be calm about my expenses…
(head) I love appreciating what I have.
And it’s all FREE!
Emotional Freedom Techniques, also known as EFT or simply “Tapping,” has been clinically proven to provide relief from stress, anxiety, chronic pain, emotional problems, addictions, fears & phobias, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), and so many other conditions.
Tapping is also a very effective tool for attracting abundance, losing weight, manifesting your goals & desires, healing relationships, and attaining inner peace.
If you are asking yourself, “What is EFT Tapping?” or “How can one technique do so much?” you need to check out our page on what is EFT Tapping and how you can start using it.
What is tapping?
Millions of people are settling for lives filled with poor health and emotional baggage. Not knowing how to achieve the joyful and satisfying lives they desire, they’re stuck accepting a lifestyle of emotional trauma, chronic physical pain, compulsions and addictions, or perhaps just an empty feeling inside. Along with these problems come pills to kill the pain, sleep at night, and suppress anxiety – but this is hardly better than the disease.If you’re like many people, you feel trapped, caught in this cycle. You’re tired of feeling sad, depressed, anxious, discontent, and unwell. You’re sick of the expensive and ineffective treatments. You’re fed up with relinquishing the power over your health and happiness to psychologists and doctors. You’d like to grow, flourish, and thrive, putting the past in the past. You want to be your best, living a life that is filled with peacefulness, joy, and fulfillment, from day to day and moment to moment.
With Tapping, you can do that. You can discover the vital secret for emotional wholeness and physical relief. You can take your physical and emotional well-being into your own hands. It’s simple for anyone to master, and it’s free.
Tapping provides relief from chronic pain, emotional problems, disorders, addictions, phobias, post traumatic stress disorder, and physical diseases. While Tapping is newly set to revolutionize the field of health and wellness, the healing concepts that it’s based upon have been in practice in Eastern medicine for over 5,000 years. Like acupuncture and acupressure, Tapping is a set of techniques which utilize the body’s energy meridian points. You can stimulate these meridian points by tapping on them with your fingertips – literally tapping into your body’s own energy and healing power.
Your body is more powerful than you can imagine… filled with life, energy, and a compelling ability for self-healing. With Tapping, you can take control of that power.
So How Does It All Work?
All negative emotions are felt through a disruption of the body’s energy. And physical pain and disease are intricately connected to negative emotions. Health problems create feedback – physical symptoms cause emotional distress, and unresolved emotional problems manifest themselves through physical symptoms. So, the body’s health must be approached as a whole. You cannot treat the symptoms without addressing the cause, and vice-versa.The body, like everything in the universe, is composed of energy. Restore balance to the body’s energy, and you will mend the negative emotions and physical symptoms that stem from the energy disruption. Tapping restores the body’s energy balance, and negative emotions are conquered.
The basic technique requires you to focus on the negative emotion at hand: a fear or anxiety, a bad memory, an unresolved problem, or anything that’s bothering you. While maintaining your mental focus on this issue, use your fingertips to tap 5-7 times each on 12 of the body’s meridian points. Tapping on these meridian points – while concentrating on accepting and resolving the negative emotion – will access your body’s energy, restoring it to a balanced state.
You may be wondering about these meridians. Put simply, energy circulates through your body along a specific network of channels. You can tap into this energy at any point along the system.
This concept comes from the doctrines of traditional Chinese medicine, which referred to the body’s energy as “ch’i.” In ancient times, the Chinese discovered 100 meridian points. They also discovered that by stimulating these meridian points, they could heal. Call it energy, call it the Source, call it life force, call it ch’i… Whatever you want to call it, it works.
In some ways, Tapping is similar to acupuncture. Like Tapping, acupuncture achieves healing through stimulating the body’s meridians and energy flow. However, unlike Tapping, acupuncture involves needles! “No needles” is definitely one of the advantages of Tapping.
Acupuncture also takes years to master. Acupuncture practitioners must memorize hundreds of meridian points along the body; the knowledge and training take years to acquire.
Tapping is simple and painless. It can be learned by anyone. And you can apply it to yourself, whenever you want, wherever you are. It’s less expensive and less time consuming. It can be used with specific emotional intent towards your own unique life challenges and experiences. Most importantly, it gives you the power to heal yourself, putting control over your destiny back into your own hands.
The Science Behind Tapping’s Success
Like many healing arts that draw upon ancient wisdom, Tapping has been met with a fair share of skepticism. Many doctors and psychologists have been quick to dismiss it as “woo woo”, despite the heaping anecdotal evidence from practitioners and people who have used EFT on their own.In recent years however, there’s been a growing pool of undeniable research that proves what millions of people the world over have known for some time now: that EFT produces real, lasting breakthroughs and significantly improves or even eliminates conditions that hospital treatments, medication and years of psychotherapy often fail to adequately deal with.
Studies done at no less than Harvard Medical School verify these assertions. Research done at the prestigious university during the last decade found that the brain’s stress and fear response – which is controlled by an almond-shaped part of your brain called the amygdala – could be lessened by stimulating the meridian points used in acupuncture, acupressure, and of course, tapping.
Although these studies focused on acupuncture and as such, used needles, follow-up double-blind research revealed that stimulating the points through pressure, as we do in tapping, gave rise to a similar response!
Another exciting set of research was undertaken by Dr. Dawson Church. His team performed a randomized controlled trial to study how an hour-long tapping session would impact the stress levels of 83 subjects. To do this, Dr. Church and his team measured their level of cortisol, a hormone secreted by the body when it undergoes stress. Their findings? The average level of cortisol reduction was 24%, with a whopping reduction of almost 50% in some subjects! In comparison, there was no significant cortisol reduction in those who underwent an hour of traditional talk therapy.
Dr. Church also created The Stress Project, which teaches tapping to war veterans suffering with PTSD. [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) ... Definition. PTSD is a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event. ]The results have been astounding: an average 63% decrease in PTSD symptoms after six rounds of tapping. It’s mind-blowing and exciting research, which has converted many non-believers in the scientific community along the way. All signs indicate that this trend of revealing research and swayed skeptics will continue as millions of people around the globe continue to discover the power of tapping.
The History of Tapping: An Accidental Discovery Leads to a Healing Revolution
It began in 1980, with a psychologist by the name of Roger Callahan, and a patient with an extreme phobia of water. Mary’s fear of water controlled her life and kept her from daily activities. She was unable to take her children to the beach and was unable to drive near the ocean; she grew fearful when it rained, and could not even withstand the sight of water on TV. She had vivid nightmares involving water.Dr. Callahan and Mary had been working on this problem together for over a year. Finally, Mary worked up the courage to sit within sight of the pool at Dr. Callahan’s house. Even doing this caused Mary extreme distress, and though she found ways to cope with the intense fear and emotional pain, she did not overcome her phobia. They discussed her problem, and how to overcome it, but without success.
Her fear of being near the water caused Mary stomach pains – a common “gut reaction.” Dr. Callahan had recently been studying traditional Chinese medicines, and learning about meridians. Suddenly he had an inspiration. Remembering that there was an acupuncture point for the stomach meridian on the cheekbone, he asked her to tap there, thinking it might cure her stomach pains.
Mary tapped her cheekbone as directed, and this little action changed medicinal history! The response seemed miraculous, to both Mary and Dr. Callahan. Her stomach pains disappeared. But even more amazingly, her phobia of water disappeared, too! She ran down to the pool and began splashing herself with water, rejoicing in her newfound freedom from fear.
Based on this discovery, Dr. Callahan began a series of investigations to develop and refine this technique, which he termed Thought Field Therapy. Gary Craig trained under Dr. Callahan’s tutelage in the 1990’s, learning the procedures for TFT. As time passed, Craig began to observe some problems with TFT, aspects that he saw were unnecessary complications.
TFT required practitioners to tap on a specific sequence of meridians (called an algorithm) for each different problem. Diagnosing the problem required a technique called muscle testing, wherein the practitioner would measure the relative strength of a muscle, while the patient explored various thoughts or statements.
Craig observed repeated scenarios in which the problem was incorrectly diagnosed or the practitioner tapped out the meridian points in the wrong order, yet the patient was still helped.. Based on these observations, he concluded that it did not matter in which order the meridian points were tapped.
Craig developed EFT as a simplified, improved version of the concepts behind Callahan’s TFT. EFT has one basic, simple sequence of points to tap, no matter what the situation.
Because of this, thousands of people have used Tapping for illnesses and to resolve emotional problems. Tapping practitioners have studied the techniques and trained to take on more complicated and difficult cases, and these dedicated practitioners report more successful applications daily. More and more people are discovering and exploring Tapping. Many are discovering how Tapping can change their lives.
Introduction to The Tapping Points
see diagram belowBasic Tapping Sequence for Anxiety
As discussed, Tapping can be used for everything – try it on everything! In this example, we’ll focus on general anxiety.Try it now with this initial sequence. Here’s how a basic Tapping sequence works:
- Identify the problem you want to focus on. It can be general anxiety, or it can be a specific situation or issue which causes you to feel anxious.
- Consider the problem or situation. How do you feel about it right now? Rate the intensity level of your anxiety, with zero being the lowest level of anxiety and ten being the highest.
- Compose your set up statement. Your set up statement should acknowledge the problem you want to deal with, then follow it with an unconditional affirmation of yourself as a person.
“Even though I feel this anxiety, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I’m anxious about my interview, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I’m feeling this anxiety about my financial situation, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I panic when I think about ______, I deeply and completely accept myself. ”
“Even though I’m worried about how to approach my boss, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I’m having trouble breathing, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I’m anxious about my interview, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I’m feeling this anxiety about my financial situation, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I panic when I think about ______, I deeply and completely accept myself. ”
“Even though I’m worried about how to approach my boss, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I’m having trouble breathing, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
- Perform the set up.
Repeat the set up statement three times aloud, while simultaneously tapping the Karate Chop point. Now take a deep breath!
Get ready to begin tapping! Here are some tips to help you achieve the right technique.
- You should use a firm but gentle pressure, as if you were drumming on the side of your desk or testing a melon for ripeness.
- You can use all four fingers, or just the first two (the index and middle fingers). Four fingers are generally used on the top of the head, the collarbone, under the arm… wider areas. On sensitive areas, like around the eyes, you can use just two.
- Tap with your fingertips, not your fingernails. The sound will be round and mellow.
- The tapping order begins at the top and works down. You can end by returning to the top of the head, to complete the loop.
Head (TH)
The crown, center and top of the head. Tap with all four fingers on both hands.
Eyebrow (EB)
The inner edges of the eyebrows, closest to the bridge of the nose. Use two fingers.
Side of eye (SE)
The hard area between the eye and the temple. Use two fingers. Feel out this area gently so you don’t poke yourself in the eye!
Under eye (UE)
The hard area under the eye, that merges with the cheekbone. Use two fingers, in line beneath the pupil.
Under nose (UN)
The point centered between the bottom of the nose and the upper lip. Use two fingers.
Chin (CP)
This point is right beneath the previous one, and is centered between the bottom of the lower lip and the chin.
Collarbone (CB)
Tap just below the hard ridge of your collarbone with four fingers.
Underarm (UA)
On your side, about four inches beneath the armpit. Use four fingers.
Head (TH)
And back where you started, to complete the sequence.
As you tap on each point, repeat a simple reminder phrase, such as “my anxiety” or “my interview” or “my financial situation.”
Now take another deep breath!
- Now that you’ve completed the sequence, focus on your problem again. How intense is the anxiety now, in comparison to a few minutes ago? Give it a rating on the same number scale.
- If your anxiety is still higher than “2”, you can do another round of tapping. Keep tapping until the anxiety is gone. You can change your set up statement to take into account your efforts to fix the problem, and your desire for continued progress. “Even though I have some remaining anxiety, I deeply and completely accept myself.” “Even though I’m still a little worried about this interview, I deeply and completely accept myself.” And so on.
- Now that you’ve focused on dispelling your immediate anxiety, you can work on installing some positive feelings instead.
Here are some example phrases to guide you:
“I have faith in my ability to change.”
“I am joyful about these positive changes.”
“I am accomplishing so much.”
“I enjoy the calm and peace that I have.”
“I love the person that I am.”
“I am becoming a more relaxed and joyful person.”
You can use these positive phrases with the same tapping points and sequences described above.“I am joyful about these positive changes.”
“I am accomplishing so much.”
“I enjoy the calm and peace that I have.”
“I love the person that I am.”
“I am becoming a more relaxed and joyful person.”
Congratulations! You’ve completed your first Tapping sequence.
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