Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Basics

I first came across this weird practice a number of years ago whilst dealing with my own physical health challenges. I got to a point where I needed to look further and deeper than the surface level physical stuff. Something I resisted for quite a while, until my practitioner told me that if I was not going to comply, then I should find someone else…..obviously a lot more politely than that…lol. It was the kick up the butt I needed and needless to say I’ve complied ever since!

This weird technique is known as Emotional Freedom Technique, EFT for short or more commonly known as Tapping.

After experiencing amazing results and really enjoying this technique so much, I decided to become certified so that I could incorporate it into my coaching practice.

Not only has it been a powerful tool for myself, but it has been fabulous to teach my children how to use it and help them become more empowered. Not only to recognise an emotion they are feeling, but deal with it too so that it does not become stuck in the body.

Below I’ll be describing some of the basics of Tapping that have been taken from the work of Dr Peta Stapleton and Evidence Based Emotional Freedom Technique.

What is EFT?

EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) is a brief novel intervention combining elements of exposure and cognitive therapy, and somatic stimulation. It is often referred to as ‘Tapping’ as it uses a two finger tapping process with a cognitive acceptance statement. It is a form of Energy Psychology.

EFT - The Technique:

Points are stimulated by tapping on them with 2 fingers, the index and middle fingers. The strength of tapping should be comfortable and you should be able to feel a resonance spreading out across the adjacent area of your body from the point you are tapping. Tap on each spot approximately 7 times before moving on to the next spot.

See below for Tapping Points:

Source Unknown

How does EFT Work?

EFT appears to affect the amygdala (stress centre in the brain) and hippocampus (memory centre), and both play a role in the decision process when you decide if something is a threat.

EFT has also been shown to lower cortisol levels, which is the stress hormone -too much cortisol can result in lowered immune function and ultimately affect our physical health.

 Stimulation of acupoints is believed to send a signal to the limbic system, and reduce limbic hyper arousal (Feinstein, 2010). This in turn, leads to “rapid reciprocal inhibition” and “long-term counter-conditioning” (Feinstein, 2010).

 EFT can decrease activity in the amygdala, which is part of the brain’s arousal pathway (Dhond, Kettner, & Napadow, 2007).

 The process of EFT has possible effects on the body’s physiological systems that regulate stress, emotional intensity and associated neural transmission frequencies (Diepold Jr & Goldstein, 2009).

What can EFT be used for?

Every Feeling or Thing, i.e. everything you have a feeling or sensation about -

• Food Cravings

• Body Shape-change and fat burning

• Stress and Anxiety

• Sports Performance

• Trauma, Memories

• Physical Pain

• Illness

• Addiction

Specifically in my practice, I’ll be using it for goal setting, dealing with general day to day stresses and emotions that arise, and removing limiting beliefs (health & wellness) & installing new beliefs.

EFT - The recipe

1. Acknowledge there is something to change and rate distress/discomfort out of 10 (10=most distress, 0=no distress). The rating level is known as SUDS

2. State problem in setup statement while tapping on karate chop point (3 times).

3. Tap through all 8 EFT points while saying a short reminder phrase.

4. Take a breath and re-rate your distress out of 10.

5. Tap again until rating is 0.

The aim if to get a SUDS rating level of 2 and below. This indicates that whilst you have the memory, you no longer have energetic charge and emotion to it. This could also be due to a cognitive shift to the event.

The Generalisation Effect:

After you address a few related problems with EFT, the process starts to generalise over all those problems. For example, someone who has 100 traumatic memories of being abused usually finds that after using EFT...they all vanish after neutralizing only 5 to 10 of them.

Why Tap on the negative?

• • Tapping doesn’t affirm the problem.

• • It states the truth and acknowledges it.

• • Taping calms the physiological response.

• • Once released, cognitive shifts (reframes) that come from the client will surface.

Further exploration of Tapping:

https://evidencebasedeft.com/free-resources/

Tapping will be incorporated into my longer term VIP 1:1 Packages, but you can also schedule a specific tapping session of 50 min. Feel free to get in contact with me to further explore your options for health IF you are wanting to go below the surface level and get longer terms results.

Chantal is a Certified and Accredited Nutrition & Wellness Coach with a very special interest helping stressed and overwhelmed mums transform the health of their family from the inside out using healing nutrition and transformational wellness practices.