EFT

Emotional Freedom Techniques is a stress reduction technique. It is perfect for self-use. It is incredibly fast, effective when done well and lasting.

We focus in on a feeling, event, belief or physical sensation while we tap the acupressure-points along the energy meridians that are the same ones used in Acupuncture, only without the needles. When we do tapping while mentally focusing on an issue, we stimulate the energy system and neuro-chemistry to create relaxation and release the charge held by the body on physical symptoms, negative emotions or beliefs that hold you back.

Gary Craig, the founder of EFT, hypothesized that “The cause of all negative emotion is a disruption in the body’s energy system” and if we can stimulate the flow of energy, the negative emotions would collapse too.

Our nervous system is designed to protect us, and often times overreacts as if minor issues are life threatening, leaving us stuck in the fight or flight response where we are in a continuous state of stress and production of stress hormones that affect every cell in our body and contribute to physical and mental stress.

EFT is now in its 3rd decade. Recent research supports the belief that acu-point tapping calms the body’s neurochemistry to release physical and emotional symptoms. Research studies show that when we stimulate these acu-points, we see decreases in the production of the stress hormones of adrenalin and cortisol, which can result in boosting our immune system and decreasing inflammation and help to support health, memory, learning, etc.

1. Choose an emotional issue (i.e. sadness, anger, fear, etc.) or a physical symptom (i.e. a headache) to focus on. Be as specific as you can. For emotional issues use specific events such as: ‘This sadness’, ‘This fight with my boss’, ‘This anger at my teacher’. For physical issues, be specific, i.e. ‘This stabbing pain in my right knee’.
    
2. Determine the distress level that you are feeling on a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 is maximum intensity and 0 is no intensity at all.
    
3. The EFT Setup: Repeat this statement three times, while continuously tapping the Karate Chop point on the fleshy side of the hand while saying:
   “Even though I have this _______________ (name the specific emotion or physical symptom), I deeply and completely accept myself.”
    
4. The Tapping Sequence: Tap about 7 times on each of the energy points in the diagram below, while repeating a brief phrase that reminds you of the problem.
   i.e. ‘This headache’, ‘This anger at my mother’.
   Top of head, Eyebrow, Side of eye, Under eye, Under nose, Chin, Collarbone, Under arm.
    
5. Determine your distress level again on a scale of 0 to 10 again. If it’s still high, tap the Karate chop point and say:
   “Even though I still have some of this ____________ (state the problem), I deeply and completely accept myself.”
   and repeat the tapping sequence with a reminder phrase for each tapping point.
    
6. Repeat from Step 1 until your distress level is as close to zero as possible.