What is EFT Tapping?
EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Techniques. It is an easy and effective self help tool that enables us to interrupt our thought patterns, switch off stress, and change our emotional state. EFT is sometimes termed as ‘psychological acupressure’. It is commonly referred to as 'Tapping' because you literally tap on acupressure or acupuncture points whilst focusing on and voicing your presenting issue. EFT Tapping is a psycho-somatic stress reduction technique that calms the mind and body when emotional or physical distress is present. 'Psycho' meaning that it works with the psychology of the mind, and 'somatic' meaning it has an effect on the physiology of the body.
History
American Psychologist, Roger Callahan brought the stress scale, exposure therapy, and acupressure together to create TFT - Thought Field Therapy, after discovering that he could cure a patient of a phobia in a single session.
Callahan's system was simplified by Stanford University trained Engineer & Performance Coach, Gary Craig which then gained widespread recognition. EFT has been validated as an evidence-based approach in many studies, including randomised controlled trials that measure PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), pain, depression, anxiety, and food cravings. And to this day, phobias are one of the easiest conditions for EFT to treat. t all begins with an idea.
How it works
When we tap, the stimulation of the points sends a calming signal to the brain, switching off the stress response. The parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system turns back on which allows us to feel calm. Once we have switched off the stress response, the frontal lobe can begin to re-engage and function normally. This means that it is easier to engage in rational thinking and make better choices. We are able to switch off the stress response and calm the body, changing how the body is responding and the mind is processing a situation. Now we are in the present moment, feeling calm and thinking rationally, a cognitive shift takes place. We can make the change we desire and reprogram the way we are responding to our environment.
You don’t need to understand the science of how tapping works for it to work.
If you practise acknowledging the distress as it shows up, allowing it to sit with you whilst you tap through the points, you simply keep tapping whilst feeling your issue until you begin to feel a positive shift.
The brain & stress
The stress response or ‘fight/flight/freeze’ response is designed to prepare our bodies for reacting fast in a dangerous or unsafe situation. Back in the Paleolithic Era when cave men roamed the earth, this reaction enabled us to protect ourselves to stay alive. We need to be able to flee an unsafe situation or fight when our lives are in danger, so the brain releases the hormones that enable us to do this. The Amygdala and Hippocampus (the stress centre in the brain) will decide if a situation is threatening and then set about releasing the fight/flight/freeze hormones.
The problem is that thought alone can trigger the stress response, this is due to the fact that the parts of the brain that control this is the sub-conscious, and the sub-conscious brain does not know the difference between what is real and what is imagined in thought. So, if you imagine something stressful or think about past or possible future stressful situations, the stress response will switch on. Also, if we think about an emotionally intense memory, the body will experience the emotions that match the memory.
Research
These studies show that by stimulating these parts of your body – as we do in EFT Tapping – you can drastically reduce or eliminate the distress that accompanies a situation or problem. By so doing, you can often eliminate the problems themselves! A significant study was conducted by Dr. Dawson Church, one of the world’s leading experts on energy psychology, and an EFT master in his own right. His study set out to determine how an hour-long tapping session would impact the cortisol levels of 83 subjects. He also measured the cortisol levels of people who received traditional talk therapy, as well as the cortisol levels of those who received no treatment at all. The average cortisol reduction of those who experienced an EFT Tapping session was 24%, and even hit as high as 50% in some subjects. On the other hand, people who experienced traditional talk therapy or no treatment at all didn’t experience any significant cortisol reduction.
Here is a research paper showing how Clinical EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Improves Multiple Physiological Markers of Health
Dr Peta Stapleton - Clinical & Health Psychologist, World Leading Researcher, Author & Educator has released a book called The Science Behind Tapping available on Amazon for further in depth reading about the science of how EFT Tapping works.
“When we tap, it brings us into the present moment, we are now empowered to work with the issue to release and reduce distress so we feel calm and think rationally, a cognitive shift takes place.”
— TIME TO THRIVE
EFT Tapping Can Help Manage:
Mindset & Focus
Negative thought patterns
Limiting Beliefs
Stress & Anxiety
Trauma/Triggers
Phobias
Physical Pain & Illness
Weight Loss & Food Issues
Food Cravings & Emotional Eating
Performance