What Is Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) + How Can It Help?

Hey guys! Tanya here. Davida is just returning from her Minimoon and will be back soon! In the meantime I thought I’d share something I’ve been trying out recently called EFT Tapping, or just “tapping”.

Have you heard of tapping? One month ago I hadn’t. Think meditation meets acupuncture…right in the comfort of your own home. The idea is that you stimulate certain acupressure points on your body while letting go of limiting beliefs and welcoming positive affirmations. I was instantly intrigued and decided I was going to tap for a month straight and see what happened. 

Let’s Start With the Basics of EFT Tapping

For starters, the formal name of tapping is Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT. There are nine points you need to know before you begin your tapping practice. Note you can do these on either side of the body – even switching part way through your practice is fine!

1. The fleshy side of your hand below your pinky finger. Tap this with 4 fingers to start your practice. This is also known as the Karate Chop point.

2. Your eyebrow – specifically right where your eyebrow starts, near your nose. Tap with 2 fingers.

3. The side of your eye – on the bone between your eye and your temple. Tap with 2 fingers.

4. Under your eye – on the bone in line with your pupil. Tap with 2 fingers.

5. Under your nose – centered between your nose and your lip. Tap with 2 fingers.

6. Chin – right below the previous point, where your chin crease is. Tap with 2 fingers.

7. Collarbone – tap your palm on the center of your collarbone.

8. Underarm – on your side about a palms width below your armpit. Tap with 4 fingers.

9. Head –  your crown, center, top of head. Tap with 4 fingers.

How To EFT or Tap

For the first month, I followed sequences people already created. I was tapping to release limiting beliefs so each morning I would wake up and just type ‘tapping’ + ‘keyword I wanted to focus on’. The main ones I focused on were: self love, abundance, money, motivation, being enough, success. You know, just some casual limiting beliefs I have buzzing around my head on the daily. There are a bunch of people that have YouTube videos so try out a few to find who you like! Some go quickly, others are slower. Most I did were less than 10 minutes. I tried to repeat what they said out loud but sometimes I just repeated them in my head.

Each sequence begins by recognizing your limiting beliefs but following those up with loving and accepting yourself anyway. You then transition to clearing those limiting beliefs and then introduce positive affirmations about your limiting thoughts. Here’s a snippet of a sequence:

Recognizing your limiting beliefs: “Even though I think I’m not good enough, I choose to love and accept myself. Even though I think I’m not good enough, I choose to love and honor myself. Even though I have all these beliefs that I don’t measure up somehow, I choose to love, honor, and accept myself.”

Clearing those limiting beliefs: “I am clearing these thoughts that I am not good enough. Clearing them all the way through my past. Clearing them through all those events where it was suggested that I wasn’t good enough. Those were all misunderstandings. I am letting go of those misunderstandings.”

Positive affirmations: “I stand tall and believe in myself. I am more than good enough.”

What Happened After A Month of EFT

I honestly do feel better. Lighter. More aware. A lot of the sequences I did had me start by recognizing where my current belief was. How does money make you feel right now? On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your enough-ness? At the end of the sequence they had me check in with those feelings again. Every single time, I felt better. I recently heard the phrase, “Energy in before energy out,” which is exactly what tapping is for me. Centering, grounding, taking energy in before expending energy. 

Let me know if you guys try out tapping. It’s helped me so much and I hope it can do the same for you!

Like this post? Here are a few others you might enjoy:

An Intro Guide to Essential Oils
Herbal Tea 101 + Its Benefits
Meditation Basics + How to do it at Home