How to do EFT tapping
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is a somatic practice of tapping acupressure points while focusing on a challenge in your life—a recurring thought pattern, an upsetting emotion, physical pain, or anything else you feel stuck on.
The goal of EFT is to neutralize the difficult emotions associated with whatever challenge you’re dealing with.
In doing so, your brain and body develop a healthy adaptation response opposed to remaining in the grip of fight or flight.
I wrote previously about how EFT influences your mindset.
In this article, I’m going to explain how to perform the standard EFT protocol so you can use it to release the thoughts and emotions that are holding you back.
The standard EFT protocol
The standard EFT protocol includes 7 steps:
1. Name the emotion
Identify a bothersome situation or emotion in your life. It can be something you’re struggling with physically, at work, in relationships, with your health or creativity, whatever.
The most important thing is that you focus on the feeling of the struggle you’re dealing with. Less what you think about it and more how you feel about it.
2. Rate the intensity
Give the bothersome emotion a rating on a scale of 0-10 (10 being the worst). This isn’t an exact science so no need to spend too much time on it. You’re just looking for a way to gauge the intensity of your experience so you have something to measure against later in the protocol.
3. Do the setup
While tapping on the side-of-hand point below, repeat your setup phrase 3 times: “Even though I feel [insert bothersome emotion], I love and accept myself.”
4. Tap the sequence
Use your fingertips to gently tap 7-10 times on each of the points below (starting with the top row, moving left to right) while repeating a reminder phrase.
A reminder phrase is something short that keeps your attention on the bothersome emotion.
5. Notice the effects
You’ve completed one round of EFT. Has the intensity level of your bothersome emotion changed? What number rating would you give it now?
6. Repeat the process
If the emotion is still lingering, return to the setup and repeat the process until the emotion is gone or has reached a tolerable level.
7. Flip the script
Now that you’ve made some progress dispelling your bothersome emotion, try replacing it with a supportive phrase such as “I trust my ability to change.” Repeat steps 1-6 using that new phrase.
Commit EFT to memory
You can use EFT on everything from routine annoyances to chronic physical or emotional stressors. The mechanism is the same—you’re communicating new information to your brain and body so you can release stuck patterns.
EFT is an invaluable tool that’s worth committing to memory.
To help, I created a free PDF with complete EFT instructions that you can keep as a reference. Print it out, hang it up, save it on your phone, whatever works for you!
