Tapping and Emotional Healing: The 6 Benefits of EFT Tapping Therapy

When you hear the term “emotional freedom,” what do you think of? Most likely, thoughts of feeling lighter, happier, and free of fear, worry, stress, and anxiety spring to mind. Now, what if I told you that there’s an all-natural therapy called EFT tapping therapy that’s been scientifically proven to not only help you achieve emotional freedom (by significantly decreasing stress and anxiety) but also support your overall health?

Sounds amazing, right? Let’s take a closer look at what EFT tapping therapy is, how it works, and the top benefits of utilizing this natural therapy. You may be surprised to learn how it not only fights stress and anxiety but can even have physical benefits as well!

 

What Is EFT Tapping Therapy?

First of all, it’s important to know that EFT is an acronym for emotional freedom technique. The idea behind EFT is that stress—particularly emotional stress—has the ability to hinder your body’s natural and innate ability to heal itself. Therefore, by releasing yourself of these emotional stressors, you open your body back up to healing.

So, how does EFT tapping therapy work? Think of it as a type of acupressure, almost like a needle-free form of acupuncture. In fact, Gary Craig, the founder of EFT tapping therapy, refers to it as an “emotional version of acupuncture.” [1]

With EFT, the goal is help generate and/or direct the flow of energy in your body by applying pressure to certain points. Interestingly, according to Craig, EFT tapping therapy is a two-pronged process that easily lends itself to being done anywhere via DIY (do-it-yourself) methods. Here’s how the process works:

First, before you begin applying any pressure, you must first key in on any specific emotional concerns you have. Then, you stimulate certain meridian points on your body by simply tapping them with your fingertips.

Now, we recently discussed Traditional Chinese Medicine and how it depends on balancing your internal energies through your meridians. So, as you may have guessed, EFT tapping therapy does follow the methodology of TCM by also sharing in the concept of meridians.

 

 

How to Perform EFT Tapping Therapy

According to TCM philosophy, there are 12 meridians, or energy pathways, in the body. Interestingly, EFT focuses on nine of these points. And according to EFT methodology, you can access these meridians by tapping on certain specific points on your body. Here are the nine points most commonly used in EFT: [2]

If you’d like to a visual, check out this video to see exactly where these meridian points are located.

To perform EFT tapping therapy, you begin by focusing on your specific emotional concern. Next, state your emotional concern in a short phrase or sentence while tapping your karate chop point a few times. Next, starting from the top of your head, work your way down, tapping each point three to four times with your fingertips.

Remember to recite your phrase or sentence as you tap each point. Once you make your way to the area under your arm, start back at the top of your head and repeat the sequence a few times.

Once you’ve gone through the sequence two to three times, take a moment to consider how you’re feeling about your emotional concern. If you’re not feeling better, repeat the sequence a few more times until you feel your emotional stress improve.

Feeling a little skeptical? I get it—it can be a lot to absorb. But you may be surprised to learn that EFT tapping therapy has been studied extensively, and scientists have found that this all-natural therapy offers some incredible health benefits! So, let’s look at the ways EFT has been shown to help improve both emotional and physical health.

The Top 6 Benefits of EFT Tapping Therapy

There are numerous benefits of EFT tapping therapy, but here are six of the most prevalent health benefits you can expect to experience.

1. Fights stress 

Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of EFT tapping therapy is its ability to combat stress. Why? Well, 77 percent of Americans reporting regularly experiencing physical symptoms due to stress. [3] And up to 90 percent of all doctor’s office visits are for stress-related problems. As you can see, it’s one of the most prevalent health concerns in our modern world. [4]

So, how effective is EFT at helping to manage stress? The link between EFT and stress has been studied extensively, and the research is fascinating.

In a 2012 study, researchers assigned 83 participants into one of three groups: an EFT group, a psychotherapy group, and a no treatment group. Amazingly, the researchers found that the EFT group showed significant improvements across a number of psychological distress symptoms.

Specifically, the group’s anxiety reduced by over 58 percent, while their depression reduced by over 49 percent. In addition, the overall severity of their symptoms decreased by 50 percent. Moreover, their cortisol levels (tested using their saliva) dropped by an incredible 24 percent. [5]

But that’s not all. The researchers took it a step further and compared the cortisol results with the other groups. The psychotherapy group’s cortisol level dropped by 14.25 percent while the no therapy group’s level dropped by 14.44 percent, showing that EFT tapping therapy was the most beneficial treatment of those used in the study on reducing stress.

Similar studies have confirmed these results, with findings showing that EFT being able to reduce anxiety, depression, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), and more. Incredibly, findings have also shown that EFT tapping therapy can reduce pain by up to 57 percent and cravings by up to 74 percent.

Additionally, this therapy was able to increase happiness by 31 percent while decreasing resting heart rate and blood pressure levels! [6, 7]

2. Calms anxiety

As I discussed above, studies have confirmed that EFT tapping therapy is incredibly effective at reducing anxiety. But did you know that it works by calming anxiety right away?

According to a 2019 study, EFT can significantly reduce anxiety symptoms after only one session! But how does it work so quickly? Well, researchers found that EFT specifically impacted stimuli that elicits fear and anger, which can, in turn, reduce symptoms of anxiety. [8]

So, the next time you’re feeling fearful or angry, you may want to try an EFT session to help restore a feeling of calm.

3. Fights depression

Depression is becoming more and more prevalent in our society. In fact, globally, more than 264 million people currently suffer from it. [9] Luckily, EFT tapping therapy has been shown to be an effective treatment for depression.

According to a 2016 meta-analysis of 20 studies, EFT was found to be an incredible effective treatment for depression, with an average reduction in symptoms of 41 percent. [10] Furthermore, the researchers found that EFT was as effective or superior than standard depression treatments.

4. Helps reduce pain

Another benefit of EFT tapping therapy is its ability to reduce pain. In fact a 2014 study on 59 veterans with PTSD revealed that using EFT as a supplementary therapy resulted in a 41 percent decrease in pain. When the researchers followed up with the participants six months later, the veterans still reported significantly decreased pain. [11]

Additionally, a 2017 study on 24 patients with chronic pain revealed that EFT helped to decrease pain severity along with anxiety and depression. [12]

These findings support the idea that EFT may provide a low-cost, at-home treatment for chronic pain sufferers.

5. Improves sleep

EFT benefits also extend to fighting insomnia and improving sleep. It makes sense, since our emotional concerns are known to keep us up at night, right?

According to a 2016 study on 21 veterans with PTSD, the veterans saw a significant improvement in insomnia after six sessions of EFT tapping therapy. [13] Additionally, a 2015 study revealed that EFT was more effective than sleep hygiene education for improving insomnia. [14]

6. Supports healthy weight management

Finally, one of the last—and perhaps most popular—benefits of EFT tapping therapy is its effect on weight management.

In a study published in 2020, researchers evaluated the effect of EFT on food cravings, dietary restraint, subjective power of food, weight changes, and self-reported symptoms. The study took place two years after the participants completed an eight-week course on EFT.

Amazingly, the researchers found that the participant reported reduced food cravings by 28 percent while their anxiety decreased 23 percent. In addition, their self-reported symptoms decreased by just over 10 percent. Moreover, their BMIs and weight both significantly decreased. [15]

These findings show that EFT should be considered as an adjunct therapy for weight loss.

EFT tapping therapy - Dr. Pingel

Key Takeaways