“EFT is the ultimate brain hack,” says Sarah Tobin, EFT practitioner, trainer, speaker, and creator of Tapping for Mums. Speaking from personal experience, I have to agree. 

I have had my business for over six years. I wear a lot of hats as a copywriter, email marketing manager, a business mentor for women in wellness, creating courses and digital products, plus building my own brand. Operating a business is a serious practice in discipline, perseverance, commitment, and a whole lot more. The ways I show up for myself and practice self-care are reflected in my business. 

“I owe it to my work, my clients, and my current and future self to do everything in my power to show up as my best self each and every day.”

On the flip side, any self-limiting beliefs, insecurities, or unhelpful patterns I have are also reflected in my business. I owe it to my work, my clients, and my current and future self to do everything in my power to show up as my best self each and every day — well most days at least!

I’ve come to see it as part of my job to develop self-care practices that help me deconstruct these limiting beliefs and patterns so I can let go of any fear I’m holding, reach my goals, and above all — actually enjoy the process. That’s where the Emotional Freedom Technique (aka EFT or “tapping”) comes in.

I’ve tried all of the things: Different types of meditation, breathwork, movement, therapy — and they have all helped me grow and heal in their own ways. Tapping is relatively new to my toolkit, but it’s quickly risen to the top as one of my favorites. Especially when it comes to finding motivation, feeling more creative, and getting past whatever is holding me back in my business. 

“Tapping is relatively new to my toolkit, but it’s quickly risen to the top as one of my favorites.”

EFT is typically used to help regulate emotions and uncomfortable thoughts while relieving stress and anxiety. Who knew that tapping on your face while talking to yourself could drastically change your whole life? I know how powerful this practice is, so I wanted to dive deeper into how it works or the many ways you can integrate it into your life. So, I turned to a couple of experts who helped enlighten me, and now you, on this incredible practice.

What is EFT tapping?

What really drew me to EFT is how simple yet potent this practice is. I can do it for a few minutes at a time and notice a huge shift almost instantaneously. It got me wondering, “How does this work?” and “Is this magic?” (The jury is still out on the latter. 😉)

“What really drew me to EFT is how simple yet potent this practice is.”

In 1980, Dr. Roger Callahan, a psychologist with a background in traditional Chinese medicine, combined his knowledge of the two disciplines to develop what he called Thought Field Therapy (TFT). A student of his, Gary Craig, took TFT and simplified it into an easier sequence, thus creating the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), commonly called “tapping”. EFT has now been made popular by many different practitioners and can be found on every platform from TikTok to YouTube. 

Brad Yates, founder of “Tap with Brad,” explains that tapping was originally based on acupuncture, using these meridian points on the body to help send a calming signal to the brain. In layman’s terms, tapping helps to release stress and patterns from the body by tapping on specific acupuncture points (known as meridian points). While you tap, you acknowledge the issue, express self-acceptance of it, and talk about how you are feeling and why. Seems straightforward enough, right?

How EFT works in the body

When you experience fear, your body releases stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. Tapping helps bring these hormone levels back to neutral, which then balances your emotions, so you can approach whatever is in front of you from a more balanced and grounded perspective.

I asked Tobin what happens in the body when you tap. “The act of physically tapping on key points on the body sends signals to the amygdala in the brain,” she explained. Tapping signals the body to turn off the sympathetic stress response of fight, flight, or freeze. This “switches us back into the parasympathetic nervous system, reducing the levels of stress hormones.” This helps us feel better emotionally and physically.

“Tapping signals the body to turn off the sympathetic stress response of fight, flight, or freeze.”

Just how effective is EFT? A 2020 study from Dr. Peta Stapleton found that participants experienced a 43% reduction in the stress hormone cortisol in just an hour of tapping! These results were from a single hour-long session, but personally I noticed a difference with just a few minutes of tapping a day.

That explains why you might physically tap on the meridian points, but what is the purpose of talking while doing it? According to Tobin, “The act of talking about how we are feeling while we are tapping effectively releases the negative emotion.” Since tapping can lighten the intensity of any emotion we are feeling, it allows us to feel safer in our bodies and whatever situation we are in.

“Tapping also helps us release energy that we hold from past experiences,” Tobin says which helps us to let go of any beliefs we created at the time, especially ones that are no longer relevant or serving us. “That belief would have been a safety strategy, but over time can become limiting. Tapping helps us shift our mindset as well as our emotions.”

What can you use EFT for?

Studies have shown that EFT can be used to help treat disorders like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and anxiety. I personally use tapping mainly to find more motivation and creativity in my workflow. But you can apply it to so many different areas of your life. People use tapping to help them find more abundance, to work through attachment issues, to relieve physical pain, to manage day-to-day emotions, and much more.

“People use tapping to help them find more abundance, to work through attachment issues, to relieve physical pain, to manage day-to-day emotions, and much more.”

Tapping is so helpful for releasing any stories and patterns that are keeping you from being the person that you want to be. We all experience fears that hold us back and keep us from achieving our goals. Tapping can be used to help overcome those fears and most importantly, have enough ease to be able to enjoy what you achieve. 

Tobin was motivated by her own journey to become an EFT practitioner. “After training in EFT, I realized I had been a highly functioning anxious person because all of a sudden the anxiety lifted,” she explained. She found that she was no longer holding herself back with self-criticism. The change in her life was so immediate that she felt empowered to build her career around sharing these very tools that got her there. 

Yates explains how stress can limit our cognitive ability, which is needed to reach any goal. “Tapping can free us to think more clearly, which allows for enhanced performance at work, in sports, school, and pretty much any endeavor.” Think about the last time you tried to reach a goal while you were feeling self-conscious, unsure, and lacking confidence. It makes it a lot more difficult! Tapping helps people build confidence and resilience so they can better face whatever task is in front of them and have the energy and clarity to get to the next milestone.

“Tapping helps people build confidence and resilience so they can better face whatever task is in front of them and have the energy and clarity to get to the next milestone.”

When Yates works with a client, he says that it’s important first to identify what changes someone would like to make in their life and what might be stopping them from making those changes. He believes that there’s a direct relationship between not having something you say you want, and resisting that thing in the first place.

You may be holding on to programming about why you couldn’t or shouldn’t have it. Yates says “While these limiting beliefs are generally based on misunderstandings, we unconsciously hold onto them, and experience stress when we try to make a change.” He helps his clients release those blocks through tapping so they can feel and do better in their lives.

Yates describes his own experience of growth through tapping. “I was in many ways success-averse years ago — and chronically under-employed. Tapping allowed me to become more confident and take the actions to cultivate a successful career — and help a bunch of people along the way.”

Getting started with EFT

What’s great about EFT is that anyone can do it at home. I asked Tobin to outline some simple steps to get started. Read on for her tips and suggestions.

“What’s great about EFT is that anyone can do it at home.”

Start by identifying the issue, or a specific problem or feeling. Then create what’s called a “set up statement.” This is a phrase that acknowledges the issue and expresses self-acceptance. For example, “Even though I feel stressed and overwhelmed, I choose to forgive, love, and accept myself anyway.”

After you have your set-up statement, you’ll start tapping through the points while repeating a summary of your set-up statement or talking about how you are feeling and why you’re feeling that way. You can also add positive affirmations such as “I’ve got this,” “I’m meant to do this,” and “I deserve this because I am brilliant at what I do.”

There are different ways of practicing tapping, but these are the main points you can tap on to get started:

  • Pinky side of the hand (the karate chop)
  • Top of the head, directly on the crown
  • Inside of the eyebrow, close to the bridge of the nose
  • Side of the eye, directly along the outside of either eye along the bone
  • Directly under the eye on the bone
  • Under the nose above the upper lip
  • On the chin, below your bottom lip, and above your chin
  • Under the collarbone, an inch to the side and down from the center of where your collarbones meet
  • Under the arm along the ribs

Try tapping with two fingers or all four fingers. You can tap on either side of the body because the meridians run down both sides. Use firm but gentle pressure, and remember that tapping is highly effective even if you’re not following the directions perfectly. You generally tap seven to nine times on each spot per round.

“Use firm but gentle pressure, and remember that tapping is highly effective even if you’re not following the directions perfectly.”

You can do it for one round or a few rounds and end it by taking a deep breath. You may want to keep a journal nearby for post-tapping reflections. 

Both Tobin and Yates have very enriching YouTube channels that will help you to practice EFT from the comfort of your own home. Tobin’s channel focuses on helping moms who are looking to connect with themselves on a deeper level while learning the skills to cope with the challenges of motherhood. She also has an online membership and community called “Tapping into You,” where she supports members with tapping videos, audio meditations, workshops, courses, and more.

Yates’s channel covers a wide range of topics from physical and emotional well-being to performance, to money issues, to cultivating self-love. He also offers two free five-day programs “Success Beyond Belief” and “Tap into Your Best Self”. Beginners will also be interested in his simple instructional video, “Intro to Tapping”

I’ve found that tapping works, and for many people, it works fast! If you want to reach your goals and truly make a change in your life, it’s important to acknowledge and start to release whatever fears are holding you back. Yates puts it so eloquently: “Fear limits our experience of health, wealth, and happiness. It also stops us from taking action where we could make a difference in the world.”

“It’s important to acknowledge and start to release whatever fears are holding you back.”

We all have goals we want to reach and we all have things that hold us back. It’s part of being human. But being proactive about overcoming these limits helps set the ball in motion for true and lasting change. Tapping — an intuitive, accessible tool that can be tailored to you — could be the beginning of a radical shift in your life.

Natasha Weiss is a Pacific Northwest-based health and wellness copywriter and full-spectrum doula. When she’s not typing away, she loves immersing herself in bodies of water, wandering through ancient forests, and anything and everything to do with food. You can learn more about her work on natashaweiss.com or connect on Instagram.