What Is EFT and Should You Try It?

What is EFT?

EFT, or Emotional Freedom Technique, is also known simply as “tapping.” It was developed by Gary Craig, who took an earlier technique called Thought Field Therapy from psychologist Roger Callahan and both simplified and modified it so it would be easier to apply in more situations.

The Principles of Tapping

According to Nick Ortner, author of The Tapping Solution and one of the early advocates of this technique, tapping can provide relief from “chronic pain, emotional problems, disorders, addictions, phobias, post traumatic stress disorder, and physical diseases.” Tapping draws upon the same principles as acupuncture and acupressure, stimulating the body’s meridien points (energy points) to create change in your emotional and physical health.

The basic theory is this: since our bodies run on energy, we need that energy to be flowing freely in order for physical and psychological balance. The energy source, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is known as “chi” or “qi”.

When the energy is out of whack, so is our health. Conversely, poor thinking or poor health can generate an imbalanced energy in the body, which needs to be corrected to restore health.

Because tapping is portable, can be self-administered and is free, using it can be a powerful way to effect change and can also “[give] you the power to heal yourself, putting control over your destiny back into your own hands.”

How to do it

In this video from mercola.com, an EFT practitioner explains the approach and shows you how to do it. As you can see, it doesn’t take very long to do the entire circuit, and it also can be used for many different situations.

Should You Use It?

It’s one thing to hear anecdotal evidence about a particular approach to health–and there is a lot about EFT–but actual scientific evidence is normally a much more powerful recommendation for any treatment.

In researching the studies on EFT, I was fascinated by this study on war veterans with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome) who were treated with EFT. Those who received the EFT treatment sessions improved so much that 90% of the subjects no longer met the PTSD criteria after 6 sessions (in other words, their PTSD was essentially gone), as opposed to only 4% in those who received conventional treatment.  This article provides a similar conclusion about the efficacy of EFT for PTSD.

Other studies have shown its effectiveness for anxiety, depression, phobias and food cravings. 

According to experts like Ortner, EFT can be used for a plethora of conditions or emotional states to help us improve and live more balanced, emotionally comfortable lives. I’ve known people who’ve used it for stage fright, lack of confidence, weight loss, or stress as well.

Given the increase in studies and the favorable results so far, my personal feeling about the practice is, “why not?”

Obviously, it’s your choice as to whether you try EFT. But with no cost, no equipment required and no physical side effects (note that you clearly shouldn’t tap an injured area!), I can’t think of any reason not to give it a try, at least once or twice.

Delving More Into EFT

This month, I had the pleasure of interviewing Melanie Moore, mindset coach who uses tapping to help clients reach their Big Vision goals via visualization and EFT,  for The Sweet Life Club (my membership club for anyone following an anti-candida diet). Melanie shared more about what EFT is, how it works, and what it can do for you. To see Melanie’s interview and all the exclusive materials in The Sweet Life, you can join here.

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