Would you be surprised if I tell you that by gently tapping using our fingertips on certain areas of our body can release stress within minutes helping you to relax, stay calm and achieve peace and harmony?

This technique is called Emotional Freedom Techniques ( EFT), also popularly known as tapping. It is a combination of Eastern Chinese acupuncture (since we tap on the same points used by acupuncturists) and modern Western Psychology (since we voice our emotions and feelings while tapping).

Energy tapping was first introduced by Dr. Roger Callahan with a modality called Thought Field Therapy. Gary Craig modified the technique to be more user-friendly and called this modality Emotional Freedom Techniques.

When we begin to tap, we send a calming signal to the amygdala, which is the fight-or-flight part of the brain, thereby initiating a relaxation response in the body. As we begin to soothe and calm our nervous system by establishing a tapping routine, we clear our energy body by neutralizing the charge on our emotions and rebalancing our system.

All of us know that the mind and body are connected. Tapping facilitates this mind-body connection effortlessly by releasing stress and emotional baggage and helping us move towards peace.

EFT is very simple to learn, and as long as we are stimulating the acupuncture points with our fingertips, we are moving the stuck energy which leads to emotional freedom and emotional fitness. E-motion is energy in motion. Everything is energy and we all are beings of energy. If we tap with this idea, we not only clear the stuck energy but gain valuable insights and a shift in perspective about our problems by the end of the tapping process.

EFT has become very popular and mainstream in the last two decades and is being integrated into practice by many therapists, coaches, and healers across the globe. EFT has been used to overcome the fear of public speaking to fear of flying, from pain relief to overcoming anxiety and depression, and also to improve sports performance and relationships.

There has been a lot of research and several studies conducted to test the efficacy of EFT. One such study conducted by Dr. Dawson Church showed average cortisol (major stress hormone) reduction by 24 -50% after an hour of tapping.

What makes EFT different from all the other modalities out there is its simplicity and its ability to bring us back to our bodies. Our body is our unconscious mind, vessel, and conduit of all our emotions. By engaging in a process like tapping, we can recondition our physiology, and reprogram our nervous system, since the shifts are happening at a subconscious and cellular level.

As EFT master Ann Adams says EFT can help us gain calm, clarity, confidence, courage, and choice and all of this is possible with freedom at your fingertips.

Useful links:
www.eftuniverse.com
www.emofree.com
www.scienceoftapping.com
The Healing Questions Guide
www.tapyourwaytohealing.com

By Meenakshi Ramesh, Certified Clinical EFT Practitioner