Imagine that you feel anxious, or you have a headache, or your stomach is upset. What do you do? Pop a pill? Drink some herbal tea? Lie down and wait for it to go away?
What about gently tapping on your face and torso with your fingers while you focus on the problem?
If you’re like most of us, it’s probably not the first thing you’d think of doing. Or even the second.
But, every day, thousands of people all over the world use this surprisingly effective method to relieve many types of physical and emotional distress, from chronic pain to anxiety and phobias…
It’s called the Emotional Freedom Techniques® or EFT®.
Of course, you can’t just tap anywhere and get results. EFT is a form of mind-body medicine that uses very specific tapping points called meridian points or acupressure points. They are little power centers in the body that are also used for healing in the science of acupuncture, although in EFT no needles are ever used.
Gary Craig, who developed EFT, calls it “an emotional form of acupuncture.” Dr. Robert Scaer names it as one of the few mind/body techniques that reduces symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome because it helps to release the stored trauma that triggers IBS.
Why would tapping with our fingers help with health problems or emotional conditions? That’s the fascinating question!
You might not think of yourself this way but your body is more than just flesh and blood. In addition to the physical parts of us that we can see, we’re made up of a network of energy centers and pathways that are invisible to the eye. These pathways are known as meridians.
This is similar to the electrical wiring in your house. If there’s a short in the wiring that goes to the kitchen, you won’t be able to turn on the lights, the fridge goes off, or the microwave won’t zap anything. You could try replacing the light bulbs or having your appliances fixed, but the fact is, nothing will work properly until you get the electricity flowing through the wires again.
The meridians are like those electrical wires, flowing energy through your body. When you get zapped by a bad experience, traumatic memory, or an accident, your energy system short-circuits and stops flowing. This blockage can lead to physical and emotional symptoms: pain, headaches, digestive problems, anxiety, depression, foggy thinking and memory lapses, poor performance at work or school…there’s a long list of possibilities.
On the other hand, when we “fix” the short circuit and restore the flow of energy by tapping on the meridian points, our physical or emotional discomfort can go away.
It almost sounds too easy, doesn’t it? Simple as it sounds, this method is based on the profound wisdom of the 4,000-year-old tradition of energy medicine, updated for the 21st century.
So, how do you tap to make yourself feel better? Probably the easiest way to learn how to do it is to watch the Tapping Tutorial video at the end of this article, then you can tap along and experience it for yourself. (We could have written out a long, detailed explanation but a video is definitely worth several thousand words.) This is the actual tapping tutorial for The No IBS Program. The Program leads you step-by-step through the specifics of tapping to relieve IBS, and provides other vital information you’ll need if you’ve decided to self-heal your condition.
One of the wonderful things about tapping is that it’s a method anyone can learn and self-apply. Since you can use it on yourself, you don’t have to pay for endless sessions with a practitioner. In fact, even if you do go to a practitioner, you won’t need endless sessions because EFT often gives results in a short period of time. And the results are like receiving compound interest—the benefits keep adding on to each other and increasing.
But let’s be honest. Learning to tap is like learning any new skill. It takes a bit of time and patience until you get used to the idea of trying it on everything. You may have to break through your own resistance to moving beyond the same-old, same-old. To paraphrase Einstein, if what you’ve tried so far hasn’t worked to solve your problem, you need to expand your thinking and try something a little different.
Once you learn how to tap, it can give you a whole new level of mastery and control in your life and help you to become happier, healthier, and more successful. And isn’t that what you wanted?
Tapping Tutorial:
Note: EFT and meridian tapping are not considered substitutes for appropriate medical and psychological treatment. Always consult a qualified health professional about what treatments are best for you.
The Emotional Freedom Techniques and EFT are registered trademarks of Gary Craig.