Have you heard of tapping, but aren’t quite sure what it is? This step-by-step guide will walk you through how to use this easy self-care method to ease your pain. You’ve got magic in your fingertips and it’s time to tap into it!
What Is Tapping?
Emotional Freedom Technique, also known as EFT or tapping, is the process of gently tapping pressure points of your body with your fingertips, in order to release energetic blockages. Tapping is considered a complementary healing method that helps you release emotional and physical pain.
How Does Tapping Work?
Tapping works similarly to acupuncture, by encouraging stuck energy to move through your meridians, or energy pathways. By applying gentle pressure to specific points on your body, you send a signal to your brain to produce fewer stress hormones.
Negative emotions and physical pain are closely tied, so while tapping helps you release negative emotions, it also reduces physical pain as a happy biproduct. Think of it as a way to gently break up blockages in your subtle body so you can return to your normal, pain-free baseline.
The process includes 5 easy steps. Let’s get started!
Step 1: Identify the Issue
Choose one specific issue that’s bothering you. This can be anything at all, just be sure that you only choose one. Tapping can be done to bring relief to physical or emotional pain. Here are some examples of issues you might use it for:
- sore muscles
- pain from an injury
- grief
- depression
- emotional trauma
- stress
- anxiety
- forgiveness
- self-love
- withdrawal from addiction
- phobias
- PTSD
- hangover
Step 2: Rank Initial Intensity
Before you begin, you’ll want to get a baseline so you can compare how you feel, before and after. So start by assessing how much discomfort this issue is creating for you. Rate your pain using a scale of 1-10, where 1 is mild discomfort and 10 is extreme pain. Remember this number!
Step 3: Define your “Setup” Statement
Tapping is all about acknowledging a problem and accepting yourself anyway. The idea is to disassociate negative emotions from the situation. This is because when your emotional attachment to the issue decreases, so does your pain. Your setup statement will always follow this format:
“Even though ________, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”
It’s important that you fill in the blank with words that describe what you’re feeling. So for example, you might say, “Even though…”:
- I’m depressed
- my neck is sore
- I’m feeling anxious
- I screwed up at work
- I’m craving a cigarette
- I can’t sleep
“…, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”
Step 4: Complete the Tapping Sequence
Now that you’ve got your mantra for this exercise, you’re ready to begin! Follow this 9 point tapping sequence in order:
- Side of hand (karate chop point) – tap the side of your non-dominant hand (below the pinky finger) while repeating your mantra 3 times
- Top of head – say your mantra once while tapping the top of your head
- Between eyebrows – say your mantra once while tapping between the brows
- Sides of eyes – say your mantra once while tapping your right temple. Repeat on the left side.
- Under eyes – say your mantra once while tapping below your right eye. Repeat on the left side.
- Under nose – say your mantra once while tapping under your nose.
- Chin – say your mantra once while tapping your chin.
- Collarbone – say your mantra once while tapping your collarbone (either side).
- Under arm – say your mantra once while tapping just below your armpit (either side).
Step 5: Rank Intensity Again
Once you’ve completed the 9 point sequence above, reassess your pain. You should find this number is lower than your original assessment. This means you reduced your own discomfort by getting stuck energy to flow within your body. How incredible is that?! Feel free to repeat the sequence again if you want to lower it further.
Did you give tapping a try? Please leave a comment and tell us your experience, and use the icons below to share on social media!
XO, Andrea
Self-care starts here!
We’ll help you remember just how worthy you are.
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