Powerful Tapping: Five Tips You Should Know When Using EFT
Written by Amy B. Scher
There are so many EFT tapping scripts out there, so many different ideas on how to use them, and so many different opinions on the right and wrong way to tap. During my healing adventure through chronic illness, I had an opportunity to try it all—and discover what helped me clear the fastest, and the most completely.
Now, as a professional energy therapy practitioner, I can confidently say EFT works for a wide variety of issues from; but if you don’t know these crucial tips, you could be missing out on deep and complete healing.
I know my top five tapping tips will put some signposts on the EFT discovery map for you and help you clear from your life what no longer serves you.
- Don’t be too general
This is one of the big mistakes I think people make while using EFT. I believe that our current symptoms, beliefs and triggers are all based on past events in our lives. Without addressing and clearing these specific events, you aren’t really “pulling the rug out” from under the trigger.- Instead of tapping with general words like “Even though I have this anxiety…” you will clear much deeper if you go back in your life and tap on a specific event that caused you anxiety. Try to remember the earliest or strongest memory you have of being anxious. Use EFT on that event. Formulate a set up statement like: “Even though I was so scared when mom did _____ at age 5, so I always feel on edge when I don’t have control…” This will start to change your energy pattern and clear that inherent fear that keeps coming up when you get triggered.
- Don’t use “robotic tapping”
It’s very important to “feel” as you tap so you can really clear that energy disturbance. If you are just repeating words and tapping but not connecting, it’s going to be hard to get great results. Use words that really bring you into the feeling you are trying to clear. (Note: if you are clearing a big trauma, I highly recommend working with a professional practitioner who has skills to help keep you from re-living that trauma while remembering it).- If you are tapping on something from a young age, try to use words that would make sense to that age or period in your life so you can really connect. If you can’t get into the feeling, close your eyes and picture yourself in the scene for a minute or so before you begin to tap. That will get you into the right space to clear and you can even just tap with your eyes closed.
- It’s all about the details
Tie in as many details as you can while tapping. The littlest details can easily become triggers: the color of the carpet in a room you once felt very scared in, the sound of glass breaking in an accident, the smell of food in a restaurant you heard bad news in, and so on. These are often the things must be cleared before we can really move on.- Incorporate as many sights, sounds and smells as you can while you tap. You can incorporate them into your set-up statement or just add those words in to the remaining points after the set-up.
- Be in resonance
Come up with set-up phrases that mean something to you. Many clients ask me if they have to say “….I love and accept myself” at the end of the statement. While this has proven to be a very effective ending, I find that any affirmation you resonate with will work. Here are some alternatives EFT set-up phrase endings I use in my practice and get great results with:- I am safe
- I am willing to learn to love and accept myself
- I am ready to move on
- I can be calm and grounded
- I choose to be calm and grounded
- I can heal now
- I can move on with ease and grace
- Don’t overdo it
While persistence is often the key in releasing big issues, the tendency can be to want to clear everything all at once now you have this amazing tool. However, the body needs time to process and you don’t want to tax yourself by doing too much, too fast. Many practitioners work in one to one-and-a-half hour sessions and that seems to be a good amount of time (although other time frames work for people too). Some things can be cleared in just a few minutes of tapping so use your best judgment. Just make sure you’re not tapping yourself to pieces without taking a break to let the residual energy move. Remember, if you have a busy schedule, even 15 minutes every day can be really productive.- To help energy move in between EFT rounds or after you are done working on an issue, it’s helpful to take deep breaths, walk around for a bit, or have a glass of water. I love Donna Eden’s Energy Routine to help move that energy out too.
Use these tips as a guide, but always go with your intuition. If you feel words or thoughts coming up as you tap, switch gears, even if it doesn’t seem to make much sense. If you allow yourself to go with the flow, your EFT will become much more meaningful and effective.
Now, get out there and tap away whatever is keeping the real you from shining through!
