Fill Your Body with Positive Energy Using the “Emotional Freedom Technique”

The belief statement behind Emotional Freedom Technique is that the cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body’s energy system. Clearing up these disruptions will lead us to free our mind of issues like guilt, anxiety, fear, depression, grief, and other negative feelings. 

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is a process that brings back positive energy and inner balance.

What Is Emotional Freedom Technique?

Think of Emotional Freedom Technique as a type of “psychological acupressure,” where you tap certain points on your body with your fingertips while repeating a positive affirmation.

In doing so, you spread kinetic energy into “specific meridians” on your body. The tapping sends an electrophysiological signal to a part of the brain to shut off the fight-or-flight response, leading to diminished anxiety and improved mood.

The tapping, together with the positive affirmation, helps you unblock and move past the negative emotion, restore inner balance, and bring harmony back to your mind and body. It can even help diminish physical pain.

How Is Emotional Freedom Technique Done?

Adults and children have learned this simple technique. There are two things you need to learn — the tapping locations and the positive affirmation.

The Tapping

Your fingertips are your main tool here. The tips of our fingers bear several acupuncture meridians. Accordingly, during tapping, you will be working many of these, both on the area being tapped on and the fingertips themselves.

You can use either hand to do the tapping and whichever two fingers feel most natural to tap with. You can also switch hands at any point. It’s best to remove glasses, watches, and bracelets during the tapping, and you should tap firmly but not to the point where you hurt yourself.

The number of tapping will vary but usually, each point should be tapped 5 to 7 times — about the length of time it takes for one full breath. Moreover, the tapping procedure goes down the body, that is, each point tapped is always lower on the body that the one before it.

Emotional Freedom Technique comes with a list of abbreviations of the tapping locations. These include:

1.    Top of the Head (TOH)
2.    Beginning of the Eyebrow (EB)
3.    Side of the Eye (SE)
4.    Under the Eye (UE)
5.    Under the Nose (UN)
6.    Chin Point (CH)
7.    Beginning of the Collarbone (CB)
8.    Under the Arm (UA)

The Positive Affirmation

Words have a strong hold on how we look at the world. Having said this, the second thing to learn for this technique is the positive affirmation. The latter is there to be said while you are tapping the different parts on your body.

The structure of the positive affirmation can vary slightly from one clinician to another but traditionally, this is what is recommended that you say:

“Even though I have this _____________, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

The blank space is there for you to fill with the negative emotion you are addressing such as anxiety, stress, food cravings, anger, or another issue. Saying the affirmation and believing it is always best but even on those days when you don’t believe it, it is still best to say it. Moreover, saying it out loud is even better.

Related: How to Identify and Heal Your Emotional Triggers 

How to Perform Emotional Freedom Technique

1. First off, identify the negative emotion you want to address. It could be a sore neck, an embarrassing moment, deep set anxiety, or overwhelming stress.

2. Next, give this negative emotion a number from 0-10 of how intense it is on that day. This is so you can note the level of intensity later, when the tapping is over.

3. With your affirmation in mind, “tune in” on the problem. It is essential that you experience the negative issue at the time of tapping for Emotional Freedom Technique to work. State the affirmation while tapping the different parts of your body according to the abbreviation list above. Repeat the affirmation with enthusiasm and energy.

In doing so, you should feel the negative feeling die down and if you test the level of intensity again by giving it a number from 0-10 you can determine if you are feeling better. There is also a “reminder phrase” that you can use throughout the day to strengthen the belief while tapping. You do this by using a few words of the phrase such as “food cravings” or “anxiety.”

Related: How to Deal with Anxiety: 6 Ways To Calm Your Mind & Body

When Should You Do Emotional Freedom Technique?

Emotional Freedom Technique is not a one-time thing. It should become a habit. You should perform this technique when you wake up and especially when you go to bed to “give your subconscious from 6-8 hours to work on your affirmations and help create them for you.” Moreover, performing this technique when you are in front of a mirror is ideal.

As with any other habit, it can take you a few tries to get a hold of this technique.

At Loving Life Therapy, we have providers who are trained in EFT and can guide you through this technique to help you restore the balance your body, mind, and soul need.

Contact us today to schedule an intake appointment or learn more about our variety of counseling and therapy services by downloading our free info packet.