How to Do EFT: A Step-by-Step Guide

 

How-to-do-EFT-cryoutWhat is EFT?

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) can free you from feelings and reactions you would rather not have and allow you to be at your best in any situation. 

EFT, also known as the “Tapping Method,” is extremely easy to learn. The reason this technique is so simple is that it makes use of a natural human tendency that we all have – to comfort ourselves by using our hands.

We often don’t realize it, but every single day we soothe ourselves, clear our minds, and make ourselves more comfortable by using natural comfort spots on our bodies. Usually, these spots are on the upper body.

EFT Tapping is a systematic way of using our comfort spots that is more powerful than our usual haphazard way of using them. You can quickly learn EFT tapping to effectively relieve stress and anxiety, to eliminate trauma, phobias and pain, and to resolve many other health conditions that have not responded well to traditional medical practices.

Watch the demonstration below. Do you recognize the gestures in yourself or someone else?

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Interestingly, these spots correspond with many of the acupuncture points in traditional Chinese acupuncture. However, acupuncture is a different kind of process because it uses needles, while EFT uses a very gentle tapping.

Undoubtedly, practitioners of ancient Chinese medicine observed people over the centuries and noticed that they used their hands to comfort themselves in very specific ways.

Watch the video below to see the actual comfort spots you need to use with EFT. My assistant, who is my niece Daisy Carrington, demonstrates each comfort spot and as she does, I suggest you locate them on your body.

You need not tap now or remember the spots. As you go through this guide, you will have plenty of opportunity to learn them.

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Gauge Your EFT Progress

Before you begin using EFT Tapping, you need to know how to gauge your progress to determine if the stress associated with your issue is actually coming down. To do this you will use an Intensity Rating scale. The Intensity Rating is on a 0-10 point scale.

 

 

Intensity ScaleIntensity Rating

(0-10 point scale)

10 = being as upset as you can imagine being about the issue

0 = being completely laid back about it – no longer a problem

When determining your Intensity Rating, use the first number that comes to mind and make a note of that number. The rating will be more accurate, if you take it right off the top of your head.

 

Step 1: Select a Troubling Issue

First, you need to select an issue in your life to work on. Think of a memory that troubles you, one which causes stress that you want to relieve.

Take a moment to select the memory with the following in mind:

  • The issue should be a “5” or more on the Intensity Rating scale when you initially think about it.
  • It should not represent a major issue in your life, right now. While learning this method, you should not apply it to a deeply distressing issue.

 

Step 2: Select a Scene

Now, select a specific “scene” that represents the issue that you have just selected.

Some issues may be related to only one single scene. For example, maybe you experienced a terrible skiing accident, and since the accident, you’ve been afraid of skiing. That issue would only require the single scene of the accident.

Other issues may have more than one scene representing it. Suppose you’re having difficulty with your boss. There might be a number of different scenes you could remember when you had a run-in with your boss. In this type of issue, select the scene that was most upsetting to you, or the most vivid and recent. Choose one scene that really stands out in your mind.

EXCEPTION NOTE: If the scene was extremely upsetting, you can use a special technique. We want to keep things gentle, and with this type of scene you can use the “Tearless Trauma” technique.

 

The Tearless Trauma Technique

  • If a specific memory is far too upsetting, do NOT imagine a specific scene. (Don’t even think much about it.)
  • Just use the words, “Even though that terrible thing happened” (or similar general wording).
  • To take your Intensity Rating do NOT create a scene in your imagination, just say the general words and GUESS what the rating would be, if you were to think about it in detail.


Step 3: Make a Mental Movie

Once you have selected the scene you want to work on, make a mental movie of it in your mind.

 

Your Mental Movie

  • Has a beginning and an end, just like a scene in a movie, with characters and details.
  • It should be as detailed as possible (unless you are using the Tearless Trauma technique.)

Run your mental movie through your mind, and give yourself an Intensity Rating according to how it makes you feel RIGHT NOW. Not how you felt when it happened, or what you expect to feel about it.

You can’t change the past, you can only change the way you feel about the issue at this very moment.

 

Step 4: Create a Descriptive Mental Movie Title

This title is just for your use so you can focus on it while you are doing EFT. For example, if the mental movie was about a skiing accident, the title might simply be “My Skiing Accident.” Use anything that will remind you of the event.

 

Step 5: Devise Your EFT Reminder Phrase

You will need to add a few words to your mental movie title that will serve as your EFT Reminder Phrase.

 

The EFT Reminder Phrase

It is a shorthand description of your mental movie.

Add the word “This” before the short description, and the word “experience” after.

Examples:

THIS “fell on my head and no one cared” experience…

THIS “terrified that Dad would find out” experience…

THIS “anger at being fired without warning” experience…

THIS “devastated when she left me” experience…

 

Your Reminder Phrase will be inserted into an opening sentence that you will say three times while you are tapping on the Karate Chop Spot. We call this opening sentence the “Set-Up Phrase.”

 

Step 6: The Set-Up Phrase

As part of the Set-Up Phrase, you will be making a statement during the last part of it that you don’t need to believe. You may or may not believe the statement at all. You just say it with some seriousness, as though you do believe it.

The statement is, “I deeply and completely accept myself.”

Listen to Dr. Carrington’s brief comments regarding her EFT Choices Method as it relates to devising Set-Up Phrases. 

The Power of Personal Choice in EFT

  • EFT Choices Audio Transcript > Click

    The original tapping techniques, which I used for years, were designed, and work marvelously, for problem solving. They concentrate on problems and getting them out of the way.

    But the Choices Method goes beyond that. You can use it to tap in the positive. The Choices Method is a way of substituting a certain phrase for the common phrase that’s used in the traditional tapping technique, which is, “I deeply and completely accept myself.”

    Traditionally what you're saying, while you're tapping, is, “Even though I have this,” and you describe your problem, “I deeply and completely accept myself,” which works in many, many instances.

    But, it does have some problems for some people.  It is not always useful to use that phrase, because it doesn't seem logical. Why, if for example your toe hurt, you would be deeply and completely accepting yourself and, some people are bothered by that, think it's rather odd, find it difficult to use, and they also feel that they are being asked to do something that maybe they can't do. Not everybody can say, “I deeply and completely accept myself,” or, “I love myself.” For some people, it's very hard to do.

    I found that, while I was teaching this method, it was not compatible with everybody, and what I began to realize was that what was needed was a much more exact and targeted kind of goal in the statements that we use. Tapping points are the same, but the statement changed to be something like this; I’ll give you an example.

    Suppose a person was nervous about an upcoming speech they had to give before a group; a lot of people are. They could use the conventional EFT and they could say, “Even though I'm nervous about making that speech, I deeply and completely accept myself,” the default self-acceptance praise.”

    But, suppose they said, instead, while they were tapping, “Even though I'm nervous about making that speech, I choose to be calm and confident.” I think you can feel the difference these two statements. Deeply and completely accepting oneself is a wonderful affirmation, very useful in many instances, but there many times when you want to be much more specific than that.  You really want to ask, in the phrase for what you actually do want.

    When we introduced this Choices Method, it has more to it. It really does take it a giant step further. It's very, very empowering!

 

The reason for saying the standard phrase about accepting yourself is that many people blame themselves for their problems. They get down on themselves for having the problem. This makes it much harder to get over the problem. By adding this phrase, you are simply telling yourself to get off your own back. Stop blaming yourself and the whole process works more easily.

Now that you have put everything together so far, it’s time to make your Set-Up Phrase.

 

 

The Set-Up Phrase

  1. Even though I have…
  2. (Insert your Reminder Phrase)
  3. …I deeply and completely accept myself.

(Number three is the traditional EFT Statement. If it does not quite “feel right” for you to say, you can learn how to insert your own positive affirmation by using the EFT Choices Method, after you learn this basic process.)

Example

“Even though I have this ‘anger at being fired without warning’ experience, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

Take a moment to write down your Set-Up Phrase.

 

Step 7: Tap Along with the Demo

You are now ready to begin using EFT Tapping for your own issue. Follow along with the demonstration below through two rounds of tapping.

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Step 8: Assess Your Intensity Rating

If your Intensity Rating has come down, at all, the technique is working for you.

If your Intensity Rating hasn’t come down at this point, there is nothing to be discouraged about, whatsoever. That can happen in the beginning because you are just learning the technique.

If you have no trace of the emotional intensity that you had in the beginning, absolutely none, then you have come down to zero. People do go down to zero after having done only two rounds.

With the EFT technique, the goal is to reach a zero or one, at least. When your rating decreases to a zero or a one, you will feel completely different about your issue.

 

Step 9: Adjust Your Set-Up Phrase

If your Intensity Rating number has not moved from your original score, use the following Set-Up Phrase during the next two rounds of tapping.

 

Your Intensity Rating Did Not Yet Come Down

SET-UP PHRASE:  “Even though I’m stuck at (____ insert your Intensity Rating number), I deeply and completely accept myself.”

REMINDER PHRASE at each comfort spot: “I’m stuck at (…insert your number…)”

 

Your Intensity Rating Decreased by One or More Points, But Not Yet Zero

If your Intensity Rating number decreased by one or more points, but has not yet reached zero, do two more rounds of tapping, exactly as you did the first two rounds.

Even if your Intensity Rating may have come down several points from a high number, and you feel better, keep tapping. Don’t short-change yourself; go for the jackpot!

Keep tapping and monitoring your Intensity Rating to get the full benefit. 

 

If Your Intensity Rating Has Dropped to Zero

If you can find no trace of the emotional intensity that you had in the beginning, absolutely none, you’ve come down to zero. People do come down to zero after only doing two rounds. It’s not that unusual.

Use the same wording as you did in the first round, but change the word “Have” to “Had.”

EXAMPLE: “Even though I had this ‘anger at my boss’ experience…”

 If this applies to you, do the next two rounds of tapping with the changed word. This will give you practice tapping on the comforts spots. 

 

Step 10: Do Two More Rounds of Tapping

Now, follow along with the demonstration, again, and do two more rounds of tapping, while using the appropriate wording, as assessed from your previous Intensity Rating results.

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You have just completed the basic steps of EFT!

Next Steps

  • If your Intensity Rating is at zero or one, continue onto the next segment of this guide.
  • If your Intensity Rating has continued to drop, but is not yet at zero or one, repeat Step 10 until it has dropped.
  • If your Intensity Rating hasn’t decreased and your progress seems to be blocked, know that this is not uncommon. Continue to the next segment for more information.

The next segment, Part 2: Beyond the Basics, is especially useful for working through obstacles that can hinder your EFT progress when you work on various issues.

I also highly recommend that you explore my EFT Choices Method, below.

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