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Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)
Often called tapping. A structured technique that pairs acupressure points with focused attention on what you’re actually feeling — and one you can take away and use yourself.
EFT looks unusual the first time you see it. You tap lightly on a sequence of points on the face, collarbone and hand while speaking aloud about the thing that’s bothering you — not about how you’d like to feel, but about the problem as it actually is. People frequently find it faintly ridiculous for about ten minutes, and then find that the intensity of the feeling has dropped.
What makes EFT worth learning isn’t that it’s exotic. It’s that it’s portable. Hypnotherapy requires a practitioner and a quiet hour; EFT can be done in a parked car before a difficult meeting, or at 2am when a worry won’t let go. Many of my clients use both — hypnotherapy for the structural work, EFT for the moments in between.
The mechanism is debated. Practitioners describe it in terms of meridians and energy; researchers point to exposure, somatic attention and self-soothing doing the work. I care more that clients can use it than about which explanation is right, and I’ll be straightforward with you about the state of the evidence.
Is this you?
What EFT is useful for
It tends to be most effective on acute, specific, felt-in-the-body distress:
- Anxiety spikes in the moment — before a meeting, a flight, a conversation
- Cravings, which often drop sharply during a round of tapping
- Anger or frustration that hasn’t discharged
- Specific memories that still carry a physical charge
- Performance nerves, including public speaking and exams
- General overwhelm when you need something you can do immediately
The process
What a session looks like
EFT sessions are collaborative and quite active — you’re doing the tapping, I’m guiding the language and tracking what shifts.
Name the specific issue
EFT works on specifics, not categories. Not “my anxiety” but “the tightness in my chest when I imagine Thursday’s presentation.” Getting this precise is most of the skill.
Rate the intensity
You give the feeling a number from zero to ten. This gives us a moving measure — we re-rate through the session, and the number is usually what convinces sceptical clients that something is happening.
Set-up statement
Tapping the side of the hand, you state the problem plainly and pair it with self-acceptance. Naming it accurately rather than minimising it is the part most people find unexpectedly difficult.
Tap the sequence
Through the points — eyebrow, side of eye, under eye, under nose, chin, collarbone, under arm, top of head — repeating a short reminder phrase. I guide the wording, adjusting as things shift.
Re-rate and refine
We check the number. If it’s dropped, we continue on what remains; often a different aspect surfaces, and we follow it. Rounds continue until the charge has meaningfully reduced.
Learn to do it alone
By the end of the first or second session, most people can run a round on their own. That’s the point — this is a technique to own, not a service to keep buying.
Straight talk
Honest framing
EFT has a growing but still-contested research base. Studies suggest benefit for anxiety and some stress-related presentations; critics reasonably argue that the active ingredients are exposure and attention rather than anything about meridians. I don’t think you need to resolve that to benefit, but you should know it rather than be sold certainty.
EFT is not a treatment for trauma, PTSD or any psychological disorder, and it should not be used to process significant trauma outside the care of a licensed clinician. If distressing material surfaces during a session, we stop and I will refer you appropriately.
Questions
Frequently asked
Does EFT actually work, or is it placebo?
There’s reasonable published evidence of benefit for anxiety and stress-related complaints, alongside legitimate scientific debate about why. The most common explanation is that the tapping provides a somatic focus while the spoken statements provide exposure and acceptance. I’d rather tell you that than overstate the case.
Do I have to say things out loud?
Speaking aloud helps considerably, but it can be done quietly or internally if you’re self-conscious — and in an online session, no one but me can hear you.
Can I learn this in one session?
Most people can run a basic round after one session. The refinement — finding the right specific target, following what surfaces, adjusting wording — is what takes longer and what the sessions are really teaching.
Is EFT better than hypnotherapy?
They do different things. Hypnotherapy is stronger for changing entrenched patterns and deep associations; EFT is stronger as an in-the-moment tool you apply yourself. Most clients here end up using both.
Ready to finally feel like yourself again?
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