How to Use EFT to Reduce Stress

January 04, 2018

Feeling stressed? There are so many causes of stress in our daily lives – work, financial problems, health, relationships, traffic. We can’t escape it!

Luckily, there are ways we can help ourselves to reduce stress.

One way to do this is with the Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT. This technique only takes a few minutes to learn and is highly effective. Best of all, it works quickly.

The Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT is a simple stress relief technique in which you use your fingertips to tap on various points on your head, hands, body, and face while you verbally recite positive affirmations.

It is also referred to as Tapping. Similar to acupuncture but without the needles, it can be described more as a combination of acupressure and psychology.

EFT is based on the idea that energy flows through the body on pathways called meridians. It is thought that all negative emotions are caused by a disruption in the body’s energy system. Tapping stimulates different energy points along the meridians to release energy and restore balance.

How To Do EFT

 

So, how do we do it? First, you identify the problem that you want to focus on.It may be an emotion or a physical symptom. In this case, it’s stress. You must think about the problem for this to work, as just physically tapping the points is not enough. Really tune into the problem and consider it.

Now rate its intensity level from 0-10.

Compose your set up statement or positive affirmation. Traditional EFT uses an “Even though” statement which is, “Even though I have this _________, I deeply and completely accept myself.” Fill the blank with a short description of the problem and how you feel. Be specific. It might be “Even though I feel this stress about dealing with my boss, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

You will be using two or more fingers of either hand to tap on the specific areas of the body with your fingertips. Remember, this should not hurt so tap more lightly if it does.

You will tap on each area 3-7 times or about the time it takes for a full breath.

The places you will tap are:

• Side of Hand or “Karate Chop” – side of your hand, halfway between your wrist and the base of your pinky finger
• Top of Head
• Eyebrow – beginning of inner eyebrow, near bridge of the nose
• Side of Eye – bone on the side of the outer corner of eye
• Under Eye
• Under Nose
• Chin – halfway between bottom lip and chin
• Collarbone – Find the u shaped top of breastbone, go down 1 inch and to the left or right 1 inch
• Underarm – about 4 inches below the armpit

Now you’re ready to start.

Say your personal statement out loud while continuously tapping the “karate chop” area with your fingertips.

Then, move on to the rest of the points. Keep repeating your statement while you do this. At this point, you can also say a shorter version or “reminder phrase” like “This stress” instead of the entire statement.

Now rate your intensity.

If needed, repeat the process again.

There have been clinical trials showing that “EFT is able to rapidly reduce the emotional impact of memories and incidents that trigger emotional distress” according to Dr.Joseph Mercola.

EFT helps to reduce stress by changing the way the body responds to stressors. As these stressors are often connected to physical problems, many people find that their conditions improve or fade away. The goal of EFT is to restore mind and body balance by relieving stress and clearing emotional blocks.

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