EFT, or Emotional Freedom Technique, is effective for clearing irrational emotions, trauma, phobias, anything that stands in the way of living your life fully.

EFT is based on a new discovery that has provided thousands with relief from pain, diseases and emotional issues. Simply stated, it is an emotional version of acupuncture except needles aren't necessary. Instead, you stimulate well established energy meridian points on your body by tapping on them with your fingertips. EFT often works when nothing else will. It can be done with a practitioner or as an individual.

The EFT "Basic Recipe"

You can learn the EFT "Basic Recipe" within a few minutes. And, when you get familiar with this process, you can do the whole round in less than 2 minutes.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN:  Identify the specific problem and observe how it feels to you. You can rate it on the intensity scale of 0 to 10 (0 = all is OK, 10 = really intense, the worst you could imagine). Just guess at the intensity rate, no right or wrong. It often helps you notice where you are in terms of your process.

The basic recipe for EFT has four components:

• The Setup
• The Sequence
• The 9 Gamut Procedure
• The Sequence

1. The Setup

First, we need to introduce you to "Sore Spot" and "Karate Chop". 

 
Sore Spot." This spot is an acupuncture meridian related to the lymphatic system. The spot feels tender  (sore) when you rub it because lymphatic congestion occurs here. When you rub it, you are helping your body disperse the congestion. Rub gently but firmly, and never so hard that you hurt or bruise yourself.

There are two "sore spots" in your upper left and upper right regions of the chest. Find a U shaped notch at the top of your sternum (breastbone). From the top of that notch go down 3 inches toward your navel and over 3 inches to the left (or right). You should now be in the upper left (or right) portion of your chest. If you press vigorously in that area (within a 2 inch radius) you will feel a spot that feels tender, we call it the "

Karate Chop (KC). This can be used when the Sore Spot cannot. Firmly tap the Karate Chop point with the combined flattened fingers from the other hand. Tap softly but firmly and not to hurt or bruise yourself in the process.

Start your EFT process by rubbing the sore spots, or by tapping firmly on your Karate Chop point.

Setup Phrase:
Next,  consider the negative emotion or problem you want to clear. Note the intensity of your problem from 0 to 10 (0=no intensity, 10=max). Then say the following statement 3 times and with conviction, aloud if possible, but silently works, too,  as you rub your sore spot (or firmly tap on your Karate Chop point):
    “Even though I have this______________, I deeply and completely accept myself.”    (Fill the blank with the negative emotion or issue you want to address.)
    For example: "Even though I have this fear of public speaking, I deeply and completely accept myself".

2. The Sequence

Once the Setup step is complete, place together your index finger and middle finger. Using the tips of these fingers, tap approximately 7 times on each of the following meridian points on your face, body and fingers. Tap firmly, but not so hard that you bruise or hurt yourself.

Most of the tapping points exist on either side of the body. It doesn't matter whether you tap on the right side or the left, nor does it matter if you switch sides during The Sequence. For example, you can tap under your right eye and, later in The Sequence, tap under your left arm. And you can tap on both sides at the same time.

As you tap on these points, it is helpful to keep your mind tune into the issue you are resolving with EFT. To do that, say a Reminder Phrase: "This ______ (issue)" as you tap on each of the points. Using the above example for the problem of chocolate craving, the Reminder Phrase would be "fear of public speaking."

Here are the tapping points:

1. EB = beginning of the Eye Brow (on either the left or right one.)
2. SE= Side of your Eye (of either left or right eye, tap on the boney part of the eye socket right at the corner of your eye. Don't get too close to the eye that you hurt yourself, but don't go too far off that you are tapping on your temple.)
3. UE = Under the Eye (of either left or right eye, again on the boney part of the eye socket, about 1 inch straight under the pupil.)
4. UN = Under the Nose (roughly midway under the bottom of the nose and the top of the lip.)
5. CH = Chin (midway between chin and the bottom of lower lip.)
6. CB = Beginning of the Collar Bone (where the breastbone, collarbone, and first rib meet.)
7. UA = Under the Arm (about 4 inches below your arm pit on either left or right side of your body.)

Then tap on the fingers (doesn't matter on right or left hand) and the Karate Chop point while repeating the reminder phrase.

TH = Thumb (on the outside edge of your thumb at a point even with the base of the thumbnail)
IF  = Index Finger (as above with the Index nail)
MF= Middle Finger (as above with the middle nail)
BF = Baby Finger (as above with the baby nail)
KC = Karate Chop (at the center of the fleshy part on the outside of the hand)

Notice that we skip the ring finger. Because the meridian that passed through the ring finger will be tapped on when we do the next part of the basic recipe: The 9-Gamut Procedures.

3. The 9 Gamut procedures

After completing The Sequence, you are now ready to carry out “The 9-Gamut Procedure.” This procedure fine-tunes the brain via eye movements, humming and counting so as to enhance the effects of the tapping. It tunes the brain to the right frequency for the problem.

Through connecting nerves, certain parts of the brain are stimulated when eyes are moved. Likewise, the right side of the brain is engaged when you hum a song and the left side is engaged when you count.

During this procedure, nine of these brain-stimulating actions are performed while simultaneously and continuously tapping “the Gamut Point."

 

The Gamut Point is a point on the back of either hand and is ½ inch behind the mid-point between the knuckles at the base of the ring finger and the little finger. This corresponds to the Triple Burner 3 meridian which in turn corresponds to depression, despair, grief, hopelessness, etc.

While continually tapping on the Gamut Point, carry out all the following 9 Brain-Balancing steps:

• Close your eyes
• Open your eyes
• Eyes hard down right while holding the head steady (stimulates kinesthetic sensations and memory)
• Eyes hard down left while holding the head steady (internal dialogue)
• Roll the eyes in a circle clockwise (stimulates visual and auditory memory and imagination)
• Roll the eyes counter-clockwise (as above)
• Hum “Happy Birthday”, or any song, for 2 bars (this engages the right brain)
• Count to 5 (this engages the left brain)
• Hum “Happy Birthday”, or any song, for 2 bars again (this engages the right brain)

This 9-step procedure help to dislodge any energy disruptions in visual, auditory and kinesthetic memory and in both hemispheres of the brain.


4. The Sequence again

Upon completion of “The 9-Gamut Procedure,” repeat The Sequence again.

There you have the Basic Recipe for EFT!

With practice, you will get proficient in EFT and you will have a wonderful tool, literally at your fingertips. In my assessment, EFT is really a very simple and elegant tool for self-healing. And, as one of the most versatile and effective Energy Psychology tools, you can use EFT to help address issues in just about any areas of your life: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, relational, financial, etc.

A quick note about the short cut version of EFT: many expert EFT practitioners use the shorter version of EFT where they only do the Setup and Sequence portions of EFT, omitting the finger points and replacing them with wrist points or top of the head point, and omitting the 9-gamut procedures entirely. However, if the issue didn't budge, many will go back and incorporate parts of the basic recipe again.

Take a Deep Breath, Check-In, and Reassess

After each round of EFT, take a deep breath in, and gently breathe out. Take a moment to check in with yourself. Notice how you are feelings now, physically and emotionally, notice what thoughts or memories is bubbling up now from within. Without judging yourself right or wrong, just observe what comes up next. As  you observe your inner world for a moment after tapping, you might notice a new insight, understanding, or inspiration that wasn't there before that is helping you see things differently. Next, reassess the intensity level of the problem. What is the intensity level now?  If you are at a 0, you are done. Congratulations! If not, you may need to do one or more subsequent rounds until you feel the intensity has gone down to 0.

You might also notice that even if the intensity level on this issue is lower, a NEW issue or emotion or memory has come up now. This is called an aspect of the problem. This is a different part of the problem and wil need to be addressed on a separate round of EFT. Some issue has several aspects and each needs to be dealt with individually.

Subsequent Rounds

To do another round of tapping on the SAME problem, change the Set-Up Phrase (while tapping on the Karate Chop point or rubbing the Sore Spot) to:
    "Even though I still have some of this __________ (issue), I deeply and completely accept myself."

and the Reminder Phrase (for the Sequence points) will be: "Remaining _____ (issue)" or "still have this ____ (issue)"

For a pdf file of the EFT sequence that you can print out for easy reference, you can click here