Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)
What is EFT really?
A practical, body-based method for releasing emotional patterns.
When insight isn’t enough, your system might need something more somatic.
EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), often called “tapping,” is a nervous system regulation tool. It blends elements of psychology and acupressure using gentle tapping on specific points while focusing on particular emotions, thoughts, or memories.
It’s not about bypassing or fixing.
It’s about giving your system a safe exit route from what it’s been holding onto.
It's proven to be effective for:-
✅Anxiety and overwhelm
✅Trauma and PTSD symptoms
✅Chronic stress and burnout
✅Emotional regulation
✅Psychosomatic pain and more.
How I use EFT in my practice?
The body is central to the work. EFT fits naturally alongside nervous system work, parts work, and trauma-informed coaching.
Sessions are guided, collaborative, and tailored to your capacity in the moment.
You never have to push past what feels safe. I’ll meet you where you are.
Depending on your needs, we can use tapping to:
Regulate emotional intensity (fear, shame, grief, anger)
Process memories or parts of self that feel stuck
Build tolerance for emotional discomfort without going into overwhelm
Clear energetic charge around decisions, relationships, or past events
You don't need to perform, re-live trauma, or know exactly what you’re working on. We move at the pace of your system, not your mind’s expectations.
What a session looks like?
Grounding check-in: We identify what’s present or what you’d like to shift.
Guided tapping: I lead you through a sequence that gently tracks your experience.
Integration: You’ll notice what shifts emotionally, cognitively, somatically.
It’s calm. Consent-led. And very effective.
EFT can help with:
Emotional & Nervous System Regulation
Ongoing anxiety or worry
Emotional overwhelm and shutdown
Chronic stress, burnout, or overfunctioning
Panic-like sensations (non-medical)
Difficulty calming down after emotional triggers
Somatic & Body-Based Issues
Unexplained physical tension or tightness (jaw, throat, chest, gut)
Feeling “frozen” or disconnected from the body
Somatic responses tied to memories or emotions
Body holding patterns from past emotional experiences
Trouble sleeping or resting due to unresolved emotions
Feeling emotionally “numb” or “checked out”
Grief, Loss & Emotional Holding
Grieving a person, identity, stage of life
Lingering sadness or emotional weight
Suppressed or unprocessed grief
Somatic grief stored in the chest, stomach, or heart
Inner Critic & Shame Patterns
Harsh self-talk and inner judgment
Feelings of not being “enough”
Perfectionism, people-pleasing, or over-editing yourself
Shame, guilt, or regret that feels stuck in the body
Childhood & Relational Wounding
Inner child wounds or unmet emotional needs
Fear of abandonment, rejection, or not belonging
Carrying roles from childhood (caretaker, peacemaker, invisible one)
Old relational patterns repeating in adult life
Resistance, Stuckness & Avoidance
Procrastination with emotional roots
Fear of success, failure, or being seen
Feeling like “I know what the issue is, but I still can’t shift it”
Internal resistance to change even when you want it
Clarity, Decisions & Emotional Noise
Difficulty making choices or hearing your intuition
Feeling conflicted, pulled in different directions
Mental looping, overanalyzing, or fear of getting it wrong
Emotional fog when trying to move forward
This is not a quick fix. But it is a deeply supportive tool for sustainable change.
Is it Research-Backed?
✅ Scientific Support for EFT:
EFT has been studied in over 100 peer-reviewed articles, with growing clinical evidence showing it can effectively reduce psychological and physical distress.
📚 Key Findings:
Anxiety & Depression: A 2016 meta-analysis (Clond, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease) found large effect sizes for EFT in reducing anxiety. Clond, M. (2016). Emotional freedom techniques for anxiety: a systematic review with meta-analysis. The Journal of nervous and mental disease, 204(5), 388-395.
PTSD: A 2013 randomized controlled trial published in Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease found 90% of veterans no longer met PTSD criteria after 6 EFT sessions, compared to 4% in the control group. Church, D., Hawk, C., Brooks, A. J., Toukolehto, O., Wren, M., Dinter, I., & Stein, P. (2013). Psychological trauma symptom improvement in veterans using emotional freedom techniques: a randomized controlled trial. The Journal of nervous and mental disease, 201(2), 153-160.
Cortisol Reduction: A 2012 study by Church et al. showed a 24% drop in cortisol (stress hormone) levels after one hour of EFT, compared to talk therapy or rest alone. Church, D., Yount, G., & Brooks, A. J. (2012). The effect of emotional freedom techniques on stress biochemistry: a randomized controlled trial. The Journal of nervous and mental disease, 200(10), 891–896. https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0b013e31826b9fc1
Pain & Physical Symptoms: EFT has shown benefits for physical pain, tension, and somatic symptoms, especially when linked to emotional or trauma-based origins (Boath et al., 2013; Feinstein, 2012). Boath, E., Stewart, A., & Carryer, A. (2013). Tapping for success: A pilot study to explore if Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) can reduce anxiety and enhance academic performance in university students. Innovative Practice in Higher Education, 1(3), 1–13. Feinstein, D. (2012). Acupoint stimulation in treating psychological disorders: Evidence of efficacy. Review of General Psychology, 16(4), 364–380.
EFT is believed to work by:
Calming the amygdala and reducing the fight-flight-freeze response
Disrupting conditioned stress patterns stored in the nervous system
Creating new, regulated associations through somatic + emotional pairing
Ethics & Scope
EFT is not a medical or psychiatric intervention. It’s a wellness-based practice designed to support emotional regulation and self-awareness. I do not treat, diagnose, or claim to cure any condition. If you’re experiencing severe mental health concerns, please also connect with a licensed provider.
That said, if you’re looking for a grounded, respectful space to work with your emotions in the body—not just the mind—I’d love to support you.
⚠️ NOTE:
EFT is considered a complementary wellness tool, not a replacement for medical or psychiatric care. But for emotional regulation, trauma-informed work, and body-mind integration—it’s well-supported and increasingly respected in integrative psychology and coaching spaces.