EFT Group Archives

The EFT Tapping Sequence In Detail

Hi, Everyone,

A number of people have asked me about the latest version of EFT, which has evolved some since Gary's manual was written. So I'm writing this post to explain how I currently do the tapping. I will assume that most of you have downloaded the EFT manual from Gary Craig's website or have learned EFT from Gary's videotapes. Personally, I've studied with Gary and with Dr. Carol Look (a hypnotherapist in New York City, one of Gary Craig's contributing editors) and with Marilyn Gordon (a hypnotherapist in California who combines deep healing hypnotherapy and EFT). They teach some slight variations on the original tapping sequence.

First of all, I rarely do the '9-gamut'. Gary usually doesn't include the 9-gamut now (9-gamut is the eye movements-humming-counting sequence done while tapping the back-of-the-hand spot). He found several years ago that the results are usually just as good when the 9-gamut is omitted. So I only include it from time to time, if it seems that some extra clearing is needed. Dr. Carol Look calls the 9-gamut 'the Brain Balancer', a name that I like very much since the procedure is intended to balance the right and left brains.

Most of the time, this is the way I do EFT:

The first thing is to have the person really notice how things feel before tapping. I may have them "rate the intensity on a scale of one-to-ten"... but I don't always use the numbers. I usually have people describe how they feel the emotion in their body. Most important is to get an exact description so you will know when something changes.

We begin with the Set-Up, tapping on the Karate Chop spot. "Even though I have this problem, I deeply and completely accept myself" (3 times) (I prefer the Karate Chop spot to the Sore Spot)

Then we state the problem as we tap: 1) Beginning of the Eyebrow 2) Side of Eye (on the temple bone) 3) Under Eye (on the cheekbone) 4) Under Nose 5) Under Mouth 6) Collarbone (just under the collarbone near the breastbone) 7) Under Arm (about 4" down) and 8) Top of head (the crown of the head is the 'Hundred Meeting Point" in acupuncture - a number of meridians come together here, and what I like to do is tap in a little circle right around the crown - I learned that from Carol Look as well)

For the 'shortcut', I stop there. For a slightly longer sequence, I continue like this:

9) Side of Hand (Karate Chop point again) 10) Inside Wrist (across the inside of the wrist -- there are three meridians that run through that area) and 11) Top of Hand (the 'gamut spot', on the top of the hand between the little finger and ring finger)

Adding the inside of the wrist, karate chop and top of the hand accesses most of the meridians that used to be accessed by tapping on the fingers. I never liked tapping on the fingers, but the inside of the wrist feels really good. I learned that from Marilyn Gordon.

At the end of each tapping sequence, I say "Close your eyes, take a deep breath in... and release. Keep your eyes closed for a moment and notice what you're feeling... notice what the effect of that tapping was... notice what that tapping stirred up.. notice any thoughts, emotions, physical sensations" etc I really like the breath at the end and people often feel that a lot releases with the breath. Then I ask how their experience of the emotion or problem has changed from the way it was.

I think there is no one right way to do EFT, and many people have a variation or two that works best for them. I suggest that you experiment doing it on yourself and see what works and feels the best. Some clients especially like one spot (the collarbone spot is a favorite) and I tell them, when you can't do anything else, just tap 'your' spot. Any variation which involves tapping any of the points will help bring balance to the energy system and help us feel better. There's a great story on Gary's website about a man who stopped smoking by simply tapping between his eyebrows whenever he had a craving for a cigarette!

Feel free to send in your own variations or other questions for discussion about the 'how to's". This is the primary purpose of this group: to provide learning and to further our skills with EFT.

Happy tapping to all,
Betty