Tapping

Tapping or EFT

Tapping is a “mind-body” integration tool helpful to some of us in “letting go” of emotions no longer appropriate to the moment. There are several ideas here.

- Our emotions can get “stuck” in our bodies, our bodies serving as on-going triggers for continuing in that emotion. The vagus nerve is a big nerve coming out of the brain stem that controls a lot of the nervous system’s response to the “fight or flight” response. It stimulates lots of our core body organs and muscles. It tends to send impulses to tighten our frontalis muscle of the forehead, and hence we “furrow our brow” when perplexed or worried, and many of us rub our forehead when concerned. It changes the feelings in our lips and the muscles around our mouth contributing to the reason some of us lift our hands to cover our mouths when we are surprised or frightened. It contributes to constrictions in the throat which are the source of “being choked up” with emotion and to changes in the heart which are part of “being heavy hearted.” The vagus nerve is good at initiating these responses and not so good at ending them. The muscles get stuck on “on”, and though the “threat” has passed, we continue to have the “heavy heart” and other changes, and this will tend to continue to trigger the original emotion.

- Tapping is a way of bringing attention to the physical end of the experience of emotions. We often treat emotions as purely cognitive functions, not fully appreciating the body’s contribution to emotion. We tend to grant all too much or too little power to our emotions. We do both to our peril. We grant our emotions too much power by being the slave to our desires, regrets, anxieties, and depressions, allowing these emotions to rule. We do not grant our emotions enough power when we try to ignore, minimize, and stuff them, leading eventually to infected, festering wounds that we eventually need to deal with. Tapping combines a “being with” the emotion, bringing awareness and purposefulness to understanding the emotion, along with a “letting go” response to emotions that are no longer appropriate to the next task at hand, the next reality demanding our attention

- Tapping triggers a relaxation response which allows the emotion to run clean. It is as if we get “constipated” with emotion. Tapping is the cathartic. It is as if we have plugged up the hole in the guitar’s sound board with a rag. Tapping removes the rag and allows the emotion a full resonance and sounding but lets the sound cease. It grounds us in awareness of emotion as a physical as well as feeling response and allows us space to disentangle the two when they have become confused.

- Tapping simply involves lightly tapping on various parts of the body as we bring awareness and acceptance to the emotion(s) we are working on at the time. We start with

- the space on the back of our hands between the bones extending into the palm from our fourth and fifth digits. One hand gently raps on the other, so for this tapping point, there is an asymmetry in the tapping. Only one hand gets tapped. This is an extremity tap, reminding ourselves that these emotions affect all of us, from the tops of our heads to the tips of our toes.

- the forehead just over the eye-brows. Some like to tap with both the right and left hands gently rapping on the forehead simultaneously. Others advocate for a back and forth, right then left then right, alternating tappings, which might be more powerful in getting right-left brain connections going. I think of this as the “hello! Is anyone in there?! tap” (in a kind, gentle, and humorous way)

- the high cheek bones, below the eyes. This will sometimes stimulate a crying response, bringing us very powerfully to the emotions stored behind the eyes.

- the upper lip. Actually, just above the lip and below the nose. Only one hand taps this area, right in the middle.

- the lower lip. Actually, just below the lip. Again, just one hand tapping in the middle.

- the upper chest, just below the collar bone. Both hands tap, alternating or simultaneously; you decide. This will relax both the throat and some heart emotions.

-the sides of the chest, under the arm-pits. If you are doing this correctly, then you will know what I mean when I say that this is “the monkey tap.” It releases some heart emotions that the upper chest tap does not reach.

-the upper thighs, half way down from the thigh to the knee. Another extremity tap inviting full relaxation and integration.

- The thinking while tapping is important. Tapping is an exercise of bringing acceptance, attention and good intentions. It cannot be hurried. It is a kindly exploration of our body, looking for and being curious as to where we might notice a resonance in our body of where this emotion might be stored and held. When we get to a tapping spot where the emotion is palpable -- intensified by the tapping—it is often helpful to simply continue at this spot, being with this feeling, noticing it, examining where it arises from in our body, where it takes us in our minds and hearts, “tapping it out” until the emotion subsides. The various thoughts brought to tapping might be the only part of this that is “scientifically proven.” We know that mindfulness acceptance work is powerful for healing. We know that cognitive behavioral techniques work for changing emotion. Tapping may simply be a way that some of us can allow ourselves to utilize these techniques. The point here is that it is powerful and works for you if it is powerful and works! Like all recovery tools, we should not waste our time with something that does not work for us.

YouTube/web resources: putting the words “tapping” or “EFT” into YouTube’s search engine will bring up hundreds of videos on this. One of my patients who has found remarkable success with tapping recommends “Robert Smith’s Faster Tapping.” Another colleague points her patients towards https://emofree.com (seems a bit sensationalized and over-sold, to me, but some good stuff here). What you will notice with watching any of these videos is that there are lots of difference in the specifics on tapping points (Gary Craig’s points are close to the ones described above), lots of difference in why people think this works, and lots of differences in the attitudes to bring to this. There is lots of room for your own creativity here!