What is EFT Tapping and how can it help with anxiety?

For Mae Kwan, a wellness creator based in Singapore, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) were one of the healing modalities that helped her through her divorce right after the pandemic. After discovering singing bowl therapy after a medical emergency, Kwan went on to explore Body Talk, another modality where practitioners “talk” to the body through intuition, which included elements of EFT tapping. 

“I remember being really drawn to this, thinking it was so cool – and then lockdown happened,” she recalls. “I found EFT International, a UK organisation that was offering Covid lockdown workshops to deal with stress and anxiety through tapping. I did two or three courses and thought, ‘This is amazing’”. For Kwan, this coincided with her divorce, and so while her initial intentions had been to train in EFT Tapping to add to her lifestyle consultancy offerings, she found that in the end, it actually helped her process the whole experience. By training in the method, she found the opportunity to clear her own triggers and traumas.

“Just going through this process to get certified helped me process the end of my relationship with my ex-husband.”

EFT Tapping was first discovered in the 1970s, and was inspired by the manipulation of accupressure points (or meridian points as they call them in Traditional Chinese Medicine). American doctor Roger Callahan patented the initial discovery, which found that patients would find relief in regard to fears, phobias and physical stress when these acupressure points were manually stimulated, aka “tapped”. EFT Tapping also seems to straddle the in-between of medical science and “woo woo” energy healing. In the UK, the NHS uses EFT tapping to support mums-to-be in their pregnancies, but equally it is offered by wellness practitioners like Kwan to help clients overcome various traumas. 

Here in Singapore, Kwan combines EFT Tapping with talk therapy – which is exactly what it sounds like. During her sessions, she uses her intuition while tapping to ask questions and work with clients to figure out the root causes of their anxiety. “Say you come to me because you had a terrible breakup and it made you feel insignificant,” she posits. “We would look to go back to where that sense of insignificance started, usually back in childhood. Maybe you were the older sibling and your parents had another child and you felt like they ignored you. That feeling of insignificance then becomes your limiting belief. That thought could become your whole childhood and adulthood. So when you look for a romantic partner, it’s almost like you’re drawn to that energy.”

The actual action of EFT Tapping is quite simple. It focuses on nine main pressure points that start at the top of the head, the eyebrow, side of the eye, under the nose, the chin and the collarbone. When you tap you have to use visualisations and affirmations focusing on two main goals – acknowledging the issue and accepting yourself despite the problem. Usually this is done with the following phrase, though it can be modified depending on the issue:

“Even though I have this [fear or problem], I deeply and completely accept myself.”

While it sounds like a simple way to solve a (potentially) big problem and you might be tempted to DIY after some googling, this will only help to manage, not solve the root problems of your anxiety. “Doing it yourself would only be for self-regulation,” says Kwan. “Usually it’s better not to [do it alone] because it can be very emotional.”

What Kwan finds most interesting about tapping is that through the process, it can help to unearth and unwind deep-seated issues. “I like to think of the issue as a table, each leg under the table represents something supporting this issue. So every session, we try to clear away some of the legs, we aim for the more solid ones but eventually you clear enough for the entire issue to collapse.” Kwan says working with a practitioner allows you to tune into the body sensations. “All the emotions are trapped in your entire system,” she says. “So talk therapy and EFT tapping can help to focus on the problem. A client might say, ‘I feel a tightness in my throat,’ so we tap on that, and see what comes from there.” 

Ultimately, while tapping can help you overcome your anxiety or trauma, it’s not a quick fix and requires you to be an active participant – much like therapy. But that active element can be rewarding and enlightening.

“A tapping session is for me to help a client find out what their limiting beliefs are. Once they conquer that, it’s possible to become very motivated,” says Kwan. Because the tapping action is calming, it can help you process through the panic that anxiety causes, and in moments of stress, can help with self-regulation. It can help with issues you haven’t processed before, and slowly help realise the feelings under the anger.

“Then you can acknowledge these true feelings and add an affirmation,” says Kwan. “I am feeling whole, I am secure. This is me now and I am much better equipped.”