What is this EFT?

EFT is often called “tapping” because a central feature of EFT involves tapping with your fingertips on acupuncture points on your body. These acupuncture points are usually referred to as “acupoints.” Research has shown that pressure on acupoints, or “acupressure,” can be as effective as acupuncture itself (Cherkin, Sherman, & Avins, 2009).

Acupuncture theory teaches that energy flows through our body through pathways called meridians. Disease can be caused by a blockage or interruption of that flow, and acupuncture or acupressure can be used to remove those blockages. The idea that stimulation of the physical body (also called “somatic stimulation”) could play a role in psychological healing arose gradually in the second half of the 20th century.

In the 1920s, a colleague of Sigmund Freud, psychiatrist Wilhelm Reich, coined the term “muscular armour” based on his observations that emotional trauma can result in rigidity in certain regions of the body (Reich, 1927). A pioneering psychiatrist named Joseph Wolpe (1958) treated veterans of WWII who had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), searching for a cure. He tried various forms of physical stimulation and eventually found that diaphragmatic breathing (breathing deeply using the diaphragm muscle below your lungs) while recalling a traumatic memory such as a combat experience (exposure) could remove the emotional content from the memory. You still have the memory, but it no longer triggers a big emotional reaction.

Give me the summary…

Alright, I admit the top part is for the researchers and those who want the scientific definition. In more simple terms, EFT is a method for safely releasing unwanted negative or painful, emotions, thoughts and feelings such as sadness, fear, worry, anxiety, anger, guilt, shame, hurt, grief, bitterness etc. EFT relieves the emotional intensity associated with anxiety, fears, phobias and is used to “neutralize” unpleasant or traumatic memories.

What Does EFT Have To Do With Coaching?

As your coach, I use EFT as a tool to help us get through some blocks you might have that are hiding in your subconscious. I’ll tell you an example of a client who was working on getting a promotion and she could not bring herself to ask for more money. We did a money ceiling exercise and figured out she had a limiting belief where she didn’t think she was worthy of more money. So we tapped along to find out how this limiting belief began and discovered she had a childhood memory that made her believe she wasn’t worthy of more. We tapped around this belief and we were able to collapse the belief and she approached her boss with a plan and got the job she wanted!

Through the coaching process we created a strategic plan and measurable timeline to know where she needed to go. Through tapping, we were able to dismantle the limiting belief and she was able to gain the confidence she wanted.

Let’s try a follow along tapping video:

EFT In The Workplace

If you have a workplace or are a human who exists in an office, you might consider bringing Pam to your workplace and introduce tapping as a tool to help your humans step into mindfulness and perform better.

Check out the PDF below for more information.