EFT – an innovative, gentle and amazingly effective method

The origin of this technique goes back to the American psychologist Roger Gallahan in the eighties, who noticed that tapping an acupuncture point made his patient’s fears disappear. The method was further developed and simplified by one of his students, Gary Graig. He called it EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques).

In spring of 2012 EFT was recognized as an “evidence-based method” by the APA (American Psychological Association), as a scientifically based therapy method.

Simply put, the technique (I call it EFT in the following text for the sake of simplicity) is a kind of acupuncture, but no needle is used. It combines the meridian system of Chinese medicine with the latest findings from psychology, neurobiology and epigenetics. One stimulates given meridian points by lightly tapping them in the face and on the body with the fingertips (this is called tapping). At the same time the client talks about a certain problem or emotion and combines this statement with a positive self-acceptance.

Body and Mind – A Common System

With EFT, body and mind are addressed together as a whole. Thoughts are the expression of the mind, feelings are the expression of the body. We rarely have a thought without having a feeling, and we rarely have a feeling about which we do not have thoughts. And this is exactly what medicine and science now also confirm through psychoneuroimmunology.

The body and the mind are constantly, in a inseparable and complex way, in mutual exchange. This becomes clear when you think that sometimes even a thought of something can lead us to activate various physical functions, such as tightness in the chest, higher breathing rate, palpitations, wet hands…

Much of this takes place subconsciously. We only notice that we are suddenly in a bad mood, afraid, uncomfortable without knowing exactly why. Most of the time this reaction was caused by an external stimulation, such as a smell, a look, a heard sentence that triggers and activates our alarm system.

EFT helps to neutralize these triggers so that we do not have the same thoughts and feelings over and over again, that we can get out of the hamster wheel. It is an innovative, gentle and astonishingly effective method to reduce stress, stressful feelings and physical symptoms noticeably and measurably in a short time, sometimes even within a few minutes.

EFT is easy and quick to learn and is ideal for self-application. It is a wonderful tool for daily use in any situation. But it is also like a computer program. When you know how to open it and do two or three things, it is not the same as when you can operate the program in its great variety. An experienced therapist can make very profound changes with it.

The technique EFT, which I use and publish here, is my understanding of the technique and not that of Gary Greg, the developer.