EFT Tapping 101: A Simple Tool for Reducing Feelings of Anxiety, Overwhelm, and Stress
EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Techniques. It is a simple tool that combines gentle tapping on specific points on your body with acknowledging what you are feeling out loud.
Think of it as acupuncture for your emotions.
You tap on points that are connected to your body's energy system while you speak the truth about what is happening inside you. This sends a calming signal to your nervous system, which helps your brain process emotion without getting stuck in the stress response.
Clinical EFT has research backing it. Studies show it can reduce anxiety, fear, tension, and stress by calming the part of your brain that sounds the alarm when you feel unsafe. Studies show it reduces feelings of anxiety by 40-60% in one session and drop cortisol (the stress hormone released when we are dysregulated) by 43% in one, 1-hour session.
EFT Tapping doesn’t require you to think positive or pretend everything is fine. EFT teaches your nervous system that you are safe enough to feel what you feel without staying trapped in it.
How Does EFT Tapping Work?
Your nervous system is always scanning for danger. When it detects a threat—real or perceived—it activates your stress response. Your heart races. Your chest tightens. Your thoughts spiral.
Here is what most people do not realize: your nervous system cannot tell the difference between a real threat and a thought about a threat. So when you replay that conversation from work or imagine failing at something important, your body responds like the danger is happening right now.
EFT tapping works by interrupting that stress signal.
When you tap on specific points while acknowledging your feelings, you send a calming message to your amygdala—the part of your brain responsible for fear and survival responses. This tells your nervous system that even though you are feeling apprehension or unease, you are actually safe in this moment.
Over time, this rewires the pattern. Your brain learns that the thought, the memory, or the situation does not have to equal danger. The emotional charge starts to fade. The reactivity softens.
You are not pushing feelings away. You are processing them in a way that creates real change in your body.
The Basic EFT Tapping Technique
EFT tapping follows a simple sequence. You tap on nine points on your body while speaking out loud about what you are feeling.
Here are the tapping points in order:
Karate Chop (side of your hand)
Top of Head
Eyebrow (inner edge, where it meets your nose)
Side of Eye (on the bone beside your eye)
Under Eye (on the bone under your eye)
Under Nose (between your nose and upper lip)
Chin (in the crease between your chin and lower lip)
Collarbone (just below your collarbone, about an inch from center)
Under Arm (about four inches below your armpit)
You tap gently with your fingertips—about the pressure you would use to tap on a table. Five to seven taps per point. You can use one hand or both. It does not have to be perfect.
The Setup Statement
Start by tapping on the Karate Chop point while saying a setup statement three times. This acknowledges what you are feeling and pairs it with self-acceptance.
The format is: "Even though [what you are feeling], I deeply and completely accept myself."
Examples:
"Even though I feel this nervous energy in my chest, I deeply and completely accept myself."
"Even though I am worried about messing up, I deeply and completely accept myself."
"Even though I feel overwhelmed by everything on my list, I deeply and completely accept myself."
The Tapping Rounds
After the setup statement, tap through the nine points while speaking short reminder phrases about what you are feeling.
Keep it simple. Just name what is true.
Examples:
"This tension in my chest"
"All this worry"
"I feel so overwhelmed"
"This fear that I am not enough"
"This stress in my body"
You are not trying to fix it. You are just acknowledging it while you tap.
Do two or three rounds, then pause and check in with yourself. Notice what you feel in your body. Notice if the intensity has shifted.
What to Expect When You Start Tapping
EFT tapping is simple, but it is not always easy.
When you first start, it might feel awkward to talk to yourself out loud. It might feel strange to tap on your face. That is normal. Keep going.
Some people feel relief right away. Some people feel emotional. Some people feel nothing at first. All of this is okay. Your nervous system is learning something new.
What you are doing is teaching your body that it is safe to feel. You are creating space between the emotion and the reaction. You are building the capacity to hold hard feelings without being controlled by them.
This is the foundation of self-trust.
Over time, you will notice patterns start to shift. The anxiety does not hit as hard. The perfectionism loosens its grip. The overthinking slows down. You start making decisions from a place of clarity instead of fear.
Small nervous system shifts create massive identity shifts.
When to Use EFT Tapping
You can use EFT tapping anytime you notice stress, tension, or emotional reactivity in your body.
Use it when:
You feel anxious before a meeting or event
You are stuck in overthinking
You feel overwhelmed by your to-do list
You are replaying a conversation in your mind
You notice tightness in your chest or shoulders
You are caught in perfectionism or self-criticism
You are having trouble making a decision
You feel the urge to people-please or overextend yourself
You do not need to wait until you are in crisis. Tapping works best when you use it regularly, not just when everything falls apart.
Think of it like brushing your teeth. You do not wait until your teeth hurt. You do it daily to stay regulated.
Your Nervous System Is Not the Problem
If you have been running on stress and pressure for years, your nervous system is not broken. It is doing exactly what it learned to do to keep you safe.
The patterns that drive you toward burnout, perfectionism, and anxiety were once protective. They helped you survive difficult moments. They got you through.
But they are not serving you anymore.
EFT tapping gives you a way to update the programming. To tell your nervous system that the old rules do not apply. To build a new baseline where safety, self-trust, and confidence become the default.
You are not behind. You are aligning.
Ready to Go Deeper?
If you are ready to move beyond managing anxiety and start building the inner confidence and self-trust that changes everything, I would love to guide you there.
I work with high-achievers who are done living in survival mode. Women who are ready to release perfectionism, quiet the inner critic, and step into their next level without burning out along the way.
Through 1:1 and group EFT sessions, we address the patterns keeping you stuck and rewire them at the nervous system level. This is not surface-level work. This is embodied change that lasts.
