Let’s learn about the psychology part of Emotional Freedom Techniques (also known as EFT or Tapping).
In this post, I’m continuing our discussion on Emotional Freedom Techniques (also called EFT or Tapping). If you missed the introduction to this technique, you can find it here. Today, we’re talking about the psychology part of EFT (ie. the words you say).
This is the third in a series of posts called “Help for Your Stress”. In them, we’ll cover some of the best mental health resources (techniques) that can turn your stress off. While I know that ultimately you’re looking for healing, getting help today to at least find relief is worth it.
So let’s talk about the psychology part.
The psychology part of EFT is found in the words you say. There are 2 different phrases you’ll use for this part of the technique.
There are two separate phrases that you’ll say in EFT that fuse both Exposure and Cognitive therapies together. These are: a Set-Up Statement and a Reminder Phrase.
The Set-Up Statement looks like this:
“Even though I have this [PROBLEM], I deeply and completely love and accept myself”
The Reminder Phrase looks like this:
“This [PROBLEM]”
The Exposure therapy part is the phrase: “the [PROBLEM]”. In this part of the phrase, you’ll list all the different things you’re struggling with right now:
This is you exposing yourself to your stress and struggles right now.
The Cognitive therapy part is the phrase: “I deeply and completely love and accept myself”. This is you bringing your brain back to thinking about something peaceful, safe and encouraging. As I mentioned in the previous post, I use a Christian variation that adds Jesus’ perfect love and acceptance of you. It goes like this: “I deeply and completely love and accept myself the way that Jesus loves and accepts me”.
Fusing these 2 therapies together allows your brain to think about your stress, without getting so overwhelmed by it.
To tailor EFT to your specific struggles, you need to get specific to your life. EFT works by entering into your brain, and bringing your stressors to life. Then reminding you of the good things that bring you peace. To do this, you’ll need to voice your stressors specifically, then pick things that bring you peace.
Here are some pointers on how to tailor EFT to your specific struggles:
Get specific.
You have a lot of emotions and stressors in your life. If you get general and say “this fear”, your brain will try to focus on all your fears at once. This will overwhelm your brain (and you) and make it hard to turn off your stress.
Instead, get specific. Say “the fear from that guy in the red Honda who cut my off on the road just now”. This will get your brain focused on that 1 fear, allowing the tapping to turn off the stress from it.
Most people don’t love talking about their stressors so much, because it’s so negative.
Without the acupressure tapping, talking about your stressors so much would make them worse. But when you tap on acupressure points while talking about your stress, it actually helps to turn it off.
(There’s a deep psychological explanation for why and how this works. I won’t go into it in this post. Just know that there is science backing this up.)
Get descriptive with the visuals of them. Imagine if they were something you could see, the describe that so someone could draw it. What shapes, colors, textures, sizes and movements do you see?
Doing this will focus your brain more on the physical sensation you feel, then on the your emotions. This makes it less easier (and less painful) to work through.
If the phrase “I deeply and completely love and accept myself” doesn’t resonate with you, find a variation that does.
Say something true for you like:
Use a grounding phrase about your physical safety:
Find a positive statement that is true for you, and brings you back into a state of happiness and peace:
The psychology part of EFT is only half of the technique. The other half is acupressure, which you can read and learn about here.
If you want to experience peace from EFT for yourself, you can find it here.
I guide it in the Stress Release for Christian Women Membership. A library of videos and audios where I guide techniques (including EFT) on recording for you. This gives you access to stress reduction techniques at home, available on-demand, to use whenever and wherever you need them.
Because you deserve to live and thrive in the state of peace in your mind and body.
I’m praying for you ♥︎
– L aura
