There is an extensive list of therapies used to help people deal with emotional and mental disorders. These include cognitive behavioral therapy and exposure therapy. Then there is EFT.

EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Technique. It is different from all the common therapies you are familiar with as it involves acupressure or energy tapping as well as affirmations or subliminal messages.

The technique is based on the principles of chi or the proper flow of energy. The body is full of various energy meridians. However, they can become blocked, which can cause an imbalance in the flow of energy. In the process, you suffer from illness or become emotionally unstable. Instead of needles, he removes these blockages by tapping with his fingers.

How do you do it?

One of the nice things about EFT is that you can do it on your own. After all, you only need your fingers to do it. What you simply need to do is touch those pressure points on different parts of the body (which you will learn later). The ideal is to use the tips of the fingers, not the fingertips, since they are the ones with the acupuncture meridians. It goes without saying that you will still achieve success if you are going to use a few fingertips, especially if you have very long nails.

Some would use two fingers, the index and middle fingers, to tap. They both belong to the same hand. However, it is still possible to use the index and middle fingers of both hands, so you can cover more areas.

Areas that need to be leveraged include the following:

• top of the head
• Eyebrows
• sides of your eyes
• under your eyes
• Chin
• clavicle
• under your arm
• dolls

For the technique to be very effective, you have to follow the sequence to the letter.

However, playing is only half of the equation. One of the secrets to EFT’s effectiveness is the use of affirmations or subliminal messages.

These are positive statements that help influence or change the way you think. They are used in conjunction with other conventional therapies, especially cognitive behavioral therapy, as well as hypnosis and visualization.

Each touch corresponds to a particular affirmation or subliminal message. For example, if you touch the top of your head, you also say, “I accept who I am despite the headache.” [or my migraine, or my headache].” The purpose of saying this is to embed in your subconscious that the problems you have, physical or emotional, do not define who you really are. You can still accept yourself without guilt, shame or pain.

If you have difficulty speaking and touching at the same time, you can use subliminal message downloads, which are now available online. You can also play a series of affirmations directly from the CD or perhaps watch a video.

EFT may not work right away, and that’s okay. You just have to exercise a little patience.