1. Acupuncture & Shiatsu

Fundamentally, all energy therapies can trace their earliest origins to acupressure and shiatsu, which were developed independently but alongside each other in China and Japan, respectively. However, similar therapeutic concepts can be traced in many parts of the world and are as old as or older than the Chinese/Japanese therapies.

2. Kinesiology

In the mid 1960s, chiropractor Dr. George Goodheart began to investigate the links between apparent muscle strength, the body's organs and meridians, and he developed a diagnostic therapy based on muscle testing. This work grew into the science of Applied Kinesiology.

3. Behavioral Kinesiology

In the mid 1970s, a psychiatrist, John Diamond, applied his studies of Applied Kinesiology to his work in psychotherapy, naming this new field Behavioral Kinesiology.

Thought Field Therapy

TFT began around the 1980s when Dr. Roger Callahan was becoming dissatisfied with the therapeutic models available to help patients solve their psychological problems. He had studied Kinesiology with Diamond and was also investigating Eastern health practices, specifically those involving acupuncture meridian points.

Dr. Callahan had a patient called Mary who had a phobia of water; she had trouble even bathing her kids. With conventional psychotherapy, he wasn't making progress with Mary. She had said that whenever she thought about water, she felt a throbbing discomfort in her stomach. 

In a flash of insight, Dr. Callahan recalled that, in Traditional Chinese Medicine, one of the meridian points corresponding to the stomach was located under the eye. He asked Mary to tap on the spot when the stomach pain arose. When Mary followed the directions, she was utterly astonished as the pain disappeared —

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)

It was Gary Craig, who trained with Callahan in the early years of Thought Field Therapy, who streamlined and simplified the TFT process, turning it into a single algorithm and thus reducing the number of tapping points considerably. He named it Emotional Freedom Techniques. Gary had also studied NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and added emphasis on the language and linguistic reframing patterns characteristic of NLP. Gary freely gave EFT to the world and encouraged its use by all, and to "try it on everything" — but with the added caution: "don't go where you don't belong." On 12 December 2009, Gary Craig announced he was retiring.

The Science Behind EFT

Conventional psychotherapy presumes a connection between traumatic memories and negative emotions. In fact, it is only when the body's energy system is disrupted or blocked that problems arise. If a disruption in the body's energy system does not occur, then the negative emotion cannot occur. That is why some people are bothered by their memories and others are not. Why some people tend for their energy systems to become imbalanced under such a memory, while others do not, remains a mystery. Emotions are also another mystery. It has taken thousands of years to clearly define what an emotion or feeling is, and there are still many theories — such as James-Lange (Event, Arousal, Interpretation) and Cannon-Bard (Event, Arousal, and Emotion) — that cannot agree.

Beliefs and Trauma

I have discovered that it is the beliefs that are learned during trauma that cause us to have a certain thought, which causes a certain feeling. These beliefs are passed on to us through our nuclear family and the generations that came before, and they also encompass traumas we experienced throughout our lifetimes. Those that affect us the most deeply are those experienced during the first ten years of life.

Some beliefs are learned through healthy nurturing or a lack of nurture. If we have experienced much trauma — such as rejection, abandonment, alcoholism, addictions, abuse, divorce, sibling rivalry, and so on in the family system — the trauma can be more significant than if one grew up in a relatively loving home. No one is exempt from some trauma, though there are definitely varying degrees. Of course, there is much more to this issue, but we are limited to just a sampling of this complex study here.

The disruption in the energy system is caused by trauma and the beliefs that trigger our body's natural fear response, telling us something is "not safe." Therefore, our energy flow is naturally going to be constricted, along with our capacity to take full, deep breaths. Our body naturally goes into a "fight, flight, or freeze" state.

The Amygdala and the Stress Response

EFT is so effective thanks to an almond-shaped part of your brain called the amygdala. It is responsible for determining and activating your body's response when you face any fear. When threatened, your body signals the release of hormones such as adrenaline, which then triggers the release of cortisol — commonly known as "the stress hormone." These prepare you for danger. This is what is commonly called the "fight, flight, or freeze" response, and it is responsible for nothing less than our evolution as a species. It is what would have alerted our ancient ancestors to run for their lives when confronted by carnivorous predators.

There is just one problem: in our modern world, we face external stressors on a daily basis. And if that were not enough to contend with, we are often poorly prepared to deal with it all; we work much harder than we are supposed to, and our food is sometimes laden with toxins such as pesticides and additives.

With this being the case, our amygdala is often in high-alert mode far more than it should be, trapping us in a lingering, low-grade fight-or-flight state every day. Studies have shown that this type of stress can lead to a weakened immune system, emotional dysfunction, weight gain, and a whole host of other problems. In short, stress can make you very, very sick. So where does EFT come into the picture?

EFT, Meridian Points, and Modern Research

In ancient Chinese medicine, it has long been known that you can reduce the body's stress response — and many of the problems it gives rise to — by manipulating the body's meridian points. Thanks to modern science, we now have proof that this is indeed the case. Studies done at Harvard Medical School have found that the amygdala's reaction to external stressors, and our body's resulting stress response, can be reduced by stimulating these very same meridian points that Traditional Chinese Medicine speaks of.

These studies focused specifically on acupuncture, but follow-up, double-blind research proved that the needles were not necessary, and that light pressure — as we use in tapping — was enough to produce these results.

Another study by Dr. Dawson Church offers similar findings on EFT and stress relief. In a randomized controlled trial, Church and his team studied the cortisol levels of 83 subjects who underwent an hour-long EFT session, traditional talk therapy, or no treatment. The results were eye-opening. For those who experienced an EFT session, the average cortisol reduction was 24%, with reductions of almost 50% in some subjects. However, those who sat for an hour of traditional talk therapy experienced no significant reduction in cortisol.

With each passing year, more studies reveal just how effective EFT can be. They go a long way towards establishing the technique's legitimacy for those who question the efficacy of alternative or holistic healing modalities. For thousands of dedicated tappers around the world, however, it simply confirms what they already know to be true — that EFT is the most effective way to reduce the effects of stress, pain, and illness, so you can live a bountiful, fulfilling life!