Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), also known as Tapping, is an acupressure method that is intended to heal people emotionally, and sometimes physically, using finger taps on different areas of the body (head, sides, wrists) while repeating self-affirming statements and releasing “negativity”.  The philosophy behind the practices is eastern and uses “energy movement” in the body and maintains that your thoughts can create your own reality.  It is highly subjective since it is based on a person’s feelings and experience.

The emotional Freedom Technique has no scientific validity.  It is based on eastern mysticism and self-promotion.  Christians should avoid this practice since it can lead to self-deception and is not based on God’s revelation of scripture.  It contradicts the Bible since it does not recognize the sinfulness of man, nor does it depend on God and his healing power that ultimately is manifested through the cross.

 

Founder: Gary Craig¹emofree.com/eft-tutorial/tapping-basics/what-is-eft.html

Headquarters: California, United States

Membership: Undetermined, but appears to be in the thousands.

Origins: Begun by Gary Craig in 1995 ²http://emofree.com/eft-tapping-articles/popular/eft-tapping-silent-sea.html

Practices: Using the fingertips to tap on various locations of your body in order to “input kinetic energy onto specific meridians on the head and chest”.  The idea is to use the kinetic energy (the energy in something due to its movement) of the fingers and transfer that energy to body parts while you “think about your specific problem”.³http://eft.mercola.com  This is to help you heal emotionally.  The tapping points are on top of the head, the eyebrows, sides of the eyes, under the eyes, under the nose, the chin, the collar bones, under the arms on your sides, and your wrists.  EFT recommends doing the tapping procedures, from head to wrists, ten times a day.

The practitioner is to identify negative thoughts, emotions, and/or memories that he/she wants to get rid of.  Then, he is to formulate a positive sentence that will be repeated, such as “Even though I was hurt by ________, I accept myself.”  The person is urged to be positive, not negative, and affirm strong, positive emotions and choices.  Therefore they are to “choose to be more confident” or “choose to feel better”⁴ibid. while avoiding negative statements about themselves.

Other Teachings:

Terms Used:

• Affirmation
• EFT
• Kinetic energy
• Negative emotions
• Positive statements
• Psychoenergetic block
• Self-talk
• Tapping
• Time-space sequence