Tapping away your problems | A candid review of EFT

I turned up to my first Tapping class as a secret skeptic, but I convinced myself that with an open mind, something good could come of it. The whole evening was an experience to say the least, spending two hours sat in a room full of women I didn’t know all crying together wasn’t exactly how I had pictured my night ending up.

For those of you that don’t know, Tapping is an Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), which is a form of psychological acupressure that involves tapping on energy meridians that are situated just beneath the surface of the skin. In short, you say words that bring up stress/anxiety or anything you’re dealing with personally, then you tap in random places throughout your body (in between the eyebrows, under the collarbone etc.) to release the negative energy. Yes, I know, it sounds as much like witchcraft as contouring does, but bear with me.

So there I was, sat in a circle, feeling like I was attending my first AA meeting.



‘Hi, my name’s Hollie and I am an alcoholic’.

Tapping actually wasn’t far off; we introduced ourselves and then one by one shared what we were struggling with. As one person shared, the whole group would tap for them. Our teacher, Charlie, called it borrowed energy. I like to think of it as a group of women cheering each other on. Emma Watson would have been proud.

Everybody had their own issues, from a crippling eating disorder and the breakup of a marriage, to the stress of being in a job they hate. Some were tough to hear, others felt like the person speaking was reading my mind.

Each concern, no matter how small, was addressed by Charlie with the utmost care and attention, talking through the problem step by step and asking logical questions that made you dig deep.

Then the tapping would begin.

The edge of my fingers tapped underneath my eye and the cynical voice in my head mumbled ‘this is so stupid’. But then the crying began and I realised that for most people in the room, talking about their issues without really talking about them, worked. The idea that an unpleasant emotion could be controlled by a physical action meant that you were in control.

If you're struggling with pain, grief, anxiety, depression or good old fashioned relationship problems, pop along to a workshop and see what happens. I'd love to go again, if anything just to reunite with my fab little crew, but for £90 an hour it's a luxury that's out of my remit. I was lucky enough to find a beginners workshop for a much lower price, and I'm immensely glad that I showed up.

The whole evening was a team effort; there was no shame or embarrassment, just a group of people with genuine concerns. Life's tough, and sometimes you find solidarity in the strangest of places... like a tapping class.