Chest tightness, overthinking, a constant sense of dread… Most people try to think their way out of these looming sensations. But what if healing requires you to go deeper?
Enter EFT tapping. This simple practice is gaining recognition for bridging the mind and body in ways that few methods can. Each tap helps release unresolved emotions, creating relief that’s like exhaling after years of holding your breath.
Jennifer Partridge, a global tapping expert, knows this firsthand. Debilitating anxiety attacks and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) once ruled her life. But one day, she accidentally discovered tapping. And the rest is history.
As she elaborates in her Mindvalley program, Tapping Into Emotional Mastery, there’s nothing quite like it to rewire how you think, feel, and show up in life. The approach, she says, “can align you to the magnificence of your body, mind, and spirit intelligence.”
What is EFT tapping, and how does it work?
EFT tapping (short for emotional freedom technique) helps you process emotional baggage, negative thoughts, limiting beliefs, and physical illness at hyperspeed.
You do it by applying pressure with your fingers repeatedly to specific points along the body’s meridian lines, where trapped emotions and energies from the past can linger. In traditional Chinese medicine, these are energy pathways that carry life force throughout your body.
From a scientific point of view, tapping these points sends calming signals to the brain’s stress centers, lowering cortisol and easing the body’s fight-or-flight response. As the nervous system settles, the body releases stored tension, and you feel lighter and more at peace.
That’s one reason why Jennifer’s always quick to endorse tapping. Letting the energy flow naturally in your body, she says, helps you learn how to control your emotions and be less reactive. Over time, this kind of awareness fosters self-empowerment, which she views as the foundation of any personal growth journey.
As she points out, “There’s something really powerful that happens when you realize you get to choose how you perceive your experiences.”
Disclaimer: EFT tapping, while reportedly effective, is not a substitute for medical consultation or mental health therapy. Always check with your licensed healthcare or mental health provider before starting any new practice, especially if you are dealing with a serious condition or are currently undergoing any treatment.
Why tapping is a multidisciplinary approach
So what really happens underneath the surface when you start tapping away? Well, it all comes down to how the practice weaves together powerful principles from multiple healing traditions:
- Modern psychology. Discussing emotions, memories, or limiting beliefs while tapping helps bring them into conscious awareness, where healing can begin.
- Traditional Chinese medicine. Stimulating the body’s meridian points helps restore balance and the natural flow of qi, or life energy.
- Neuroplasticity. Repeated tapping reinforces new neural pathways, helping your brain rewire itself for calm, safety, and self-acceptance.
- Spiritual practice. It invites compassion and unconditional love into your awareness, transforming pain into presence without judgment. You can think of it as shadow work in a somatic form.
Taken together, these elements make EFT tapping a whole-system reset for the way you think, feel, and respond to life.
Explore what Jennifer has to say about it below:
9 EFT tapping points you need to know to start healing
In her program, Jennifer guides her students through nine key meridian points, also known as the anchors of every EFT sequence. Each one connects to the body’s subtle circuitry.
“The meridian lines in your body carry electricity, memory, and emotion,” she says. “Tapping on them releases emotional charge and helps your nervous system reset.”
Here’s a look at them all, along with the acronym for each:
- Karate chop (KC): The fleshy outer edge of your hand, between your wrist and the base of your little finger.
- Top of the head (TOH): The crown point, where an imaginary line from ear to ear crosses another from your nose to the back of your neck.
- Eyebrow (EB): The inner edge of your eyebrow, just above the bridge of your nose.
- Side of the eye (SE): On the bone at the outer corner of your eye.
- Under the eye (UE): On the bony ridge beneath your eye, about an inch below the pupil.
- Under the nose (UN): The small space between your nose and upper lip.
- Chin (CH): Midway between the bottom of your lower lip and the tip of your chin.
- Collarbone (CB): Just below the U-shaped notch where your collarbone meets your sternum.
- Underarm (UA): About four inches below your armpit, along the side of your body.
Every time you address these points while feeling an emotion, you’re “telling the brain and body, ‘It’s safe to feel this. It’s safe to heal this,’” as Jennifer says. Each tap sends a ripple through the body’s energy field, gently loosening those old patterns that keep the emotion stuck.
Each point you tap on is like pressing a key on the piano of your body. It helps you play a new song inside your nervous system.
— Jennifer Partridge, trainer of Tapping into Emotional Mastery
Benefits of EFT tapping, according to science
EFT works on multiple levels of consciousness at once. It soothes your stress response, eases emotional tension, and helps your nervous system regain its natural rhythm. With steady practice, that sense of calm begins to emerge in everyday life.
Here’s what people often notice when they make tapping part of their routine:
- A calmer mind. Tapping signals the brain that it’s safe to relax. Studies have shown measurable drops in cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone, after just a single EFT session. Less mental chatter, more clarity.
- Reduced emotional overwhelm. By quieting the amygdala and other emotional centers of the brain, tapping helps reduce anxiety, so you’re more balanced throughout the day.
- Trauma release. With regular practice, tapping can help your brain safely reprocess painful memories. A large meta-analysis found that EFT significantly reduced PTSD symptoms across multiple clinical trials.
- Better sleep and fewer physical symptoms. When stress eases up, the body naturally shifts into a rest-and-repair mode. Research shows that those who practice EFT regularly experience better sleep and lower blood pressure and other physiological markers.
- Greater emotional control. Over time, tapping helps you pause before reacting, creating space to respond with awareness instead of a reflex.
- A deeper sense of self-acceptance. Through repetition of compassionate affirmations, EFT helps reshape self-perception. Participants often report higher self-esteem and emotional resilience as old limiting beliefs lose their hold.
At its heart, tapping is about reconnecting with your mind, your body, and your own sense of ease. Each round you commit to will pave the way for you to feel clearer, lighter, and more confident in your own skin.
From survival to self-trust
Asli Eti, a Mindvalley member from Istanbul, Turkey, discovered these benefits for herself when she joined the Tapping into Emotional Mastery program.
From the very first day, Aslı says, Jennifer’s guidance helped her uncover hidden emotional blocks that had quietly shaped her life. “This program carried me beyond the mastery of dealing with my emotions. It helped me connect with my intuition and meet myself on a deeper level.”
She calls each session “a powerful, genuine connection to my Self.” That clarity, she adds, has deepened her creative expression and now shapes her work today as a healer and author.
How to do EFT tapping in 5 steps
The beauty of tapping is in its simplicity. Once you understand the flow, it becomes a daily ritual that helps your body unwind and your mind reset.
No wonder Jennifer calls it “a return to your calm, centered self that always knew you were whole.”
To experience this sense of homecoming, she recommends incorporating the following EFT tapping training steps into your everyday routine.
1. Practice the daily soul tap
The daily soul tap starts with three questions that reconnect you to yourself. Close your eyes, take a slow breath, and ask:
- “What will bring deep fulfilment to my soul today?”
- “What emotions or thoughts are blocking me from this experience?”
- “Would I think and feel this emotion if I’m no longer upset about the issues related to it?”
Awareness is the first step to releasing all those pent-up emotions. You can jot down your answers if it helps you see what’s coming up.
As Jennifer says, “When you take a moment to ask your soul what it really wants today, you reconnect to the part of you that has always known the way.”
2. Get familiar with all the tapping points
Once you know the main meridian points, it’s easier to get natural at a tapping rhythm. Jennifer suggests starting with a short sequence:
- Massage the points just below your collarbones.
- Tap the center of your chest.
- Move up between the brows.
- Then tap the temples and your cheeks.
- Then gently hit beneath the nose and beneath the lips.
- Return to the chest.
- Tap the front of the ribs, then the sides.
- Finish by tapping gently all over the top of your head, where the meridian lines begin and end.
Take deep breaths as you go. Each inhale brings oxygen through your system, clearing out old tension and mental fog.
“Each point you tap on is like pressing a key on the piano of your body,” Jennifer describes. “It helps you play a new song inside your nervous system.”
And as you continue tapping, you’re releasing deep blockages from your meridian lines, which, she adds, are your “natural energetic roadmap linked to your nervous system.”
3. Acknowledge every arising heaviness
To truly transform your patterns, be honest about what’s happening inside you. “Many of us have been taught to run from our pain or numb it or sweep it under the rug,” says Jennifer. But the first step to letting hurt go “is actually letting it in.”
Start by massaging the collarbone points and return to your first question. What emotions would rise when you do that? Maybe it’s overwhelm, frustration, or fear.
As you tap through the meridian points, speak the truth that’s surfacing. Some ideas on how to start:
- “I really want to create…”
- “Part of me feels that…”
- “Another part of me thinks that…”
Every tap sends a reassuring signal through your body: “It’s safe to feel this; it’s safe to heal this.” And naming what’s there gives those buried emotions a way out.
4. Bring love into your struggles
Once the emotions begin to surface, let them “soften.” “When you bring love, empathy, and forgiveness to the parts of you that hurt,” Jennifer teaches, “the old emotional pattern melts away.”
Keep tapping and remind yourself of truths like these:
- “Even though a part of me has been struggling to create, I deeply love and accept myself exactly as I am.”
- “It’s possible to love here.”
- “I am worthy of love here.”
Repeat the sequence again or twice more if it feels right. Let love start to fill the spaces where resistance once lived.
Whenever you’re stuck in the process, keep going. Remember that it’s all a nervous system game. Jennifer adds, “You’re literally sending a signal through your meridian lines and neural pathways that resets the body, rewires the brain, and transforms the way you see reality.”
5. Offer yourself a new vision
After you’ve met your emotions with love, turn your focus to what you want to feel instead. Say it out loud as you tap, starting with any of these prompts:
- “I really want to create more…”
- “I’m ready to release the struggle now.”
- “It feels safe to let this go.”
- “I can move past this.”
- ”I’m ready to create…”
- “It feels joyful when I create…”
Lean into the warmth that arises when you say these things. “When the body finally feels safe,” says Jennifer, “it starts choosing new emotions that match your highest vision.”
This part of the daily soul tap helps your mind and body practice the frequency of the life you want to live. The more often you feel it, the easier it becomes to create it.
Common challenges and misconceptions
Like any healing practice, tapping comes with questions, doubts, and a learning curve. Some people feel a shift right away; others take longer to find their rhythm. Either way, it works.
Here’s what usually shows up when you begin exploring EFT tapping: what can challenge you and what might surprise you once it clicks.
1. Expecting to get it right immediately
Challenge: It feels weird at first.
Misconception: You have to do it perfectly.
News flash: You don’t.
“When you first start tapping,” says Jennifer, “it can feel awkward or even silly. That’s just the mind adjusting to something new.” Over time, though, the motion eventually becomes natural, something your body will lock in as muscle memory.
The key is simple repetition, not mastery on day one.
2. Worrying about doing it wrong
Challenge: Self‑doubt.
Misconception: Precision equals success.
As Jennifer reminds her students, “You can’t really get tapping wrong. Your body responds to intention more than perfection.”
So, even if you skip a point or drift in order, the energy keeps moving. What matters most is that you stay present with what you feel.
3. Doubting fast results
Challenge: Healthy skepticism.
Misconception: If it feels immediate, it must be a placebo.
If shifts happen in an instant, Jennifer explains, it’s because “the nervous system loves honesty. The moment you stop resisting what you feel, the body begins to recalibrate.”
Remember, some people notice subtle changes first, while others may feel release right away. It really depends on your individual life story.
Either way, both experiences are real and valid.
4. Thinking it’s only about emotions
Challenge: You overlook the mind-body link.
Misconception: EFT can’t influence physical wellness.
“Every emotion has a physical echo,” Jennifer says. “When you clear the emotion, the body follows.” That’s why many who tap for stress later notice changes in pain, energy, and sleep.
5. Assuming it’s a quick fix
Challenge: Wanting instant transformation.
Misconception: A single session will solve everything.
The thing is, tapping can deliver rapid relief, yes. Yet consistent practice builds lasting change in your psyche. “Tapping isn’t about escaping your feelings,” Jennifer points out. “It’s about creating a safe space to feel them.”
Over time, that sense of safety is how you’ll move with more ease through life.
Bonus: EFT tapping scripts to deepen your practice
The more you tap, the deeper your emotional fluency becomes. Here’s where a good EFT tapping script can help get you there. Think of them as starting points that help you express what’s happening in the moment you feel those buried feelings.
As Jennifer explains, “You don’t need the perfect words. You just need the honest ones.”
These simple EFT sequences can guide you into that honesty, whether you want to calm your mind, expand your possibilities, or simply rest more deeply.
EFT tapping for anxiety
Anxiety often lives in the body long before it reaches the mind. You can use this script whenever you feel tension rising.
Take a slow, steady breath. And as you mindfully breathe your way into calmness, tap each meridian point, then repeat these phrases aloud:
“Even though my body feels tense and my mind is spinning, I deeply love and accept myself.”
“I feel this worry sitting in my chest.”
“I acknowledge it’s been hard to feel safe.”
“I’m open to letting a little peace in.”
Do this for two to three gentle rounds or until you feel your breath deepen. On the final round, shift your focus to:
“It’s possible for me to breathe easier now.”
“It’s safe to slow down.”
“My body remembers what calm feels like.”
Every tap signals to your nervous system that it no longer needs to be on guard. You’re literally teaching your body that it can choose peace.
EFT tapping for manifestation
Manifestation, which is the art of turning aligned intention into lived experience, begins with emotional alignment. Tapping clears the resistance that holds your most authentic desires back… in the form of sneaky fears, doubts, or the need to control everything.
Start by asking yourself what you want to bring to life. While tapping, tell yourself statements like:
“Even though part of me doesn’t believe this is possible, I’m willing to see another way.”
“I release the fear that it’s too big for me.”
“I trust that my timing is unfolding perfectly.”
“I allow joy to lead my actions.”
Whenever you think, “Is manifestation real?” just remember Jennifer’s words of wisdom: “When the body finally feels safe, it starts choosing new emotions that match your highest vision.”
Trust the process. If anything, this practice rewires your energy from doubt to trust—exactly where manifestation can begin and start to work.
EFT tapping for sleep
Rest becomes difficult when unprocessed emotions replay in the background. Thankfully, this short sequence helps you unwind the day and signals to your body that it’s safe to rest.
While lying down or sitting comfortably, tap slowly through each point while speaking these phrases:
“Even though my mind is restless, I’m ready to let the day go.”
“I release all the thoughts I don’t need right now.”
“My body knows how to relax.”
“Each breath brings more ease through my system.”
Do as many rounds as you feel like. On the last one, say out loud:
“It’s safe to rest.”
“I welcome stillness.”
“I allow peace to wash over me.”
This is the point that Jennifer refers to as “coming home to the self.” When the body relaxes, the mind will eventually follow. Bioenergy healing, unlocked.
3 real-life stories about the power of tapping
Every EFT session reveals something unique for each individual. For some, it’s subtle: a softening in the shoulders, a gentler breath. For others, it’s a doorway into profound emotional and physical transformation.
Either way, the effects are tangible and lasting, resonating in how people think, move, and present themselves in their daily lives.
Here, three Mindvalley learners share what happens when you let your body lead the healing.
An unbridled awakening
For Bryan Jordaan from Johannesburg, tapping became a language for energy healing. He noticed how emotions move when the body finally feels supported. As he explains:
It’s such a beautiful life hack for those struggling to shift stuck pain or trauma.
And he insists it’s possible for everyone. “Your body knows how to heal itself,” he adds, “you just need to give it the right support to do its best job.”
Through daily practice, Bryan discovered the truth buried in movement. “Emotions are meant to be felt and move through your body. There is no place for them to stay trapped,” he says.
And in that surrender, he found freedom: being present with himself, he realized, is what restores balance in the mind, body, and soul.
Rediscovered joy
When Tri Nuraini from Jakarta joined Tapping Into Emotional Mastery, she expected a stress-relief tool. What she found was a path back to herself.
“I thought I would just get a tool to deal with difficult emotions or anxiety,” she shares. “It turned out to be so much deeper than that.” The daily tapping regime helped her work through her limiting beliefs and regain trust in herself.
I learned how to let go of control, surrender to the care of the Universe, and more.
And, Tri adds, “Every day in the quest just keeps getting deeper and better.”
Ultimately, she gained a renewed capacity to enjoy life and to meet each day with curiosity instead of fear.
Renewed self-love and authenticity
For Kyle from Florida, U.S.A., tapping became the mirror that showed him who he truly was. What began as a simple method to clear emotional residue turned into a practice of self‑recognition.
I believe tapping is giving me a chance to really allow my inner self to come out and flourish as a whole.
Over time, that feeling of renewal flowed into every part of his life. “I now see myself as a strong and radiant person who is firm in who he is, in all aspects of my life.”
In reclaiming that self-acceptance, he regrew a quiet sense of confidence that comes from meeting oneself with honesty and love.
Frequently asked questions
Is it okay to cry after tapping?
Completely. Crying, Jennifer says, is one of the body’s ways of releasing built‑up energy.
When you tap on meridian points, trapped emotions can finally move. That can show up as tears, yawns, tingling, or even laughter. “When you allow the emotion to move,” she adds, “you allow healing to happen.”
Crying is proof that your nervous system is letting go of tension it no longer needs to hold.
Of course, if you feel tender afterward, drink water, stretch, or rest (even if for a few minutes). Think of it as emotional detox: the ultimate sign that your system is rebalancing itself.
Does EFT tapping really work?
Yes, and the science of it is evident.
Research has found that EFT reduces cortisol, the primary stress hormone, and helps regulate heart rate and blood pressure by sending calming signals to the brain.
Not only that, but tens of thousands of practitioners worldwide, including therapists and physicians, apply it as a complementary tool for anxiety, PTSD, pain, and even performance enhancement.
Jennifer chalks it up to this: “Tapping bridges psychology and energy medicine. Each point you touch sends a signal that rewires the stress response toward safety.”
What makes it effective, ultimately, is consistency. No shortcuts. The more you practice, the stronger that new emotional circuitry becomes.
How long does EFT tapping take to work?
Change emerges at its own pace, whether through a single deep breath or weeks of steady tapping. Everyone will experience it, just at different intervals.
For minor stress or overwhelm, a few minutes can bring relief. However, long‑standing emotions often need more sessions to unravel.
Your results depend on what you’re working on and how deeply those patterns are held.
What matters is remembering that EFT is not a one‑time fix. In fact, it’s an ongoing conversation with your body. The more you listen, the more it opens up.
This is why Jennifer encourages gentle persistence. “Each time you tap, you build safety in your system,” she shares. “That’s when change starts to stick.”
Live vibrantly, naturally
Your body already knows how to heal. All it’s waiting for is your permission… to soften, to let go, to begin again with love.
Through EFT tapping, you’ll start meeting old stress and pain with compassion instead of resistance. As your inner weight lightens, your energy, clarity, and confidence begin to rise in ways you can feel.
Join Jennifer Partridge in her free Tapping Into Emotional Mastery class on Mindvalley. It’s a sneak peek into her guided teachings that help your emotions settle and your energy flow with ease.
In this session, you will:
- Learn simple EFT techniques for instant calmness,
- Experience a fully guided tapping practice,
- Explore the science behind emotional release,
- Cultivate deeper self-love and acceptance, and
- Reconnect with your personal power.
This experience feels quiet on the surface but reaches deeper than words. It speaks to the part of you that remembers balance, safety, and wholeness.
And once you touch that space, you’ll remember that you were never broken. That you were, in fact, always coming home to yourself.
Welcome in.
