Tapping: Natural, Powerful and Safe?

There is a common belief among tappers that even though EFT/Tapping is powerful, it is safe because it is natural.

If you tap on an issue nothing bad can happen because EFT only uses the body’s natural self-soothing mechanisms.

What could be safer?

Unfortunately being natural doesn’t make you safe: tigers, arsenic, Great White Sharks, Deadly Nightshade and lightning are all perfectly natural and perfectly capable of killing you.

Being natural is no guarantee of safety.

It gets worse.

EFT/Tapping is often described as being both powerful AND safe.

But being powerful and safe don’t go together.

Safe things are inert, they have no effect on you, that’s why they are safe.

To be powerful something has to exert an effect on you, the more powerful something is the greater the effect it has on you.

The greater the effect something has, the more potentially dangerous it is.

Tigers, arsenic, Great White Sharks, Deadly Nightshade and lightning are all very powerful and potentially dangerous because of it. If we have any sense we treat them all with respect.

EFT is powerful. I know this from my own personal experience, other people’s experiences and the mounting body of research that shows just how effective it can be.

The power of EFT is that it can process and dissolve strong emotions and painful memories.

The danger of EFT is that it can very easily bring strong emotions to the surface.

This uncovering of strong emotions or painful memories can happen quickly and without warning. (If you have done any tapping you may have already had this experience).

If you are an experienced tapper these emotions and memories may be workable. If you are with an experienced practitioner they can keep you safe while you work through what is uncovered.

If you are an inexperienced tapper then strong and unexpected emotions may overwhelm you and your ability to tap. Being overwhelmed by distress and re-traumatised by old memories doesn’t feel safe and doesn’t do you any good.

So, what to do?

If you are a newbie tapper, choose simple stuff to work with until you are confident. If what you are thinking of working on feels unsafe, take that feeling seriously: find an experienced tapper to work with. You can find more about this in Practice Safe EFT for Better Self Help

Using tapping for resolving emotional distress is a bit like working on a frozen lake.

If you have had reasonably good life experiences then you are working at the edge of the lake where the ice is thick and the water is shallow. It’s quite safe to jump up and down.

If you have had painful, difficult or traumatic life experiences then you are working out towards the middle of the lake where the ice is much thinner and the water much deeper. Out there on your own it’s wise to tread very carefully.

EFT will help you get to the shore, but the further out you are and the thinner the ice the more carefully you have to use it (and the more help you might need).

When it is well used, EFT is powerful, natural and safe, but its safety depends on how skilfully you apply it’s power. The more skilful you are the safer and more powerful it can be.

Image by Andreas Breitling from Pixabay