Question: I can understand how EFT can result in a lot of relief from emotional problems and, in fact, have seen it do so.  But I cannot see why it should give such surprisingly good relief from physical problems, and yet I’ve seen it do that too.  Can you explain this?

 
Answer: A possible explanation for the effect of EFT on physical pain and distress, or on illness, is its interesting relationship to acupuncture.  It is known and accepted by many hospitals in the West, as well as in China where acupuncture originated, that certain acupuncture points can have an extraordinary effect in reducing the amount of pain that people experience.  Therefore, it is not surprising that since there is a strong parallel between the points used in EFT and some traditional acupuncture points, that EFT should have an alleviating effect on bodily pain. 

However, EFT seems to do much more than reduce pain when it is effective for a physical condition.  In a surprising number of instances it is far more helpful than one might logically expect it to be.  Probably the most likely explanation for this is the existence of the mind-body connection which is now being widely recognized in medicine as well as psychology.

In actual fact, the evidence is striking for the effects of EFT on the body, and interestingly, applying EFT for emotional issues often brings on the cessation of physical problems as a by-product.  As the person taps away distress about an emotional issue, a breathing problem may go away, a headache may vanish, joint pain may subside, or even serious medical symptoms improve.

The list of physical improvements brought about by EFT grows daily.  Many examples of this can be accessed here; EFT for Pain Management .

An explanation for this emphasized by Gary Craig is that EFT effectively addresses any emotional contributors to one’s physical symptoms.  Once the emotional contributors are out of the way, the symptoms can often subside.  As he points out, “We don’t need to attribute all physical ailments to emotional causes to see the logic of this.  Emotions, at the very least, substantially contribute to one’s physical health.  In other words, if not a cause, they are certainly a contributor, and EFT is a highly efficient tool for relief of emotional pressures.” 

He also points outs, and repeatedly demonstrates on his videotapes, another intriguing fact.  When one applies EFT directly to a physical symptom, such as say a headache, even though one may not be zeroing in on a specific emotion, if the physical symptom happens to be caused by some emotional issue, the emotion will often change, often dramatically, along with the improvement in the physical symptom.

Also sometimes people will apply EFT for a disturbing emotion and quite surprisingly experience dramatic relief in a physical symptom they were suffering from!  And tapping for a physical symptom may be one of the best ways to relieve an emotional problem that one is simultaneously feeling.  This reciprocal effect can be used to make EFT applicable to a large number of problems.