Is EFT Tapping A Scam? The Real Reasons EFT Tapping Does Not Work for Some People and What to Do About It
How to Attract Money with EFT TappingOne thing you will notice about the critics and skeptics of Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT tapping) is that most of them have never tried it … or they may have tried it in a very superficial way … but very few of them ever worked with an EFT tapping expert and very few of them really devoted time and energy to learn about and experiment with this miraculous technology of EFT tapping …
Is EFT Tapping A Scam?
Hey, sometimes it’s scary to to try new things, especially when we are still externally validated and worried about what “others might think” of us …
I know that the first time I got on gymnastics equipment as a girl, I didn’t expect to be able to do back handsprings or the splits on the first day. The first time I got into the driver’s seat of a car, I didn’t expect to be an expert driver (it was a manual transmission, so actually that first day was pretty humorous, bless my dad for his patience in teaching me). But I didn’t look at the people for whom these things obviously were working and say “back handsprings are a fraud,” “driving a car is a fraud.” I mean, seriously folks, tapping is obviously working for a lot of people or we wouldn’t have had over 300,000 of us participating in the recent Tapping Summit.
Like anything else, tapping requires experience and skill to get the most spectacular results. The results I’m getting for my clients are far better now than they were a year ago because I have devoted myself to the deepest possible understanding of what’s going wrong when “it’s not working” so that I can troubleshoot it and get results.
Is EFT Tapping A Scam?
As I’ve gone along, I’ve noticed some patterns among the people who say they’ve tried tapping and “it didn’t work.” Here are ten of the top reasons it doesn’t work for some people, and what to do about it:
1. They are not finding the root of the issue. The belief “I am ugly” is usually built on very old childhood memories. If the person taps on the present day belief, they may feel some superficial relief, but is not likely to “collapse” the belief entirely. Ideally, we find where the belief originated, explore the whole emotional event that gave rise to it, release the negative emotions and conditioning, and that’s how the belief loses its power. I have collapsed someone’s life-long belief he was ugly from a “10” (meaning, he absolutely believed it was true he was ugly) to a “0” (meaning, it no longer seemed true at all) in one session by doing this.
2. They are “psychologically reversed.” This means they say they want to get rid of their problem, but deep down they don’t want to. The top three reasons people don’t want to let go of their problems are safety, identity, and community. A really experienced practitioner will help them find the often very subtle reasons why they don’t want to get their problem solved. These can be really, really sneaky hidden reasons, such as “I don’t want to be wealthy because I’m worried my friends will not like me anymore, or that I’ll get too much attention, or that people will hit me up for handouts.” And underneath all those reasons we then need to go back to step #1 and find the root of the issue.
3. Not enough structure/motivation. For tapping to transform someone’s life, they need to stick with it consistently and systematically. Most people are not that disciplined. Ego resistance arises and sabotages the process. Having an expert coaching them is like having a personal trainer who keeps them doing the program. Aren’t you worth investing in?
4. Discomfort with feelings and/or Don’t want to/don’t know how to face the dark side or don’t understand the importance of facing the dark side. If someone really gives tapping a good faith try, some very yucky-feeling negative emotions that were deeply repressed are likely to come to the surface. This feels VERY uncomfortable, and many people find excuses for not sticking with it through the discomfort. This is one of the many reasons why it’s so helpful to work with an expert who can provide support through this discomfort. This is also the reason why I require an absolute upfront commitment for my coaching programs. Many people who don’t have an expert coach supporting them quit because the really uncomfortable feelings start coming up, and people are terrified of their feelings because our culture has taught them to judge themselves for their true authentic feelings. “It’s not ok to be angry, it’s not ok to be sad, it’s not ok to feel weak.” “It’s not okay to hate my mom and resent that she asks me to do things for her.” Etc. These are the kind of thoughts people have, so when dark stuff starts coming up, instead of sticking with it, they judge themselves, get spooked, and quit. They don’t understand that it’s exactly when we start getting into the really icky stuff (such as my “f*ck you God” sessions) that the really powerful shifts happen.
5. Not digging deep enough. Many people in our culture are totally out of touch with their own emotional reality. It’s hard for them to get results from tapping because they are not delving deeply enough in to the subconscious mind. There are several ways I help people with this, one with meta-tapping-procedures that I have invented to get people more in touch with their emotional reality, and two with recommendations for things like meditation, bodywork, breathwork, etc., that help dredge the subconscious negative beliefs/emotions up to the surface so they can be cleared.
6. Trying to go “positive” too quickly. Not giving the negativity a full hearing makes it difficult to implant anything positive. You cannot paste positive affirmations on top of a lifetime of negative thinking and expect them to produce consistent results in the world.
One of Erika Awakening’s clients. Before using Holistic Belief Reprogramming, he was frustrated with his failure to “stick with it” to meet his health and fitness goals. Look what happened after he used Erika’s method! Wow :)
8. Too much attachment to a particular outcome. Tapping can be used to facilitate particular outcomes, but it takes a lot of experience to understand when that will work and when it will backfire. It’s again a thing where inexperienced people will try to choose a particular outcome before thoroughly cleaning out all the negativity in all the areas that need to be cleaned out. This can backfire because, when their subconscious mind starts moving toward something that actually scares them, the subconscious mind may “sabotage” the desired outcome to reduce the amount of fear, which has become intolerable as the outcome gets closer. This is really advanced application of tapping. Much better to leave a particular outcome aside temporarily and focus on erasing the fear. Then desired outcome much more likely to happen all by itself.
9. Not having the spiritual grounding to practice effectively. Tapping cannot be used for personal gain at someone else’s expense. Knowing that, I always look for re-frames that benefit everyone involved. An inexperienced person won’t know to do this and often ends up with the problem identified in reason #8, that is, fear and guilt increases because his subconscious mind won’t allow and will sabotage win/lose outcomes.
10. Giving up too soon. Tapping requires commitment, patience, and experimentation. It works pretty close to all of the time if the core issue is found and collapsed. Most people who make one of the above mistakes won’t stick with it long enough to reap the benefits because they get discouraged and mistakenly conclude that “it doesn’t work.” This, again, is why working with an expert is going to get you much faster and much more spectacular results.
So What Do You Think – Is EFT Tapping A Scam?
Or is the real issue that people haven’t learned how to use EFT tapping in an effective way?
You be the judge :)
Love,
Hey Erika,
I think that eft tapping is not a scam for sure. It’s just not backed up by science but indeed it provides proven results.
I love your blog. Keep up the good work and greetings from a fellow blogger.
We have an article about that issue, if you’re curious:
https://erikaawakening.com/problem-with-science/
It’s so easy to accuse the client of not really wanting to get healed. This concept is a LIE. Stop blaming people for their difficulties. Every single person wants to get healed in all levels. When a practitioner says such a thing I know he or she is a fraud. I don’t think EFT is a fraud, only that people like you are. And please, stop photoshoping your clients.
Hahahaha, I wish I had the skills to photoshop. Unfortunately I don’t, as it would probably make blogging easier. It’s astonishing to me that a person would rather make a totally false accusation than consider the possibility that a method could actually work. I mean, wow.
Psychological reversal applies to everyone. Gary Craig identified it, as the founder of EFT. Psychological reversal means a part of us that doesn’t want healing. What the ego fears most is salvation. As evidenced by your false accusation. You fear salvation so you write off the evidence of miracles as fake. God bless.
The holistc method photoshopped the chubby guy’s head onto a fit body. That is truly amazing. Wow
I suppose you would have been one of the people alleging that the sexual abuse allegations against Larry Nassar were fabricated as well? Anything that threatens your cozy little sense of “reality” is a target for shame and ridicule, right? And you’re so brave hiding behind your computer keyboard to comment on a post like this. Gosh, I really admire you.
I read Nick Ortner’s book – i’vepaid for the book coming out in October – After I read all of the “scientific” reason why eft works – i committed to doing three at a time complete tappings for a week in a row and surely would have been able to see some improvement? I was tapping for a bone infection in my right ankle – tapping for a healing – i have been to the doctor for this and went thru a great deal of antibacterial infusion over six weeks which took so much of my energy – weight loss (I didn’t need) loss of hair and though they said I was cured – the infection is back and sometimes it’s hard to sleep at night. Of course, I can always take an ibroprophine – but I wanted to get rid of it as I WILL nOT go back to those awful treatments. The eft directions are very easy to use…why can’t I get some relief?
Hi Ronnie, sorry to hear you are frustrated with it. Unfortunately the way EFT is taught sometimes makes it sound like a beginner can get results for a complex problem like this one. And sometimes you can … but you’re basically asking me why you can’t do your own surgery just because you have a steak knife in the kitchen. Your injury and dis-ease are trying to tell you something, and unraveling that message may take months even after you have acquired the skills to decipher the messages. Most people have been ignoring their body’s messages for a long time due to social conditioning and so it is quite a process to get them back in touch. Rather than despair, I would take this as an opportunity to go much deeper with yourself … and also hire an expert to help you start connecting the dots … Wishing you a speedy healing. cheers, – Erika
It just seems like too much work for me. I have watched and listened carefully and it just does not appeal to me. You might add this as another reason! :)
Hi David,
Thanks for your honesty. Yes, once this path is chosen, it becomes a 24/7 endeavor. In my experience, this path is only chosen when the lack of value in other paths is recognized. :)
Erika,
Enjoyed this post. I now have a much better understanding of why you’re able to achieve the results you do with your tapping. You’ve taken the technique/discipline much farther than other people I’ve run across who have made it their primary modality for achieving results.
Namaste
Thank you Namaste. Yes, and I do experience some frustration when I hear people say it doesn’t work. They would not expect to be a competent neurosurgeon after a few half-hearted attempts at brain surgery … yet would assume after a few half-hearted attempts at tapping that it doesn’t work. In my experience, healing is not a path of “sort of” commitment. It becomes a 24/7/365 endeavor.
You have the bases covered. Perfectly. If it doesn’t work, well, there are ten ways to blame the sucker, sorry, client. If you say it works, it works. That will be $75 please. And if it doesn’t work for you, well, it’s your fault. It’s still going to be $75. We are drowning in stupid. Tap tap tap. Hey, I’ve invented a new healing modality. You dance around, sing your desires, and toss a coin. It works. Oh yes it works. If it doesn’t work, well it’s because you didn”t give it time, or you used the wrong coin, or you had a bad attitude. In any case, please send money.
Hi Cliff,
I am hearing that you may be feeling some fear, and your need for trust is not met when you consider the possibility of solving problems with tapping.
And, indeed, the method that I teach does require a great deal of commitment, even when it appears not to be working. An example of this commitment is what I’ve been doing with the healing of my cat over the past almost three months right now. We have talked about this in recent articles, including this one: https://erikaawakening.com/guardian-angels/
Hundreds of issues have arisen to be healed here, and if I were attached to short-term outcomes, I would have given up long ago. The reason I stick with it is that I have so much experience, and can now see when a grander healing process is unfolding. That grander healing process has no opportunity to unfold if I’m not willing to be persistent through extreme emotional upheaval, financial scarcity, and seeming setbacks of the most harrowing nature.
On the other hand, as I wrote about in that article, there is nothing that can compare to the feeling of being in the flow of a greater Intelligence guiding me. And so I carry on through adversity.
It sounds like that kind of uncertainty and walking in faith may not meet your needs at this time. Of course, in great uncertainty is the greatest potential for transformation and possibility.
cheers,
Erika
I know this is an old post, but I’m curious to know: what if you committed 100% 24/7/365 to dance around, sing your desires, and toss a coin and really believed in it, or committed to prayer, or any other method, what makes EFTbetter? Are the effects better than placebo? That is usually what people are really asking, when they ask “is it a scam?”
Follow the White Rabbit …
I like how you list all the reasons why EFT Tapping doesn't work for some people. Some are too quick to call something a scam when they don't put the work into it.
Thanks Yvonne, yea totally. People don’t expect to be an expert neurosurgeon on the first day of medical school yet somehow they think they will be a tapping expert on the first day lol :)
For me EFT tapping is definitely not a scam. I made two seminars in MET and found that the more I am tapping the easier the emotions come to the surface. My experience is that I'm not afraid of my emotions any more, because I experienced that I can deal with them and they no longer sabotage my life.
Hi Katharina, yes that is a wonderful benefit of tapping isn’t it? Avoidance of our feelings becomes a less compelling strategy …
What????
Yay Fritz the Cat’s comment came in from Facebook :) This is a different Fritz M Cat
I've often wondered about this therapy, thanks for sharing this.
Ive read this and cant seem to see any impression of coming out of the womb as an experienced Practitioner…
Erika this is dirty advert what you are doing. Reading the above article gives me the impression you came out of your mothers womb an EXPERINCED practitioner. This is very unfair and does not meet at all Gary's Goal.
We can only be unfair to ourselves. All the power belongs to you. Like I said on Facebook, we are in a global economy now with so much free teaching online and the possibility to attract customers from anywhere in the world. The playing field gets more level every day. Yet each person must decide for himself whether he’s going to be powerful or play small. The choice is yours.
Wow, I find that all is very thorough and accurate. Thanks for your insight and lucidity on this.
Some errors are quite easy to spot, as to lack of persistance, but others, like attachement to particular outcome and resistance to win/lose situation are very subtle, and need particular lucidity from the practitionner.
I am going to be more attentive on it.
Thanks !
Thanks very much Gaetan. Yes, the holistic understanding of belief systems from my perspective is essential to powerful tapping sessions, otherwise we don’t see the forest for the trees!