Donna Eden and David Feinstein

The most fundamental rhythm in your body is the beating of your heart. Your arteries and capillaries carry its pulse throughout your body. Your body’s energy system carries other pulses as well. Acupuncturists "read" some of these energy pulses when they perform a diagnosis. The body is accustomed to the type of rhythm that is created when you tap. Tapping at an energy point uses the body’s own language to stimulate that energy. Receptors that are highly sensitive to mechanical stimulation are also found in higher concentrations at the acupuncture points.

Tapping, holding, tracing, and massaging are four primary interventions in energy medicine. Like tapping, holding energy points and tracing meridians also speak to the body in its own language, using the electromagnetic charge of one’s hands and fingers to influence the body’s electromagnetic system. Massaging specific points is particularly effective for stimulating the neurolymphatic system, which can pump the energies through clogged pathways. But the body tends to respond to tapping where it might resist deep massage on an overcharged point.

Two kinds of impulses move through the nerve cells and the energy system. One is more rapid; the other, which is slower, penetrates more deeply. If you "just tap," you often engage the first kind of impulse but not the second. To activate both pulses, tap ten times, pause as you take a deep breath, and resume with five to ten taps. The pause triggers the second impulse. A way to pace your tapping without counting is to tap during a deep inhalation and exhalation, pause during a deep inhalation and exhalation, and again tap the same point on a third inhalation and exhalation.

Tapping the acupoints on the hands and feet will activate the meridians, but according to some practitioners of energy medicine, if you tap the other end of the meridian, closer to or on the torso, the effects will be deeper and more lasting. Tapping acupoints on or near the torso simultaneously tends to engage the chakras, the neurolymphatics, and the nerves connected to the spinal system. Acupoints on the elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles are in "zones" that are also particularly responsive to tapping, sending strong impulses into the nervous system.

Breath moves energy. Whatever other methods you are using to intervene with the body’s energies, deep, conscious breathing enhances them.

Tapping an acupoint supports the functions governed by its meridian (e.g., tapping a spleen point helps you assimilate information). Tapping on the lymphatic points assists in the removal of toxins. Tapping on a chakra is said to spin the information held in a thought or affirmation into the energy of the chakra and down through its layers to your deepest core. Tapping over the thymus makes you more robust and better able to handle stress.

Because we are each physiological and energetically unique, the speed and strength of the tap should be adjusted by what "feels right." Remedies also need to be attuned to the person’s "element" (see Energy  Medicine, Chapter 7). This includes the meridian that might be the focus of the treatment, the words used in an affirmation, and the experiences sought to balance one’s life. A "metal element" person will get more balance from activities within metal’s control cycle, fire (e.g., wild parties and out-of-control dancing), while a "wood element" person will get more balance from activities within wood’s control cycle, earth (e.g., immersion in nature).

First tap out the negative, then tap in the positive. Use an insistent, consistent tap, timed to your own rhythm. Example presenting problem: "I dread being criticized about my acting. I’m terrified of tomorrow’s performance. I feel it in the middle of my chest, just above the thymus, at my heart chakra." Treatment: Tap there stating the problem you are "tapping out," saying perhaps, "I dread being criticized about my acting." Tap a few seconds, take a deep breath, begin tapping again. Follow with a positive statement, e.g., "I know it will be a great performance," tapping as feels right, perhaps, for instance, shifting now to an open hand and a slower pace.

Treatment points can be stimulated by tapping them, touching and rubbing them, "breathing into" the points, or imagining the energy at the point flowing naturally. Some practitioners, such as Lee Pulos, Ph.D., routinely have new clients try each method to gauge the client’s sensitivities and preferences.

It may be difficult to determine the exact treatment point from the charts. In addition, everyone’s energy points matches their anatomy somewhat uniquely. One person’s spleen point may be a bit higher in relationship to the ribs than another’s. If you form a three-finger notch (thumb, index, and middle) and tap in the area you understand the point to be, you will probably reach it or sufficiently stimulate adjacent areas.