I'm acquainted with an EFT practitioner who does the tapping on the client's body during the sessions. Is this standard practice? 

I can understand showing someone how to tap, but not allowing the client to tap for themselves once they know how to do it feels intrusive to me. Not everyone is comfortable being touched, especially on their face and chest area.

 blue butterfly

There are many practitioners who do the tapping during a session, but I would be very wary of a practitioner who insists on it if you express a preference for tapping yourself.  I personally prefer to teach the client to do the tapping so that they learn that they can do it on their own too rather than feel they need someone else involved, but I believe that other practitioners have different views.  I think the key is that a good EFT practitioner will listen to what you want and if they do not respond empathically to what you want, I would seriously question whether they were the best practitioner for you.

Best wishes,

Jo

 Hi Blue Butterfly,

Some practitioners do tap on the client, and I think it's because they want the client to really be able to focus on the issue at hand, and not get distracted with the mechanical process of tapping. As long as I felt safe with a practitioner, I would probably prefer for him/her to tap on me, while I did the mental work in my head. But I can definitely see that if you have a clear preference, it would be fairly strange of the practitioner not to allow you to tap on your own. 

I've been tapped on as well as done my own tapping. For me, there is actually something nice about being tapped on but not all of the time. For my own clients, I work mostly by phone so obviously they tap on themselves. There is also a licensing issue about touching a client .. it varies by state. One of my in person clients really likes to be tapped on -- during a session I do ask her to tap on herself for some of the rounds so that she's comfortable tapping on herself for home-use. if your question is about what's most effective, I haven't noticed any difference personally and professionally. And as Jo said, the client should be comfortable with how the tapping is done.

Sometimes I tap on the client but I always tap with them. I usually tap on them only if I sense that I need to and that is something I can't define, it is intuitive. I am lucky enough to be able to feel the energy shift in the other person so if I'm not feeling a shift I know that not quite enough is happening and I will sometimes take to tapping on them. I always, always ask if it is okay. Practitioners who are licensed as clinical social workers or psychologist may have professional injunctions that prevent them from tapping on a client. That is not so true of others in the healing arts such as nurses, chiropractors etc. which obvious takes a "hands on" approach. I believe a good practitioner will actually follow intuitively the clients need and wishes.

RecentlyI was tapping along with a client on back pain and I could only feel the energy shift and flow as far as the ankles, so I switched to tapping on the client. Still I only felt the energy flow only as far as the ankles and not all the way through the body. I mentioned this to the client and told her that we would shift to a less used tapping place on the ankles. It was then that she told me that she had injuries to both ankles including one bad break! Including tapping on the ankles worked and we had shifted the set-up to include the ankles.

A good EFT practition will trust their intuition and use it to guide them. If someone is uncomfortable being touched of course they should not be, but it would have me wondering why. I have had perfect strangers allow me to tap on them. If someone is guarded like that there is possibly an underlying core issue there to be addressed at some point in the process.

 

Hi all,

I agree with Deborah - I don't see any difference in results either way for most clients.  In my mind, it's a question of what works better for the client.  And, since most of my practice in via phone/skype, most of my clients tap on themselves.

With much love,

Paul

Hello

As a Practitioner and friend there are MANY times when I am the one to do the tapping. Sometimes it's because I have enduced a healing state with the use of Hypnosis [I'm a Hypnotherapist] and so EFT is an awesome tool to work together with the Subconscious Mind at this point of relaxed state and openness and other times it is simply because they, client or friend, are feeling a bit awkward or embarrassed or whatever it is and I basically want to get the work done and/or at least started. This way there is a familiarity that takes place. A trust that is created between the person and my self and then at future sessions / appointments, it is then much easier to just say something to the effect of 'okay now it's your turn to experience the participation of this little gem and do the tapping while WATCHING me to it.'

It all works and the only time it doesn't is when it's not done :)

In Peace, Kathleen