Why I tap to encourage unhealthy behaviors (Pod #692)
Tapping Q & A - Getting the most out of tapping and EFT
Release Date: 03/12/2026
How Long Does Tapping Take to Work? An Honest Answer (Pod #709)
Tapping Q & A - Getting the most out of tapping and EFT
How long does tapping take to work? It's one of the most common questions I get, and the answer is the most unsatisfying one in coaching: it depends. In this post I'll show you why that's actually the most useful answer I can give you, and how to use it. TL;DR: How Long Tapping Takes to Work How long tapping takes to work depends on the issue you're tapping on and how you define success. A 90-second round can shift a present-moment frustration, while a 35-year-old limiting belief usually takes repeated sessions over time. Happiness equals outcome divided by expectation. The same result feels...
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Looking for "The lesson the university is trying to teach me" is keeping you stuck (Pod #708)
Tapping Q & A - Getting the most out of tapping and EFT
Recently, I was working with a client who said, "I just wish I understood what the university is trying to teach me." This is a sentiment I often hear from my clients. Learning from our past mistakes is good and valuable. When we are able to see what went wrong and why it went wrong, we can act in new ways in the future. Sometimes it feels even bigger than that. It isn't just learning from a past mistake, but learning a lesson the universe is trying to teach you that goes beyond what happened…it is about who you are at your core. Every time I have learned one of those deeper lessons about...
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Why Do I Yawn After Tapping? The Nervous System Science Behind It (Pod #707)
Tapping Q & A - Getting the most out of tapping and EFT
Subscribe in: | | | | | | If you have ever finished a round of EFT tapping and found yourself yawning uncontrollably, you are not imagining things. In 18 years of working with clients, this question lands in my inbox almost every single month. It is actually one of the top search terms that brings new readers to TappingQandA.com. TL;DR / Key Takeaways Yawning, burping, and stomach gurgles after a tapping round are all signs that your body shifted out of fight-or-flight mode and into its natural rest-and-restore state. The human nervous system operates in two distinct modes: the...
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Three ways to tap for stubborn issues (Pod #706)
Tapping Q & A - Getting the most out of tapping and EFT
It is hard to sit down to tap when you have been battling a stubborn issue for a long time. Without seeing progress, maintaining momentum and motivation is challenging. You may struggle to know what to tap on because it seems as if you are working on the same aspects over and over again. At a certain point, it feels like you are tapping on autopilot and your motivation flags. In my experience, there are three lenses through which to view persistent, deeply-rooted issues that will help to get you unstuck. The great thing is that these three lenses work together in harmony. As you work on one,...
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What to Do When You Don't Think Tapping Will Work for You (Pod #705)
Tapping Q & A - Getting the most out of tapping and EFT
If you have ever sat down to tap and thought, "this isn't going to work for me," you are not alone. That single thought stops more people from healing than any technique ever could. Knowing what to do when you don't think tapping will work is the first step toward getting unstuck. TL;DR: Key Takeaways The thought "tapping won't work for me" is almost never about tapping. It is a protective story your subconscious is telling to keep you from a deeper fear. Five specific fears tend to hide behind this doubt: losing your last hope, worrying things will get worse, having to admit you could have...
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The one step tapping process (Pod #704)
Tapping Q & A - Getting the most out of tapping and EFT
One of the topics that I have been coming back to again again this year is trying to find ways to make it easier for you to start a round of tapping because once you start it is much easier to stick with it. This week in the podcast I share with you one of my favorite and simplest tapping techniques which is a "one step tapping process". When I am teaching people how to tap this is what I teach them right after I teach wordless tapping. But don't let the simplicity of the approach fool you. Even though it is straight forward it is powerful. So much so when I am giving my clients...
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Why do I feel worse after a round of tapping (Pod #703)
Tapping Q & A - Getting the most out of tapping and EFT
If you have ever finished a round of tapping and felt more upset than when you started, you are not doing it wrong. In fact, when you feel worse after tapping, it usually means something productive is happening underneath the surface. This is one of the most common questions I get from listeners, and the answer changes how you interpret every round of tapping you will ever do. Key Takeaways Feeling worse after a round of tapping is common, and in most cases it signals that you are closer to real change, not further from it. Any tapping round has only three possible outcomes: you feel better,...
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How you talk about emotions is getting in the way of healing (Pod #702)
Tapping Q & A - Getting the most out of tapping and EFT
We emotionally respond to the world based on the way we describe it. What this means is that your subconscious mind is taking cues about what is going on, not based on what you are thinking, but based on what you are saying. The most common version of this is a generalization. You might say something like "Everyone at work hates me." This probably isn't true, but you are going to walk into your workplace in a less healthy and useful way when you are acting as if everyone hates you. Because this is the case, I pay particular attention to the way I talk and what my clients are saying when we are...
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Why I Don't Use The EFT Tapping Set-Up Phrase (Pod #701)
Tapping Q & A - Getting the most out of tapping and EFT
Why I Don't Use the EFT Setup Phrase (And What I Do Instead) If you've watched any of my tap-along videos, you've probably noticed something: I never start with the classic EFT setup phrase. That's a deliberate choice, and I get asked about it all the time. In this post, I want to explain exactly why I skip it and what I use instead. TL;DR / Key Takeaways The traditional EFT setup phrase ("Even though I have this issue, I deeply and completely accept myself") can backfire by activating unresolved self-acceptance issues when you only need quick emotional or physical relief. For many people,...
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Tapping for regretting not tapping enough (Pod #700)
Tapping Q & A - Getting the most out of tapping and EFT
It can feel so discouraging when you have great tools at your disposal, like tapping, that you know will have a positive impact on your life…but you are not using them. This leads to self-recrimination AND hesitancy to use the tools in future for fear of failure, which means double the regret. Every six or eight weeks, I set time aside to tap on all the emotions I feel for not tapping as much as I want to. Time spent tapping on my frustration and self-betrayal means I feel better in the moment and I tap more because I have a healthier relationship to tapping. This is such powerful work and I...
info_outlineIt is all too common for tappers to look back at their path to healing and think, "What on earth was I doing? I know better than that! Why do I keep making bad choices when I know exactly what to do?"
This comes up most often in my individual coaching sessions when my clients talk about reaching for distracting behaviors instead of tapping.
They know at the moment that the best choice would be to tap, but instead they doomscroll social media, fall down YouTube rabbit holes, reorganize their spice rack (again), or mindlessly eat a bunch of unhealthy crap.
Annoyingly, this does make sense, taken from the perspective of trying to keep themselves safe. Actor and writer Tom Lennon described it perfectly in an interview by Kevin Pollak on a book tour. When Kevin asked if he liked to write, Tom said something to the effect of, "You will know I have a writing deadline coming up because my kitchen floor will be so clean you could perform surgery on it."
We do not choose distractions because we are weak, or because we believe they are the best choice. We choose them to feel more comfortable at the moment.
The problem is that, in hindsight, we only see that we could have made a healthier choice.
When I find myself in these moments, I don't tap to stop the unhealthy behavior. I actually do the opposite! I tap to do the unhealthy behavior, but the key distinction is I am choosing to do it consciously.
When we move from being unconscious to a conscious awareness of our distracting behaviors, we regain control. And with control we can spend less (or even no) time on distracting behaviors and we don't beat ourselves up.
In this week's podcast I am going to show you:
- How to catch yourself in the moment right before you unconsciously start doing the healthy action
- How to tap with compassion in the moment, without letting yourself off the hook
- How to tap so that you constrain (and often eliminate) the unhealthy behavior
It is an unusual but incredibly powerful form of tapping.
I know you will love it!
Support the podcast! Http://tappingqanda.com/support
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