Jump to the section you'd like to explore: Influencing the Amygdala | Reducing cortisol levels | Memory reconsolidation | Bringing Prefrontal Cortex back online | Working with the Vagus Nerve | Helping the Hypothalamus | Changes on gene expression
What happens in your brain and body when you tap?
To understand what’s happening in the body while we are tapping, we first need to understand how the brain and body responds when we receive stimuli. Please read my previous blog Brain and Body Processes for Calm or Stress States as it will really help understand what follows.
EFT Tapping positively influences the Amygdala, the Survival Assessment Director
The Amygdala is the Survival Assessment Director. It receives information from a range of departments so it’s always active.
Its unique focus is survival (even if sometimes it overreacts). When it receives a report from the other departments, it runs a pattern-matching process against its personal high-intensity emotional archive, with the intention of concluding whether the situation is safe or dangerous.
The Amygdala has no concept of time (it can react in the same way to past, present or future information) and can’t know whether the information is physical, imaginary, or coming from memory.
How does EFT Tapping help?
As you tap, you deliberately bring a stressful thought or memory to mind. This activates the Amygdala. However, the physical sensation of tapping provides sensory input to the nervous system, which counter-signals a sense of safety and regulation to the amygdala - it acts as interrupting a pattern.
This helps deactivate the panic mode, signalling to the Amygdala and the Hippocampus that there is no immediate danger and allowing the body to return towards the rest-digest state.
Research supports this. Landmark fMRI studies at Harvard Medical School demonstrated that stimulating traditional acupressure points instantly reduces blood flow and calms arousal in the Amygdala and other regions of the Limbic System. Building on this foundation, modern resting-state fMRI studies specifically tracking Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) show that tapping successfully alters neural pathways, decreases connectivity in pain/stress-processing regions, and actively dampens the body's physiological survival response.
EFT Tapping signals a reduction in the production of Cortisol - the main stress hormone
EFT can remove the emotional charge of memories through Memory Reconsolidation, in the Hippocampus, the Library Director
Recap
The hippocampus acts like a librarian. When it receives information about external or internal stimuli, it checks its index files to see if a similar memory already exists in the archives.
It works with the Cerebral Cortex to retrieve the memory. If it is a stressful or triggering memory, the Amygdala will use it as an immediate signal of threat. Without intervention, this loop repeats every time the memory is triggered.
How does EFT tapping help?
The Hippocampus holds the target memory active while it's brought to the conscious mind. This opens a temporary window where the memory can be updated.
In the meantime, Tapping sends calming physical signals to the Limbic System. This creates a 'mismatch experience': the brain recalls a distressing event while simultaneously experiencing physical calm and safety. This challenges the brain's previous expectations, reducing or erasing the emotional charge attached to the memory before it's stored again.
This means that, when the memory comes up in the future, it still contains the factual information, but it no longer triggers the same chain reaction.
Research has explored this process through the concept of Memory Reconsolidation.
One study reported that this creates a “durable reduction in reducing emotional distress over time”.
Another paper, “Memory Reconsolidation in Integrated EMDR and EFT Therapy” explains that this process helps identify, change, and reinforce emotional patterns connected to life experiences. By introducing new emotional states - like calm and safety - the brain updates the previous learning associated with that memory.
Another paper explains that the EFT process begins with reactivating a target memory, followed by a mismatch experience: the person recalls distressing material while simultaneously experiencing calm, safety, or emotional regulation. This mismatch challenges the brain’s previous expectation and may help update the emotional meaning attached to the memory.
This neurological shift directly explains why clinical trials associate EFT with rapid, long-lasting improvements in PTSD symptoms, phobias (like fear of flying), and anxiety.
EFT Tapping brings the Prefrontal Cortex, the Logic, Analysis and Conclusions Director, back online, and can change neural pathways
Recap
The Prefrontal Cortex is responsible for analysing information and reaching conclusions about it. However, when the body is on panic-survival-state, this department has reduced influence - we don’t need to waste time analysing, we need to fight or run in order to survive.
When it concludes that the situation is not dangerous, it can engage calming regulatory pathways that help reduce Amygdala activity and stop the constant flow of danger reports to other areas of the brain.
How does EFT tapping help?
When we tap, we downregulate the hyperactive emotional areas of the brain - the areas that have sent the command to switch this Director off. This allows it to come back online and return to its role.
With access to memory and knowledge, it can analyse the situation, bring in more evidence, build its case, and offer logic, clarity and a fresh perspective. This is called a Cognitive Shift.
Research also showed that EFT Tapping can help with chronic pain by reducing connectivity between the Prefrontal Cortex and other areas of the brain, influencing how pain is processed and regulated.
EFT Tapping activates the Vagus Nerve, one of the highways to the brain and main organs - helping put the brakes on panic mode
Recap
The Vagus Nerve is part of the Autonomous Nervous System and serves as the principal pathway to the Parasympathetic System - whose protocol is the rest-digest state.
How does EFT tapping help?
Through the stimulation of mechanoreceptors under your skin, tapping acts as a natural form of Vagus Nerve stimulation, sending a high-speed ‘all clear’ signal directly to the brain and body.
This helps shift the system away from survival-driven panic mode, engaging the 'vagal brake' to reduce stress signals and restore deep feelings of safety and calm.
More information can be found in this article from EFT International.
EFT Tapping influences the Hypothalamus, the Physical Survival Director, helping switch from panic to calm mode
Recap:
The Hypothalamus is the Physical Survival Director and controls the two branches of the Autonomic Nervous System, allowing us to shift into either move to fight-flight or rest-digest mode.
It is responsible for pushing the button that triggers the physical and chemical chain reaction that prepares us for survival.
How does EFT tapping help?
When we tap, we send safety signals from our skin into the brainstem and the thalamus. These signals can help the Hypothalamus shift its response away from the stress pathway (which activates the Sympathetic 'gas pedal') and towards the calming pathway (which supports the Parasympathetic rest-digest state).
A recent study published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research highlights that “the physical stimulation of acupoints, regulating the body's stress response and modulating the nervous system, particularly the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis”.
EFT and gene expression changes
Exciting research in the field of epigenetics shows that our thoughts and stress levels are chemical instructions that can actively change how our DNA expresses itself. Early studies have explored whether EFT influences gene expression patterns.
Study 1: The Veterans PTSD Trial
In a randomized controlled trial published in the American Journal of Health Promotion, 16 veterans with clinical PTSD received 10 sessions of Clinical EFT. Along with a 53% drop in PTSD symptoms, DNA analysis revealed significant changes in the expression of 6 key genes. The tapping group effectively turned up genes responsible for immunity and turned down genes linked to systemic inflammation.
In another groundbreaking pilot study mapping salivary mRNA, researchers tracked the immediate genetic expression of individuals before and after an EFT session. The team observed 72 genes with altered expressions following the tapping protocol. These genes are directly linked to regulating human immunity, dampening inflammation, and optimizing brain function.
The potential is unlimited
This blog only explored a few of the ways EFT Tapping may influence the brain, the body, and our overall wellbeing. The nervous system is incredibly complex, and as research continues to grow, we will keep discovering more about the fascinating processes behind EFT and its potential benefits.
However, beyond the science and explanations, the real proof is in the pudding - in the personal experience of it. Everyone’s journey is unique, and the most powerful part of EFT is often noticing the changes within yourself: the shift in emotions, the sense of calm, the release of old patterns, or simply feeling more connected to yourself.
Research helps us understand the 'how', but your own experience helps you understand the 'what it means for you'. Trust me, give it a go!
Other resources:
- Paper: The integrated response of the human cerebro-cerebellar and limbic systems to acupuncture stimulation at ST 36 as evidenced by fMRI
- Paper: How tapping works: physiological and psychological mechanisms in energy psychology
- How tapping works, The Tapping Solution
- Resources at Evidence Based EFT Website, by Dr Peta Stapleton