E F T
Emotional Freedom Techniques
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) is a gentle, holistic approach that helps riders and their horses release stress, anxiety, and emotional blocks that can affect performance, confidence, and connection.
Often called tapping, EFT combines mindful awareness with light tapping on specific acupressure points to calm the nervous system and restore balance.
- Reduce Anxiety, Fear & Tension
- Improve Focus
- Restore Confidence
For equestrians, performance pressure, fear of mistakes, past falls, or competition stress can create tension that the horse easily senses.
Because horses are highly sensitive to human emotions, supporting the rider’s emotional state often leads to noticeable shifts in the horse’s behavior—more relaxation, better focus, and improved trust.
EFT offers a gentle yet powerful way to calm the nervous system, release emotional blocks, and rebuild trust and confidence - both in saddle and on the ground.
- Loss of confidence after a fall or setback
- Stress responses before competition
- Emotional overwhelm and overthinking
Reduce Stress in the Body & Mind
Brain Response Deactivation
When the amygdala detects something threatening, whether it's a real danger or a painful memory, it activates the Fight-Flight-Freeze response.
EFT calms the Brain's Stress Response such as the amygdala and hippocampus, both of them processing fear and trauma in the brain.
Stress Reduction
EFT also known as EFT Tapping is a mind-body method that combines gentle tapping on specific acupressure points with focused awareness of physical sensations, thoughts, and emotions.
EFT helps on regulate the nervous system, allowing the body and mind to shift out of stress and into balance.
Cortisol Diminution
A study in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease titled "EFT for Anxiety: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis" found a significant decrease in anxiety.
Practitioners of EFT reduced 43% of cortisol levels compared to those who practiced talk therapy.
Grounded in Worldwide Research, EFT helps you move together with Ease, Calm & Trust
EFT Session Guidelines
Our thoughts and feelings find physical expression in the body. EFT helps us access and release emotional energy that's being stored physically, helping releasing energy from incidents in our past that may still be hanging us up today.
Using EFT, we can gain deeper understanding of our being and find the serenity we seek.
Each session is structured holistically, with the goal of fully supporting you in a safe healing environment that is aligned with your stated goal for the session.
Our tapping session will have a 5-step guide as follow:
1. Identify the issue
Focus on one specific issue causing discomfort, stress or pain (e.g., "this anxiety on the right side of my throat" or "this pain in the top left of my head."
2. Rate intensity
On a scale of 0 to 10, how intense is this feeling? 0 is no pain, 10 is high.
3. The Set up Statement
While tapping continuously on the Side of the hand (the "Karate Chop Point, on the fleshy area beneath your pinky), repeat the following sentence one up to three times out loud: "Even though I have this (anxiety/issue/pain) I deeply and completely love and accept myself."
4. The Tapping Sequence
See the Tapping Points below.
5. Re-evaluate
After completing the tapping sequence, take a deep breath and rate the intensity of your issue again on the 0 to 10 scale. If the intensity is still high, repeat the sequence until you feel calmer and you are at a 3 minimum.
At the end of the session, we'll review the tapping tools so you feel confident tapping on your own to get the most benefit from our work together.
After the session
EFT works on different energy system, allowing the first to resurface and be removed, enabling deeper layers to surface and transform.
After a session, you may feel tired or fuzzy, indicating new neural pathways are building and subconscious and conscious habits are changing. Healing occurs in various ways, with a different perception of things.
You may feel energetically lighter in heavy places or more or less energetic as your body adjusts.
Honor your body during this process. Rest, hydrate, and be open to a shift in perspective. You may view old problems from a new viewpoint after a session.
A bath or foot bath with Epsom salt, journaling, or walking in nature can help integrate the changes from our tapping session.
EFT Tapping Points
The Tapping Sequence
Tap or massage gently with the fingertips on acupressure points (acupoints). Tap gently 5-7 times on each points. As you tap repeat a simple reminder phrase related to your issue to help maintain focus.
1. Set-up Statement Phrase on Karate Chop Point (under the pinky on the side of the hand): Tap with 3 fingers on the side of the hand and repeat "Even though I have this headache, I deeply and completely love and accept myself."
2. Top of the head
3. Eyebrows
4. Side of eye
5. Under eye
6. Under nose
7. Under lip
8. Collarbone
8. Rib
1a. Sore spot repeat the Set-up Statement phrase
9. Under arm
10. Under breast
11. Inside/Outside wrist
EFT Tapping Script
Reducing Performance Anxiety & Building Confidence
- Close your eyes and take 3 deep breaths and relax each time deeper into each exhalation.
- With your eyes closed, scan your body to feel where you feel any anxiety.
- Sit comfortably.
- Tap or massage lightly on the acupuncture points (acupoints) with your fingers.
Setup Statement (Karate Chop Point)
- Tap the side of your hand while repeating 3 times: “Even though I feel anxious about riding and performing, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”
Describing the Anxiety
Anxiety in your body: where is it located? In the chest, the head?
1. Describe the pain in detail: How big, wide, sharp, dull,
tingling, tight is it? Is it like a pressure, heavy as a stone?
2. Be very specific: Where is the pain located? It is on the left side of your heart e.g.
3. Rate the intensity of the pain: How much is the pain from 0 - 10, 10 being the most and 0 nothing.
4. Set up statement: Tap with 3 fingers on the side of the hand on the Karate chop point (see image below).
“Even though I feel this pressure in my heart, like a stone (describe it), I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”
5. Start tapping on the different points with one or both hands
6. Use short sentences describing the anxiety: All this anxiety in my chest, this pressure in my chest.
7. Check the intensity of the anxiety: After some rounds check if the anxiety has subsided. It was a 9 now it is a 6. Keep tapping till it gets to a 3 -2 intensity.
After some rounds of tapping you can ask these questions:
- Color: Close your eyes, what color do you see: Is it grey, black?
- Consistency: Is it fluid, viscous, firm, compact, rough, thick, solid, dense, soft?
- Message: What is the message of the pain?
Tapping Round 1: Acknowledging this Anxiety
Tap through the points, saying the phrases aloud or silently.
- Top of the head: "This performance anxiety."
- Eyebrow: “This riding anxiety.”
- Side of Eye: “All this pressure in my heart.”
- Under Eye: “My heart is racing before I ride.”
- Under Nose: “Fear of making a mistake.”
- Chin: “Worry about how I’ll ride today.”
- Collarbone: “My body feels tense on the saddle.”
- Under Arm: “All this stored anxiety in my heart.”
- Rib: “This performance anxiety.”
- Wrist: "All this anxiety in my heart."
Tapping Round 2: Calming the Nervous System
- Top of the head: "All this anxiety in my body."
- Eyebrow: "I noticed this anxiety."
- Side of Eye: “And I allow it to soften.”
- Under Eye: “My body doesn’t need to stay in fight or flight response.”
- Under Nose: “I am safe right now.”
- Chin: “I am present with my horse.”
- Collarbone: “Breathing into calm.”
- Under Arm: “Letting go of excess tension.”
- Rib:“Choosing calm and balance.”
- Wrist: "I feel at ease."
Tapping Round 3: Rider - Horse Connection
- Top of head: "Calm rider, calm horse."
- Eyebrow: “My horse can feel my energy”
- Side of Eye: “And I choose to offer calm”
- Under Eye: “I trust our partnership”
- Under Nose: “I don’t need to be perfect”
- Chin: “I ride with awareness, not fear”
- Collarbone: “My body remembers how to ride”
- Under Arm: “I allow flow and connection”
- Rib: “Calm rider, calm horse.”
- Wrist: "We feel calmer."
Tapping Round 4: Rider - Confidence and Grounding
- Top of head: "I choose grounded confidence."
- Eyebrow: “I trust my training."
- Side of Eye: “I trust my skills.”
- Under Eye: “I trust my horse.”
- Under Nose: “I ride one moment at a time.”
- Chin: “I am centered in my body.”
- Collarbone: “I ride with clarity and ease.”
- Under Arm: “I allow myself to enjoy this ride.”
- Rib: “Feeling calm, capable, and connected.”
- Wrist: "We are both riding with ease and grace."
Closing
- Take a deep breath in.
- Exhale slowly.
- Re-rate your anxiety from 0 to 10.
- If you still feel the anxiety, that's alright - repeat the process, adjusting the words to match what you feel right now.
Ride with Calm. Lead with Confidence. Connect with Trust.
Performance anxiety doesn’t mean weakness. It’s your nervous system’s protective response. Your horse responds to your energy.
Through Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), you learn to calm your body, quiet your mind, release emotional blocks, and ride with presence and confidence. As you regulate your nervous system, your horse softens too.
This work isn’t about forcing bravery. It’s about creating safety, which naturally leads to confidence.
When you’re calm, your horse relaxes. When you trust yourself, your horse trusts you. Riding from alignment instead of fear expresses connection, not pressure.
You don’t have to push through anxiety alone. You can transform it.
If you’re ready for calmer rides, deeper trust, and confident performance, begin your journey today. Let’s bring you and your horse back into harmony.
