Pain After Tapping

When I do tapping/EFT I normally tap for thirty minutes (or more). Many times I have noticed that with in the next 24 hours gets very sore, from the top of my head to my tailbone. This is muscle pain and it feels something like lactic acid when you work your muscles too hard and they become inflamed. Do you have any idea what is causing this and how it can be avoided in future?

photo by Martin Kingsley

IMPORTANT: It is very important that you are taking total responsibility for your own wellbeing. EFT and tapping can be very powerful tool, but they are not the end-all-be-all when it comes to taking care of your self. If something is causing your pain stop it. Consult your primary care physician before you continue.

To be honest, this is the first time I have heard of these specific symptoms after a tapping session. But that is not to say that these sensations aren’t a side effect of the tapping. The fact that you are having a physical symptom consistently after the fact might very well be related to the tapping.

Here are few things you might consider trying that might provide some relief.

1) Shorten Your Tapping Session
I often use the comparison of physical exercise when talking about our tapping practice. Just because running 1 mile is good for us doesn’t mean that running 50 miles is better. The body might be reacting with physical pain because of the amount of work that is being done.

Tap for a shorter period of time might make difference. This sometimes can be a hard choice to make. We want progress to happen now and so we feel we must do as much as we can right now. But, if the rate of progress is causing physical symptoms then we do well to heed what the body is telling us.

2) Clearing Limiting Beliefs About Healing
It is possible that we believe that healing and progress is something that needs to be painful. The old adage, “No pain, no gain” can run very deep in our consciousness.  If the body thinks progress must be painful then it might create pain to justify the progress.

I know this notion might seem silly on the surface, but our bodies are very literal. They are going to respond directly to the beliefs we have. If you feel this might be something you are experiencing you could tap with something like this:

“It is okay for me to progress without pain…it is okay for me to heal without pain…sometime progress comes with work and pain…while other times it is a much easier task…I know my body can heal in a way that is gentle and easy…I let my body and system know that release can come without pain…I let me body know that I can heal without feeling pain…health and well-being is my bodies natural state…I allow it to gently move to this place.”

3) Tap For The Symptoms Preemptively
This is true for all issues. If we know something might be coming it is a good idea to tap for it ahead of time. This is true for both physical symptoms and emotional issues.

In the example of this question at the end of the tapping session we would tune into the physical feelings we felt in the past and preemptively tap for those sensation.

“In the past it has hurt after I have tapped…the pain lasted for a couple days…I tune into that pain right now…know that my body can heal and release this pain…the pain is a signal of something the body is trying to tell me…I let it know I want to know what that signal is…it can get my attention without so much pain…”

4) Take Care Of Your Self After The Session
There are a number things you can do after a session to help the healing process and to take of your self. I covered many of these ideas in “After A Powerful Session”

About Gene Monterastelli
Gene is a Baltimore, MD based EFT practitioner, the editor of Tapping Q & A, and the host of the Tapping Q & A Podcast (archive | iTunes). Learn more about Gene here or find out how to work with Gene here. You can connect with Gene on his personal twitter, his tapping twitter or on facebook.