EFT is based on the premise that energy flows round the body via a series of energy channels or meridians. Negative emotions are caused by blockages in the flow of energy along these channels, creating an imbalance. By tapping specific points on these meridians, the blockages can be cleared, re-establishing the flow of energy and restoring “balance” to the body. Once re-balanced, the emotional difficulties usually become resolved - the memory remains, but the negative emotional charge is gone.

Because the focus of the session is re-balancing the body’s energy flow, the experience is usually not too emotionally painful as there is no need for the practitioner to know in great detail about the root cause of the client’s problem.

EFT is very safe, gentle and empowering. It can be applied by clients themselves from the minute they leave a session.

EFT was created by Gary Craig, a Stanford trained engineer in the mid 1990s, and is meant to be a simplification and improvement of Roger Callahan's Thought Field Therapy techniques. EFT was developed in 1995, in America, by Gary Craig, a Stanford Engineer. For many years, he had worked with Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) until he discovered Thought Field Therapy (TFT) in the 1980's.

TFT was the product of many years of intensive research by American Psychologist, Roger Callahan Ph.D. Dr. Callahan had studied Acupuncture and Kinesiology and had devised a system which used over 300 energy points.

Gary Craig modified this to a set of “all purpose” points which could be applied to treat any emotional problem. He suggested if a client focussed on a 'problem' and tapped on the revised sequence of about 11 energy points, emotional freedom could be achieved. This was the beginning of Emotional Freedom Techniques.