Six-step tapping

Most of us know what it feels like when a difficult feeling won’t shift. The tight chest before a hard conversation. The anxious thought that loops no matter how many times you reason with it.

Six-step tapping is a simple technique that combines naming what you’re feeling with tapping a short sequence of points on your face, collar bone, and wrist. No equipment, no appointment, just your own hands.

It draws on principles of other tapping techniques, including Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), and uses the self-stimulation of acupressure points to reduce distress.

Why Six -step tapping?

Six-step tapping pairs two things your nervous system responds to: naming a feeling clearly, and rhythmic physical touch. You tap through six points, top of head, between the eyebrows, beside the eye, under the eye, below the collarbone, and the wrist, while naming the problem and repeating a calming phrase.

The sequence gives your attention somewhere steady to land while the feeling is present, rather than trying to push it away.

How to do it?

Notice how you know the problem is there, without needing to name or analyse it.
Give it a simple label and rate its intensity from 0 to 10
Using two fingers, tap each point in turn: top of head, between eyebrows, beside the eye, under the eye, below the collarbone, and the wrist. Name the feeling as you tap, alternating with a phrase like “let it go.”
Hold your wrist, breathe in and out, say “peace,” and bring a peaceful memory to mind for a moment.
Return to the original problem and notice what’s changed, and what the intensity score is now.
Repeat steps 2 to 4 until the feeling reduces to a 0 or 1, or until you feel ready to stop.

When might this help?

For those familiar with The Wellbeing Compass, this technique would be considered Emotional First Aid.

A sudden wave of anxiety or overwhelm
A ruminating thought, a specific worry or memory that keeps looping
Before something stressful, like a hard conversation or a big meeting
When you have a physical discomfort, head ache or similar that could have psychological componement
When you want a structured way to work through a strong reaction, rather than just riding it out

It only takes a couple of minutes so experiment and see if it helps!!

A note on safety?

You stay in control the whole way through, and can slow down, pause, or stop at any point.

If something feels too big to work through alone, that’s a good sign to bring it to a session rather than working through it by yourself.

The evidence behind tapping

Tapping approaches like Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) work on the idea that stimulating certain points on the body can influence how we feel. The rhythmic, physical input is thought to help calm the brain’s threat response and support a shift toward a calmer, more settled state.

This approach has been studied for more than two decades, with over 300 peer-reviewed papers published, including 125 clinical trials. The large majority, 123 of the 125, reported a statistically significant improvement, with benefits reported across stress, anxiety, emotional distress, pain and other physical symptoms.

More recent reviews back this up. A 2025 review of seven randomised trials on tapping for anxiety found it performed as well as, or better than, breathing exercises and progressive muscle relaxation. A 2026 review of 17 randomised trials found significant reductions in both reported stress and physical stress markers.

References: Feinstein (2023), Journal of Psychotherapy Integration; Choi, Sung & Lee (2025), Healthcare; Stapleton & van Elst (2026), Explore.

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