The Importance of Word Choice When Healing with EFT Tapping

In a recent EFT workshop that I led, one of the participants asked the following question:

Is it okay to use swear words in tapping statements?

My answer to this question was yes, absolutely. In fact, it can be very therapeutic. Whatever words happen to come out in a healing session are good to use. So yes, swear words are fine, and even helpful.

This is because sometimes swear words have more of an emotional resonance for us, and therefore, they can help us to really get us in touch with our emotional truth about whatever it is that we're working to heal.

When healing with EFT, it’s very important to use the language that most closely matches how you actually feel, and sometimes that language is F-word, as well as other swear words.

Speaking and Healing in Your Mother Tongue

As long as we're talking about language, it's also important to note that when healing with EFT, it can be very helpful to have your tapping statements be in whatever your native tongue is, or your mother tongue, as we used to say (I don't hear that term used very often anymore).

This is especially true when tapping out an issue from childhood. Tapping things out in the primary language that you spoke as a child can really help you get in touch with what it is that you're healing. It's not necessary, but it can be helpful, and I do that very often with my clients.

We’ll come up with the tapping statements we’re going to use to heal an issue in English, and then I’ll have them translate the statements into their first language, and we’ll tap out the statements using that language.

Even though I don't speak these languages, it’s not necessary for me to understand the translated tapping statement because I can tell from the cadence of their speech when it’s time to switch to the next tapping point.

Keep this in mind when you’re either using EFT to heal your own issues, or when you’re using EFT in a professional capacity to help your clients heal.

Just as is the case with using swear words in tapping statements, translating the tapping statements into one’s first language, especially when working to heal childhood trauma, can be more effective.

The reason for this it that when we’re speaking the language of our childhood, there can be more of an emotional resonance with the tapping statement, and that resonance helps to facilitate the healing process.

The Healing Power of Language

Whether or not you’re incorporating swear words into your tapping statements, or translating your tapping statements from one language to another, the point is to make sure that the words you use in your tapping statements match your experience as closely as possible.

This means that they feel the most emotionally resonant for you, and that they feel true for you.

This applies to tapping statements about grief, trauma, fears, limiting beliefs, and everything else for which you would do EFT tapping.

When the wording fits, you’ll feel it. And when it’s doesn’t fit, you’ll feel that too. Adjust your tapping statements accordingly, and then tap yourself free from whatever it is that’s holding you back or causing you to suffer.

Please Note

When doing EFT on your own, if you aren't able to completely heal the issue you're working on, so that when you think about it, it no longer causes you any stress, emotional pain, or fear, I recommend working with a professional EFT practitioner. If you decide that this is the best course of action for you, and you'd like to work with me, click here to learn more and schedule an EFT session or free consultation.

By Heather Ambler

Heather Ambler is an EFT practitioner and mindset coach in California. Through her private practice and online programs, she’s helped many thousands of people all over the world heal the pain of losing a loved one, recover from trauma, release fears, erase limiting beliefs, increase confidence, and achieve goals. If you could use some help with any of these things, click here to learn more and schedule an EFT session or free consultation.