When you tap on specific points while thinking about an issue, you send calming signals to the brain. This helps the body process emotions differently so you feel less overwhelmed.

EFT can be used for stress, anxiety, trauma triggers, low self-worth, grief, physical tension, cravings, performance blocks, IFS parts work, inner child work and more!

Research shows tapping lowers cortisol (the stress hormone), reduces anxiety, and helps rewire old stress responses. It’s now recognized as evidence-based for several conditions. You can read more about EFT research and publications on Peta Stapleton’s page here: https://www.evidencebasedeft.com/research

Before our first session, I’ll send a few brief informed consent forms so you know exactly what to expect. When we meet (sessions are currently held over Zoom), we’ll begin with a round of tapping so I can teach you the points and show you how the process works. Starting this way also helps calm your nervous system and bring clarity to what you’d like to focus on.

From there, we’ll explore your goals for our time together - often connected to something you’d like to process or feel differently about; it could be stress, an emotion, a memory, or a current challenge.

I deeply believe you are your best expert, and I will ask gentle questions to allow your inner wisdom to guide us where to go next and help shape tapping statements in your own words. Together we’ll move through rounds of tapping, starting at the side of the hand and ending at the crown of the head. I’ll speak each phrase and you’ll repeat while we both tap through the points. The rhythm is soothing, and the combination of acknowledgment and acupressure helps regulate your body as we work. 

EFT is always client-led and deeply respectful. We can “sneak up” on sensitive topics if needed - you don’t have to say everything out loud for it to be effective. Often, subconscious thoughts or insights naturally arise as we tap, guiding us intuitively to what wants to be healed next. As my longtime mentor Betty Moore-Hafter likes to say, we’re tapping into the wisdom of the body.

Together, we notice how your body and mind respond, and we continue tapping until the intensity lowers. Sessions are gentle, collaborative, and paced at a level that feels safe for you. Many people leave feeling calmer, lighter, and clearer - and sometimes tired after releasing tension and emotion that has been stored in the body for years!

Accordion label: Why is it important to drink water during and after tapping sessions?Expanded text: Tapping helps calm your nervous system and move energy through the body - and water supports both of those processes. Staying hydrated helps your body conduct signals more efficiently, keeps your energy flowing smoothly, and assists in flushing out stress byproducts released during tapping.

On an emotional level, sipping water helps you feel grounded after releasing intense feelings and gives your subconscious a chance to integrate new insights or beliefs. It’s also a simple act of self-care - a reminder to your body that it’s safe and supported.

In short: water helps your body flush out old stress, keeps your energy moving, and grounds you so the new shifts can really integrate.

 Yes! Positive tapping is powerful, however positive phrases “stick” much more after the negative has been cleared and the body feels safe and open. Think of it as pulling weeds before planting flowers.

If we skip over the negative, the subconscious often resists and says: “That’s not true!” By acknowledging what’s real, the body relaxes and allows the positive to take root.

We think it’s our conscious minds making decisions and responding to life, but our subconscious conditioning is really running the show. Think of our subconscious as the “operating system” always running in the background of our conscious lives. We repeat phrases during tapping because the subconscious loves repetition; it learns through patterns, not logic. Repetition builds new neural pathways and makes old beliefs feel safe and new rational beliefs natural.

Keep it simple: You can say “This stress”/“This feeling”/ “This emotion”. Your body knows what you mean. Specific words will help, but perfection is not required to feel results.

Out loud is best, but whispering or thinking them silently still works. What matters most is staying tuned into the feeling.

As often as you’d like. Many people tap when they feel stress, before or after big events, or as a daily self-care habit. The more consistently you tap, the more grounded, present, and safe you will feel throughout your day-to-day life.

Anytime is a good time to tap! You can tap when you feel anxious, triggered, tense, before sleep, a big event, or a difficult conversation, if you simply want more calm and clarity, or as part of a daily self-care practice. Even one or two rounds of tapping can help.

You might notice your intensity number drop, your body release with yawns or sighs, or you feel calmer and lighter. Even small shifts (less tension, calmer thoughts) mean it’s working. Over time, you’ll see yourself responding differently in situations that used to trigger you. 

 Keep tapping - shifts may be subtle at first. Try focusing on one specific memory or feeling instead of a broad issue. Notice small changes (lighter body, calmer thoughts, yawning) and give it time to show up. If you still feel stuck, a practitioner can help guide the process and find the right words, feelings, or experiences to focus on.

Tapping creates change at both the subconscious and nervous system levels, and those shifts need time to settle in. Your mind and body are learning a new way to respond - sometimes the effects are immediate, and other times they unfold gradually.
As your system recalibrates, you may notice subtle differences over the next few days: feeling calmer, responding differently, or realizing something that used to bother you just doesn’t anymore. This is integration - your brain and body practicing the new pattern until it becomes your new normal.
In simple terms: give yourself a little space after tapping. The real proof often shows up in how you live, not just how you feel right after the session.

Emotions don’t just live in the mind, they live in the body. We feel stress as tension, a racing heart, or a knot in the stomach, which means real healing needs to include the body too.
By engaging the body through tapping, we access the subconscious patterns and physical memories that words alone can’t reach. This helps calm the nervous system, release stored emotion, and create a genuine sense of safety and wholeness.
In short: we include the body in healing because your body remembers what your mind forgets. When the body feels safe, the mind can finally relax and let go.

Everyone responds a little differently after tapping, but all of these are normal signs that your system is shifting and releasing:
Yawning, sighing, or burping - your body is releasing stuck energy.

-Tears or emotions surfacing - part of the healing and release process.
-Feeling tired or needing rest - your nervous system is recalibrating.
-Feeling lighter, calmer, or clearer - integration is happening.
-New insights or memories appear - your subconscious is reorganizing and making new connections.

Each of these experiences is your body’s way of processing change. Whether the shift feels subtle or big, it’s all movement toward balance.

Keep a glass of water nearby - hydration helps energy flow.
Be specific - target one feeling, thought, or memory at a time.
Use your own words - what feels real to you works best.
Repeat rounds until the intensity drops noticeably.
Give it time - integration may unfold over hours or days.
Stay curious - notice even small shifts in how you feel/act.

EFT is a gentle and safe somatic (body-centric) intervention. If you’re working with trauma or mental health challenges, it can help to have a practitioner guide you.

 No. EFT is a supportive tool, not a replacement. It works best alongside therapy or medical care. 

No. EFT is not a belief system - it’s a stress-relief tool, like deep breathing or acupuncture. People of all faiths use it, and you can include your own prayers or use it to strengthen your religious or meditative practice if you wish.

Yes. Groups can add a sense of support and shared energy and connection. Often the person we are tapping for receives a deeper shift and when you tap along for someone else’s issue, you often benefit too - this is known as “borrowing benefits.” While you can tap on your own, something deeper happens when you tap with another human:

• We heal in safe relationships. Being seen and heard without judgment is profoundly regulating for the nervous system.

• You don’t have to carry it alone. Together, we can untangle the confusion, doubt, or shame that’s hard to face by yourself.

• Guidance brings safety and depth. Together we can help you find the words, memories, and layers your mind may avoid on its own - so you can release them gently.

• Co-regulation matters. Just as children calm when held by a loving parent, your system naturally softens when supported by someone grounded, compassionate, and present.

• EFT isn’t just a technique in groups or with a practitioner - it’s an experience of safety, connection, and freedom.

With EFT, we use the body’s wisdom to calm the nervous system and shift subconscious patterns. This creates upward momentum so you can build your future from the present, not continue recreating it from your past. EFT supports the brain’s natural process of memory reconsolidation - the way old memories can be updated and re-stored. By calming the nervous system while recalling upsetting experiences, EFT helps free memories of their overwhelming emotional charge. This allows them to become more balanced, integrated, and functional, so you can live from the present rather than being pulled back into the past. EFT helps your brain rewrite how it stores upsetting memories, so they stop running the show”

This is similar to the above question. Sessions can take place in person or virtually if we are just focusing on the rider/owner. However, if we are performing the session virtually, it is helpful (but not absolutely necessary) to do so in front of the horse. Sessions take place in person if we are also working on the horse. We begin by focusing on you - the rider or owner - because horses mirror or absorb our emotional and energetic state. We’ll tap together to calm your nervous system, bring you into balance, and identify what may be showing up energetically in your partnership.
Once you’re grounded and the intensity level has dropped around what we are tapping on, we move to your horse’s side of the experience. I’ll observe, ask intuitive questions, and guide you in tapping for your horse’s emotions or responses. The process is gentle, respectful, and deeply connecting for both of you.

Immediately, horses often display releasing behaviors such as yawning, blinking, licking, chewing, blowing, relaxed eyes, head-lowering (almost looking sleepy), circling, touching their nose to their front leg, or softening in the body. In my experience, we will know after a session or two if we have helped the horse with what they are experiencing (which has led to the unwanted behaviors) because the associated behavior(s) will subside. Often, but not always, if there are lingering behaviors - or they seem to disappear and then return - it is due to an issue still being experienced by the rider/owner, such as anxiety around a previous incident or about the horse’s past behaviors. In this case, we (myself and the owner/rider) will continue to tap in front of the horse to help the horse experience nervous system safety while restoring their human’s nervous system to safety around the lingering fears, anxieties, or expectations. 

Horses are incredibly sensitive to human emotion and energy. If the rider is anxious, fearful, or carrying tension, the horse feels it. By clearing your stress and creating calm coherence in your system first, your horse naturally relaxes and mirrors that peace. Additionally, horses often respond quickly to this intervention. I believe it’s unfair to clear the horse’s anxiety without also helping the human partner process theirs.

 I ask lots of questions! And I listen carefully and observe both the horse and the human. We draw from what you notice about your horse’s behavior, emotions, and environment - along with intuitive insight (your subconscious thoughts that surface) arising during the session. We also incorporate any potentially impactful event or experience one or both of you may have had if there is a specific issue. The phrases are always compassionate, non-judgmental, and often mirror what you both might be feeling.

 I ask lots of questions! And I listen carefully and observe both the horse and the human. We draw from what you notice about your horse’s behavior, emotions, and environment - along with intuitive insight (your subconscious thoughts that surface) arising during the session. We also incorporate any potentially impactful event or experience one or both of you may have had if there is a specific issue. The phrases are always compassionate, non-judgmental, and often mirror what you both might be feeling.

Yes! However, I encourage riders/owners to first do it on themselves before tapping on their horse. Once you’ve learned the tapping points and process and have tapped through any emotions for yourself, you can absolutely use gentle tapping directly on the horse (or surrogate tapping for the horse on yourself) between sessions to maintain balance and connection. It’s a wonderful way to strengthen your bond and support your horse emotionally in daily life.

I live in Fauquier County and will travel to all bordering counties, including: Culpepper, Rappahannock, Prince William, Loudoun, Stafford, Warren, and Clarke. Anything outside this area will be on a case-by-case basis. Please contact me if you live outside of this area and are interested in a session.

Yes, we could absolutely do this online, whether it’s with your horse or not. However, it’s preferable, if you’d like a session with your horse, to do the first session in person. If this isn’t possible, accommodations can be made, but you will need a way to perform this session near your horse.