Where exactly on your head should you tap?
One question I’m often asked is about tapping on the head during EFT. In various videos you may notice EFT practitioners tapping in different ways and different places on their head. What’s up with that?
The Short Answer
The official point for tapping on the head is at the top of the head, where people talk about the crown chakra being. You just tap there, on a point called the Hundred Meetings in Chinese medicine.
This point was included by Gary Craig, originator of EFT, and was added on to the points that are used in Thought Field Therapy (TFT), the precursor to EFT. Gary Craig added it in at a later point because of its general usefulness and importance in acupuncture.
As the name suggests, this point is where a number of different meridians meet. In Chinese medicine, there are fourteen meridians recognised in total – half Yin and half Yang. All the Yang meridians in the body meet at the top of the head: Hundred Meetings. By tapping on this point, you are accessing and influencing half of all the meridians that run through the body!
Some theories of how tapping works posit that it helps to shift energy blocks within the meridians. If the blockage that is being experienced is in any of the Yang meridians, you will affect it by using this point.
If you simply follow what is proven so far by Western science, tapping on meridians acts to calm the nervous system and reduce the production of cortisol. This point, once again, is a very strong calming point, as it accesses seven different meridian lines.
The Long Answer
The long answer is even more interesting!
First off, if you tap around the Hundred Meetings point in a fluttery circle, you will be activating all the yang meridians which converge at that point. Each one comes up via a different meridian branch, from a different angle. And while they all meet in the centre, it’s like giving each an extra little boost. A fluttering movement in a circle around the Hundred Meetings can feel really good.
More than that, though, the Hundred Meetings is on a meridian called the Governing Body, one of two such centrally important lines. There are actually five points running along the midline of the skull from roughly the start of the hairline over the forehead to the Hundred Meetings point that are all part of this Governing Body.
What I do and recommend, is to tap gently back and forth along that midline with all four fingers. That way, you will definitely activate all five points.
You may be wondering, what are these five points and why are they worth tapping?
At the hairline you have Shen Ting, or Courtyard of the Spirit. It promotes calmness of body and spirit, alleviates pain and opens the senses. In terms of straight up ailments, it helps with insomnia and headaches.
Next back you find Shang Xing, or Upper Star. Said to strengthen the brain and regulate the spirit, it also alleviates pain and activates the upper orifices. It is used in acupuncture for headaches, apoplexy, sinusitis and other ‘diseases of the nose’.
The third point, midway between the hairline and the crown, is Xin Hui (Fontanelle Meeting). It is described as pacifying the spirit, releasing cramps, and alleviating pain, as well as ‘expelling wind’. It is good for headaches again, as well as for epileptic fits.
Even further back is Quian Ding, or In Front of the Crown. Used once again for pacifying the spirit, releasing cramps, soothing the liver and expelling wind. It is recommended for depressive disorders, epileptic fits and hypertension.
Finally, we have the crown point itself, titled Bai Hui, or Hundred Meetings. It has the same benefits as the previous point and is used clinically for apoplexy, headaches, dizziness, numbness, as well as various forms of prolapse (anal, rectal and uterine). Plus, as mentioned above, this is the point where all the Yang meridians meet, so it’s a supercharged spot!
The Head Line
Tapping around the Hundred Meetings boosts the connection to all the yang channels in the body. It’s almost like a full body massage in the same way that a foot massage promotes health in all of your limbs and organs.
And tapping along the central line of the scalp from hairline to crown activates five different points on the Governing Body channel. As you can see, pacifying the spirit appears in the description of most of these five scalp points, as does alleviating pain. Activating these points as part of the tapping process helps establish a physical and mental state of calm that is one of the most powerful aspects that makes the somatic, body-mind process of tapping so effective.
It really doesn’t take any longer to do a gentle, fluttering tap across the whole midline of the scalp from crown to forehead, so the benefits of adding in these extra four points seems worth the (minimal) effort.
You could also choose to tap on the crown and one of the other four points that is more specifically useful to you, for example Courtyard of the Spirit for sleep issues or Upper Star for sinus trouble.
While it is just fine to simply tap on the Hundred Meetings, there are definite benefits both to tapping in a circle around the Hundred Meetings, and to tapping along the Governing Body line. Why not give each a try, and see what feels best to you. And remember, what feels good may be different on different days as what your body and energy needs varies with what is going on in your life!