Looking for a natural way to calm anxiety? Bilateral Tapping for anxiety is a powerful stress-relief technique that involves tapping on both sides of your body. Whether you’ve heard about bilateral tapping for anxiety relief or you’re completely new to the concept, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know to get started so you can reduce anxiety, calm your nervous system, and come back to a state of peace.
What is bilateral Tapping for anxiety?
Bilateral Tapping is part of a scientifically-proven stress relief technique called EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Tapping.
The technique involves gently tapping with your fingertips on specific acupressure points (found on both sides of your body) while focusing on whatever is causing you anxiety.
EFT Tapping combines ancient Chinese acupressure wisdom with modern psychology to help calm your nervous system and reduce stress naturally. The bilateral (two-sided) aspect means you can tap on both the left and right sides of your body, which many people find particularly soothing.
The Tapping points correspond to energy pathways in our body called meridians, the same ones used in acupuncture and acupressure. These meridians run along both sides of your body in symmetrical pairs, like a mirror image.
Just as your body has two arms, two legs, and two sides to your brain, you have matching meridian pathways on both the left and right sides. When you tap on your body bilaterally, you’re able to access these energy pathways on both sides.
How does bilateral Tapping help with anxiety?
When you tap on both sides of your body on these acupressure points, while also thinking about what’s making you anxious, several things happen:
- Calms Your Nervous System: The process of Tapping sends calming signals to your brain, helping you move out of fight-or-flight so you can feel more cool, calm, and collected.
- Reduces Stress Hormones: Research shows EFT Tapping can lower cortisol (the stress hormone) by up to 43% in just one hour
- Releases Strong Emotions: This process of Tapping on points on your body for anxiety is known as “Emotional Freedom Techniques”, because it is a proven way to help people to release strong emotions from their body like anxiety, fear, sadness, anger, and more.
- Promotes Relaxation: Tapping helps to calm the nervous system and promote relaxation from the inside out. Many people also find the rhythmic nature of tapping both sides to be a very soothing process.
- Addresses Root Causes and Triggers: The process of Tapping can help you get to the root of your anxiety: releasing the charge of past memories, current triggers, and more. Bilateral Tapping for trauma can be particularly helpful if your anxiety is linked to difficult past experiences. It can also help with intrusive thoughts that keep circling back no matter how many times you try to let them go.
Scientific research supports the effectiveness of bilateral Tapping for anxiety.
Multiple studies have shown significant reductions in anxiety levels after using EFT Tapping, and there are even fascinating studies that show benefits like positive changes in brain activity, gene expression, heart rate, blood pressure, and more.
After 1 million plays of our Release Anxiety Tapping meditation, users report an average 41% reduction in anxiety levels in just 9 minutes!
In a peer-reviewed study of 270,461 Tapping Solution App users, self-rated anxiety dropped by an average of 44% in a single session, from 6.66 to 3.75 on a 0-10 scale (Church & Stapleton, 2020, JMIR mHealth and uHealth)!
3 bilateral tapping techniques
“Bilateral tapping” isn’t one single method. Here are three ways people use it, from the simplest to the full EFT sequence.
| Technique | How | Time | When to use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Butterfly hug | Cross your arms over your chest, hands on your opposite shoulders or upper arms, and alternate gentle taps left, right, left, right, about one tap per second. | 1–3 minutes | A sudden wave of overwhelm, a panic moment, or anytime you want a quiet, hands-crossed way to self-soothe in public. |
| Knee tapping | Sitting down, rest your hands on your knees or thighs and alternate gentle taps, left knee, right knee, left, right, while you breathe slowly. | 1–3 minutes | At a desk, in the car as a passenger, in a waiting room, or anywhere a butterfly hug would draw attention. |
| Alternate-hand EFT tapping | Tap through the 9 EFT points one side at a time, alternating hands, instead of tapping both sides at once, while you say a setup statement and reminder phrases. | ~2 minutes per round | When you want the full EFT sequence, setup statement plus reminder phrases, with a bilateral, left-right rhythm built in. |
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Join the free summitThe bilateral Tapping points
Within EFT Tapping, there are nine main points you’ll tap on. Six of these points are found in bilateral pairs (with a point on each side of the body), while the remaining three are found on the centerline of the body.
Here are the main nine points you’ll tap on:
Eyebrow Point (bilateral point)
Where the eyebrows begin, closest to the bridge of the nose.
Side of the Eye (bilateral point)
On the bone directly along the outside of either eye.
Under the Eye (bilateral point)
On the bone directly under either eye.
Under the Nose
The area directly beneath the nose and above the upper lip.
Under the Mouth
This is the area just below your bottom lip and above the chin, right in the crease.
Collarbone (bilateral point)
Starting from where your collar bones meet in the center, go down an inch and out an inch on either side.
Under the Arm (bilateral point)
On your side, about four inches beneath the armpit.
Top of the Head
Directly on the crown of your head.
Note: In the diagram, you can see how six of these Tapping points exist along mirror image locations on both sides of the body.
How to do bilateral Tapping for anxiety
Before you jump in, you can learn all the basics of how to do EFT Tapping here.
When you are ready, here’s a simple step-by-step guide to using bilateral Tapping for anxiety:
Step 1: Identify Your Anxiety:
Notice how anxious you feel, and rate the intensity on a scale from 0-10.
Step 2: Start with a Setup Phrase:
While Tapping on the Side of the Hand point (on either side of the body), repeat a setup statement that acknowledges your anxiety while being compassionate with yourself.
Example setup statements for anxiety:
- “Even though I feel anxious about this, I accept how I feel.”
- “Even though a part of me is feeling anxious, I choose to remember I am safe in this moment.”
- “Even though I feel all this anxiety in my body, I choose to breathe and give myself permission to relax now.”
Step 3: Tap Through the Points in Order:
Now, you’ll tap through the remaining points in order. You can tap on both sides at once using both hands, or alternate between left and right sides to do bilateral stimulation. Or, you can stick to one side, whatever feels best to you!
As you tap through the points in sequence, reflect on your anxiety, what is making you feel anxious, how your body feels, etc. You can repeat “reminder phrases” out loud that help you stay focused, such as:
- “This anxiety”
- “All this pressure in my chest”
- “I’m anxious about the meeting later”
- “I can’t stop feeling this way”
- “I’m worried something bad is going to happen”
Step 4: Check Back in With Yourself:
After one round of Tapping, notice how you feel and rate your anxiety again on the same 0 to 10 scale. If you feel better, your new number will be lower. You can repeat the Tapping sequence again and again until you notice a shift and have released some of the anxiety.
Step 5: Introduce Empowering Statements:
After you’ve done enough rounds of Tapping to release some of your anxiety and you feel a bit better, you can begin moving towards the positive and anchor in some empowering affirmations that help lift you up. Keep Tapping through the points in order as you repeat phrases to yourself like:
- “In this moment, I am safe”
- “I can handle anything that comes my way”
- “I choose to be patient and kind with myself”
- “I can breathe through this”
- “I will take this one step at a time”
- “I am strong and resilient”
Step 6: Reassess Once Again:
Take a deep breath in, and out, and notice how you feel. Where is your anxiety now? Notice any shifts in how you feel in body and mind.
A 2-minute butterfly hug round
If the full 9-point sequence feels like too much right now, the butterfly hug is a faster way to get a bilateral calming effect.
- Cross your arms. Cross your arms over your chest, hands resting on your opposite shoulders or upper arms.
- Take a breath. Close your eyes if that feels comfortable, and take one slow breath in and out.
- Name what’s happening. Silently or out loud: “Even though I feel anxious right now, I’m safe in this moment.”
- Start tapping. Alternate gentle taps, left hand, right hand, left, right, about one tap per second.
- Keep breathing. Let your breath stay slow, a little longer on the exhale than the inhale.
- Stay with it for 1 to 2 minutes, or until you notice your body settle.
- Check back in. Notice what’s different: your breathing, your shoulders, the pace of your thoughts.
- Repeat if needed. A second round is fine if you’re not there yet.
Guided Tapping meditation for anxiety
Want to try this technique out in real time? In the video below, I’ll show you how to do bilateral Tapping when you are feeling anxious:
Bilateral Tapping vs. EMDR, what’s the difference?
While many people discover bilateral Tapping through searching for EMDR, EFT Tapping is its own unique and powerful technique.
Similar to EMDR, bilateral Tapping for anxiety also involves bilateral stimulation and helps with things like navigating strong emotions, relieving anxiety, overcoming trauma, and more.
If you’re interested in learning about different approaches to anxiety and trauma relief, you can read more about how EFT Tapping compares to EMDR here. You can also learn more about a powerful technique called the Gamut Point Procedure here, a technique that combines some of the elements of EMDR and Tapping.
The beauty of EFT Tapping is that it’s something you can learn and practice on your own, anytime you need support. Whether you’re dealing with daily stress, panic attacks, social anxiety, or other concerns, there’s a Tapping sequence that can help.
Bilateral tapping vs. EFT tapping, what’s the difference?
These aren’t two competing techniques, they overlap. Full EFT Tapping (the 9-point sequence above) is already bilateral: six of the nine points exist in mirror-image pairs on both sides of your body, and the “How to do bilateral Tapping” steps above are simply EFT Tapping done with attention to that left-right rhythm.
Where they differ is structure. EFT Tapping uses a setup statement, a specific sequence of points, and reminder phrases that name exactly what you’re working through. Simpler bilateral techniques, like the butterfly hug or knee tapping, skip the point sequence and setup statement altogether and rely on the left-right rhythm itself to calm your body. Think of EFT Tapping as the fuller tool for working through a specific worry, and the butterfly hug or knee tapping as the faster tool for calming your body in the moment, wherever you are.
This fits what REWIRED calls Nervous System Debt: small, unprocessed stress payments that build up over time. Both a full EFT round and a quick butterfly hug make a payment toward that debt, they just move at different speeds.
What our data shows
The numbers below measure full EFT Tapping sessions in The Tapping Solution App, not the butterfly hug or other simple bilateral techniques specifically, since those aren’t formal app sessions we track. Here’s what we see from the EFT side.
Across the Calm Your Mind category in the app — 16 sessions built for quieting an overactive mind — people have completed 343,689 sessions and rated their intensity from 0 to 10 before and after. The average goes from 7.2 to 4.0, a 44% drop, in a single sitting (app data, not a clinical study).
One popular session in that category, Help Me Stop Worrying, has been completed 112,302 times, with the average rating going from 7.0 to 4.0.
A larger, published study of 270,461 Tapping Solution App users found anxiety dropped an average of 44% and stress dropped 45% after a single EFT Tapping session (Church & Stapleton, 2020, JMIR mHealth and uHealth). Like the numbers above, this measures EFT Tapping sessions, not bilateral stimulation techniques like the butterfly hug.
In their own words
These quotes come from people using guided EFT Tapping sessions in the app, not the butterfly hug or knee tapping specifically.
“That was absolutely amazing Jessica. You have such a calm, healing presence. You are such a bright light in this world. I feel so calm and peaceful.”
Louisa, Release Stress — rated her stress a 3 before the session, a 1 after
“It’s amazing how quickly I feel calm after tapping. Whenever I open the app, I can find the specific tapping session that I need for the day.”
Sapna, Releasing Self-Doubt — rated her intensity a 5 before the session, a 2 after
Now part of a Medicare program
If anxiety has been with you a long time and you're on Original Medicare, there's now a more structured path than working through it on your own. NeuroTap Health, our sister company, offers a guided tapping program at $0 out of pocket through Medicare's ACCESS Model. Who qualifies and how to enroll.
Getting started with Tapping is easy!
You can start experiencing the anxiety-relieving benefits of bilateral Tapping today.
The simplest way to learn bilateral Tapping is through guided sessions that walk you through the process so you don’t have to think about it and can just jump right into the process.
- Instantly reduce anxiety and stress
- Fall asleep faster and sleep better
- Boost productivity, stay motivated
- Relieve chronic or occasional pain
- Release anger, find peace
The Tapping Solution App offers hundreds of guided Tapping meditations for anxiety relief, stress relief, and more. You’ll be guided through each point while being prompted on what to say and reflect on as you tap.
Some popular sessions in the app include:
- Releasing Anxiety
- Stop a Panic Attack
- Social Anxiety
- Tap and Breathe
- Social Anxiety Collection
- Anxiety Relief: I Can’t Stop Worrying About Everything
- 5 Day Release Anxiety Challenge
Download The Tapping Solution App today to access all of these Tapping meditations and more.
Whether you’re dealing with general anxiety, panic attacks, or specific fears, Tapping is here to help!
If you want the fuller system behind these sessions, my book The Tapping Solution is a good next step.
Until next time... Keep Tapping!
Nick Ortner
Go deeper
- Tapping 101: what EFT Tapping is and how to do it, if you want the full basics.
- The EFT tapping chart, for the 9 points at a glance.
- EFT tapping phrases and EFT tapping scripts, for more reminder-phrase ideas.
- The basic Tapping sequence for anxiety, for a full anxiety-specific round.
- EFT vs. EMDR, for the fuller comparison between the two.
- Trina’s story, on using Tapping to calm severe panic attacks.
Tap along with me
Tap along with this anxiety relief meditation to put the bilateral rhythm you just read about into practice.
Bilateral Tapping: Your Questions, Answered
What is bilateral Tapping for anxiety?
Bilateral Tapping is part of a scientifically-proven stress relief technique called EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Tapping. The technique involves gently tapping with your fingertips on specific acupressure points (found on both sides of your body) while focusing on whatever is causing you anxiety.
Bilateral Tapping vs. EMDR, what's the difference?
While many people discover bilateral Tapping through searching for EMDR, EFT Tapping is its own unique and powerful technique. Similar to EMDR, bilateral Tapping for anxiety also involves bilateral stimulation and helps with things like navigating strong emotions, relieving anxiety, overcoming trauma, and more.
What is bilateral tapping?
Bilateral tapping means tapping on both sides of your body, alternating left and right, while you focus on something that’s bothering you. In EFT Tapping, six of the nine tapping points already exist in mirror-image pairs on each side of the body, so any EFT round is bilateral by nature. The term is also used more loosely for techniques like the butterfly hug or alternating knee taps, which use a left-right rhythm without the EFT point sequence.
Does bilateral tapping work for anxiety?
Many people find that rhythmic bilateral tapping, whether it’s a full EFT Tapping round or a simple butterfly hug, brings anxiety down within a few minutes. The strongest evidence measures EFT Tapping specifically: in a peer-reviewed study of 270,461 Tapping Solution App users, self-rated anxiety dropped 44% in a single session. Simpler bilateral techniques like the butterfly hug haven’t been studied at that scale, but they rely on the same calming, rhythmic, left-right movement.
What is the butterfly hug?
The butterfly hug is a bilateral self-soothing technique. Cross your arms over your chest with your hands on your opposite shoulders or upper arms, and alternate gentle taps, left, right, left, right, about one tap per second, while you breathe slowly. It takes 1 to 3 minutes and was originally developed as a self-administered form of bilateral stimulation.
Is bilateral tapping the same as EMDR?
No. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a structured therapy delivered by a trained clinician, built around bilateral stimulation, eye movements, taps, or tones, while processing a specific memory. Bilateral tapping techniques like the butterfly hug or EFT Tapping borrow the same left-right rhythm but are self-administered and do not require a therapist to guide you.
Can I do bilateral tapping myself?
Yes. Both EFT Tapping and simpler bilateral techniques like the butterfly hug or knee tapping are designed to be self-administered anytime, anywhere. For trauma-specific processing or EMDR-style work, working with a trained clinician is safer than doing it alone.
How long does bilateral tapping take?
A butterfly hug or a round of knee tapping takes 1 to 3 minutes. A full EFT Tapping round, setup statement plus the 9 points, takes about 2 minutes, and most people do a few rounds back to back until they feel a shift, so a full session runs 5 to 10 minutes.
