What EFT, Qigong and TRE® actually are.
Three embodied practices — each a nervous-system tool, each translatable to anyone willing to try. Here’s what each one does and how they work together.
EFT, in plain language.
EFT — sometimes called tapping — is a body-based emotional regulation tool. You name what’s bothering you out loud while gently tapping on a sequence of nine acupressure points on the face, chest and hand.
The tapping signals to the amygdala — the part of the brain that runs your threat response — that it is safe to feel this thing right now. The charge around the memory or feeling softens. Sometimes dramatically, sometimes by gentle inches.
It looks strange the first time. Two minutes in, that stops mattering.
Tap each point to see what it holds — and the words that help it soften.
Collarbone
Slow movement, deep effect.
Qigong is a 4,000-year-old practice from Chinese medicine: a series of gentle, standing movements paired with breath. The version I teach is Daisy Lee’s Good Morning, Good Evening Qigong — designed specifically for the bodies of women in modern life.
Ten to fifteen minutes a day, no flexibility required, no special clothing, no studio. It quiets the sympathetic nervous system, supports lymph and circulation, and gives your body a container for the feelings EFT releases.
TRE®, in plain language.
TRE is a sequence of seven simple exercises — mostly stretches, done lying on a mat — that invite the body to tremor. The shaking is neurogenic: a natural mechanism your nervous system already knows how to do, which chronic stress and the effort of holding it together has switched off.
The tremor releases held tension from deep muscle groups that talk therapy, journalling, and ten years of trying to be fine simply cannot reach. You don’t guide it — you just let it happen. In twenty quiet minutes, most people feel something shift.
TRE is in-person only (Southern Suburbs, Cape Town), and the first session is always 75 minutes. After that, most clients can practise safely at home.
“EFT releases the charge. Qigong moves the energy that comes free. TRE® reaches the tension that neither of them can, the stuff held in muscle rather than mind. Together they cover the full nervous system.”
It looks woo. The research disagrees.
A short, honest answer for anyone who’d quietly like a citation before they tap on their own face for the first time.
A 2022 systematic review identified 56 randomized controlled trials of Clinical EFT and concluded it meets American Psychological Association criteria as an evidence-based practice for anxiety, depression, phobias and PTSD.
A 2024 meta-analysis of 18 randomized controlled trials found a large overall effect (1.27) for EFT in reducing depressive symptoms — with group-based and shorter programmes performing especially well.
In a randomized controlled trial, a single hour of EFT lowered the stress hormone cortisol by about 24% — significantly more than supportive talk therapy or rest.