The Nine EFT Tapping Points: A Christian Reference Guide
Your hands are trembling. Your chest is tight. You know Philippians 4:6 by heart — do not be anxious about anything — but right now, the words feel like a locked door you cannot open.
What if there were a way to calm your body first, so the truth you already know could finally land?
Tapping on specific points on your face, hands, and chest sends calming signals through your nervous system. The research behind it is substantial: More than 300 published studies of tapping, including nearly 100 randomized controlled trials, have examined this practice. The points themselves are physical locations where tapping creates a neurological response — nothing mystical, nothing borrowed from a worldview that conflicts with your faith.
What makes this guide different is what we pair with each point: Scripture. Not as decoration, but as the truth your settled body can finally receive.
How Tapping Works — The Short Version
Tapping on specific points while you name what's troubling you sends a calming signal to the brain's alarm center. When your nervous system shifts out of fight-or-flight, the prefrontal cortex — the part of your brain that handles language, reflection, and deliberate worship — comes back online.
This is why you can know a verse intellectually and still feel flooded with anxiety. The receiver is blocked. Tapping helps clear the channel so God's peace, already promised, can be received.
For the deeper physiology of why this happens, our guide to what EFT tapping is walks through the mechanism in detail.
Before You Begin: The Setup Statement
Every tapping session starts with what's called a setup statement. In secular EFT, this is often "Even though I have this problem, I deeply and completely accept myself."
We do it differently.
Our setup statement sounds like this: "Even though I'm carrying this anxiety, I trust that God is with me." Or: "Even though my heart is racing, I bring this before the Lord who cares for me."
The locus of acceptance shifts from self to Savior. You are not the source of your own peace. Christ is.
You'll say your setup statement while tapping on the first point — the side of the hand — three times. Then you'll move through the remaining eight points, tapping five to seven times on each while speaking what you feel or a phrase from your setup.
The Nine Tapping Points
1. Side of Hand (Karate Chop Point)
Location: The fleshy outer edge of your hand, between the base of your pinky finger and your wrist — the part of your hand you would use if you were breaking a board.
How to tap: Use the fingertips of your other hand to tap firmly on this edge. You can also tap both hands together, edge to edge. This is where you'll say your setup statement three times.
Scripture anchor:
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. — 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)
This is the casting point. Before you even begin working through the other points, you're making the physical motion of release — giving something over, not holding it inside. The Greek word for "cast" is epiripto, a vivid action verb. This isn't passive surrender; it's deliberate throwing.
2. Eyebrow Point
Location: The inner edge of your eyebrow, just above the inside corner of your eye, where the eyebrow begins closest to your nose.
How to tap: Use two fingertips to tap gently but firmly five to seven times. You can tap both eyebrows simultaneously or one at a time.
Scripture anchor:
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. — Psalm 121:1–2 (ESV)
At the eyebrow, you're lifting your gaze. The psalmist looked up and asked the question anxiety always asks: From where does help come? The answer follows immediately. Your help comes from the Lord — not from your own striving, not from figuring it out, not from performing well enough. From Him.
3. Side of Eye
Location: The bone at the outer corner of your eye, at the edge of the eye socket, roughly level with your pupil when looking straight ahead.
How to tap: Use two fingertips to tap gently on this bony area. Be careful not to tap too close to the eye itself.
Scripture anchor:
Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. — Psalm 119:37 (ESV)
This point is about vision — what we fix our attention on. Anxiety narrows our sight to the worst-case scenario, the catastrophic possibility, the thing we cannot control. Here, you ask God to turn your eyes, to redirect your gaze toward what is true, what is worthy, what He is doing.
4. Under Eye
Location: The bone directly beneath your eye, about an inch below the pupil, on the upper edge of the cheekbone.
How to tap: Use two fingertips to tap gently. This area can be sensitive, so go softly.
Scripture anchor:
You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? — Psalm 56:8 (ESV)
The tears you have cried are not lost. God keeps count of your restless nights. He collects your grief in a bottle. He writes it in His book. Nothing you have felt is invisible to Him. This point is about being truly seen — not by the anxious voice in your head, but by the God who watches over you with tenderness.
5. Under Nose
Location: The small area directly below your nose and above your upper lip, at the center.
How to tap: Use two fingertips to tap gently on this point.
Scripture anchor:
Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. — Genesis 2:7 (ESV)
Under the nose, you tap where breath enters. And breath, in Scripture, is theologically charged from the very beginning. The Hebrew word for this breath of life is neshamah. You are alive because God breathed into you. Every anxious breath you take is borrowed from the One who gave you the first one.
6. Chin Point
Location: The crease between your lower lip and the tip of your chin, in the center of this indentation.
How to tap: Use two fingertips to tap firmly but gently.
Scripture anchor:
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. — Psalm 19:14 (ESV)
The chin point is near your mouth — the place where words form. Anxiety fills our mouths with worried words, catastrophic predictions, harsh self-talk. Here, you ask God to make both your speech and your inner meditation acceptable to Him. You're inviting Him into the running commentary of your mind.
7. Collarbone Point
Location: Find the notch at the base of your throat where your collarbones meet. Move down about an inch and then out to either side about an inch. You'll find a soft spot just below the collarbone.
How to tap: Use your whole hand or fingertips to tap on one or both collarbone points. This is a larger area, so you can be less precise.
Scripture anchor:
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. — Matthew 11:28–29 (ESV)
The collarbone point sits near your heart. And here, Jesus's invitation meets you: Come. Not perform. Not fix yourself first. Not become less anxious before you approach. Come as you are — laboring, heavy laden, exhausted from carrying what you were never meant to carry alone.
8. Under Arm
Location: About four inches below your armpit, roughly in line with your chest, on the side of your body. For reference, it's approximately where a bra strap would sit.
How to tap: Reach across your body or tap with your arm down at your side, using your fingertips.
Scripture anchor:
The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. — Deuteronomy 33:27 (ESV)
Under your arm, you're tapping near where you would be held. And underneath you — always — are the everlasting arms. Not sometimes. Not when you've earned it. Underneath, at every moment, whether you feel it or not. The arms that hold creation hold you.
9. Top of Head
Location: The crown of your head, at the center, roughly where a beanie would sit at its highest point.
How to tap: Use your fingertips to tap gently over this area in a small cluster.
Scripture anchor:
You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. — Psalm 139:5 (ESV)
At the top of your head, God lays His hand upon you. You are hemmed in — not trapped, but held. Behind you and before you. Above you and beneath you. The anxious thoughts that circle have no more access to you than God permits. You belong to Him, and nothing can snatch you from His hand.
Putting It All Together
A basic tapping round moves through all nine points in sequence:
- Side of Hand — Say your setup statement three times
- Eyebrow — Tap five to seven times while speaking what you feel
- Side of Eye — Continue with your feeling or a short phrase
- Under Eye — Keep tapping and speaking honestly
- Under Nose — Stay with your body and your words
- Chin — Notice if the intensity is shifting
- Collarbone — Breathe naturally as you tap
- Under Arm — You're almost through the round
- Top of Head — Finish with a breath and notice how you feel
One round takes about a minute. Repeat the round as many times as you need, checking in with how you feel after each one.
You don't have to feel anything dramatic, and you don't have to believe anything special to try a round. The points are physical locations on the body, and the practice is physiology, not magic — which is why there is nothing theologically suspicious about it.
If the question of whether this practice aligns with Christian faith matters to you, our article on whether tapping has New Age origins addresses that concern directly and carefully.
What Comes Next
Knowing the points is a beginning. Using them is where the shift happens.
If you're weighing whether this practice belongs in a life of faith, our page on how tapping fits with Christian faith addresses that question directly.
If you'd like to bring what's weighing on you to God in a guided way, you can try a free tapping session whenever you're ready.
His mercies are new every morning. And so is His invitation to come, just as you are, and find rest.
