Daily Meditation versus Emotional Freedom Techniques: A Pilot Australian Primary School Trial

October 8, 2025 children, meditation, mindfulness, regulation, school

Citation: 
Stapleton, P., Douglas, A., & Blanchard, M. D. (2025). Daily meditation versus emotional freedom techniques: A pilot
Australian primary school trial. International Online Journal of Primary Education (IOJPE), 14(3), 64-73.
https://doi.org/10.55020/iojpe.1670052

This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license. 

Abstract
This pilot study compared the effects of daily mindfulness meditation and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) tapping on the emotional and behavioral regulation of 5-year-old children over a three-week period. Participants were divided into two groups, each receiving one of the interventions. Self-regulation, happiness, and life satisfaction were assessed weekly using validated measures. Results indicated that both interventions significantly improved self-regulation, however, no significant changes were observed in happiness and life satisfaction for either group. The findings suggest that while both mindfulness meditation and EFT tapping can enhance self-regulation in young children, longer intervention periods may be warranted for the other constructs. These results have implications for the implementation of mental health programs in early childhood education, highlighting the potential of both meditation and EFT practices to support emotional resilience from a young age.
Keywords: Meditation, emotional freedom techniques (EFT), children, emotional regulation.

Craig’s Comments: I am thrilled to see this paper as the first published paper focus on how EFT can be of support to small children. Many practitioners report achieving fabulous results with using EFT with small children to help them regulate their emotions but nowhere was there a clinical trial to offer research support. Variations of mindfulness based meditation practices have been introduced to many school systems through SEL (social emotional learning) programs and this demonstrates EFT to be equally effective in some measures.

This study was a subset of a larger program that included two schools over a 3 week intervention period. The delivery was offered via similar digital content by teachers in the classroom during school hours. The students were taught to tap with two hands, 7 times on each of four points including eyebrow, under eye, collar bone and under arms while watching the video led by Dr Stapleton with simplified tapping statements to help calm.  The 3 lesson topics included:  Lesson 1 Learning to Tap; tap and breathe
Lesson 2 Tapping for focus and attention
Lesson 3 Tapping for worry, frustration and anger

What were the results?

According to the authors regarding increased self regulation, “…suggests that both interventions may have similar trajectories in improving self-regulation over time. This finding is particularly noteworthy as it indicates that EFT tapping, a less studied intervention in this sample, may offer comparable benefits to meditation in enhancing self-regulatory capabilities. Future research should explore the underlying mechanisms through which both interventions affect self-regulation.”

Also regarding happiness levels: “Contrary to our expectations, neither intervention demonstrated significant changes in happiness
levels over the three-week period. This result is somewhat surprising; however, the mean score was 4 out of 5 at baseline suggesting a potentially happy sample. The relatively short intervention period may have been insufficient to elicit further measurable changes in happiness.”

“… the practical implications of this study are significant. Schools and early childhood education centers are increasingly looking for evidence-based interventions to incorporate into their curricula. By providing empirical evidence on the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation and EFT tapping, this study can guide the implementation of mental health programs in educational settings, ensuring that children receive the most beneficial support.

Finally, this study addresses a critical need for accessible and non-invasive interventions that can be easily integrated into daily routines. Both mindfulness meditation and EFT tapping are low-cost, easyto-implement practices that do not require extensive training or resources. Demonstrating their effectiveness can encourage wider adoption and provide children with valuable tools for managing stress and emotions from an early age.”