In Her Campus’ series The College Try, our writers test out viral wellness, dating, fashion, productivity, and pop culture trends firsthand. This time, Jayona Monique Dorsey gives body tapping the ol’ college try.
If you’ve ever watched a wellness video and wondered why someone was casually smacking their arms and chest first thing in the morning, you’re not alone. That was basically me when I first came across body tapping.
Body tapping is a wellness practice that involves gently tapping or patting different parts of your body with your hands, loose fists, or fingertips. It’s connected to practices like Qigong and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) tapping, which uses gentle tapping on specific points on the face and upper body while focusing on stress or difficult emotions.
Depending on the routine, people use body tapping as a way to wake up their bodies, create a moment of mindfulness, loosen up before moving, and help them feel more energized or grounded. And yes, it looks a little silly at first. I’ll admit, I was skeptical too, but I had actually tried it before.
I originally started body tapping as something to try when I was feeling anxious. In the past, I’ve found that it helped me slow down and get out of my head for a moment. However, there was one thing I had never really done: stick with it.
I usually think of wellness trends as something I’ll try once or twice, decide whether I like them, and move on. So, I decided to do body tapping consistently for an entire week. I wasn’t really looking for anything big to jump out at me because that gives me a placebo effect. I wanted to see what would happen if I simply made it part of my morning and paid attention to how I felt.
For the week, I followed a simple two-minute morning routine designed to wake up the body and clear the mind. And honestly? It did just that.
I body tapped for two minutes every day.
The routine was simple enough to do before I even fully felt awake. Simple enough to do from the comfort of my bed. I used a loose, cupped hand and kept the tapping firm but comfortable. The goal isn’t to hurt yourself or leave bruises.
I started by gently tapping my upper chest while taking a deep breath in and slowly breathing out for about 15 seconds. It was a small way to immediately make myself pause instead of reaching for my phone or jumping straight into my day. Then, for 30 seconds, I started at my left shoulder and tapped down the outside of my arm toward my hand. Then, I turned my arm over and tapped back up the inside toward my shoulder. I repeated the same movement on my right arm.
Next came my stomach, where I softly patted in a clockwise circle for 15 seconds before reaching behind me to lightly tap my lower back and hips. Then, for 30 seconds, I worked on my legs. I started at my hips and tapped down the outside of both legs toward my ankles. After that, I moved to the inside of my ankles and tapped upward toward my hips. By this point, I definitely felt more awake.
But the final step was my favorite: I dropped my arms to my sides, closed my eyes, and stood still. Instead of immediately moving on to the next thing, I paid attention to the warmth or tingling sensation in my skin and took a moment to breathe.
Two minutes doesn’t sound like a lot of time, but when you’re used to rushing through your morning, it feels surprisingly intentional.
After a week, I noticed something…
After doing the routine every morning for a week, I noticed a difference. Not a dramatic, movie-style transformation. I didn’t suddenly become the most peaceful person alive or wake up feeling like I had unlocked a secret level of wellness. But I did feel more present.
The biggest difference was how I started my mornings. Instead of immediately thinking about everything I had to do, I gave myself two minutes to simply exist in my body. To simply be grounded in bed, if I must.Â
I also found myself feeling more awake after the routine. The physical movement, combined with the breathing and stillness, made me feel like I had officially transitioned from “I just woke up” to “OK, I’m ready to start my day.” And because I had already used tapping to help me manage anxious feelings in the past, doing it consistently made the practice feel more natural.
There’s also something about the rhythm of tapping that makes you slow down. It’s a very intentional rhythm. You have to pay attention to where your hands are moving, how hard you’re tapping, and how your body feels. For me, that was the real benefit.
So, would I actually recommend it? Yes! Just with a few conditions: I think body tapping is a great addition to a slow morning, especially if you’re someone who likes having a few minutes to yourself before the day gets chaotic. It gives you time to think. It gives you a reason to slow down. And, most importantly, it gives you a moment of stillness and calmness before you start checking notifications, answering messages, or running through your to-do list.
But I wouldn’t treat body tapping as a full-blown cure or the only thing you do if you’re looking to manage stress or anxiety. Think of it as an addition to your wellness routine instead of a replacement for other forms of support.
After a week, I can confidently say that body tapping is something I’d try again, but I don’t see myself adding it to my everyday routine. I found it fun and surprisingly grounding, so I’ll probably come back to it every now and then…just not every morning.
Would I ever have thought that lightly smacking my arms and legs would make me feel more grounded? Probably not. But sometimes the wellness trends that look the weirdest are worth giving the ol’ college try.
