Attention & Focus · “You Become What You Hold”
The Bridging Sequence (Nine Gamut Procedure)
While continuously tapping the back-of-hand ‘gamut point,’ run nine quick actions — eyes closed/open, eyes down-left/down-right, eyes circled both ways, hum, count, hum — intended to ‘stimulate specific parts of the brain’ and increase the effectiveness of the tapping rounds it bridges.
The Bridging Sequence (Nine Gamut), honestly: Between two tapping rounds, tap the back-of-hand gamut point (½ inch below the knuckles, between ring & little fingers) while you: close eyes, open eyes, look down-left, look down-right, circle eyes clockwise, circle counter-clockwise, hum a few seconds, count to five, hum again. Then tap again and re-rate 0–10. Feinstein calls it strange-looking and says it “bridges” the two tapping rounds. The “energy point / brain-stimulation” rationale is unproven, and the eye movements are borrowed from contested EMDR; its most credible value is as a brief attention/working-memory load during exposure. A cross-lateral walk works as a substitute.
What it is
The Bridging Sequence is the curious middle step David Feinstein teaches inside his tapping protocol in the Energy Psychology Interactive Self-Help Guide (2003).
After the first round of point-tapping, you do a short routine — keep tapping the “gamut point” on the back of the hand while you close and open your eyes, look down-left and down-right, circle your eyes one way then the other, hum a tune, count to five, and hum again — and then return to a second tapping round.
Feinstein presents this as Roger Callahan’s Nine Gamut Procedure, candidly calling it “one of the more strange-looking procedures in energy psychology,” whose “tapping, eye movements, humming, and counting [are] all designed to stimulate specific parts of the brain.” Its job is structural: it does not target the problem with a reminder phrase; it “bridges two tapping sequences that do” — the classic EFT “sandwich” (tap → Nine Gamut → tap).
This is a distinct, separable technique from the basic tapping recipe and from Feinstein’s energy-priming primer; it earns its own entry because it is the specific attention/brain-engagement manoeuvre placed between exposure rounds.
Stated plainly, as the brief requires: the “energy point” and “whole-brain stimulation” claims are unsupported, and the eye-movement idea is borrowed from EMDR, whose own eye movements are contested; held honestly as “a brief attentional load between exposure rounds,” it is harmless and may add a little.
The Method
Feinstein’s published sequence, faithfully described. Find the gamut point. It is on the back of either hand, about ½ inch below the knuckles toward the wrist, in line with the midpoint between the little finger and the ring finger.
Tap the gamut point continuously while performing these nine actions in order:
- Close your eyes.
- Open your eyes.
- Move your eyes to the lower left (head still).
- Move your eyes to the lower right (head still).
- Rotate your eyes clockwise 360° (alternative: trace a figure-eight).
- Rotate your eyes counter-clockwise 360° (alternative: reverse the figure-eight).
- Hum a tune for a few seconds (e.g., “Happy Birthday,” “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”).
- Count to five.
- Hum again. Optional close (as Feinstein gives it): “Bring your eyes down to the floor and then slowly bring them up to the ceiling, projecting your sight out into the distance as your eyes move up the arc.” Where it fits — the “treatment sandwich”:
- Tapping sequence (with reminder phrase)
- Nine Gamut / Bridging Sequence
- Tapping sequence repeated (same reminder phrase) → then re-rate the problem 0–10. Feinstein notes the bridge needn’t be the Nine Gamut: “a brisk walk around the room with an exaggerated arm motion (opposite arm moving with opposite leg), or walking in place, can also be used.” Each full sandwiched round “requires just over one minute.” (Sourcing note: the gamut-point location and the nine ordered actions are Feinstein’s published presentation of Callahan’s Nine Gamut Procedure, attributed and faithfully described — not reproduced verbatim. Short quoted fragments are fair-use.)
Source & Lineage
The procedure is Roger Callahan’s Nine Gamut, originally part of his Thought Field Therapy (TFT), carried into Gary Craig’s EFT, and presented for self-help by David Feinstein in his Energy Psychology Interactive Self-Help Guide (InnerSource, 2003) — written in consultation with Fred Gallo, Donna Eden, and a 24-member advisory board.
The eye-movement rationale is explicitly linked by Feinstein to EMDR (Francine Shapiro), the better-known therapy built on bilateral eye movements.
The whole sits in the contested field of energy psychology, and the eye-movement element inherits EMDR’s own dismantling controversy.
The Traditions' versions
TFT (Callahan) — the original home of the Nine Gamut.
- EFT (Craig) — the “tap → 9 Gamut → tap” sandwich.
- EMDR — therapist-guided bilateral eye movements during trauma recall; the acknowledged source of the eye-movement idea (and itself contested on whether the eye movements matter).
- Bilateral / dual-attention exposure — broad family of “hold the distressing image while doing a second, attention-taxing task” methods (the most defensible reading of what the Nine Gamut does).
- Humming / vocal toning — brief humming as a vagal-tone / state-shift act woven into the sequence.
Common refinements
Thinking the eye/hum/count is the cure. It isn’t — it’s a bridge; the exposure (focusing on the rated problem) and acceptance in the tapping rounds are the credible active ingredients.
- Believing the energy/brain-stimulation story is necessary. It isn’t; Feinstein even offers a plain substitute (a brisk cross-lateral walk). Hold the mechanism lightly.
- Skipping the re-rating after the second tapping round. The 0–10 SUD before/after is what makes the whole protocol self-correcting; the bridge is pointless without it.
- Doing the eye rotations fast enough to get dizzy. Move smoothly; modify or omit if they strain your eyes.
- Forgetting to keep the problem in mind. The bridge sits inside an exposure session — the distressing material should still be live (carried by the reminder phrase in the surrounding rounds).