What's the best type of bilateral stimulation to use?

Whichever one you'll actually keep using. Eye movements have the deepest research base and a modest edge on reducing a memory's distress. Tapping is easier with your eyes closed and calms the body just as well; audio does too by the same logic, though it's been tested that way less directly. Comfort and availability should decide it, not a belief that one type is more 'real.'

Does it matter whether I use eye movements, tapping, or audio?

A little, on some measures. Direct comparisons show eye movements have a modest edge for reducing a memory's distress and vividness. For calming your body, heart rate and brain activity, research shows tapping and eye movements perform about the same. None is the 'real' version of bilateral stimulation.

Can I switch between types or speeds during the same session?

Yes. The mechanism researchers credit for bilateral stimulation, taxing your working memory, doesn't depend on one specific channel. Switching from eye movements to tapping, or slowing down partway through, is a reasonable choice. Many people vary type and speed by mood, setting, or how tired their eyes feel that day.

How fast should the butterfly hug or tapping be?

The same two-speed rule applies: roughly one tap per second, like a gentle heartbeat, for calming down, and a slightly brisker, more effortful rhythm if you're working through a specific thought. Speed research is thinner for tapping than eye movements, but the working-memory logic behind it is the same.

Is audio bilateral stimulation as good as eye movements or tapping?

For everyday calming, yes; it uses the same alternating principle through sound instead of sight or touch. Direct head-to-head research on audio specifically is thinner than for eye movements, but it needs the least effort to sustain, which makes it a popular choice for winding down or use in shared spaces.

How to Choose Your BLS Type and Speed: Eyes, Taps, Audio

Q: How fast should bilateral stimulation be?

It depends on your goal. For calming down, keep it slow and steady, about one movement per second. For working through a specific looping thought, go faster, fast enough that tracking it takes real effort. Either way, comfort is the ceiling; never push past what feels tolerable to chase a faster pace.

There’s no single “correct” bilateral stimulation type. Pick eye movements if tracking a moving point feels comfortable, tapping (like the butterfly hug) if your eyes tire, or audio if you’d rather close your eyes entirely. Then set the speed to your goal: slow and steady to calm down, faster and more effortful to work through a specific thought.

Eye movements, tapping, audio: three ways to do bilateral stimulation, the alternating left-right rhythm at the center of EMDR, and it’s easy to freeze up picking one. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Comfort and availability decide the type, and your goal decides the speed. This guide walks through both, with the research behind each call.

What are the three types of bilateral stimulation?

All three alternate left and right, which is the one thing that actually defines BLS. What differs is the channel your attention travels through.

Type	What it is	What it needs
Eye movements	Your eyes track a moving point, finger, or on-screen target, side to side	Space to track something, and eyes that can move without strain
Tapping	Alternating touch, left, right, left, right, on your hands, knees, or shoulders (the butterfly hug is one version)	Just your own hands, no equipment
Audio	Tones or sound panning between your left and right ear	Headphones, so each ear gets its own channel

None of these is the “real” version. The EMDR Institute lists all three as legitimate forms of what it calls dual attention stimuli, and a trained therapist switches between them based on what works for a given person, not a fixed hierarchy.

Which type should you use?

Answer these in order, and stop at the first one that fits.

Can you comfortably track a moving point for 20 to 30 seconds, no strain or dizziness? Eye movements are a fine default. They carry the deepest research base of the three.
Do your eyes tire quickly, or would you rather keep them closed? Tapping on your hands or knees, or the butterfly hug, uses touch instead of sight and works just as well for calming your body.
Do you need your hands free, or are you somewhere tapping would draw attention? Audio, tones through headphones, needs nothing but your ears, which makes it the most discreet option at a desk or in a waiting room. If you’re wondering whether audio specifically holds up, we’ve looked at that too.
None of those felt obviously right? Pick whichever you’d actually keep using. That’s not a shrug. It’s the honest research position.

Direct comparisons between eye movements and tapping or tones do exist, and the picture shifts depending on what’s being measured. A 2013 study found eye movements trending ahead of tones for reducing a memory’s emotional charge. A 2025 study in BJPsych Open found eye movements and tapping produced similarly calming shifts in heart-rate variability and brain activity in the same 40 people.

The short version: type has a modest effect on distress specifically, and close to none on how much it calms your body. For the quick verdict, see does tapping work as well as eye movements?; for the fuller picture, see eye movements versus tapping.

Many people also notice a rougher pattern: eye movements ask for active tracking, which can feel more engaging, while tapping and audio are easier to sink into with your eyes closed. Neither is better. They suit different moments.

How fast should you go?

Speed matters as much as type, maybe more, and it depends entirely on what you’re using BLS for.

Calming down or settling before something: go slow and steady, roughly one movement, tap, or tone-switch per second, like a gentle heartbeat. This is the pace behind the butterfly hug and most calm-place work: slow enough to settle your body, not tax it.

Working through a specific looping thought: go faster, fast enough that tracking it takes real, active effort. A 2015 study in Frontiers in Psychiatry had people recall a disturbing memory while making eye movements at a fast pace (1.2 Hz) or a slow one (0.8 Hz). The faster pace left the memory rated less emotionally charged and harder to retrieve afterward than the slower pace did, with a similar but weaker pattern for vividness. Standard EMDR guidance points the same way: move as fast as you can comfortably tolerate, in sets of about 15 to 30 seconds.

Comfort is still the ceiling, not speed for its own sake. Neither study tested pushing past what someone could comfortably sustain, and nothing suggests forcing a faster pace than feels right adds anything.

That comfortable-effort principle isn’t limited to eye movements. A 2026 study in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry tested a tactile stand-in for tapping: vibrating pulses alternating between the hands. Recalling a negative memory on its own, with no stimulation, made it feel more emotionally charged over repeated recalls.

Adding the alternating pulses stopped that rise from happening, and the effect tracked how distracting people found the pulses: the more the vibration pulled their attention, the bigger the effect. Type aside, effort looks like the active ingredient, not which sense it enters through.

Your goal	Speed	Set length	Rounds
Calm down, wind down, settle before something	Slow and steady, about 1/second	30-60 seconds	3-5
Work through a specific looping thought	Fast enough to take real effort to track	15-30 seconds	3-6

Whichever type you picked, this same two-speed rule applies to it. A slow butterfly hug and a slow eye-movement set are doing the same job; so are a brisk tapping rhythm and fast eye movements. The pace changes. The logic doesn’t.

How do you try a short round yourself?

Pick your type and speed from above, based on what’s comfortable and what you’re using it for.
Bring a mild, everyday thought to mind loosely, not your worst memory, and rate your distress 0 to 10.
Do one set, 15 to 60 seconds depending on your goal.
Pause, breathe, and notice what shifted.
Re-rate your distress. If it’s easing, you’ve got a workable combination; repeat for a few more rounds. If it’s not moving, or it’s climbing, try the other speed before switching type entirely.

For full step-by-step instructions on all three methods, see our beginner’s guide to self-guided bilateral stimulation.

Can you switch types or speeds later?

Yes, and switching is normal, not a sign you picked wrong the first time. The leading account of why BLS works at all, working memory, doesn’t depend on one specific channel: holding a thought in mind while any absorbing, alternating task competes for the same limited mental space. That covers moving between eye movements, tapping, and audio, or speeding up and slowing down within the same week.

Common reasons people switch: eye strain, a shared or public space, wanting to keep your eyes closed that day, or simply wanting a change. None of those is a downgrade.

The guided version

Keeping your own count while also noticing what’s shifting is real mental overhead, and it’s the main drawback of doing any of this by hand. EmEase, a self-guided EMDR app, runs the rhythm for you: a moving on-screen target for visual bilateral stimulation, or alternating audio tones if you’d rather close your eyes, both with pacing you set yourself, in the web app. It doesn’t include tapping, so pair its rhythm with a manual technique like the butterfly hug if touch is what helps you settle. Either way, treat it as a wellness practice for everyday stress, not a stand-in for therapist-led work on anything heavier.

When should you slow down and get support?

Type and speed only matter once you’re working with the right kind of material. Everyday stress, a nagging thought, pre-event nerves, all fit. If bringing something to mind pushes your distress past a 7 out of 10 and it won’t settle, or pulls up memories you didn’t choose, stop. Switch to plain grounding: feel your feet on the floor, name a few things you can see, and let your body settle before deciding whether to continue.

That reaction isn’t about picking the wrong type or the wrong speed. It usually means the material is heavier than any solo combination of type and speed is built for, and it deserves a trained professional alongside you.