The Essential Magic of Touch

The Power of Touch

Touch as defined in the dictionary means to "put a part of the body especially the fingertips, in contact with something so as to feel it". The sense of touch is most likely the strongest and most powerful of all the senses for without it we would live in a world with no connection. A person can exist without sight, hearing, taste or smell and still be emotionally well balanced. To live without touch or without being touched leads to emotional disconnection and upheaval.

Think of when babies first come into the world and the bonding process that begins. Those children that are held and soothed are made to feel safe and loved. They bond with the people that treat them in this fashion - it does not matter if they are biologically linked together. Children build their trust through this manner of touch. If they are not cradled, stroked and supported, children do not learn trust. They do not trust their caregivers, their surroundings and therefore lose the ability to trust in themselves. The emotional destruction that can happen in this first phase of life is overwhelming. To rectify damage that occurs when touch is withheld is not easy. It can cause severe emotional problems as well as physical symptoms including slowed metabolism, failure to thrive syndrome and high blood pressure.

The chemicals released through the brain as the result of touch have much to do with a baby's development. Medical studies have shown that premature infants who are massaged for fifteen minutes three times a day gained weight 47 percent faster than those left alone in their incubators. Those babies that were massaged also showed signs that their nervous system was maturing more rapidly; they became more active than the other babies when stimulated with sound and color.

Our human bodies are wondrous maps of our entire lives - they hold the records of everything that we have experienced. Each emotion, each trauma, each encounter we have is held inside your body. Our bodies are composed of cellular memory. You know that kink in your neck...or how about that knot in your shoulder that you've had for years? These are all a result of some incident you've had that has become stored inside your body. Touch is a wonderful way to release these pains. Not only can healing touch - meaning massage or energy work - help to release the physical symptoms, but it can also assist in the letting go of the emotional attachments tied to the symptoms as well.

For example, when I was in massage school I was giving a massage to a fellow student. I was working on her neck and her occipital points, and as I applied pressure she began to cry profusely. I became alarmed, thinking I had hurt her, but as she regained her composure she explained what had happened. When she felt the release surrounding the muscle tissue, she began to recall vivid memories from her past. These memories were of a time when she was attacked, held around her neck and raped. She had blocked these memories for so long, but as the physical body was worked on - the emotions came forward for her to look at.

Does this mean that every time you have a massage some deep, dark secret will come forward? Of course not. But there are certain modalities that will assist in clearing your emotions that go hand and hand along with the bodywork. Rolfing and Amanae are methods that involve deep body work specifically designed to help clear the body and the mind. Rolfing, created by Ida Rolf, is structural integration designed to put your body back into structural alignment. While undergoing the structural alignments, many emotions are brought through and cleared. Amanae, introduced by Christine Day, is hands on, emotional release body work that opens "doorways" that have become blocked by deep emotional distress and trauma. The practitioner combines deep tissue massage and energy work to help the client achieve balance and release. I can personally attest that one Amanae session for me was equivalent to about two years of psychotherapy. In one session, I was able to let go of deep seeded anger and fear I had been holding onto since childhood. Not only was my body cleared of symptoms I had held onto, but my heart was also cleared.

Touch is an extremely vital component of our lives. It is important to give and receive touch as often as possible - be it through an embrace, a handshake, or a massage. Touch is a wonderful way of grounding our energy into our bodies. We live in a fast paced world. It is important that along with everything else on our "to do" lists, we make our bodies - our physical and emotional well being - a priority.

Experience something new. Treat yourself to a massage, bodywork or energy treatment. Find out what great healing awaits you. The more you discover about yourself, the healthier and happier you become.