Healing Touch

Healing Touch

By Sue Walker

Integrative Care Program Manager.

Although massage has long been known for its therapeutic benefits, there is another powerful and even gentler form of bodywork, known as bio-field therapy. This therapy includes the practice of Healing Touch —  energy work designed to help clear and balance human energy systems that are the source of physical, mental, emotional, spiritual health as well as well-being. Healing Touch also supports the body’s own ability to self-heal and self-correct.

Healing touch supports the body’s own ability to self-heal and self correct.

Healing Touch developed in the eighties in connection with continuing education for nurses and is accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. It has since expanded to a number of hospitals and other health care facilities.

Touch Therapy

This type of therapy involves light touches on the body — and more often, no touch at all.  It is a wonderful option for those who are particularly sensitive to touch, such as burn victims and others who experience extreme pain, as well as for people who seek relief from mental and emotional stress.

It is a wonderful option for those who are particularly sensitive to touch, such as burn victims and others who experience extreme pain, as well as for people who seek relief from mental and emotional stress.

A typical Healing Touch session consists of an initial dialogue between the individual and practitioner in order to discuss the person’s needs and goals, followed by a thirty to forty-five minute session of non-manipulative physical body work.

The person remains fully clothed, lies down or sits comfortably while the practitioner moves his or her hands over the body, looking and correcting energy imbalances such as congestion around the heart that can indicate emotional wounding. Healing Touch therapists and instructors are required to undergo a rigorous two-year certification program before they are permitted to undertake their practice.

Research

Evidence-based research, such as those described on the website healingtouchresearch.com, indicates that Healing Touch is effective for a wide array of health concerns such as pain relief, sleep disorders, mood enhancement, anxiety relief, and acceleration of the healing of physical wounds. It has  been used to reduce certain side effects of chemotherapy such as “chemo fog” and exhaustion, as well as to provide cancer patients with a stronger sense of self and a willingness to embrace the healing process.

Healing Touch is effective for a wide array of health concerns such as pain relief, sleep disorders, mood enhancement, anxiety relief, and acceleration of the healing of physical wounds.

Practice

Healing Touch is also a wonderful option for those seeking to enhance their own self-care practice. The website healingtouchprogram.com provides a step-by-step diagram for performing a Self Chakra Connection. This exercise works to ground and center the body, what Healing Touch practitioners refer to as “calling yourself home” — away from the scattering forces of life in a fast-moving, changing world. It requires a mere fifteen minutes of your time, in which you are instructed how to hold chakra energy from your feet to the top of your head.  Home study kits, DVDs and CDs are also available from the company Sounds True for those who wish to learn additional basic Healing Touch techniques.

Conclusion

Healing Touch operates under the belief that all of us are surrounded by an abundant and friendly supply of universal energy. With focused attention, anyone can harness this limitless energy for healing and balancing.