Therapeutic
Touch For Everyday Healing
by Mary Kirby, LMHC
I first learned how to do therapeutic touch with a wonderful group of
women who met together weekly for support around issues of loss, grief,
trauma and relationships. Not an unusual group in many ways, except that
the facilitator taught us all to do therapeutic touch. At the time (six
years ago), I thought this was a novel thing to do in a support group.
Only a few short years later I understood that not only did the experience
of learning a healing modality bring us closer together as a group, but it
gave us the gift of realizing that we are all beings of light and energy,
and that we could bring about everyday healing experiences in ourselves
and those we love through gently "touching" the energy field.
Learning to touch and clear the energy
field is a gift that anyone can give to themselves. So many people believe
that they will not be able to sense the energy field. Many think that some
special talent or ability is required. One of the most wonderful aspects
of therapeutic touch is that it is available to everyone. I have taught
therapeutic touch for two years now, and my favorite experience with
teaching is getting to see the looks of excitement on my students' faces
when they sense the energy field for the first time. The first time they
dear a classmate's headache or their child's stomach ache, they just light
up.
The philosophy behind therapeutic touch is
much the same as for many energy work modalities. The idea is that the
energy field is the template for our physical, emotional and spiritual
well being. When the energy field is blocked or imbalanced, dis-ease in
these areas results. When life force is running freely through the energy
field and the field is dear and unblocked, then people are able to
manifest abundance in their health, emotional and spiritual lives.
Interestingly, therapeutic touch has been taught in nursing curriculums
for dose to one hundred years and has been pioneered in this country by
Delores Kriegger.
Learning therapeutic touch requires
learning to sense the energy field and notice areas of imbalance in the
field. Providing therapeutic touch to someone requires learning a
multi-step process of setting a loving intention that the energy world
supports the practitioner and the recipients highest good,
"scanning" the energy field for imbalances, sweeping or clearing
the energy field, balancing the field, and setting a dosing intention. For
those wishing to experience a brief introduction to this work, try the
following exercise.
The next time you are feeling stressed,
find a quiet spot. Begin by sitting in a comfortable chair. Now place your
hands, palms down, a few inches above the middle of the top of your head.
Notice what your fingers feel. You may feel a tingling sensation, warmth
or a prickliness. If you don't feel anything, ask yourself what color or
sound is associated with that' part of your energy, field. Now move your
hands in a smooth motion head to toe, palms facing your body, down the
front of your body, out past your feet and into tine air in front of you.
Then shake them off as if you were shaking off water at the end of the
motion. "Sweep" your energy field several more times from the
top of your head to out past your toes, shaking off your hands at the end
of each motion.
Now place your hands above the middle of
the top of your head. What do you feel now? Does it feel cooler, less
prickly, less tingling? If you used color or sound, have they changed?
Now, check to see how your stress level is. Does your head feel lighter,
do you feel more relaxed? If you did not get a change, try a few more
sweeps. Check for a change again. Now give your hands a rinse in cool
running water to wash off any sticky energy that was picked up while you
were clearing your energy field. You are now done, and hopefully feeling
more relaxed and centered. Congratulations! You have just completed your
first basic therapeutic touch self-treatment!
For a more in depth presentation on
therapeutic touch. Delores Kriegger's The Therapeutic Touch, (1979,
Prentice Hall) is an excellent reference. I encourage you to further
explore this wonderful resource for everyday healing.
____________________
Mary
Kirby has a private practice in energy work and massage in Gloucester,
MA and at the North Shore
Athletic and Wellness Center in Beverly, MA. Mary has studied energy based
healing for the past seven years and started Healing Arts three
years ago, where she began offering and teaching energy work. Mary teaches
with warmth and humor and honors each student’s individuality and
personal understanding of energy work. She holds certificates in Holistic
and Therapeutic Massage, Polarity Therapy, Therapeutic Touch, Thought
Field Therapy I, II ™ and is a Reiki Master Teacher. She also has a
Masters degree in Counseling Psychology and is a Licensed Mental Health
Counselor in Massachusetts. To schedule a session, obtain a class schedule
for Therapeutic Touch or Reiki attunements, or to arrange a speaking
engagement, call 978-282-3140 or email healartsinst@msn.com.
This article was originally published in Spirit
of Change Magazine—not to be confused with OfSpirit.com Holistic
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