HIGH-TECH, LOW TOUCHMassage & The Power of Touch
Touch and be touched. It’s really pretty simple, and very basic. In fact it’s absolutely necessary and vital to our lives.
Michelangelo is quoted as saying, “To touch is to give life”. He’s actually right on the mark as it is the first of our five senses to develop in the growing fetus. It’s as though we’ve been given a biological imperative to touch and be touched.
Why then have we shied away from more touch and physical contact with each other?
Okay, of course the current Covid-19 pandemic has created the need to “socially distance” (I prefer “safe distance”) and avoid any unnecessary contact over the past year. However, even before the onset of shelter-in-place, we were being referred to as a “high-tech, low touch” society.
Indeed, one of the silver linings of the pandemic may be the widely held recognition of how badly we missed being touched. So many of us expressing the wish, need, and longing to hug and be hugged again.
The absence of touch only reinforced the need for this basic primal requirement. As soon as we come out of the womb there is an imperative to be held, nurtured, cuddled, and touched. So many health issues could be reduced in later life if this were embraced and followed lovingly and regularly.
Of course, a great way to be touched in a safe, healing and nurturing way is to get a massage.
In addition, one of the huge added bonuses to this multilayered experience is the fact that we too often don’t really know what’s going on with our bodies until we have felt the touch of a professional therapist. One of the most common responses I get from clients shortly after a session begins, is “I didn’t know I was so tight or sore or tender there”. I say the very the same thing when I go to see my practitioner! It’s as though we need someone outside of us to help us know the boundaries of where we begin and end. The effect of sensory motor amnesia is an offshoot of this. We literally forget what normal, healthy and balanced is for our bodies. We become numb and disconnected to that particular part of our body. A classic example of this is the person who is walking around with shoulders tensed up around their ears. When they are asked to relax and drop their shoulders, they respond that they are dropped, and believe that to be so!
With the blossoming of Spring and some promising signs that we may be turning a corner on the pandemic, perhaps it’s time for you and your body to get a reality check and rebalance by directly feeling and experiencing the power of therapeutic touch.
The many benefits of safe, healing, touch await you with your next massage. I still have a few spots available this month.
Contact us to reserve your session.
Peace and blessings,
Scott