Rx: Touch

I was visiting an assisted living center one day when I heard someone say that the recommended minimum daily requirement for hugs was fourteen. Now I don=t know about you, but I am certainly deficient in that area. So I began to look around and think more seriously, not just about hugs specifically, but about touch in general.

There are many ways to touch other peoples= lives and most of us do that without even thinking about it. But how many people do we actually physically touch each day. And of those that we physically touch, how many of them do we consciously touch with love. Even a simple handshake can be turned into a warm gift when we focus on the exchange instead of hurrying through it without thought. How many opportunities to share have we missed by our reluctance to make physical contact with another? How many times have we held back due to fear of having our actions misinterpreted? We are very rapidly becoming a touch deprived society that is suffering a plague of spiritual poverty and that is not only sad, but very unhealthy. Even scientists acknowledge the importance of touch as a factor in survival of many illnesses and life events. Studies in orphanages have shown that babies who are not touched do not thrive, but rather become sickly and die. I don=t know of a study that has been done on the aged, the chronically ill, or the handicapped but I would not be surprised to see similar results. My own observations have shown me how much touch is needed at all ages.

Although I have been practicing Reiki for many years, and thereby touching people every day, it was only a little over a year ago that I had an experience that showed me just how deeply loving touch is needed. The circumstances involved a gentleman to whom I gave Reiki treatments. He was confined to a bed in a nursing home, fed by tubes, unable to move and barely able to speak. His body was shriveled and contorted from the effects of his illness, and his days were spent lying there listening to music through headphones. I described to him what I would be doing during the Reiki treatment and received his permission. So, climbing over the tubes and I.V. bottles I began at his head and could shortly feel his body begin to relax. As I moved my hands down his body he began to weep gently and, when I reached his heart area, I was overwhelmed with the sense of peace and love and thanksgiving that was emanating from him. Later, I had the opportunity to speak with a family member and to observe the care he received from the nursing staff. He was physically being well cared for and he was being touched each day several times by proficient staff who would turn him, clean him, change his I.V.=s etc. A few family members would visit him occasionally and hug him and hold his hand. But his wife had left him years earlier when his illness became severe and it was clear that he had not been touched with love in the many years since.

What I learned from this man made a lasting impression on me. As human beings, we have the potential to bring the healing power of love to all who inhabit this planet. As care givers, we are the front line, the basic point of contact. It matters not if we are nurses, energy workers, doctors, aides or clergy. All we need do is fill our hearts with love and share that love with our clients, our families and all others whose paths in some way intersect with ours. And though we may not immediately see the benefits for them, rest assured that healing is taking place and that it is benefiting us as well. Then maybe, just maybe, our actions will catch on and spread to the point that poverty of spirit will be a plague of the past. So next time you touch someone, no matter what your field of expertise is, really touch them. Be focused and loving and be prepared to receive a gift of love in return. And, if all else fails, give two hugs and call me in the morning.

-9/9/99

Rev. Margaret Self is a Reiki Master/Teacher of the Traditional Usui Method of Reiki Healing. She is the founder of the Carolina Reiki Institute, Inc. and a member of the International Assoc. of Reiki Professionals. She teaches all levels of Reiki, trains practitioners, and accepts clients for individual and group Reiki treatments.

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