Energy Medicine is founded upon the theory that we all possess an energy field surrounding and running through our physical bodies, with any blockages to this energy potentially leading to disease or illness. Practitioners believe that failure of this energy flow leads to disease and illness in their patients.
Healing touch therapy has proven itself beneficial for cancer patients. It is often employed to manage stress levels and cope with side effects from chemotherapy treatments.
What is Healing Touch?
Healing touch therapy uses gentle hands-on techniques to support and amplify an individual’s natural ability to heal themselves. Based on the belief that all people are fields of energy that interact with one another and their environment, illness or stress may interrupt this flow, leading to healing touch therapy becoming an energy therapy treatment option.
At each session, a practitioner moves his or her hands a few inches above the body in sweeping hand motions, lightly touching different parts of it in calming movements that some patients even fall asleep during. Practitioners believe they can influence a person’s energy field by channeling more energy towards the affected area.
Healing touch may sound complicated, but its theory is actually quite straightforward. We all live within an energy field called our biofield that contains information about our physical and emotional wellbeing. Scientists are now studying this biofield’s effects on the body; for example, researchers found that cells exposed to healing touch had greater growth potential compared to those which weren’t touched at all.
Healing touch practitioners are specially trained to identify imbalances in the biofield that contribute to disease or discomfort, including centering techniques. A session typically starts by having the practitioner become calm and focused using this process before scanning his/her hands across their patient’s energy field for any sensations or disturbances, before using various hand motions and gentle touch over their body to restructure this energy field and clear away any negative or stuck energies.
Healing Touch technique is an invaluable addition to the toolbox of any healthcare provider, as it provides a non-invasive means of soothing pain, reducing anxiety and encouraging wellness. Additionally, it complements numerous other forms of care such as acupuncture, massage and guided imagery; however it’s essential for patients to inform practitioners if they possess electronic medical devices such as pacemakers that could interfere with its functions during treatment.
How Does Healing Touch Work?
Research on energy therapies is expanding despite some medical professionals’ reservations about them. Scientists now understand that our bodies have an energy field which interacts with circulatory, nervous and lymphatic systems to support physical and emotional well-being of humans. Energy healing techniques, including Healing Touch, are founded upon this idea that our energy systems play a vital role in maintaining health.
Touch has long been recognized and practiced for its healing benefits. Laying on of hands has long been practiced across religious and spiritual traditions; massage is widely utilized for pain relief; acupuncture uses needles to stimulate energy flows in the body. Healing Touch practitioners utilize gentle hand movements to restore the natural balance in a person’s biofield.
Healing Touch sessions provide a soothing and restorative experience that can help people relax, feel calmer, less anxiety-ridden, and empower the body’s own ability to heal itself.
Sessions take place in an ambient space similar to massage therapy rooms, with patients lying on a massage table or sitting comfortably in a chair and remaining fully clothed throughout. A practitioner begins by leading their client through a process of relaxation and focus, before scanning their energy field with hand motions in order to detect sensing sensations and imbalances within it. At times during their session, hands may come close or touch lightly upon the body itself (off-body touch) so as to clear their energy field and restore equilibrium.
As Healing Touch practitioners assist their client to find and release any potential sources of disease or illness within their energy fields, it aims to restore balance on all levels: physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
Healing Touch was initially developed in the 1980s by nurse Janet Mentgen and is taught today at many medical schools and hospitals worldwide. Anyone can learn to implement Healing Touch into their healthcare routine; Certified Healing Touch Practitioners (CHTPs) undergo extensive training before adhering to a code of ethics and standards of practice.
What is the Goal of a Healing Touch Session?
Healing Touch is an energy therapy treatment suitable for all ages and conditions, suitable to complement standard medical care. As the healing energy shifts to where it’s needed, pain eases off and the body’s natural ability to heal is activated. Healing Touch offers gentle energy therapy suitable for everyone and offers rapid relief when used alone or alongside traditional medical therapies.
Though energy medicine may still be relatively new, its science has advanced rapidly. Scientists now recognize that each human emits their own electromagnetic field that can be measured, as well as that this field affects illness and disease as well as our physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing.
Healing Touch practitioners use light, gentle touches of their hands to restore energy flow and support clients in their natural healing ability. Sessions of Healing Touch can be relaxing and nurturing experiences, allowing clients to completely let go and allow the natural healing process to commence.
A session typically lasts 30-40 minutes. A practitioner first assesses their energy field with both eyes and hands before applying a technique such as light touch or sweeping hand motions above the body. She continuously monitors their energy field while making necessary adjustments during her session; at the conclusion of each one she “grounds” their client to bring them back into an alert state.
Healing Touch sessions involve clients lying fully clothed on a table while their practitioner places her hands lightly over various parts of their body, such as their head, heart, lungs, abdomen and rib cage. Clients commonly report experiencing warmth or tingling sensations; others may express an increased feeling of peace and wellbeing.
Studies have revealed the power of Healing Touch to ease anxiety and discomfort associated with surgery, accelerate cancer chemotherapy recovery, relieve nausea during digestive procedures and significantly decrease stress and anxiety symptoms in combat veterans with PTSD. Furthermore, one such study concluded that Healing Touch significantly decreased stress symptoms in these veterans.
What is the Goal of a Private Session?
Healing Touch practitioners aim to restore equilibrium and harmony to body, mind and spirit by addressing any imbalances that block life force energy flow and helping restructure energy fields for enhanced healing on multiple levels. As a noninvasive energy therapy treatment it has proven its worth in many areas such as stress reduction, relieving pain relief after surgery, improving immune function, lowering blood pressure and heart rate as well as increasing sleep quality.
Energy Touch practitioners use gentle hand techniques to clear, energize and balance the chakras and meridians found throughout and surrounding the physical body. This energy system plays a pivotal role in physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being and Energy Touch practitioners have been specifically trained to assess how it is functioning for clients.
Healing Touch goes beyond restoring balance and re-patterning energy fields; it addresses the causes of disease or illness on a cellular level. If not addressed and removed from one’s energy field, symptoms will likely resurface at different times and locations across their bodies, and Healing Touch practitioners often help clients find relief of symptoms while their bodies begin healing themselves.
Private sessions typically occur in a quiet, comfortable setting with the client laying or sitting comfortably on a massage table or chair in full clothing. Client and practitioner collaborate in setting clear intentions for the session before scanning their energy field or biofield with hands or pendulum to identify imbalances or disturbances in energy flow.
Healing Touch can be used as an adjunct to traditional medical treatments and can provide invaluable assistance during all aspects of surgical care (pre, intra and post op), cancer therapy and recovery, including chemotherapy/radiation side effects while encouraging patients to be involved more actively in their healing processes.
