How do you feel about touch?  Do you like being touched?  Where is it welcomed in your life, and where is it repelled?

When I think about these questions in my own life, I’ve welcomed touch by a few people in my private life.  It’s brought connection and an “I’m here with you” feeling that I’ve cherished and enjoyed. 

But is in my professional life where touch has been restricted.  It’s been restricted to giving a hug to a client only when asked, or touching a Yoga student in class only with their expressed permission.  It’s all been good.  I’ve felt comfortable in this zone for a very long time.

Then, a whole new experience of touch entered my world.  One that came through an established Yoga therapy called Phoenix Rising.  It opened my eyes to new ways of giving and receiving touch that I saw could affect healing and growth in very potent ways, particularly if you’re struggling with the effects of trauma and addiction.

Here are a few examples of what I mean: 

  • Touch can bring you out of the experience of isolation and into the experience of connection and communion with yourself.  
  • Touch can help you to be in the present moment, a place that may still feel very scary, and do so thoughtfully, safely, and with compassion. 
  • Touch can be a pathway to feeling good again in your body, which can be like entering a foreign country without knowing the language.  Through experiences with trauma and addiction, the body can become like a battlefield with conflicting thoughts and strong, explosive emotions.  Touch can be a way of getting to know the body again in a friendly way. 

These are just a few of the ways that touch can be helpful along the healing path.

It’s something to think about.  The right form of touch at the right time can be another empowering element of your pathway to healing and growth.

I see it now in a whole new light:  touch is a powerful and effective way of coming back home to the body, moving stuck energy and creating safety for the one receiving the experience.

In the work I do with clients, and in the personal work I will continue to do with myself, touch will be more welcomed now than ever before.  It ROCKS!