Therapeutic Touch: How it Works

Therapeutic Touch, which was first coined thus by therapist Dora Kuntz, who defined many of its principles and goals, has its affinities with faith healing, reiki, and other practices that seem miraculous to people who view the body as merely a fixed and solid thing. These disciplines, on the other hand, recognize a subtle, non-physical energy that is universal - i.e., that is within every living thing, and forever present and available to us. Though such a concept is fairly foreign in the West, other cultures have recognized it: in India, for example, the energy is known as prana. Because this energy is everyone's birthright, the potential to wield Therapeutic Touch is thought to be present within all people.

Whereas contemporary medicine is primarily concerned with addressing specific symptoms of any illness, those who believe in the ubiquitous life force view true healing as the integration of a person's body, mind, and spirit. Therapeutic Touch seeks to balance the patient's energies and restore him or her to the natural flow of life. Who is really doing the healing? It seems that, though both healer and patient play a vital role in the process, it is nature that is the true cure-all. Disease entails some kind of obstruction or depletion of the life force, and the healer acts as a facilitator to draw upon the flow and direct it. A cured patient is one for whom the subtle energy flows freely in, through, and out.

Because of the nature of this work, those who perform Therapeutic Touch are not drained but rather replenished by the process.

What has their work accomplished? Therapeutic Touch has been applied to physical wounds, with the result that they healing process is sped up and these afflictions feel less painful and uncomfortable in the meantime. Patients typically show signs of deep relaxation: they breath slower and more deeply, their muscles loosen, and the feel an increase in warm, vital circulation. Treatment of illnesses (especially chronic ones) can be achieved just as effectively, though this often takes more time because real integration must occur within the patient - and this requires a psychological as well as a physical change.

In order to do their work, practitioners must be completely present in the moment and free of distracting or negative emotions themselves. Essentially, those who work with Therapeutic Touch believe that people (and animals as well) are the life energy. They also believe that this energy is not only available but also responsive to our intent. Thus, working energetically can balance and restore the bodily system because the body is really not so solid as it appears anyway. Despite this, however, most practitioners view Therapeutic Touch as a supplement to traditional medical and surgical procedures rather than a substitute for them.

The basic method of healing involves first exploring the patient's energy field and determining the essential quality of it. From there, a healer will isolate the areas where the flow of life energy is congested or lacking. Then they clear away the blockages, transfer life energy into those depleted areas, and finally balance the overall flow of energy within the patient's body.