On Friday I received an email from a friend, The message was from a website that he reads and it had a lovely reminder of the importance of touch in our lives. I wanted to share it with you:
Healing Our Bodies
Touch
It’s important to not forget about the power of the human touch in our lives.
Sometimes we might concentrate so much on our spiritual lives that we overlook the wonders of being present in our physical form. When we are more aware of the fact that our bodies are also important in terms of our personal growth, we may find it easier to nurture them. One of the most powerful ways to do this is through human touch, for a loving, comforting touch allows us to access the part of ourselves that yearns for a sense of oneness with the world around us. Even simple forms of touch connect us not just to our bodies but also to the energetic presence of other people.
There are so many ways to incorporate touch in our daily lives, one of the easiest being a heartfelt embrace. Just making a point to hug someone on a daily basis and really feel our energy pass between each other can strengthen the bonds that keep us together. Hugs help us heal any hurt or upset we may have recently experienced by letting us release into the moment of the embrace and realize that no matter what happens to us, we have someone in our lives who supports and cares for us.
Another nourishing form of touch is massage. While we may think of massage as a luxury, it is actually an ancient form of healing that enables us to open up our energetic pathways in order to receive unlimited energy from the universe. It doesn’t matter whether a simple massage comes from a loved one or a massage therapist, but by giving ourselves the gift of massage every once in a while, we are doing something healthy and beneficial for our bodies. Massage helps our bodies activate their own restorative powers, creating a wonderful way to engage fully in our own healing.
Letting ourselves take advantage of the healing nature of touch creates space where we can truly live in and experience the world through our bodies, allowing us to completely immerse ourselves in the loving sense of joy and wonder that is our life.
Several years ago I did some research on the benefits of touch and found many documented cases where it was proven that monkeys die if they are not touched (receiving milk from a wire “mother”), and that babies who had been left alone to languish in their cribs in orphanages after WWII either died, or became mentally-disturbed, never recuperating from the lack of gentle touch. There were so many other research cases that it became apparent that many of the ills of our world could be resolved by simply making people feel loved, and by the healing power of touch.
I speak so often about sports injuries and chronic pain that I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned that I can also do relaxing Swedish massage, and that I’m trained to do Lymphatic Drainage, an extremely light therapy that assists the body to release toxins that are stored in the lymphatic system (the sewer system of the body).
My office is in Chapel Hill, NC and I’d be happy to make an appointment to see you. I also travel to several areas in Texas (Houston, Austin, Dallas, and surrounding areas) and New York (Rockland, Cooperstown, and NYC). Plus I teach all over the USA.
In any case, I hope you’ll visit a local massage therapist and gain the benefits provided by releasing tension from your muscles.
Wishing you well,
Julie