Healing touch massage also known as Therapeutic Touch massage, doesn’t involve the ordinary massage procedure where muscles and tissues are literally twisted. Instead of direct pressure, the focus of this therapy is on energy, using a light or no-touch technique to work with the body’s energy field. The objective is to have the body regain its capability to heal itself. The therapist’s hands may reach the body or lightly touch it to heal any imbalances of the energy.
This method was named by Janet Mentgen from Colorado who was a nurse and developed it in the ’80s. She observed that suggesting a gentle touch or using energy work could actually help someone who was in pain. In 1996, Janet founded Healing Beyond Borders after having already trained other nurses in her method. An example of the work of this nonprofit organization is the certification of nurses, other healthcare providers, and caregivers in Healing Touch. Currently, there also exists Healing Touch in the many large hospitals such as the Mayo Clinic and Veterans Health Administration hospitals.
Healing Touch is applied to help put someone at ease, ease pain, anxiety, and stress whilst being helpful in improving the quality of the sleep. It is also useful for patients involved in medical procedures such as surgery, childbirth, or diagnostic interview, as it can catalyze a speedy recovery.
How Healing Touch Massage Works
It focuses on clearing, balancing, and aligning the energy field of the patient to facilitate self-healing. The practitioner uses gentle touch or no-touch techniques, such as hovering their hands slightly above the patient’s body or making light contact with specific points.
A Healing Touch massage session typically lasts 40 to 60 minutes and may include the following:
– The practitioner focuses their energy and becomes deeply intentional throughout the session.
– The practitioner may use direct contact or hands placed above the body.
– The session aims to restore harmony to the energy field, allowing the patient to self-heal.
– The specifics of how Healing Touch works are not yet fully understood, but empirical evidence supports that it provides positive benefits to patients under different circumstances.
Healing Touch Massage is based on the belief that human beings have fields of energy that interact constantly with their environment.
Benefits of Healing Touch Massage
Healing Touch Massage has many advantages, like:
– Making you less worried and sad
– Easing pain, even if it’s long-lasting
– Helping you sleep better
– Helping your body fight off sickness
– Making your blood pressure go down
– Helping your body digest food better
– Helping your body heal itself
– Making you feel better both physically and mentally
– Relieving pain and discomfort
– Helping your body heal itself faster
– Making you feel calm and less stressed
– Helping people with dementia by making them shout less, be less anxious, and less aggressive
Healing Touch Techniques
Healing Touch massage techniques aim to help people feel better in body, mind, and spirit. There are two main techniques:
- Chakra Connection: The healer puts their hands on the person, starting at the feet and moving up to each joint. This helps balance the body’s energy centers called chakras.
- Magnetic Passes: The healer moves their hands slowly over the person’s body without touching them. This helps remove energy blockages and promotes healing.
Research and Evidence
Research shows that Healing Touch massage can help people relax both physically and mentally. It’s useful for managing pain, reducing anxiety and stress, and making people feel better overall. In hospitals, it’s often used to help patients relax before or after medical procedures, lessen both short-term and long-term pain, speed up the healing of wounds, manage symptoms of ongoing health issues, and improve sleep. Healing Touch doesn’t involve any surgery or invasive procedures. Practitioners focus on fixing any problems they find in a person’s energy field.
Healing Touch for Various Conditions
Healing Touch is a type of therapy that works alongside other treatments to help with different health issues like cancer, long-lasting pain, and stress-related problems. It’s gentle and doesn’t involve any invasive procedures. Instead, it uses soft, deliberate touching to help balance how you feel physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Studies show that Healing Touch can help you relax, manage pain, reduce anxiety and stress, and feel better overall.
People use Healing Touch massage in hospitals, nursing homes, private clinics, end-of-life care centers, and even spas. For example, at the Lovelace Cancer Center, they use Healing Touch along with other treatments for cancer, heart disease, chronic pain, and other illnesses.
For cancer patients, Healing Touch massage has been proven to lessen pain, worry, and queasiness, while boosting energy and overall well-being. We’re not exactly sure how it works, but research shows that it does help people in different situations.
Arguments Against Healing Touch Massage
Some people have doubts about Healing Touch massage, though not everyone agrees with them. Some critics say that Healing Touch works only because people believe it does, not because of any real effect. They also say there’s no scientific proof that energy fields exist or that they can be used to help heal. Others say that Healing Touch shouldn’t be the only treatment for serious illnesses and that it’s not a replacement for regular medical care.
But those who support Healing Touch massage argue differently. They believe it’s a helpful addition to regular medical treatments, not a replacement. They say it can help with things like relaxing, managing pain, reducing anxiety and stress, and making people feel better overall. They also point to research that shows Healing Touch can be effective.
Even with these disagreements, Healing Touch is widely used in places like hospitals, nursing homes, and spas. It’s also taught in schools around the world for medicine and nursing.
Cost of Healing Touch Massage
The cost of a each massage will differ. Whether the person giving the session is more experienced than you or what the person getting the session thinks the session needs is what determines the price together with the average prices in the area.
Individuals give 40 to 80 dollars for an hour session. It is in fact true that it is uncommon for health insurers to reimburse for such therapy. If you see a Healing Touch session in a hospital or another medical center, it is likely that the nursing assistant will do it or it will be a grant or volunteers who will pay for such services. This might also vary depending on where you are located and how much training and experience the person providing the consultation has.
