I was recently invited to translate a teacher in a somatic education course, and in the first few days she proposed an experience that marked me a lot.
Participants were asked to remember a touch, a touch that had given them reassurance. It could be a childhood memory from 5 years ago or five minutes ago, it didn't matter. If there was no memory, if it was hard to remember, they could imagine, invent the memory of that touch. That didn't matter either.
After writing down these memories/creations in their notebooks, the participants should move from the memory (or invention) of this touch, from the sensation they had in their bodies when remembering or imagining this touch… The minutes that followed were, for me who saw it from the outside, of pure enchantment. With my eyes closed, in a soft and intense way, I saw bodies dancing cradled by invisible hands that conveyed comfort, compassion and, above all, an unshakable peace…
This beautiful exercise made me feel and reflect even more about the healing power of touch - a hug, a look that touches the other, the touch of the wind in the hair, the water on the skin, the foot on the ground mother-Earth, the touch deep into a therapeutic work, they all have a mysterious healing power, perhaps difficult to explain, but easy to feel.
In the therapeutic scope, the deep touch provides us, in addition to releasing the tensions and pains stored in our tissues and nervous system, the improvement in blood and lymphatic circulation, the return of internal spaces, both in a physical and psychological sense. From the contact with our body, we gain vitality, confidence and harmony. As we become aware of old patterns, we gain energy to transform them.
In some shamanic traditions, touch is used not only to heal the body, but also to call back the spirit, as in these traditions, too, there is no separation between one and the other. "Chua Ka" It is an ancient method of massage from Mongolia, anciently used by warriors to remove fear from their bodies before going into battle. In Thailand the use of massage dates back to 300 BC and is still popular today; in India massage is present in Ayurvedic schools as part of a holistic healing system; in Japan Shiatsu was developed; and the Chinese use acupuncture, stimulating and releasing the energy meridians that flow through the body.
These days, more and more people are turning to deep touch therapies because they understand its healing power, not only in terms of physical health, but also for mental and emotional well being. It is important to emphasize that the cure occurs not only through the intervention of the therapist, but mainly through the increase in the client's awareness of his own body, which becomes a path of self-knowledge. And a beautiful path, unique and accessible for each one of us, that we decide, with love, to give the first step.
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