Therapeutic
Touch: A Hands-on Healing Modality
by Sylvia D. Scott, M.Ed., R.M.T.
Therapeutic Touch is a method of healing wherein the hands of the practitioner are utilized to direct energy to the healee. The therapeutic use of human hands is an extremely ancient example of the ability and willingness of humans to help heal other women and men. Written history dating back some 5,000 years documents the therapeutic use of human hands, as do cave paintings in the Pyrenees estimated to be 15,000 years young. Additional confirmation of such usage exists in the ancient healing traditions which continue to be handed down from teacher to pupil in India, Tibet, China and Japan; in the early rock carvings of Egypt and Chaldea; in the writings of both the Old and New Judeo-Christian Testaments; in the accounts of certain historical figures such as the Roman emperors Vespasian and Hadrian, as well as the Norwegian king Olaf, thought by some to be a saint. The 'laying-on' of hands was known as the "King's Touch" in early England and France; the touch of the king was considered especially good for the curing of goiter and other throat ailments. Common folk of that day who demonstrated the gift of healing by touch were suspected of being pretenders to the throne.
Therapeutic Touch (TT) was developed by Dolores Kreiger, Ph.D., R.N., Professor of Nursing at New York University, out of nine years of research on healing, six years of clinical practice of TT and five years of teaching this very ancient practice. Dora Kunz derived the techniques of TT from the practice of laying-on-of-hands and collaborated with Kreiger in the early 1970's.
The therapeutic use of hands appears to be a universal human act. TT recaptured this simple yet elegant ancient mode of healing and mated it with the rigor and power of modern science. There is hard evidence supporting the fact that treatment by TT affects the healee's blood components and brain waves, and that it elicits a generalized relaxation response in her/him. In addition, strong indications exist that this highly personalized interaction between the practitioner and the healee invokes a sense of self-responsibility for health in the healee. TT derives from a mode of healing that persons of all cultures have been able to tap into since the dawn of documented history; consequently, anyone can learn to use TT. Perhaps the greatest part of TT's expertise lies in the practitioner's ability to direct this energy.
TT is noticeably useful in two major areas: 1) it elicits a profound generalized relaxation experience in the healee and 2) it is very good at relieving pain. Of great importance is the fact that it is the healee who heals him/herself. The practitioner is like a set of jumper cables that jump start a car whose battery has too little energy to start its own engine. In other words, the practitioner generally only boosts the healee's own recuperative system until the system takes over for itself. Sometimes the practitioner can accelerate the healing process. However, if the healee does not wish to be healed for whatever reason, no amount of TT can change the afflicting condition over an extended period of time.
TT is often referred to as a healing meditation. The primary requisite of TT, for both the practitioner and the healee, is to center oneself in a natural way, and to maintain that centering throughout the entire TT treatment. There are four phases of TT:
- Centering one's self physically and psychologically.
- Assessment, in which the practitioner exercises the natural sensitivity of his/her hands to note any differences in the quality of the energy flow in the healee's energy field.
- Mobilization of any areas in the healee's energy field that the practitioner perceives to be "non-flowing"— i.e., sluggish, congested or static.
- The conscious direction of the energy to assist the healee in repatterning his/her own energy.
It is important to note that what is done in the assessment has no relationship to other forms of evaluation, such as a medical diagnosis. In this assessment process, the TT practitioner is solely looking for differences in the energy flow of the healee. TT is a complementary form of treatment, and when other forms of therapy are needed, TT should only be used as an adjunct method of healing.
Although much of the energy work done by this practitioner does not readily appear to elicit miracles, one particular event stands out in memory. A number of years ago, a special friend told me that she would need to have surgery because of a hole in her heart; it had become so large that death would occur if the hole was not repaired surgically. Surgery was scheduled, but a healing treatment was given prior to the surgery, lasting for about an hour, in which my friend drew love and compassion and healing energy into her body. A few weeks later, reassessment at the time of surgery revealed a total healing of the deformity. For the power of love, there is no obstacle too sturdy, no heart broken beyond repair, no request for healing that cannot be responded to with lightspeed.