However, we are a touch starved nation. As children we were told over again “don’t touch that” and in school “keep your hands to yourself”. We have to be cognizant in the work place and in public of who and how we touch. My purpose in this article is not to write about any inappropriateness when it comes to touch. I am focusing on why it is important for our bodies and our skin to receive positive touch when done appropriately and with permission. I will use the word “touch” as a generalization throughout the article.
What happens to our skin when it is touched? Have you felt the little hairs in your skin stand up before? Ever felt a rush of blood pumped to the surface of your skin like in the instance of blushing? The sense of touch sends messages to the brain to be interpreted in many ways. In the business of Esthetics, massage and therapeutic touch are primary to the function of our occupation. Most often, it is the massage experience of a skin treatment that clients enjoy the most. Your skin reacts to our touch during your treatments from the first moment we initiate touch until the end of the treatment. Your cells create all kinds of activity that affect your limbic system, circulatory system, and nervous system. The result generates glowing skin, emotional responses, purification, relaxation, and more.
I listened to a breast cancer survivor tell me that after receiving a facial treatment, she began to cry when the Esthetician exited the room. She explained it was the first time in months that she had been touched in a caring way that didn’t involve hospital personnel or needles. She just let the tears flow. How powerful!
What does all of this have to do with the heart chakra? Appropriate touch is therapeutic and opens up the heart, allowing love and acceptance to flow out and be received effortlessly. Just think how easy it is to express love, appreciation, and gratitude to others and to ourselves when our heart is feeling alive instead of closed off, angry, or depressed.
As we begin a new year, let’s consider
reaching out more to others with
appropriate gestures of touch. Simply
by hugging more, holding hands,
snuggling on the couch, or by initiating
a small gesture like an easy hand on
another’s shoulder, we can open
someone’s heart and our own heart to
give and receive love, acceptance, and
compassion. Touch will change lives
and heal our souls.
Peace to you.