What is Healing Touch & How Can It Help Me?

Healing Touch is an "energy therapy" that uses gentle hand techniques thought to help re-pattern the patient's energy field and accelerate healing of the body, mind, and spirit.

Healing Touch is based on the belief that human beings are fields of energy that are in constant interaction with others and the environment. The goal of Healing Touch is to purposefully use the energetic interaction between the Healing Touch practitioner and the patient to restore harmony to the patient's energy system.

In a Healing Touch session, the practitioner begins with a centering process to calm the mind, access a sense of compassion, and become fully present with the patient. The practitioner then focuses intention on the patient's highest good and places his or her hands lightly on the patient's body or makes sweeping hands motions above the body.

Healing Touch practitioners believe that this process balances and realigns energy flow that has been disrupted by stress, pain, or illness. The process eliminates blockages in the energy field so that the patient is in an optimal state for healing to occur.

Healing Touch complements other healing techniques a patient may already be using, including conventional medical practice in hospitals, clinics and in-home care, or other body-mind oriented therapies such as massage, guided imagery, music therapy, acupressure, biofeedback, and psychotherapy.

It is not intended as a cure.

Healing Touch Video Part I

Healing Touch Video Part 2

Where does healing touch come from?

Healing Touch was developed as a touch therapy program by Janet Mentgen, a nurse who has used energy-based care in her practice in Colorado since 1980. Mentgen and some of her colleagues developed a training program that incorporated the techniques of many well-known healers, as well as concepts borrowed from ancient shamanic and aboriginal healing traditions.

An evolving Healing Touch curriculum supports students in broadening and deepening their skills as energy healers as they move from the beginner to advanced level.

How Can Healing Touch Help Me?

Patients of Healing Touch often report an increased sense of well-being and peace. Many have reported positive experiences that have helped them better cope with illnesses and depression. The following comments or feelings are common:

• "I feel relaxed"
• "safe"
• "more balanced"
• "happier with life"
• "like all my tension is melting away"
• "reassured"

Research studies suggest that Healing Touch is effective for physical and mental relaxation, pain management, anxiety and stress reduction, and increasing one's sense of well-being.

Healing Touch has been used clinically (often by nurses in hospitals) to:

• Promote relaxation before and after medical procedures (such as surgery, childbirth, and diagnostic procedures) to aid in quicker recovery
• Reduce acute and chronic pain
• Promote wound healing
• Manage symptoms of chronic conditions, such as fibromyalgia or chronic headaches
• Improve sleep
• Reduce fatigue in cancer patients receiving radiation
• Enhance the immune system

Healing Touch can be used with all age groups and can be beneficial in all stages of health and illness. It can also be used to promote wellness and enhance personal and spiritual development.

Are there any safety concerns?

Because Healing Touch is a noninvasive energetic technique, there are few safety concerns. In addition, practitioners assess each patient and tailor the level of energy therapy to meet each patient's needs.

While Healing Touch techniques are gentle and noninvasive, children and the elderly tend to be more sensitive to the techniques. As a result, the Healing Touch practitioner may limit the amount of time for the session. In addition, the effect of medications may be enhanced by Healing Touch sessions, so patients should watch for this and speak to their provider if necessary.

Healing Touch is not a substitute for medical treatment. It is never considered to be a cure. Healing Touch complements conventional medical care and helps the body heal.

How Does it Work?

It has not been proven how Healing Touch works. The theory is that all living beings, including humans, are energy systems, and that an individual's energy field is in constant interplay with the surrounding environment.

One nurse theorist, Martha Rogers, believed that the most concentrated part of a being's energy field is the physical body, but that the field also extends beyond the skin, even though it is imperceptible to most people. Living things are continually exchanging energy with each other and, according to Rogers, working toward a universal order.

According to Rogers and other theorists, because an individual's energy field extends beyond the skin, the Healing Touch practitioner can interact with the field. With the use of Healing Touch techniques, the practitioner can reorder the client's energy flow patterns and remove blocks to the flow of vital energy. This allows the client to absorb more energy from the universe, which helps healing to occur.

This has not been observed or measured. However, it is interesting to note that a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) can measure biomagnetic fields emanating from human hands, so this may provide a way to research Healing Touch in the future.

Another way that Healing Touch may help patients is simply the caring relationship between the practitioner and client. It may be that the sense of a loving presence and the reduction of social isolation reduces stress and increases general well-being. The therapy may also promote a relaxation response, which shows up as a drop in blood pressure and heart and respiratory rate, along with a reduction in the production of stress hormones, all of which can contribute to a sense of well-being.

How does modern physics relate to these concepts?

Theories emerging in quantum physics related to non-local consciousness and its effect on the healing process may apply to the Healing Touch practitioners' work with clients.

For more detailed information on subtle energies and consciousness research, refer to The Institute of Noetic Sciences and the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine.