ADDITIONAL WAYS OF DOING LONG-DISTANCE THERAPEUTIC TOUCH
By Barbara Janelle M.A.
In Touch, Vol. XI, No. 4, November 1999
The usual procedure for doing long-distance Therapeutic Touch is to center, visualize the recipient and then proceed with assessment and the normal treatment steps, as if the person were actually present. The visualization may have the person in actual size, or miniaturized, and the treatment is visualized with or without accompanying hand movements.
Practitioners frequently report that their intuitive assessments are later confirmed by the recipient, and recipients often report significant feelings of relaxation and relief of pain at the time of the treatment. Even in situations where no specific time for a treatment has been set (just the agreement that at some point in a day or a week a long-distance treatment would be done), later checks still give confirmation of feelings of relaxation and greater comfort at the actual time of the treatment.
THE ISSUE OF PERMISSION
The question of permission arises in long-distance TT and the approved approach is to ask the recipient’s permission before doing a treatment, just as we would for a regular treatment. Indeed, long-distance treatment appointments are frequently made so that the recipient is in a situation to best receive the treatment, e.g., sitting or lying down in a specific place and at an agreed upon time.
There have been many times when I have done long-distance treatments even though I could not contact the person to ask permission. Most of these treatments went easily and there was confirmation of a positive effect when I checked with the person later.
However, there were a number of experiences in which my long-distance treatment was rejected. In the early moments of each of these sessions, I sensed a barrier – a wall, a nothingness, no information, difficulty in holding center, etc. This is the same kind of feeling that one gets in playing Krieger’s Barrier Game
With these experiences, I recognised that permission is given or denied by the field even in long-distance treatments where it has not been formally sought.
ANOTHER APPROACH
Barriers. I wondered if there was some way that I could offer the support of a long -distance treatment without triggering the building of a barrier. In regular TT treatments, I have encountered barriers with people, who even though they gave permission, really did not want a TT treatment. In one experience with a very ill horse, my refusal to accept the animal’s path resulted in a complete blockage to my work.
Was there a way of offering a long-distance treatment that would support the person (or animal) in whatever way was appropriate for that being and on whatever path he/she chose to walk in this lifetime?
Field as partner. For some years now in regular TT treatments, I have been offering a ball of light to the field and trusting the field to employ it where it is needed. This approach honours the needs of the field and recognises it as a partner in the treatment. It is also extraordinarily effective, indeed much more so than the standard TT step of directing energy to specific places within the field.
I decided to use the energy ball within the framework of long-distance TT. Essentially, I would be saying to the receiver-field, “Here’s some energy. Use it in whatever way is most appropriate for you at this time.” Because a TT treatment affects the receiver on every level – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual, I would also be saying, “Direct it to the appropriate level(s).”
Experiments. I built a ball of light between my hands and let it grow bigger. Then I asked that more light and love come in from the universe to make this ball even brighter. In my mind, I invited a relative who had always rejected my offers of TT, to enter the ball of light and take what she needed on whatever level she needed it. This was accepted easily and beautifully. I was offering support in a way that did not impose my own goals on her, but rather honoured her needs and wishes.
As I used this approach more and more, I always found that some level of the being would accept its support. The scenario that I hold is of my highself offering support to the high self of another. On the level of wise magnificent, loving beings that we all are, support is always accepted, never rejected.
Using the ball of light long-distance TT also satisfied my basic laziness that so often leads me to experiment and find easier, more elegant ways of working. By developing a large ball of light I could invite many people into it at once and thereby offer long-distance TT to quite a mob simultaneously!
I also find that using the ball of light in this way is very helpful in difficult personal situations. By building a ball of light in my hands and asking that there be more love and light in this situation, immediate and often dramatic changes occur.
AND YET ANOTHER STYLE
In November 1998, Emmagene Borden spoke to my Level 3 class at the University of Western Ontario. Leading an exercise, Em raised both arms in a large V to the ceiling and visualised this “cup” filling with light. Then she funnelled the light with her hands and intent into the field of the person standing in front of her.
This beautiful image of Em opening and filling her cup with universal energy stayed with me until one day, I found myself using it as a means of doing long-distance Therapeutic Touch. I thought of a person I wished to support on the journey of this life, and raising my arms to the sky I invited light and love to fill this V and then imagined it raining down and through my friend, bringing love and brightness to her. As with the ball of light method, there is no specific outcome in mind, only a general loving support for this wonderful being.
Pretty soon, I was using this for groups of people, places, and even the Earth herself. Quite lovely!
PRINCIPLES
The ideas that I work with now in my long-distance TT treatments are:
1. In these forms of long-distance Therapeutic Touch, as in regular treatments, pattern and energy are addressed with visualisations of wholeness and energy input.
2. The field/being employs the offered support to where it is most needed, within the physical field and/or on some other level of the being.
3. The energy offered may come upon request from the infinite sea of Light in which we exist.
4. By offering support and leaving it up to the receiver to accept it on whatever level is appropriate, issues of permission and of attachment to outcome are avoided. The spiritual aspect of a person never refuses the unconditional offer of energy-light-love.
ADVANTAGES
There are many ways of doing long-distance Therapeutic Touch. The ones described here offer support without strings attached offering love-energy-light to another being on whatever level he/she wishes to receive it. Some of the advantages of using these approaches to long distance TT are:
a) the elimination of issues of permission and attachment to outcome
b) the possibilities of offering TT to a group of people simultaneously, to a place or to an event
c) the possibility of offering TT to a person., event or place in the present, past, or future
d) the ease of offering a long-distance treatment
BJ 7/99