SOME INSIGHTS ON THERAPEUTIC TOUCH
By Barbara Janelle M.A.
Southwestern Ontario TT Gathering Conference Papers, April 28-30, 2000, Waterloo, ON. Reprinted Vision & Reality 2000 Conference Papers, Markham, ON, November 4 & 5, 2000
My experience with Therapeutic Touch over the past sixteen years has led to the following understandings.
1. Affect. In a Therapeutic Touch treatment, we affect the field in two ways, simultaneously:
a) through conscious energy interaction
b) through centering and resonance
2. Order. The field has an innate sense of order. When that order is disturbed as in the case of illness, Therapeutic Touch can nudge the field to move toward greater order.
From the standpoint of energy interaction, supporting the flow and integration through the field is a valuable step in supporting a return to order.
From the standpoint of centering and resonance, the field proceeds in its own pristine fashion toward order when the practitioner deepens centering and pays attention to the field (without necessarily doing anything else). In my experience, the support offered by deep centering is often more effective than direct energy interaction in promoting a move toward order in a severely disrupted field.
3. Service. The practitioner’s primary focus in the TT treatment is to be in service to the receiver. All personal issues are set aside for the period of the treatment. This allows for full engagement in the TT conversation with the field. Combined with this is the recognition of the receiver as a beautiful and valued being. This awareness supports compassion and touches the receiver very deeply in ways that support a move toward wholeness.
4. Interaction. The TT treatment is a two-way conversation with the field. By continually monitoring the field, the practitioner
a) learns how the field is accepting the treatment, and
b) receives images and intuitive information from the field that guide the treatment.
5. Subtlety and Pauses. Subtle work is much more effective than too much or too forceful effort in the field. From the energetic standpoint, the field accepts a little work and needs time to process it. Too much energy directed into the field is rejected; that requires effort by the field and slows the response to the treatment. Brief work periods interspersed with rest periods allow the field to use the treatment well. A lot happens in the pauses.
The resonance effect of being deeply centered introduces infinite peace, infinite knowing, infinite possibility into the treatment and that can lead to an overall shift in the receiver.
6. Offering vs. Directing. In energy modulation, offering energy is often more effective than determining and directing volume, vibration (colour), speed and location of energy input. The field knows its own needs and will direct or redirect energy to where it is needed. To work with the field and trust it to both direct and use our work is much more effective than imposing work on the field.
7. Wholeness. Healing is a return to wholeness: a union of all aspects of the being. In the TT treatment, we access all levels of being: spiritual, mental, emotional and physical and support the integration of all of these aspects.
Wholeness is the primary goal of TT. This involves accepting the individual’s own path in life. Emphasis in a treatment with someone who is very ill is on supporting that individual in whatever decision is made (decisions are usually made on a subconscious level). To celebrate the being is far better than to applaud the choice to continue to live or to mourn the choice to die.
8. Assistance. We have a lot of help available to us in a Therapeutic Touch treatment. Part of our ongoing learning is to recognize what is available and to develop clearer ways of seeking assistance for the receiver. Three examples of this are:
a) We can ask the Earth to assist with grounding the field. The Earth is a conscious, living being and we are part of her in this lifetime. Grounding is the connection with the Earth that supports the flow of energy through the field. It is much easier and more effective to ask the Earth for assistance in strengthening the rootedness of the receiver than to rely solely on doing the work ourselves. The Earth also provides energy the field
b) Most experienced TT practitioners are aware of invisible helpers during a TT treatment. These beings of light guide, assist and frequently enter the field to work. A catalyst that moves them into an active role in the TT treatment is the feeling of compassion that the practitioner has for the receiver. Consciously inviting their assistance deepens the TT interaction.
c) We can ask for the assistance of other Devic forms. Animal Spirits are extremely helpful in supporting the shift toward wholeness. The Plant and Mineral Kingdoms are conscious too and can help with energizing and grounding.
9. Lessons. Each receiver holds information for us, often in the form of mirroring some aspect of ourselves. There is much homework to be done by the practitioner after the treatment. Starting with the question, “Why did this person come to me at this time?” Sometimes a treatment can offer the practitioner an opportunity to heal an experience in his/her own life.
10. Process of Facilitation. Ultimately, we are facilitators. The real work of healing (returning to wholeness and harmony) is done by the receiver and a power of Infinite Love. Our job is to be clear in asking for assistance for the receiver and then to move aside and allow forces beyond ourselves to affect a change.