QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT THEREPEUTIC TOUCH
Compiled by Carolyn Buchanan & Sue Frid
In Touch, Vol. XIV, No. 1, Spring 2002
Question: A TT Practitioner has frequently given TT to her husband. He prefers non-contact TT. However, she accidentally touched him during a recent treatment and he felt like it jarred the field and spoiled the treatment. Does inadvertently touching someone negate the TT treatment?
Answer from Barbara Janelle:
Therapeutic Touch may be done either in a non-contact or in a contact way. Most practitioners use a combined approach: doing most of the treatment as non-contact but using brief touch on the hands, feet, back and shoulders. No matter what way is used, the level of relaxation achieved is often deep enough that the recipient is barely aware of being touched.
Unexpected things, such as sudden loud noises, someone entering the room abruptly during the treatment, or as in the case described here – touch when it was not expected, may lighten the degree of relaxation momentarily. However, the combination of the practitioner’s centering and use of long-downward unruffling passes through the field will return the recipient to a deeply relaxed state very quickly.
If the practitioner is thrown by unexpected things, and is unable to re-center, the recipient will very likely not return to a deeply relaxed state. Alternatively, if the recipient chooses to be upset over the situation, he/she may close the field to further treatment. If this occurs, the practitioner can either ask the recipient about it or end the treatment.