The Process of Therapeutic Touch

Therapeutic Touch is based on the idea that human beings are energy in the form of a field. When you are healthy, that energy is freely flowing and balanced. In contrast, disease is a condition of energy imbalance or disorder. The human energy field extends beyond the level of the skin, and the Therapeutic Touch practitioner attunes him or herself to that energy using the hands as sensors.

A Therapeutic Touch treatment is a process that is always individualized and usually does not exceed 20 minutes in length. Your practitioner may ask you to sit in a chair or lie down-whichever is more comfortable for you. It is not necessary to disrobe.

Exact methods vary between practitioners, but generally, they will pass their hands over your body from head to toe, front and back, holding them between 2-6 inches from the skin. This is done to assess the condition of the human energy field. They may use rhythmical, sweeping motions with the hands, as if they are smoothing out wrinkles in your energy field. The practitioner may or may not touch you physically.

Your response is influenced by several factors, such as how long you have been ill, how much your symptoms interfere with your lifestyle, and your general health status.

The Therapeutic Touch Process

The dynamic and interactive phases of Therapeutic Touch process:

  • Centering – bringing the body, mind, emotion to a quiet, focused state of consciousness. Centering is using the breath, imagery, meditation and/or visualizations to open one’s self to find an inner-sense of equilibrium to connect with the inner core of wholeness and stillness.
  • Assessing – holding the hands between 2 to 6 inches away from the individual’s body while moving the hands from the head to the feet in a rhythmical, symmetrical manner. Sensory cues such as warmth, coolness, static, blockage, pulling, tingling are described by some practitioners.
  • Intervention – Clearing also called unruffling – facilitating the symmetrical flow of energy through the field. Unruffling is achieved by using hand movements from the midline while continuing to move in a rhythmical and symmetrical manner from the head to the feet.
  • Balancing & Rebalancing – projecting, directing and modulating energy based on the nature of the living field; assisting to re-establish the order in the system. Treatment is accomplished by moving the hands to the areas that seem to need attention – energy may be transferred where there is a deficit or energy may be mobilized or repatterned from areas of congestion.
  • Evaluation/Closure – finishing the treatment – using professional, informed and intuitive judgment to determine when to end the session. Reassessing the field continuously during the treatment to determine balance and eliciting feedback from the individual are cues as to when to end the TT treatment.