Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1208028
Ta k e 5 a n d t r y A B M P F i v e - M i n u t e M u s c l e s a t w w w. a b m p . c o m / f i v e - m i n u t e - m u s c l e s . 69 W e manual therapists seem to instinctively understand the value of attuned touch: touch that aims to connect as work, rather than simply going through the motions of performing an intervention. Ours is a touch that nurtures, allowing clients to experience a sense of well-being and safety, whether that sense is the end goal of a session or is meant to prepare the nervous system to receive techniques that are more orthopedic or remedial. Regardless of the modalities we use, attuned touch allows us to connect with our clients and notice how they are responding to our work at a refined and nuanced level. We do this in real time, modifying our touch to address our client's changing needs throughout a session. It's second nature for most of us, so we often don't really even consider how it is that we attune. We're just doing what we do. THE DECLINE OF SOCIAL TOUCH Social touch that connects us to one another in everyday life has fallen off, leaving whole swaths of our population starved for touch. For far too many clients, our session work is when they receive the most touch in their day, week, or month. It dismays us that touch has been systematically removed from many arenas where it used to be seamlessly integrated, such as education and health care. While we honor our specialized skill of employing touch in our work, we don't want to be the most significant source of touch for our clients! We believe everyone should be able to experience attuned and healthy compassionate touch in all areas of their lives. Being able to touch in a safe and connected way is not just a gift or talent; these are skills that can (and should!) be taught. Yes, touch belongs everywhere. And bodyworkers are perfect advocates for touch in our communities because we understand the benefits of touch like no other profession. THE ABSENCE OF TOUCH IS CATASTROPHIC The lack of attuned touch in touch- averse cultures—like the dominant culture in the US today—leads to a host of ills, both personal and society-wide. The impact of this deprivation has been widely studied, and is summarized clearly in the study "Relational and Health Correlates of Affection Deprivation:" 1 Although affection can be and is communicated in nontactile ways as well (Floyd, 2006a), touch is especially strongly connected to mental, physical, and relational well-being The Importance of Attuned and Compassionate Touch By Robyn Scherr and Kate Mackinnon (see, e.g., Floyd & Deiss, 2012). The skin is the largest and first to develop of the human sense organs (Field, 2006), and touch is the only one of the five senses essential to human survival (Field, 2002) . . . As research shows, being deprived of affectionate touch is associated with various deficits in well-being. The very idea of deprivation is conceptually void, however, unless an underlying need for affectionate touch already exists. A formidable body of empirical work supports the claim that, from infancy on, the receipt of supportive, nurturing, affectionate touch conveys substantial social, psychological, emotional, and physical benefits among humans . . . affection deprivation was significantly associated with a host of deficits related to general well-being, social well- being, mental health, and physical health. Affection deprivation was also related to insecure patterns of interpersonal attachment. We need to have touch in all areas of our life so we can learn healthy boundaries in all kinds of situations. It takes practice to be able to discriminate between touch that is healthy and good for us and touch that is harmful, coercive, or simply not attuned. When we aren't allowed to develop this awareness, we are more vulnerable to abuse. We are also more likely to violate other people's boundaries, because we do not have practice noticing or respecting them, or having ours noticed and respected.