Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/885423
A B M P m e m b e r s e a r n F R E E C E a t w w w. a b m p . c o m / c e b y r e a d i n g M a s s a g e & B o d y w o r k m a g a z i n e 53 How much information are your hands capable of receiving? Broadening your touch repertoire to include a receptive approach will make you a more versatile and effective practitioner. As bodyworkers, we know how important and powerful touch is in people's lives. We are all born with an incredibly sophisticated neural network that helps us understand and use signals that come in through the largest organ in our bodies, our skin. Not only that, our entire nervous system—including our brain—is constantly learning from and changing itself in response to those signals. This is the very definition of neuroplasticity. Touch informs us and forms us. It's easy to remember that our clients receive input through the quality, depth, speed, and intentionality of our touch. But we can overlook that just the act of our touching them gives us input as well; we receive information we often don't recognize, or that we ignore or dismiss because we don't know its value. We can forget how powerfully touch informs us and rely on technique alone. Recognizing a broader spectrum of input from our touch is one of the cornerstones of good Broaden Your Touch Repertoire Let the Body Lead the Way By Robyn Scherr and Kate Mackinnon