“This was so relaxing. Nothing like anything I have experienced before. People should have one Healing Touch session every week!” These are the words of a client of mine who works in NYC’s Financial District.

The damaging effects of stress on the body and the mind are well known. Our bodies are only equipped to deal with certain stresses for short periods. Not all stress is bad, though. Positive stress gives us drive, enthusiasm, and helps our self-esteem. This sort of stress can help us complete a project or reach peak performance but, like a track athlete, once the race is over, the body is able to relax and come back to its normal functioning. If this is stress by choice, we feel in control.

But then there is negative stress, sometimes termed as “toxic stress”. This is the stress that can overwhelm us, make us doubt our capabilities, wears down our body, drains our energy and disrupts sleep and bodily functions; we feel unable to cope and want to run away. If this sort of stress is prolonged, for days, months or years, our bodies are kept in a continuous state of expecting danger by triggering the fight or flight response. That’s damaging stress.

Healing Touch is effective in relieving stress because it promotes the Relaxation Response ”a physical state of deep rest that changes the physical and emotional responses to stress… and (is) the opposite of the “fight or flight response” (Herbert Benson M.D).

Often my clients say how rested they feel after a Healing Touch session, and some say that they haven’t rested that well for a long, long time. A good analogy is hitting the “refresh button” on your computer.  A Healing Touch session “refreshes” our body and our mind so we can function again. But this isn’t all. Healing Touch techniques also clear “energy congestion” in order to restore a healthy energy flow that would positively impact in the way we feel. Emotional and mental stress can manifest in the body as muscle tightness, headaches or digestive issues, it also manifests as congestion or disruption in the energy field, and Healing Touch can clear that.

Remember that the body has the innate capacity to heal and repair itself but we need to give it the chance to do so.  Healing and body self-repair happens during relaxation and Healing Touch promotes and supports this.

So we should all do as much as we can to make sure that we relax and hit the “refresh button” on a regular basis and deal with the bad stress and all its negative effects.

Have a wonderful week!

Flor