|
Gentle touch
Healing touch therapy eases pain
for both humans and animals
Healing touch realigns the body's energy fields much as tire rotation steadies a car. Both body and vehicle end up in better balance.
Healing touch -- which doesn't actually involve much touching, but rather centers on manipulation of energy fields -- has captivated many seeking relief from chronic pain or other ailments.
And it works just as well on horses as it does on people.
While some might consider the practice hocus-pocus or new-age nonsense, it is gaining acceptance in the majority of the island's medical centers. The Queen's Medical Center has offered healing touch for 10 years.
And now, residents of the Honolulu Zoo are also reaping the benefits.
"Healing touch is a relaxation method done with light touch," explained Susan Suzuki, of Bosom Buddies of Hawaii, an agency that matches healing touch practitioners with breast cancer patients.
"The most common response to a healing touch treatment is profound relaxation," Suzuki said. "Sometimes the client gets off the table much more energized."
Body, mind, emotion and spirit are touched through this therapeutic process, said Anne Day, president of Healing Touch International and director of Healing Touch Hawaii. Day has more than 30 years' experience as a holistic-oriented nurse and health educator.
|
Learning the hands-on and energy-based techniques to balance and align energy fields, patients can come to heal themselves and others, Day said. "We help others to live more joyfully."
Dale Matthies, a healing touch volunteer at Queen's, said that because healing touch was developed by a registered nurse for use in a hospital setting, it has been accepted by hospital administrators, nurses and physicians.
Matthies remembers learning to identify his own energy field through an exercise in a healing touch class. Everyone rubbed their hands together as if they needed to be warmed up, and he was reminded of a feeling he got playing with magnets in science class. "The sensation you felt as you passed the bars near each other, either resisting or being drawn together, is what you are feeling for."
He also pictured iron filings on a piece of paper and passing a magnet underneath. "Imagine the magnet represents your body, and all those oval concentric lines of dark filings represent the expanding layers of your energy field. If your eyes could see the field, it might look a lot like what you saw in your third-grade experiment."
Complementary and alternative medicines have definitely made an impression in several articles in the Journal of American Medicine, according to Lori Protzman, a registered perinatal nurse manager and healing touch practitioner at Kaiser Medical Center.
Ten years ago, healing touch was considered "far out," she said, but people are developing a more holistic focus.
Ten percent of Kaiser patients request healing touch, which is provided solely by volunteers in the operating room, critical care areas and to outpatients.
The process is heartfelt and effective because the practitioners are not seeking any sort of recognition, Day said. "We work with babies and deal with end of life."
Day saw the results herself when several of her family members needed surgery. "My husband had both of his hips replaced. I did some balancing before the surgery and got permission to go in the post-op area. He didn't even need to use his morphine pump."
And less pain medication means fewer side effects, she said.
Day has worked with individuals suffering ailments including depression, chronic fatigue, bone fractures and the side effects of chemotherapy. Healing touch leaves them feeling more empowered, she said.
Lynette Serrao sought healing touch treatments before undergoing surgery last year. "I really went in ready. It put me in the right frame of mind. My recovery seemed faster and more natural, too," she said. "The interesting part: I didn't have to take any painkillers."
Now whenever Serrao feels stressed, she makes an appointment for a treatment. "It just totally relaxes me."
Pets can also benefit. Healing touch practitioner Barbara Matayoshi makes weekly visits to the Honolulu Zoo and says animals benefit much in the same way as humans. "Even more so, because we can be very direct and honest with animals. Animals accept healing touch without going through any mental chatter and resistance. If it feels beneficial to them, they stick around and receive it. If not, they stand up and walk away."
Matayoshi refers the zoo visits as a test program. "Basically, we show up at the zoo on Wednesdays and check in with Butch Ball, the mammal curator specialist, who informs us of any animals who may benefit from healing touch."
Health, behavioral or training issues are among the reasons an animal is selected for healing touch, she said. "After we get the basic profile of the animal, we begin assessing the animal's energy centers, or 'chakras,' just like the humans', using a pendulum and hand scans.
"Since these animals are wild, we are not allowed to touch them, nor are we allowed to go in their enclosure. Our work is all done outside their habitat in a long-distance format."
They will design and carry out a treatment plan for each animal, she said, and afterward, reassess. "Sometimes we see immediate responses, like a more relaxed animal will yawn and lay down."
Matayoshi also works on domestic animals, including her own horses and dogs.
Suzuki's Bosom Buddies program, developed five years ago by 12 healing touch practitioners, provides breast cancer patients with free treatments for a year.
Suzuki said patients typically face an array of emotions -- confusion, frustration, anger, sadness, guilt, feelings of inadequacy and unattractiveness, fear and loneliness, as well as the stress of cancer treatments.
Healing touch helps them deal with the pain and the typical side effects of treatment, including nausea, weakness, fatigue, insomnia and loss of appetite, she said. Many cancer survivors undergo training and help other breast cancer patients.
Bossom Buddies is based at Queen's, but the concept is spreading. "We have had participants from Canada, Kansas, Maryland, California and Colorado attend our workshops, with the intention of starting similar programs in their communities," Suzuki said. "We have trained 160 volunteers and served 200 women through our program."
Suzuki also uses healing touch in her massage practice. It's different than a massage, in that a client remains fully clothed while a practitioner places his or her hands lightly on the body. Some techniques require no touching at all.
"I receive healing touch on a regular basis, about once or twice a week," Suzuki said. "I believe in it that much."
Click for online
calendars and events.
