What does therapeutic touch involve?
Therapeutic touch is based on the idea that a life force, or vital energy, within the body is essential to good health. Therapeutic touch, a popular therapy in the U.S., manipulates this life force to remove blockages in the patient’s vital energy. Most commonly practiced by nurses, therapeutic touch involves the sweeping of hands down the patient’s body to smooth energy fields and eliminate blockages. Sessions typically last about thirty minutes and consist of four parts: centering, assessment, unruffling and energy transfer. Despite what the name implies, therapeutic touch does not call for actually touching the patient’s body. How is therapeutic touch thought to promote wellness and optimize overall health? Proponents believe that therapeutic touch removes blockages and stagnant, harmful energy in the patient’s energy fields. The absence of free flowing energy or the presence of harmful energy is believed to cause pain, illness and disease. The practitioner is thought to serve as a
