I often get asked how can such a subtle technique help create any sort of structural change. Put differently, “how can a gentle touch help someone to heal?” There are many aspects to answering this question. Today I’d like to focus on one aspect, that is the subtlety of the touch.
If it wasn’t so subtle, the brain wouldn’t know to pay attention to it. If the touch was more forceful or obvious, the brain would have a tendency to ignore it.
From a neurological point of view, whenever something touches us, whether we bump into someone or we’re having a massage, we feel the touch and depth of touch because we have all kinds of receptors in our tissues: in the skin, in the muscles and in the connective tissue. These receptors send information to the brain when they’re stimulated. This is what gives us a sense of what is touching us, how deeply, for how long, etc.
The human brain is estimated to use roughly 20% of the body’s energy. With information traveling at 260 mph, more than 100,000 chemical reactions occurring per second, 86 billion cells and over 10,000 types of neurons, the human brain is probably the most complex entity that is known.
With over 100,000 chemical reactions happening at any given time, how is it that we can pay attention to anything? The brain has evolved to be able to parse and discern what is important to pay attention to and what’s not. It’s at this level of consciousness that a gentle touch is able to get the brain’s attention. Once the brain is aware, it’s able to set into motion changes in muscle tension, blood flow, breathing, heart rate, … and the healing begins.
If you’re still not convinced that a small stimulus can cause major change in the body, consider the gentle caress of a lover, or when you’ve had someone give you a look of judgement and shaming. In both cases your body is filled with emotion, tension and energy albeit very different types of emotions, tensions and energy. Have you ever been so angry or upset only to have someone lovingly put their hand on your shoulder? You can feel your body starting to calm down, slow down and you mind starts to settle.
So a subtle touch can have a huge impact on our bodies. And the gentle touches that we make along your spine are designed not only to get the brain’s attention; They are also designed to help create physical changes in structure, changes in how your energy flows, and changes in levels of consciousness; all of this gives your brain a chance to integrate all of this information to allow for emerging properties to evolve.
That is the power of subtle touch.