HEALING TOUCH:
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT??

By

Judy Lynne Ray

Your best friend has a headache or your mom has the flu; maybe someone you love is going in for surgery. Perhaps you yourself feel a sore throat coming on. What’s the commonality here? First, you can all be helped! Second, you all have vibrational imbalances. Vibrational imbalances? That’s just measurable terminology for feeling out of whack. The point is, the imbalance can be effectively realigned by a gentle hands-on process called Healing Touch. And YOU, incidentally are not only capable of administering Vibrational Medicine, - you already ARE doing it! When is the last time you banged your funny bone and immediately grabbed it with your other hand? You were practicing Vibrational (or Energy) Medicine on yourself! And the interesting part of it is, your mother never had to teach you to do it. You were born with the hands-on instinct genetically encoded.

Healing Touch is one type of Vibrational Medicine. All are based on the concept that we don’t end at our skins, and that we are a series of frequencies (or vibrations) which need to be in balance, or illness will occur. Balancing those frequencies is what Vibrational Medicine is about. Other examples of Vibrational Medicine are Homeopathy, Magnetic Field therapy, Acupuncture, Aromatherapy, MRI’s, to name just a few.

More specifically, Healing Touch is an energy-based approach to healing which uses touch to influence the energy system. In the process, it tends to restore comfort and wholeness to the body, mind and spirit. It all began with the Caveman; for thousands of years hands-on was man’s primary healing modality, then became almost extinct when modern medicine presented a more scientific scope. But now, with the advent of Quantum Physics, we have all the scientific rationale we need to bring it back into reputable esteem. All the Caveman cared about was to see that it worked, but evolution has demanded additional validations so that all these new-fangled concepts must have measurability and data as well as positive outcomes. At any rate, HEALING TOUCH is one of several restorative processes which are current renditions of ancient hands-on traditions. And like others, Healing Touch is a way of using the hands to facilitate the body healing itself.

Healing itself? That’s the core of the matter. In fact, ALL healing is basically self-healing. The so-called “healer” simply makes it easier and often faster, whether that healer is a shaman, a psychotherapist, a medical doctor or a holistic practitioner. Even the surgeon can only put two pieces of a broken bone together; no matter how skillfully and accurately he does it - the wounded body must do the actual mending from there on.

What is unique about Healing Touch? First, it is an “umbrella program” which includes a number of energy-based modalities, including, Brugh Joy and Barbara Brennan’s work to name a few. Second, Healing Touch is increasingly user-friendly to the medical community since it was originated by nurses, originally certified through the American Holistic Nurses Association, and as such has been applicable in hospital settings since its inception in the early 1980's. Third, and perhaps most significant, Healing Touch is a CERTIFICATION program. Now that wouldn’t have meant a thing to the Caveman and his brood, but hospitals, clinics and the scientific community all perk up their antennae when they hear that concept. Why? Because certification means consistency of training: consistency produces measurability, and measurability generates data! And data is the one four-letter word that frequently translates into Acceptable Treatment Modality. The full Healing Touch Certification Program encompasses a multi-level curriculum which moves from Level 1 to Advanced Practice and culminates in certification from Healing Touch International. The process includes a one-year internship with a mentorship, but the lay practitioner can use Healing Touch techniques after the Level 1 seminar. Although many students became passionate about Healing Touch and travel the entire journey into certification, a number of them find that the multitude of techniques in just the Level 1 seminar are sufficient for their needs.

RECEIVING HEALING TOUCH:
Who is a good candidate to RECEIVE Healing Touch?
1. Any person who wants to feel their best physically, mentally and/or emotionally. Because Healing Touch restores harmony and balance to the energy field, - it is like getting a physical and energetic tune-up to have a session. It is comparable to a massage done without deep tissue work – with hands-on in a nurturing, specific way customized to your needs.
2. Any person needing pain reduction, accelerated healing, stress management or positive shifts in any of life’s arenas.
3. Any person going in for a surgical, dental or medical procedure which might involve either discomfort or anxiety or both.

Do I have to believe in it in order for it to work? You do not. Healing Touch has been scientifically tested with significantly effective outcomes for accelerated healing of wounded mice, increased growth rate and chlorophyll concentration in barley seeds, and literally hundreds of other subjects who do not either “believe” or “disbelieve” in terms of human standards. People are likewise subject to positive outcomes no matter how skeptical they may be.

PROVIDING HEALING TOUCH:
How does Healing Touch blend with massage? Like magic. If you already do massage, you are doing some energy work even if you’re not consciously aware of it. Healing Touch becomes a significant asset when there are massage contraindications. Even a broken bone or a skin rash or a varicose vein can handle energy work. In fact there are times when tissue manipulation requires energy balancing to complete the release of the pain cycle, and times when energy work requires tissue manipulation to break the cycle of a physical spasm.

How does Healing Touch blend with nursing? Healing Touch was originated in the 1970’s by nurses primarily for nurses. It immediately because the province of the general population because it was so easy to learn and so powerfully effective. But the nursing arena is still one of the primary targets for all vibrational medicine modalities, and Healing Touch in particular. Dr. Mehmet Oz, featured regularly on Oprah Winfrey’s show, is a cardiothoracic surgeon from Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in Manhatten who uses touch therapies in the operating room during the actual procedures. Healing Touch programs have currently been adopted in over 30 hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country.

Can a non-professional, ordinary person learn to do Healing Touch? Absolutely. At least 50% of the people who learn Healing Touch are ordinary souls, - modern versions of the Caveman who still have that genetic predisposition to heal with the hands!

What is a Healing Touch seminar like? In the beginning level (Healing Touch Level 1), the student is given an introduction to the human energy field, and learns to find his/her own energy field (it used to be called an “Aura” – now it is called either an “energy field” or a “biofield”), and learns to assess the fields of others. The weekend includes techniques which balance and open the entire physical body, techniques to release pain and toxicity along with headache and pain management protocols. There is a strong focus on meditation, centering and healing the healer and techniques to enhance all three. The weekend is highly experiential and the techniques are immediately usable.

Where and how is Healing Touch used in the medical community? Healing Touch works in harmony with standard medical care, and being a certification program, has found its way into hospitals, clinics, spas, chiropractic offices, and medical practices all over the country. Healing Touch is practiced in 33 countries outside of the USA and has been featured on CBS News’ “Healthwatch” as well as on Fox, NCB and ABC news stories.

How do I use Healing Touch in my life? People take Healing Touch for various reasons. Students enroll who are caregivers for someone with a life-challenging illness and want to facilitate their comfort level and healing process. Many Level 1 graduates work on friends and family members to relieve stress and promote healing for headaches, nausea, flu and other ailments. Healing Touch is exceptionally helpful as both pre and post-surgical interventions. And of course, a number of students use Level I as the springboard to changing their current focus and embarking on a lifelong journey as a healing practitioner.

The shift of focus as well as the ongoing journey are both available to anyone at any time through a number of different pathways. Healing Touch is simply one of them. But it is a profoundly powerful one. Many have found it a life-changing path, whether they are learning it, providing it or receiving it.

 

Judy Lynne Ray, LMT, MS, is a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner and Instructor and combines her experience in energy work, massage, aromatherapy and psychotherapy to provide a healing hand to all those willing to participate in their own healing journey. She is also the Co-founder and Co-director of The BEYOND SURGERY® Program which includes Healing Touch as its primary healing modality. Judy is also the Educational Director for the HEALING TOUCH BUDDIES Program providing Healing Touch to women with breast cancer.
For further information on Healing Touch or related programs, she can be reached at 828-553-8146 or at Judylynneray4@yahoo.com. You may also wish to visit www.healingtouch.net, or www.Healingtouchbuddies.com .

 

 

Return to the Top