Writing for the blog is every day an adventure in which I enter into new knowledge. Every time I think about the topic I want to write about, the words and conclusions come out by themselves; I like to research, collect interesting data and make sense of what I write. Writing these two articles has been most enjoyable because I have realized how wonderful the work that comes with contact is.
In the first part of this article, we ended up talking about the need to be touched and I asked myself what is this need? What is the meaning that gives importance to this fact?
To answer these questions, it is necessary to understand the combination of the skin and the sense of touch as it takes us back to the first breath of life: when the baby is received in the warm arms of its mother. At that moment, by allowing himself to be held by his parents, unconditional love with human warmth is transmitted to him. As this little one develops, he experiences life and receives this love. If, for any reason, he experiences some kind of rejection or feels that he is not given the human warmth that every being needs for a good evolution, and channels this information in an altered way, behavioral patterns such as the following may develop: shyness, insecurity, response mechanisms to protect oneself, closing oneself to new experiences and creating an unrealistic view of oneself.
To go deeper into this explanation, let’s explore the physiological part in order to understand the sense of touch. This is mainly found in the skin, an organ that protects us and which we discussed in more detail in the previous article. Touch allows the organism to perceive qualities of objects and media such as pressure, temperature, roughness or smoothness, hardness, pain, among others. In humans, it is considered one of the five basic senses.
The sense of touch is not in the outer layer of the skin, but in the second layer, that is, in the dermis, where the internal nerve endings of the organism are located, which allow us to perceive high temperature changes or pain. It is therefore the most important of the five senses and the one that alerts us to both internal and external risks to our health.
The sense of touch belongs to the sensory system, whose influence is difficult to isolate or eliminate. A human being can live despite being blind, deaf and lacking the senses of taste and smell, but it is impossible for him to survive without the functions performed by the skin. The sense of touch affects the whole organism, as well as the culture in the midst of which it lives and the individuals with whom it comes into contact.
The skin is the first contact we have with the outside world and, through massage, it is the first thing we touch and what awakens our sense of touch. Hence, the value of creating a quality contact, since we are sensitive to stimuli and therefore sensitive. For this reason, touch is the way to enter a body in a subtle way, paying attention to the other’s body and feeling how it responds to the first touches. The sense of touch is essential, both for the patient and for the therapist, since the latter will feel the information that will allow him/her to develop the session.
If the first touches are aggressive or abrupt, what usually happens is that the person receiving them tenses up as a form of protection. For this contact to be of quality, the therapist always takes a few minutes to feel the client’s body. With your intuition, you will slowly work your way into the body and enter the body until you reach the deepest muscles and stretch the muscle chains. These first steps are essential for the person receiving the massage to feel confident and, as a result, loosen up.
“The arms are the extension of the heart, the hands become a balm for the other heart, thus being able to go through the barriers (in the form of emotions, traumas, blockages memories…) and connect with the love and inner wisdom of each person.”
Being touched by another person is very important, since human beings are so distracted today with other things that they do not pay attention to details such as being caressed by their partner, being lovingly embraced by a friend or being touched with sensitivity by a special person. When we do not pay attention to this need to be touched, we can become more rigid, tense and controlling.
Our subconscious is awakened through touch and this is how confidence and relaxation are reborn and, most importantly, connects us with love.
In my opinion, the most important thing that can happen to us through this relaxation is that we connect with our unconditional love and our natal memories are awakened, those in which everything was loving warmth, so that we can bring them to the present moment .
One begins to string words together and, in the end, arrives at the deepest knowledge: the result of all this is love. It is there where everything that has been explained in these two articles takes the form of an answer and is understood. The contact is a love language that runs through the body and makes it feel. Massage has always been present in the history of mankind, and in these fast-moving times it is even more so.
Spazio Massage School