Take Charge of Your Health - The Power of Healing Touch
With Healing Touch, we see positive changes in mood and physiology that
matter for patients. In studies, those changes have ranged from self-reported reductions
in pain and anxiety to increased natural-killer cell function during cancer treatment.
-Shamini Jain, PhD, UCSD
Healing Touch (HT) is one of the therapies subsumed under the heading of Integrative Medicine. HT is a biofield energy therapy in which trained practitioners use their hands to influence the magnetic field around the body and support physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. By eliminating blockages and restoring balance and harmony in the energy system, HT therapy helps the recipient to be in the best position to be able to heal from illness, injury, stress, and other health concerns.
HT was developed in the early 1980s by Janet Mentgen, a nurse practicing in Colorado. She formally created Healing Touch as an energy medicine program in 1989, and in 1993 Healing Touch was certified by the American Holistic Nurses Association. Shortly afterward, Mentgen established an educational program to enable a wide range of people to become certified HT practitioners. While practitioners do not need any specific medical training, they must complete 5 levels of education and extensive case practice before they receive certification.
Today, HT is established globally in hospitals, medical clinics, wellness centers, nursing schools, and hospice facilities. It is used to treat a wide range of conditions including pain, depression, anxiety, cancer symptoms, post-operative recovery, cardiovascular disease, endocrine dysfunction, and post traumatic stress. As examples in the U.S., the Mayo Clinic, Scripps, Duke Health, Memorial Sloane Kettering, the Cleveland Clinic and the Veteran Administration hospital system utilize Healing Touch alongside conventional medical treatment.
Research has shown that Healing Touch can:
Promote calmness and relaxation
Improve sleep
Reduce acute/chronic pain
Reduce fatigue
Reduce nausea
Reduce anxiety and stress
Promote wound healing
Enhance the ability of the immune system.
What happens in a Healing Touch Session:
First, clients remain clothed and either lie down or sit in a comfortable chair in a room with their HT practitioner. (Healing Touch can also be delivered remotely). Each session typically lasts 20 to 60 minutes and starts with the intake, when the practitioner asks questions to better understand the client’s condition(s), symptoms/side effects, and priorities. The practitioner then clears their own mind and focuses completely on the client, creating a connection called “centering”. Once the practitioner is centered, they scan and assess the client’s energy field by passing their hands above the surface of the body and begin to work to balance and harmonize the energy system.
At the end of the session, the client is asked to provide feedback about how they feel and discuss their care plan with their practitioner. It is typical for clients to have six sessions of HT therapy depending on their condition and HT practitioners commonly report that their patients generally sleep better, experience less pain, distress and anxiety, see improvements in their mood, and have higher energy levels -- sometimes after just one or two sessions.
Growing Attention on Biofield Therapy
According to a recent article in Discover Magazine (May/June, 2022), the term “biofield therapies” was first coined at a National Institutes of Health meeting in 1992 and includes ancient Chinese therapies like acupuncture and Qigong, as well as the more recent practices such as Reiki and Healing Touch. These therapies are based on the idea that the body has a biofield system, not unlike the circulatory, nervous, and lymphatic systems. The article points out that doctors commonly use electroencephalograms (EEGs) to study brainwaves and electrocardiograms (EKGs) to assess heart health. Both tests measure parts of the biofield by placing electrodes on different areas of the body and interpreting electromagnetic output. Given that these markers are useful in diagnostic medicine, it is logical to think that energy fields can be part of the healing process as well.
Biofield therapy has several important qualities – it is not invasive, it is not toxic, there are no side effects, it is economical, and most important of all, it can facilitate comfort and relaxation and enhance the natural healing process for quicker recovery.
With growing research documenting the positive results of HT, more and more patients are seeking out biofield therapy. Simultaneously, more clinicians are learning about and embracing HT to promote physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing and higher quality of life for their patients. For more information on HT check out Healing Beyond Borders.