The importance of Touch and how massage will help!

Hey everyone! Tasha here. I want to share a little bit about a subject that means a lot to me, the power of the sense of touch.

Being touched and touching someone else are fundamental modes of human interaction.
"From a warm handshake or sympathetic hug to a congratulatory pat on the back, we have developed complex languages, cultures, and emotional expression through physical contact. But in a tech-saturated world, non-sexual human touch is in danger of becoming rare, if not obsolete. Despite the benefits of digital advancement, it is vital to preserve human touch in order for us truly to thrive. Physical touch is the foundational element of human development and culture. The growing preoccupation with digital media versus personal physical contact, combined with the social and legal restrictions over physical contact in our schools and workplaces, may unintentionally affect these factors negatively. To foster a safe social environment in a climate of mediated communication, we should intentionally hold on to physical touch."
"There is a biological need for touch, an actual hunger for touch that can be met only in contact with another human being. This was first discovered during the nineteenth century, when children who had been abandoned at birth and transferred to foundling homes died by the thousands. They literally wasted away, despite the fact that they were fed, kept clean, and protected from danger. The condition, known as marasmus (from the Greek, meaning "wasting away"), claimed the lives of nearly 100 percent of the infants under the age of one in U.S. foundling hospitals as late as 1920. What these children lacked was physical contact. Infants raised in their own homes are normally cradled and fed at their mothers' breasts, but these foundlings weren't.
When this connection between life and touch was realized, doctors and nurses in many institutions cooperated in a plan to supply "mothering touch" for these children. It consisted of holding, stroking, speaking to the infant, and allowing significant periods of cuddling the child, especially at mealtimes. The results were dramatic and immediate. Infant mortality rates dropped within one year of adopting these touching practices,
Despite the lessons we have learned about the necessity for touch, many child-rearing practices that discourage it endure today. The lack of sufficient touch has far-reaching effects on our development and shows itself in problematic ways when we reach maturity."
Some people are very sensitive or ticklish or you may know someone who just 'doesn't like to be touched.' I have had several clients come in with those concerns. Massage is safe touch with very clear boundaries so those same people who 'didn't want to be touched' respond very well and feel very comfortable with massage almost every time.
Out of all of our senses, touch is the only one we literally CAN'T LIVE without. ​Massage Therapy offers an environment to receive healthy, safe, healing touch. Everyone young or old, male or female can benefit from incorporating more touch into their lives.
Schedule a massage to make sure you are getting enough of the healing power of touch. Massage makes a big difference for me. I hope it can do the same for you.
Have a great day!
Tasha Ouderkirk, LMT

---