Healing Touch
Alexa W. Umbreit
All cultures, both ancient and modern, have developed some form of touch therapy as part of people’s desire to heal and care for one another. The oldest written evidence of the use of touch to enhance healing comes from Asia more than 5,000 years ago (Hover-Kramer, Mentgen, & Scandrett-Hibdon, 1996; Jackson & Keegan, 2009; Krieger, 1979). This therapeutic use of the hands has been passed on from generation to generation as a tool for healing. However, philosophical and cultural differences have influenced the way touch has been used throughout the world. The Eastern viewpoint has based its touch-healing practices on energy channels (called meridians), energy fields (auras), and energy centers (chakras). Expert practitioners in energetic touch therapies use their hands to influence this flow of energy to promote balance and healing. The Western viewpoint focuses on physiological changes that occur at the cellular level from touch therapies that are believed to influence healing. A blending of both Eastern and Western techniques has led to an explosion of a wide variety of touch therapies (Jackson & Keegan, 2009). Nursing has used touch throughout its history and today’s nurses are integrating many touch techniques into their practice. One of these therapies is Healing Touch, which now boasts more than 50,000 persons who have been trained worldwide, with nearly 2,000 certified practitioners, and 200 certified instructors during the past 23 years (Healing Touch International, 2012a).
DEFINITION
Healing Touch (HT) is a type of complementary therapy that uses gentle touch and energy-based techniques to influence and support the human energy system within the body (energy centers) and surrounding the body (energy fields) supporting the body’s natural ability to heal (Healing Touch International, 2012b; Healing Touch Program, 2012a). HT is classified as a presumptive energy or biofield therapy by the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM, 2012). Based on a holistic view of health and illness, HT focuses on creating an energetic balance of the whole body at the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual levels rather than on dysfunctional parts of the body. Through this process of balancing the energy system and therefore opening up energy blockages, an environment is created that is conducive to self-healing. Through the interaction of the energy fields between practitioner and client, the use of the HT practitioner’s hands, an intention focusing on the client’s highest good, and a centering process, noninvasive HT techniques specific for the client’s needs are used to create this energetic balance (Umbreit, 2000). Krieger (1979) describes the centering process as a meditation in which one eliminates all distractions and concentrates on that place of quietude within which one can feel truly integrated, unified, and focused. Finding this “place of quietude within” is achieved by many through deep belly breathing, prayer, meditation, or any other technique that slows one down, calms the mind, and accesses a deeper spirit of compassion and strength. To be centered is to be fully present with another person or situation, engaged with heart and mind, deeper feelings, and thoughts. The centered state of mind is maintained throughout the HT treatment.
Umbreit (2000) describes the role of the HT practitioner as observation, assessment, and repatterning of the client’s energy field, which is disrupted when there is disease, illness, psychological stressors, and pain. Practitioners describe these disruptions in the energy field as blockages, leaks, imbalances, or congestion. The goal of the HT practitioner is to open up these blockages, seal the leaks, rebalance the energy field to symmetry, and release congestion.
HT evolved from the pioneering work of the therapeutic touch (TT) community that was started in 1970 by a nurse, Dr. Dolores Krieger, and Dora Kunz, a natural intuitive healer, who assisted many physicians with perplexing patient cases. Together they established TT, described as a “contemporary interpretation of several ancient healing practices … [consisting of learning] skills for consciously directing or sensitively modulating human energies” (Krieger, 1993, p. 11). The practice is based on the assumption that humans are complex energy fields and the potential exists to enhance the natural healing potential in another
(Therapeutic Touch, 2004). In health care, TT philosophy, practice, and research have become the base for many newer energetic modalities, including HT.
(Therapeutic Touch, 2004). In health care, TT philosophy, practice, and research have become the base for many newer energetic modalities, including HT.
The HT curriculum, started in 1989 and endorsed by the American Holistic Nurses’ Association (AHNA), involves a formal educational program that teaches techniques, including interventions described by Brugh Joy (1979) and Alice Bailey (1984), concepts presented by Rosalyn Bruyere (1989) and Barbara Brennan (1986), and original techniques developed by the founder of HT, Janet Mentgen, and her students (Scandrett-Hibdon, 1996). The six-level HT educational curriculum in energy-based practice moves from beginning to advanced practice, certification, and instructor level. Advanced practice requires at least 100 hours of workshop instruction plus a 1-year rigorous and comprehensive course of study involving an extensive reading program and a wide variety of complementary therapies, as well as work on case studies, mentoring, ethics, client-practitioner relationships, establishment of a practice, and integration of activities within the health community (Healing Touch International, 2012c). Emphasis is based on self-care and development of the student. After this, students may apply for certification. Instructor status requires more education and mentoring. The HT coursework is open to nurses, massage therapists, and other health care professionals, and to the lay person who desires an in-depth understanding and practice of healing work using touch and energy-based concepts (Healing Touch Program, 2012b; Schommer & Larrimore, 2010).
SCIENTIFIC BASIS
The nursing profession has long been described as dedicated to the art and science of human caring. Rogers (1990) and Watson (1985) have written extensively about caring as a central quality of the nursing profession, along with nursing’s concern for the promotion of health and well-being, taking into account the individual’s constant interaction with the environment. It was this concern that led nurse-theorist Rogers to develop her concepts of the nature of individuals as energy fields in constant interplay with the surrounding environment (Hover-Kramer et al., 1996). Rogers’s theoretical framework postulates that all living things are composed of energy, and there is a continual exchange of energy among them as they strive toward the goal of balance and universal order. Using the hands, intention, and centering, the HT practitioner assesses the client’s energy field and helps direct it to a more open, symmetrical pattern that enhances the client’s ability to self-heal. The nursing diagnosis used for HT and other biofield therapies is defined as a “Disturbed Energy Field [state in which a] disruption of the flow of energy surrounding a person’s being results in a disharmony of the body, mind, and/or spirit” (Carpenito, 2013, p. 252).
It is still not clear how energy field modalities, including HT, influence the energy patterns of a recipient or how recipients use the energy to enhance their self-healing processes; however, the effects of energy-based healing interactions are measurable and significant (Hover-Kramer, 2002). The fields of physics, engineering, biology, and physiology continue to research this area of energy exchange in an attempt to explain what occurs during an energetic interaction (Feinstein & Eden, 2008; Forbes, Rust, & Becker, 2004; Oschman, 2000). Schwartz (2007) states that present-day physicists continue to further analyze Einstein’s premise that everything is energy and organized in energy fields.
Oschman reports that various energy therapies actually stimulate tissue healing by the production of pulsating electromagnetic fields that induce currents to flow within the body’s tissue. It is proposed that these currents are generated via the heartbeat and move throughout the circulatory system and the “living matrix,” which Oschman describes as an informational nervous system of the body where electron movement occurs, producing these waves (Oschman, 2008). He states that the heart generates the body’s largest electromagnetic field, which can be measured in the space around the body using the superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). The SQUID has been used to measure these biomagnetic fields emanating from the hands of energy field practitioners who use therapeutic touch, Qigong, yoga, and meditation. It has been found that low electromagnetic frequencies (a coherent pattern) can be emitted from a trained energy healer’s hands at a rate needed for tissue healing, which has the possibility to convert a stalled healing process to active repair by restoring coherence to the tissue (Oschman, 2008). One may think of HT as a method in which the practitioner’s focused healing intention is communicated to the subtle energy of the client’s cells influencing the dynamic matter of the client’s living matrix (Oschman, 2009).
Other instruments have been invented to directly measure the human energy field (e.g., Kirlian photography, gaseous discharge visualization, and polycontrast interference) but these instruments are not consistently accurate (Duerden, 2004). Eschiti (2007) states, “until science is able to provide accurate, direct measurement of the human energy field, research will need to be conducted by measuring possible effects on the field in an indirect manner” (p. 10).
The concept of energy systems as part of the human interactive environment and healing has been part of many cultures for centuries. Ancient East Indian traditions speak of a universal energy (prana) that flows and activates the life force (kundalini) (Hover-Kramer et al., 1996). In China, Japan, and Thailand, the basic life energy is called Chi, Qi, or Ki. The Egyptians called it ankh and the Polynesians refer to it as mana. Many other cultures throughout the world have equivalent terms for describing
human energies (Hover-Kramer, 2002). The common principle is that an imbalance in this energy force can result in illness.
human energies (Hover-Kramer, 2002). The common principle is that an imbalance in this energy force can result in illness.
It is unknown precisely how symptoms are managed by HT interventions. What have been observed are changes in outcomes being measured in the nursing research. It may be postulated that because energy fields are in constant interaction within and outside the physical body, internal mechanisms are stimulated by this movement of energy (Umbreit, 2000). However, any explanations given for energy healing remain theoretical, due to limited experimental data and difficulty using traditional scientific analysis because paradoxical findings often coexist (Engebretson & Wardell, 2002).
Studies specific to HT interventions have focused on managing the symptoms of pain, anxiety, and stress; decreasing the side effects of cancer treatments; promoting faster postprocedural recovery; improving mental health, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); using HT with the older adult to manage pain, improve appetite, sleep, behavior patterns, and functional abilities; increasing relaxation; and promoting a sense of well-being (Bulbrook, 2000; Cook, Guerrerio, & Slater, 2004; Dowd, Kolcaba, Steiner, & Fashinpaur, 2007; Geddes, 2002; Hardwick, 2012; Hutchison, 1999; Jain et al., 2012; Krucoff et al., 2001, 2005; MacIntyre et al., 2008; Maville, Bowen, & Benham, 2008; Megel, Anderson, Lu, & Strybol, 2012; Post-White et al., 2003; Scandrett-Hibdon, Hardy, & Mentgen, 1999; Seskevich, Crater, Lane, & Krucoff, 2004; Silva, 1996; Umbreit, 2000; Wang & Hermann, 2006; Wardell, 2000; Wardell, Rintala, Tan, & Duan, 2006; Wardell & Weymouth, 2004; Wilkinson et al., 2002).
In pediatrics, several small research studies have been completed (Kemper, Fletcher, Hamilton, & McLean, 2012; McDonough-Means, Edde, & Bell, 2009; Speel, 2012; Verret, 2000; Wong, Ghiasuddin, Kimata, & Patelesio, 2012; Zimmer, Bogenschutz, Meier, & Rolf, 2009) that examine various outcomes. As of September 2012, there were 141 completed HT studies and six studies known to be in progress (Megel et al., 2012).
A proposed model of how HT may promote positive changes in client symptoms follows. A trained HT practitioner sends coherent energy waves from provider hands to the client. This affects the incoherent energy patterns that cause disease or imbalance in the client’s energy field and body. Due to a resonant effect, the incoherent energy pattern shifts to a healthier, coherent pattern affecting the client’s circulatory, endocrine, and nervous systems, and/or other unidentified mechanisms, promoting positive client responses with the potential to restore optimal health. The HT practitioner moves and repatterns a client’s energy field, promoting a more open and symmetric pattern to enhance the client’s perceived sense of well-being. This movement of energy may stimulate physiological, neurochemical, and psychological changes that promote positive effects on pain, anxiety, wound healing, immune system function, depression, and sense of well-being.
INTERVENTION
Techniques
Nearly 30 HT techniques are taught in the HT curriculum, from the simple to the complex. The HT practitioner determines which to use after an assessment of the client’s expressed needs, symptoms presented, and results of an energy field hand scan. These strategies range from localized to full-body techniques. Exhibit 24.1 lists several basic techniques, along with indications and brief descriptions of the procedures. These techniques, which treat a wide range of client symptoms, should be practiced in a supervised setting with an instructor before working with a client. Most of the HT techniques involve two basic types of hand gestures (called magnetic passes) that are described in terms of “hands in motion” (used to clear congestion or density from the energy field) or “hands still” (used to reestablish energy flow and balance) (Schommer & Larrimore, 2010). In the hands-in-motion gestures, the hands make gentle brushing or combing motions, usually downward and outward, to remove congested energy from the field. The hands remain relaxed, palms facing downward toward the patient, between 1 inch and 6 inches above the skin or clothing. The hand strokes may be slow and sweeping or short and rapid. In the hands-still position, the practitioner holds hands over an area of the client’s body for 1 to several minutes, either lightly touching the skin or just above it. The practitioner uses “intent” to facilitate a transfer of energy to the specific body part of the client from a “universal source” of energy, with the practitioner as the conduit of this energy.
Although several of the HT techniques can be done with the client in a seated position, most are done while the client is lying down fully dressed in the most relaxed state possible, to promote a more profound effect. The practitioner briefly describes HT and the procedure plan, invites the client to ask any questions at any time, and receives permission to do the treatment and to touch the client. HT therapists practice holistic principles that encourage openness in communication during the healing process, enhancing the depth of the healing experience (McKivergin, 2009).
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