Recently, several Ontario hospitals have started therapeutic touch \clinics
for cancer patients.  I'd like to here everyone's oppinion on this eastern
medical treatment and methods of touch theraoy that you know of.

52 responses total.

Hmmm...before I spew my opinion off onto you, could you do me and others who
are ignorant a favor and tell me what therapeutic touch is? Is it anything like
accupuncture?

I've heard that massaging babies helps them grow better, and reduces 
Failure to Thrive, but please tell us about theraputic touch.

oops, yeah.  Therapeutic touch is a method of healing based on contact
with the patient.  Roleplayers in the AD&D role playing game may
be familiar with a paladin's ability to "lay hands" in order to heal. 
Sometimes, as in the ontario case, the hands never touch the body, but instead
"Smooth the energy field" of the patient.  Some believe it is a powers granted
by religious dieties in times of need, others consider it a birth gift, some
think it can be practised by anyone who has the dicipline to learn the "Kung"
or acquired Skill (Kung is chinese), but most in the west consider it a hoax.
  Many canadians (whose tax-dollars go to fund such programs) are concerened
that their hard earned cash is going toward mumbo-jumbo.
        Certainly its not an old practise, it's been around in china for
        thousands of years, and is believed in by all major oriental religions.
        So that, in a
nutshell is what herapeutic touch is all about.

p.s. contact on the first line of this responce refers to hand contact.
     note therapeutic touch is a seperate branch of medicine from massage
     therapy.

Sounds like it's related to polarity therapy and Reiki.  It does indeed
have perceptible effects and can be helpful.  Combined with other
techniques such as shiatsu or physical therapy exercizes, it can help with
recovery after an injury or from an old injury.  My sense is that the 
benefits in dealing with deep-seated, emotionally rooted problems is that
it can help but won't solve the problem; the patient will have to make the
real, long  term, inner changes.  It's not mumbo-jumbo, but it's not going
to feel "safe" to everyone.  Some folks might find it, oddly enough, 
invasive just because it's "wierd" and they aren't used to feeling sensations
where there is little or no direct manipulation going on, or becuase they
just aren't used to feeling good in a sensual way.  It's neat that the 
medical establishment in Canada is willing to try stuff like this.

Oh yeah, Canadians and Europeans (not to mention the chinese) are much more
eager to experiment with this sort of thing that we Americans are.  Now I'm not
going to pull a Gingritch here and propose a whole Newt world w/ no FDA, but I
think it needs reform.

        Reiki sucks.
 The rest of it's okay, I guess, but Reiki screws me up.
One of my felow model's mother was into Reiki, and it just made me really ill.
She claimed it was "good for everybody". Right. Not this little red-haired
irish woman.

  Touch therapy, with no touching, sounds like it has a similar effect
to wonder-cure sugar pills: lots of people say they feel better afterwards,
if they believe the sugar pills should make them feel better.  Cancer
reversal has been attributed to such things as Three Stooges videos.
 
  It also probably helps the patient to have a human paying attention to
them, whether it's telling them a joke or waving ones hands over them while
explaining the science behind hand waving.

Selena, your experience with Reiki "sucks".  It doesn't mean the practitioner
was competent, or that that was there right time  for you to have a 
treatment, or whatever.  And indeed, it might not be the best approach for
you.  That doesn't mean it "sucks".  From what I've heard, it just seems
a bit of a fancy way of packaging good old fashioned "laying on of hands" or
"energy healing" or whatever.

        No, I mean it HURT. And that SUCKS.
<Unenlightened-sounding? sorry, it's how I feel>

My mom said the same thing abut chiropractic.  I use it as my primary health
care method whenever possible- and I wouldn't go twice to a chiropractor who
hurt.

You may want to look into finding an osteopathic physician. Chiropractic
medicine was orginally derived from osteopathic  medicine. Osteopathy

My brother is undergoing this type treatement right now. A mother of
a friend of his came to visit him at the hospital, but she called it
healing by the aura. He was badly burned, in case you were wondering what she's
 treating him for

Healing by the aura....can you elaborate?

Morgayn, I'm beginning to think your always going to ask me to 
elaborate...next time ask me to say more please....just to add some 
variety. Smile! Sure healing by the aura, as I understand it, is you feel
the aura, and exert your own to interject calm aura vibrations, or healthy 
ones. You also send positive. You calm the persons own troubled aura.
I once heard it called healing by colors, where if say someone has a hurt
back...you'd see the aura as some pain assocaited color...such as orange,
then use your will, energy to change the color back to the persons normal
color or just a healthy relaxed color. Does that explain it? I'm afraid
I'm not an expert though and could be off in my description.

Actually, Brenna, that's not a bad explanation, really.

Thanks Kami!

        And if your aura isn't compatible with the person you're treating,
it screws them up! Okay, that makes sense. 

i am a reiki II. one should not force healing on someone, even if it
*is* for their own good. i dont care if everything in the
universe is telling me i'm doing the right thing.. if someone says
'no', then 'no' it is.
sometimes when you are doing reiki to heal the body, itmay also
have some healing effects on the emotions. and *that* can be painful,
especially if it is something you dont want to face.

um.. other things to watch for.. if the healer isnt good
about keeping themselves and their channels 'clean', you might
accidentally transfer a bit of crappiness.
and if the healer isnt feeling good themselves they shouldnt
try to heal someone else at that time.
i believe the body is a filter of sorts, and if you let
a filter get all gunked up...well...

Iggy, good advice for any type of healing work, not just Reiki.  Thank you.

you are welcome.

        Iggy- that's fine, but it's a bit much to just assume reiki's 
"good for everyone". Milk isn't good for everyone, but it's fine for others.
Same for soybeans. You know how power is ac or dc? what if reiki is "ac"
but the person you're working on is "dc"?

i work a lot with energy, i do not see it as either AC or DC.
everyone's energy is different. for reiki to be able to work
on so many different things <people, animals, plants, spirits etc> it
is pretty adaptable.
the simple matter is, if it feels wrong to either the giver or
reciever, STOP!!
once i was reiki-ing someone's sore back, and suddenly we were in the
midst of a past life regression where her back had been injured
in that very spot. since i was 'new' to reiki and had just begun
getting tutored in how to do other psychic things, i didnt
handle the situation very well. the person kinda freaked out and started
sobbing. i didnt know enough to stop immediately, and the person
re-experienced being impaled.
looking back, i should have stopped and given her a choice.
my inexperience caused someone a great deal of pain. but at the time
i thought i knew everything.
<as opposed to now when i really do know everything  ;-) >

Iggy, that sounds hairy.  I know sometimes it's hard to find a graceful
way to disengage from a situation,  and no one *likes* to be graceless or
awkward.  I've been in the position, more than once, of knowing there was
a problem but not how to stop the momentum or fix it.  Helps to have another
person who is an experienced monitor, but that luxury isn't always available.
/

        Iggy, I think you missed the point.
        Reiki works for some people very well. Maybe even most.
BUT, you cannot assume it is good for everyone! Energy conflicts CAN occur.

i think you missed my point as well.
if it doesnt feel right, then STOP.

        Iggy, I never missed that point. I never have used reiki since I
found it so incompatible. My point was that you can't just go around
saying that it is "good for everyone".

Selena, dear, there are about 5 billion people on this planet...*nothing* is
gonna be good for *everyone*, hence the wise saying, "To each, his own...".
 C:\Grex\bbs\synth>Set Drift :off

selena, you puzzle me.
i've looked through my last few responses, and nowhere
do i find me saying it is "good for everyone" like you keep
quoting me as saying.
i have said that due to various circumstances, reiki wont feel right
for everyone. and if you are performing reiki and it feels wrong, you should
STOP.
where in the world does this translate to you quoting me as
saying it is "good for everyone"?
<scratches head in a puzzled manner>

In 18 or 19, whichever was yours, Iggy, you said that healing is good even
if it's against the person's wishes, and then talked about reiki.  That 
carries the implication that you (as healer) know what's better for
someone than they do, and that you (as Reiki II) feel a really good way 
to heal is using reiki.  Ergo, reiki is a really good way to heal anyone
(by weak implication).
I didn't think that was what you meant, but I think that's what Selena's 
responding to.  Correct me if I'm wrong, Selena...
Iggy, you've stated that that's certainly *not* what you meant.  Then,
how can you heal someone who doesn't want to be healed, if they don't 
want to be healed so much they're not willing to tell you what works to
heal them?  *Did that make sense?  I hope so.  :)*

you were right, it was #18. but please read it
again. i thought i emphasized to NOT heal someone against their wishes,
even though i may or may not think it is the right thing to do.
i'm not a ditzy goody-two-shoes who goes around hugging and
loving and healing the world. <gads, what an insult ;-) >
i feel a person who wants to be healed will ask me. if they dont
want to be healed they wont ask.  or on rare occasions i
will offer.. but that doesnt mean i'll force myself. if they say 'no',
then that is my answer.
my point is that even if the gods tell me to heal someone, if the person
isnt interested then i do not heal them. the people have a
right to decide for themselves what is best.

so, in my opinion i never said it is good for everyone, nor
that it is good to heal against one's wishes or knowledge.

boy! y'all must have powerful legs from all this jumping to conclusions. ;-)

See, I misread it too.  :)
And yep, I have powerful legs.  Point?  :)

i dont suppose you have the thighs of a hockeyplayer...?
<used to have a fetish in my early 20's>

        Iggy, that was partly where I was getting it. You also keep
on saying if it doesn't "feel right" implying that there's something
wrong with the individual who doesn't work well with reiki, rather
than admit that there are cases of energy incompatibility.

no.. you are mistaken. you assumed i was only talking about the
individual getting the reiki treatment.
there are a number of factors that could be involved in the 
reiki either feeling right or not.
i'm not saying i think that there is something wrong with you
for not liking or being compatable or whatever with reiki.
the person who treated you should have noticed something wasnt right and
stopped.
can i be any more clear?
any more assumptions you need clarified?

        How about assuming this kind of clarity would be in the original
entry? Ah, but then we wouldn't have these pleasant chats, would we?

aha! so you just wanted to know i wasnt personally attacking you!!
aha! aha! aha!
arent word games *fun*? ;-)

        No, I just wanted to make certain you weren't being like literally
every other Reiki-master I've met.

i'm not a master... i'm reiki II, a master is III.
i'm squat in the middle.

        Hmm.. may I urge you NOT to take III then? You're much more
reasonable than any master I've met.

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