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Recent Articles
- Elementary Touch Education
- Feldenkrais and Hanna Somatics for Maintenance and Pain Management
- A new textbook about touch and children
- The “Death” of On-Site Massage
- France recognizes seated massage as an occupational title
- What it is like to attend a TouchPro training
- The History Channel Features the Massage Chair
- The Genetic Roots of Massage
- What we need to know about touch
- Why Do We Touch?
Category Archives: Touch
A new textbook about touch and children
I met Janet Courtney in 2015 through a small working group that was exploring the feasibility of creating an interdisciplinary, international conference on touch. On so many levels I find her amazing. She is an internationally recognized expert in developmental … Continue reading
The Genetic Roots of Massage
What are the evolutionary roots of massage. Is there a genetic basis? Continue reading
What we need to know about touch
Skin stimulation (touching) is essential to maintaining physical, psychological and social well-being, according to an ever-increasing body of scientific literature. Since touch is the fundamental tool through which massage professionals interact with those who pay for our services, it seems … Continue reading
Why Do We Touch?
One important characteristic of all touching is the intention of the person initiating the touching. Much of the time the intention behind the touch is not conscious or it is presumed. However, adding conscious intention adds a deeper level of … Continue reading
Where Do We Get Touch?
Skin stimulation (touch) is essential to the development and maintenance of health and well being in every human. Why then has it been so neglected as a subject for legitimate inquiry except perhaps by poets? The other four senses have … Continue reading
Cuddle Clubs Monetize Touch
Professional massage practitioners are not the only ones who make money touching. A growing movement gaining traction in our disembodied world brings groups of unrelated people together for non-erotic touch interaction. Variously called cuddle clubs, cuddle parties or snuggle parties … Continue reading
Touch Education in the Workplace
(This article first appeared in the June 2015 issue of MASSAGE Magazine,) Over the past three decades American culture has become increasingly touch averse. While few question the importance of touch for the healthy development of newborns, infants and young … Continue reading
Story Massage in Nepal
The reach of positive touch never ceases to amaze me. All it takes are some bold and visionary advocates, in this case from the folks at Story Massage UK working in Nepal. Read about this totally innovative program that empowers … Continue reading
Posted in In the News, Touch
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Touch As Nutrition
From the KindnessBlog comes a short but sweet article by John Tuite making the case that touch should properly be regarded as a form of nutrition. “Key in the front door at the end of a stressful day, we can … Continue reading
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Increasing Touch Sensitivity
From the Washington Post comes news of a simple study that demonstrated an increase in cortical stimulation as a result of using thumbs and fingers on smartphone touch screens. I look forward to similar research examining how giving massage alters … Continue reading
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Embrace Your Role as Touch Educator
Touch is good for us. While that may come as no surprise to the massage profession, research that helps us describe the underlying physiology of touch is a tremendous breakthrough. We can now tell our customers exactly why massage makes … Continue reading
Massage is Sensational
A recent article in The Atlantic about a phenomenon called ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) reminded me of how little we celebrate the purely sensational nature of massage. ASMR is a subjective sensory experience that typically includes highly pleasurable tingling … Continue reading
Viewing Massage Through a Holonic Lens
One of the critical topics in the massage community is how to define and label what we do. How we define massage influences how we market our services, how we regulate them and how we educate new people coming into … Continue reading
Posted in Bodywork, Business, Education, Politics, Touch
Tagged FSMTB, holarchical, holons, integral theory
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Haptics: The Science of Touch
Last week I saw a commercial for the new Cadillac XTS that featured an innovative touch technology called the Safety Alert Seat. The system sends vibrating pulses to drivers through the seat cushion if they drift out of their lane … Continue reading
MTBOK: Missed Opportunity?
Reading the impressive 58-page paper entitled Massage Therapy Body of Knowledge (MTBOK) was both exhilarating and disappointing. Developed by a coalition of six national massage organizations, Version 1 of this effort was published in 2010 and is a landmark document … Continue reading
Posted in Bodywork, Politics, Touch
Tagged massage therapy, MTBOK, personal care massage
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Toys for Touch
Touch is far more important for childhood development than technology. I was reminded of that while reading an article in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle about innovative local toy companies.A number of them explicitly sing the praises and benefits of tactile … Continue reading
Posted in In the News, Touch
Tagged dolls, folkmanis, hugs, kimochi, muppets, play, plushy feely, puppets, san francisco chrolnicle, touch
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Should hugs be banned?
Admittedly, since my oldest grandchild just entered second grade this year, I have been out of the loop regarding school board policies dealing with public displays of affection (PDA) between students. I guess, after watching Glee for three years, I … Continue reading
Is it time for massage to embrace touch?
Which profession should hold the keys to the storehouse that contains all of the world’s knowledge about human touch? Besides bodyworkers, is there any other (legal) occupation with more practical and theoretical knowledge about touch? I don’t think so and … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Politics, Touch
Tagged AMTA, massage, massage school, massage therapy, touch
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Why I Do Chair Massage – Part Two
When I was a kid, my Mom and I used to lie at opposite ends of the couch with our legs entwined. When I was a kid my Dad used to kiss me goodnight. Then, somewhere around ten or eleven, … Continue reading
Posted in Chair Massage, Touch
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I Believe in Touch
In 2004, National Public Radio (NPR) began airing readings of brief essays entitled This I Believe written by youth and adults from all walks of life about the core values that guide their daily lives. It was based on a … Continue reading
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“Sound is touch at a distance.”
That wonderfully rich quote comes from Anne Fernald, the head of Stanford Institute’s Center for Infant Studies during an interview on a RadioLab podcast, one of my favorite NPR science programs. The program segment was titled Sound as Touch and … Continue reading
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