Importance of touch

“Appropriate, affectionate, nourishing touch is one of the main missing ingredients in our social fabric. The very fact that modalities of health care which consciously utilize it are referred to as “alternative” speaks worlds. This is not simply sad; it’s disastrous. It is possible, in fact, to view deliberate non-touching as a form of abuse, perpetuated compulsively by those who were not touched as growing children who now are avenging themselves for the painful and damaging depravations they suffered. This is why as a society we are earnestly in need of ‘touch professionals’, individuals whose life-experience and training have equipped them with both the touching skills and the ethical perspectives that can help sort out the confusions and begin to perpetuate more positive contacts.” ~ from “Touch by the Goddess, The physical, psychological and spiritual powers of bodywork” by Deane Juhan