Research into Touch Therapy

I found ‘Vital touch’ by Sharon Heller to be fascinating. I am a researcher, an academic and am just about to publish a research project that I have been working on; through the well-being team in my hospital post, it’s a study of over two thousand massages and the power of touch within a hospital setting. We have very positive grounded research that touch has helped the well-being of staff through an intervention of complementary therapies.

So, I was completely fascinated at the concept of ‘sensory defensiveness’ and how quickly using deep-pressure touch can flood the body with endorphins to revitalize the nervous system and how easily and quickly the baby Dustin (a cited case study) recovered and went on to thrive within just a few days! It brought me back to how our intervention worked with trigger point massage. Again, this was deep-pressure touch and had quite quick results. It made me consider the link of baby wearing and how the whole body of the baby must be flooded with endorphins with the gentle rock and sway from the mother or the person who was wearing the baby. Again, and again more research is showing the power of touch to just be and follow what your baby wants. It has given me a big insight with all the research I have done through tree babies and how by just being present and holding space for parents is such a powerful tool. I have an understanding for the little people we have in our lives and why touch and connection are so very important for bonding and connection between babies and parents or caregivers.

The classes will encompass touch and connection through the very art of baby wearing and the very gentle art of walking through trees, noticing the sights and sounds and the gentle temporal patterning that will occur for the babe in arms. The neurological development it supports for the babies learning; and the attainment and response the baby gets from the caregiver noticing and connecting to the babies needs supporting the association of cause and effect. The baby will have a little bit of control of what it I am hoping it will lead to more babies having a happier and healthier start, improving babies chances in the 1001 days of life.