The Importance of Touch
“For we cannot touch something without being touched by it in the very same instant. We cannot be touched without touching. Walking barefoot, our feet kiss the earth with every step, and the earth kisses right back and we feel it.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn
The practice of breathing into my pain over the last week has helped me find a loving space to accept the pain in my back. I also realised how important it is for us to be touched, both in terms of healing and comfort. I became aware of what it means to be physically touched through my experience of being a massage therapist. A combination of massage, lymphatic drainage, transpersonal psychotherapy, mindfulness, and mindful movement has taught me that I could fully experience the healing power of touch with body awareness.I was initially drawn to massage at a time of transition in my life when I felt particularly low and disillusioned. I believed that if I found a more meaningful way to earn a living, this might help me engage and connect with my life.
“This touch of nature helps me to reconnect to my soul, which reminds me to breathe and take in all that surrounds me at that moment in time.”
Rachel Podger
In hindsight, I realise I was both physically and emotionally disconnected from my body; it was touch that allowed me to reconnect with myself and others. Touch enables me to feel my feet kissing the earth as I walk. It also reminds me of all of the beautiful, courageous people whom I have touched and who have lifted my heart. I remember their skin and what it felt like to have the privilege to massage them and share time with them.As I have written about previously and as you will see from my photographs, it is also through my connection with nature that I am transformed. I notice that I feel at peace and at one with the world when I allow myself to feel the wind on my face and the air around me, or the sun as it warms my skin and filters through to my bones. This touch of nature helps me to reconnect to my soul, which reminds me to breathe and take in all that surrounds me at that moment in time.“… and soon so many small stones, buried for thousands of years, will feel themselves being touched”. – Mary Oliver