Michelle Ebbin - The Touch Remedy Hands-On Solutions To De-Stress Your Life

for

L UKE ,

J ACKSON ,

C ASSIDY ,

and

T ANNER

CONTENTS

TO TOUCH IS TO GIVE LIFE.

MICHELANGELO

Welcome to The Touch Remedy, a hands-on guide of scientifically proven and personally tested touch-therapy solutions that will help you and your family decrease stress, feel better, and live happier, healthier lives. As a professional massage therapist and, more recently, mother to three young boys, Ive continually turned to touch therapies to help myself, my clients, and my family cope with stressful physical and emotional issues. I know how powerful touch can be, and Im passionate about sharing my knowledge and experience, so that everyone can learn to use touch as an antidote to stress. My message is simple: touch can transform lives for the better. With my remedies, you literally can touch stress away!

This book is the result of my twenty years practicing and honing the most effective, easy, and safe touch remedies that have worked for me, my family, and the thousands of people Ive had the opportunity to touch and teach. There are remedies for everyone, young and old, even pets, and most can be done anywhere, anytime, with nothing but your own two hands. In addition to relieving the negative effects of stress and other common problems, touch remedies improve the intimacy in relationships, deepen family bonds, and communicate love and compassion through touch. By using these remedies regularly on yourself and others you will gain a sense of control over your own and your familys well-being. These are my go-to remedies from my own stress-relief toolbox, and Im excited to share them with you.

In todays fast-paced world, stress is inevitable, and everyone encounters some form of it on a daily basis. Although a little stress can be beneficial, chronic stress can become emotionally and physically damaging. Stress is related to 99 percent of all illnesses, so its crucial that we try to do everything in our power to reduce it.

Stress is contagious, so even if just one member of the family is stressed, the entire family feels the effects. The symptoms of stressanxiety, irritability, and depression, to name just a feware almost impossible to hide, and family members are the first to sense when youre under pressure. They not only sense your stress; they inadvertently absorb some of it too. Whether youre an overwhelmed parent or an overworked professional (or both), if you have an irritable baby, a spirited toddler, a hormone-crazed teenager, an exhausted college student, an aging senior, or an anxious pet, you and your family need stress reliefand touch is the answer.

As a practitioner, Ive known that using touch therapy can relax your body, soothe your mind, and improve your relationships, and now theres scientific evidence to prove it. Today research from all over the world confirms the remarkable physical and emotional benefits of touch. Traditional techniques that have been used for centuries finally have clinical data to support them. Studies prove that touch-therapy techniques such as massage, acupressure, and reflexology can relax the nervous system; lower heart rate and blood pressure; ease stress, anxiety, and pain; increase alertness; enhance the immune system; and lessen symptoms of depression. Other studies prove that touch therapy can improve conditions like arthritis, fibromyalgia, and heart disease, ease many cancer-related symptoms, benefit children with ADHD, and improve the quality of life for aging adults.

Massage is increasingly recognized as an alternative medical treatment, and more medical centers nationwide offer massage as a form of patient treatment. In a recent American Hospital Association survey of 1,007 hospitals concerning their use of complementary and alternative medicine therapies, more than 80 percent said they offered massage therapy and over 70 percent said they used massage for pain management and relief. Ive seen firsthand how touch therapy benefits hospital patients as well as their family members and caregivers, both physically and emotionally. Im honored to be working with City of Hope, one of the worlds leading comprehensive cancer centers, to develop a program that complements mainstream medical care by incorporating touch therapy into the healing process. A portion of the proceeds of this book will go directly to this program.

Touch itself is not only a valuable stress-relieving tool for people of all ages; its an element vital to our physical and emotional health. In fact, touch is crucial to our early development and all our social interactions. Why? Because touch is not only about physical sensation; its a means of communicating our emotions nonverbally to one another. According to neuroscientists, we have an innate ability to decode emotions via touch. Even the simplest of touches, say a hand on your arm or a pat on your back, has a powerful effect on your brain. Momentary touches can communicate an even wider range of emotion than hand gestures or facial expressions and sometimes do so more quickly and accurately than words. So if inadvertent touch can affect you, just imagine the powerful effect that intentional, compassionate touch therapy can have!

The bad news is that scientists also report that American society is dangerously touch-deprived, and most Americans today are in desperate need of a one-on-one connection. People who dont get enough touch also miss out on the benefits of oxytocin, the feel-good hormone thats released in your body when you touch or are touched, which lowers cortisol levels, reduces stress and pain, and makes people feel secure and trusting toward each other.

Unfortunately, skin hunger isnt an extreme condition; rather, its a very common experience that many people have at different times in their lives. According to the Urban Dictionary, When youve been without a date for a long, long time, havent seen your mom for ages, and no one has hugged you forever and you need someone to touch and hug you, thats skin hunger.... When you are lying in bed or sitting on a park bench and begin fantasizing about lying in bed holding another person and