How To Touch?

I am still learning the answer to the seemingly simple question of how to touch another person. Massage Therapy is practiced in an infinite number of ways by people all over the world. I always imagine that our instinct to reach out with our hands to another who is hurting, is proof that we are indeed wired to need each other. After all, there are itchy places on my back that only another could scratch! But more than this, regardless of our inability to speak another’s language, everyone seems capable of understanding the language of offering and receiving a caring touch.
What is that sense of trust we have for another when they offer us caring physical contact? What are we attending to when we touch others who cannot speak our language?  That “something” that seems like nothing until we experience it, that is the “thing” we can all attend to if we really put our senses to the task. When a Massage Therapist attends to that subtle energy – or not – that is the difference between a “good massage” and a “life changing experience of healing.”
I was fortunate enough to have a life changing experience of healing when I had my first massage. It wasn’t about the style of massage my therapist offered. It was her attention, her presence, her connection to my deeper self from her deeper self that was at the bottom of that experience. To have such a presence requires dedication on the part of the practitioner; a dedication to self transformation that becomes a life long practice. Thanks to all of the dedicated hands-on practitioners all over the world.