Touch is the first sense to develop and the one that lasts the longest. It is also our body’s most important and most extensive sense. Our skin, the organ of touch, covers our entire body. The skin covers approximately 6 square meters, the equivalent of a small bedroom. Without it, we couldn’t survive! It is said that, of the five senses (taste, smell, hearing, touch and sight), touch is the most important; unlike the others, it is vital.
Massage, the first form of medicine
Hippocrates – the father of modern medicine – wrote that doctors must be experienced in many fields and more particularly in massage!
Let’s not forget that one of the first forms of medicine involved massage and hand placement.
If we compare different ethnic groups in various parts of the world, we see that in those where massage, and touch in general, are practiced naturally, we find balanced, peaceful, pacifist individuals in a very good general health. In other ethnic groups, we find individuals who are suffering more, who are more sombre and aggressive.
Society has set aside massage, and even touch in certain parts of the world like the United States, because it could have sexual connotations, so that from nursery onwards, childminders practically no longer touch children… which has had catastrophic effects on their balance. They cried a lot, were aggressive and were physically suffering.
Touch regulates aggressiveness!
Touch is part of every level of wellbeing and balance. It regulates aggression, reduces sleep disorders; increases immune capacity; regulates growth delays. Touch can also improve problems in children with autism. It soothes people with asthma, diabetes, fibromyalgia, etc. At all ages, from infants to grandparents, including young mothers and fathers, touch remains an excellent therapy for everyone.
Through the skin, through touch, we promote the production of different hormones involved in improving immunity, growth, sleep, depression, etc. Touch, and more particularly massage, is an essential therapy and the most beautiful of languages; it is truth and suffers no lies.
“Most of us live in our heads, dwelling on worries, past failures and future disasters. The touch of a caring hand brings us back to the present world and helps us to be in tune with reality again”.
Quotation from an unknown author.