Chapter 18 The Art of Touch
You can begin learning massage, but you can never stop; it will continue indefinitely, and the experience will become deeper and more profound. Massage is one of the most subtle arts; it's not just a matter of technique, but also a matter of love.
You can learn the technique, but then forget it and just feel it, move with your feelings. When you've learned it deeply, ninety percent of the work is done with love, and only ten percent with technique. Just through that touch, that loving touch, something inside your body will relax.
If you have love and compassion for the other person, and are able to sense their ultimate value; if you don't see them as an operational mechanism that must be corrected, but rather as a highly valuable energy; if you are grateful that they trust you and are willing to let you play their energy, then gradually, you will feel as if you are playing a piano, your whole body becoming the keys, and you can feel a harmony being created within your body. Not only will the other person be helped, but you yourself will also be helped.
Therefore, approach it with a prayerful heart. When you touch someone's body, do so as if God himself were there and you were serving him. Let all your energy flow. Whenever you see the body flowing, and the energy creating a new harmonious form, you will feel an unprecedented joy, and you will enter into a deep meditation.
Massage is about achieving a harmonious relationship with another person's body energy, sensing where their body is lacking, which part is incomplete, and making it whole... helping the body's energy to no longer be fragmented or contradictory. When the body's energy becomes more harmonious and becomes like an orchestra, you have succeeded.
Therefore, you should approach the human body with a deep sense of reverence, for it is the dwelling place of God, the temple of God. So approach your art with profound reverence and prayer, for it is one of the greatest things you should learn.
What is therapeutic touch?
Simply place your hands on the part of the person that needs it. If someone has a headache, place your hands on their head, close your eyes, and begin to feel your energy flowing from your hands. You will feel a tingling sensation in your hands; they will become electrified. Or, if the person has a stomach problem, place your hands on their stomach. That part that needs it must be touched. If it can be touched naked, without clothing, that's better and more effective, but don't touch that part for more than a minute. If you touch that part for more than a minute, sometimes the illness will start to affect you.
Energy is a rhythm; one minute it moves outward, the next it moves inward. So, when you place your hand on someone's body, exhale; it must be synchronized with your inhalation and exhalation. Exhale as you place your hand on them, continue exhaling, until you feel you can't exhale any more, then remove your hand and inhale. If you inhale while your hand is on someone, you might be affected by the illness; that person might be cured, but you will suffer unnecessarily. Exhale as you place your hand down, and withdraw your hand as you begin to inhale.
After each treatment, it's best to take a shower if possible; if that's not possible, at least wash your hands immediately and shake them thoroughly. When your energy flows into someone else, their energy often flows into yours as well, and the two energies overlap. Sometimes that person may be very strong, even stronger than you; sometimes they may not be very strong, but their illness may be very severe, so the vibrations of that illness may enter you and cause harm. They can make you sick or stressed. Treatment is good, but don't sacrifice yourself; that's foolish, and you can't cure much anyway. Sooner or later you will get sick, very sick, and your body will become very chaotic.
Massage is not just massage; you are sharing energy. Unless you have energy flowing within you, you will soon become very tired, which is dangerous. It doesn't produce physical fatigue—physical fatigue is unimportant; you can eat, sleep, and that fatigue will disappear. But massage is a deeper energy sharing. When you massage someone else's body, not only your own body is involved, but also your various subtle bodies, the energy bodies of both people, and the biological blood plasma of both people are involved. The person receiving the massage may take away a lot of your biological blood plasma. Unless your inner self can constantly replenish it, unless you can connect with the source, the energy will become very dispersed after the massage. It may not affect you immediately because you are young, and you may not feel it for months or even years. But one day you will suddenly feel like you've collapsed.
So, my understanding is this: one must first work on oneself; one must become extremely centered. When you are centered, you cease to exist; when you are centered, the source begins to operate, and you become merely a conduit through which the universe begins to flow, and then there is no problem. You can share as much energy as you want, and you will continue to receive new energy. You won't be like a pool without a spring of life; you will be like a well with many springs of life, constantly drawing water from it, while new water flows in, and you can never exhaust it. In fact, you are removing the stale, foul water and letting in fresh, living water. So the well will be very happy because you have removed its old and stagnant water, relieving it of its burden. Therefore, if your energy is flowing, then there is no problem.
Therefore, massage, therapy, and these phenomena are all very subtle. It's not just about knowing the techniques; the bigger issue is how to be at the source. Then there are no problems, and I won't even concern myself with the techniques or whether you understand them. You can start working on someone else's body, the energy will flow, and there will be great benefits. But the real benefit is when the person massaging the other also benefits through it. In that case, both the healer and the healed will benefit, and no one will lose anything.
How to treat someone who is afraid of being touched?
When you are healing someone, a lot of energy flows out. If you touch it, it's almost like touching a live wire; they will become very frightened and shut the door. If that door is already closed, even if you continue to pour energy in, nothing will happen. Healing doesn't just come from your energy; it must be your energy entering into another person and becoming their energy. If your energy hits the other person's door and bounces back, healing won't happen.
That's why if someone doesn't trust you, don't try to heal them—never. It's impossible. If someone doubts you, forget about it. It's only possible with deep trust. If you try to heal someone who doesn't trust you, you'll lose confidence in your own energy. If you fail many times, you'll gradually think, "Nothing happens; I don't have the energy." In fact, everyone has the energy to heal; it's natural. It's not that some people are healers and others aren't. No, it's not like that. Everyone is a natural healer; they just forget that ability, or they've never used it, or they've used it in the wrong connections and therefore feel it's ineffective.
So never use it on the person who challenges you; it's not a challenge. If someone is ready to participate, ready to follow you, then it's a beautiful experience. So don't touch them at the beginning. As the person becomes more and more relaxed, you feel... I mean feel, not think. If you feel an urge to touch the person, for example, if they have a stomachache or headache or other symptoms, and you feel that touching their head would help, then touch them. But first, you must get them into sync with you, give them an energetic massage, don't touch their body yet.
Maintain a distance of about two inches, because the person's energy field is about six inches away from their body. Keep a distance of two or three inches. So in a sense, you are touching their energy field, not their physical body, but their subtle body, and that's enough. For the energy to penetrate, that's enough. You have truly touched them, but they won't be afraid of it. When you feel the person's complete involvement, when their trust is absolute, and you can see them flowing with you, you can feel your energy being absorbed, not rejected; they become like a sponge absorbing your energy—that's the perfect moment. At that perfect moment, the entire energy radiates out and penetrates to the deepest depths.
Do you think rolfing techniques can help relieve physical and mental tension?
The body and mind move together, but sometimes the mind leads and performs better than the body, or sometimes the situation is reversed—the mind is in a worse state than the body. When the harmony between body and mind is disrupted, suffering occurs.
When people come to me, their bodies and minds work together—regardless of their state. If they are in pain, their bodies adapt to that pain; if they are happy, their bodies adapt to that happiness. When they begin to meditate, that adjustment loosens because the mind begins to grow, but the body has been adjusted to adapt to the old mind, which has moved on, so the body feels a sense of loss. The body doesn't have much intelligence; it's a machine, very slow, but it gradually adapts. At this time, Luofu massage is helpful.
A Luofu massage simply loosens your tissues. In certain parts of the body, muscle tissue can become deformed. If someone is constantly worried, certain muscles in the body will adapt to that worry. Then the worry might disappear, but the state of that muscle tissue remains; it will feel heavy or painful. Its function is gone, but the body doesn't know how to resolve it. If you do nothing, it will gradually resolve itself, but it takes a long time. Why wait?
Through Luofu massage, it can be resolved. The abnormal state of that muscle tissue will disappear, and you will feel your body become very fresh, almost like the feeling in your mind. Then a new adjustment will occur again—that is a higher stage.
There will definitely be pain, it really hurts, because the whole past has accumulated in the body. That muscle tissue has to be broken down and reabsorbed in the body. That reabsorption will cause pain, but it's worth it.
Touch, in essence, is a forgotten language of love. The core of true massage and therapeutic touch is not technique, but love, compassion, and reverence. It is the harmonious resonance of energy, a bridge between two trusting hearts. Technique is the skeleton; love is the flesh and soul. When you touch with a prayerful heart, viewing another's body as a sacred temple, your touch becomes a medium of healing. The key is that you yourself must be a centered, living source of energy, so that you can give selflessly and inexhaustibly. At the same time, you must operate wisely, respecting the rhythm of energy, protecting yourself, and being especially sensitive to those who are afraid of touch, first establishing a bond of trust with an invisible energy atmosphere. Remember, healing is a two-way gift; the ultimate goal is to allow the body's energy to function like a harmonious orchestra, restoring wholeness and harmony to body and mind.
Therefore, practicing the art of touch requires a clear path. First, establish the right mindset: grounded in love and reverence, viewing technique as a tool that can be learned and forgotten. Second, master the specific methods: when performing therapeutic touch, exhale as you lower your hand and inhale as you raise it, each session lasting no more than one minute, and afterwards, cleanse your energy field. For those with fear, begin with non-physical energy massage, patiently building trust until they absorb it like a sponge before touching. Deeper auxiliary techniques, such as Lofoten massage, can be used to loosen muscle tissue solidified by old mental patterns; although accompanied by pain, they can facilitate the reintegration of mind and body on a new level. Ultimately, all methods point to one thing: the massage therapist must continuously meditate and introspect, ensuring that they become a clear energy channel, not a depleted pool. In this way, touch is not only an art, but also a spiritual path to meditation, love, and wholeness.