This blog post is the report of me working with a client in a private setting. It was, and still is, of extreme value to me. And for my client; all you’ll read below I’m allowed to publish with his consent.
I often realize how much we all long to be touched. But also, how much we all long to touch others! It all started with what I call my ‘light touch massage’ that I offer to some of my private clients whenever it turns out to be helpful on their healing path.
You can read more about my approach and content of one-on-one sessions here.
Not so long ago
…I received a phone call. The caller asked for a short meeting in order to get to know me in person as he was looking for a place to practice yoga in a private setting.
I’m talking about a 77-year-old man. He had never ever practiced yoga in his life before. He had heard from his daughter in law that she highly benefits from yoga. It prompted him to start looking for a suitable place and teacher. A short but heartfelt conversation made him realize that he’d found just that.
All clients have an intention
…they bring to yoga. My client often felt tensed and ill at ease. His intention was and still is to heal a blockage that prevents him from expressing feelings, wishes and needs in words. The feelings he experiences simply do not flow out of his heart and do not get released into words. Over a couple of sessions, I came to the conclusion that his heart was drowning in love and affection. How painful it must be to have a drowning heart!
It turned out that there’s a long-life story attached to his situation. A story that he was hesitating to tell. I could feel that there was no need to do so. 77 years of life is a long period of time with a lot of events, places, pleasure, love, hurt, rejection, joy, failure, success and an endless number of other things.
We can’t change the past. It is said that the past has shaped our lives. I learned in my own explorations that it is a choice whether or not I let the past have an impact on my present being and the plans I make for my future life. That’s why I decided to follow my intuition that clearly told me that there was no need to integrate his life story into the healing that he was very obviously longing for.
In the first couple of sessions
…we experimented a bit with gentle movements. My intention was to re-establish a fruitful relationship between his body and his mind for him to re-awaken the ability to release his feelings, wishes and needs into words. He obviously had a hard time relating to his body with its parts. Moving the body or some of its parts other than in habituated movements turned out to be pretty challenging for him and it was hard to come into a flow.
Men are often not familiar with feeling their bodies and wonder what exactly is meant by that phrase. I explained to him that it is all about feeling sensations that the body generates all the time. I know by personal and prior experiences when working with clients that it takes time to learn to feel, acknowledge and respond to sensations.
When you’re 77 years of age
…you wish to resolve issues that hinder you from living a fulfilled life and getting well quickly and organically. I decided to change plans. I decided to offer him my healing hands in the form of a light touch massage. I had learned to witness what happens when I apply the power of my hands. They reflect the power my body receives as part of the universe, the power to structure, soothe, lighten and eventually heal as we are energy beings, able to change its expression as it passes through us.
I feel safe and confident to offer a client who trusts me, and I knew that my client did, a light touch massage without having to explain in great detail what it is, or what it could bring about. As I never really know what it can bring about! But I know that it’s going to change something, and/ or leave clients with an experience that they often can’t put into words as it seems to go beyond expectations.
My 77-year-old client reacted exactly like that. He was overwhelmed by the beauty of the sensation of being touched and afterwards. He was grateful for the fact that at his age he was allowed and invited to receive something that beautiful. He found it extremely satisfying to get that much unconditional attention.
He said that he had no idea how exactly it worked. He didn’t feel the need to know how exactly it works. He knew he had found something that gave him hope for healing, trust in life through trusting himself and others and a new outlook on his remaining years to come.
I am extremely grateful
…for opportunities such as this. They make me feel deeply connected with the powers that surround us every day and that we forget or ignore all too often. They encourage me on my path to self-discovery, self-expression and healing. They enable me to build the life that I never had in mind for myself but the universe kept pushing me into and that I meanwhile want and need to live as a purposeful life.
I love to be touched.
My husband knows, some of my friends know, and some day some of my clients will know as I know that touching and being touched are both deeply satisfying and healing. In other words, I have serious plans to encourage clients and students to learn to touch for the sake of it!
In general all human beings love being touched. If you don’t, find the courage to seriously ask yourself why that is. I assure you that you otherwise seriously miss out on something that is beyond words and imagination!