Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Thursday, June 16, 2011
In 1997 I found a therapy called Healing Touch.
I had read about energy healing but finding Healing Touch allowed me to really make it a part of my life and also to be able to help those I loved who had been in pain. It turned out I could help others as well with this wonderful healing modality, that was the direction that I wanted my life to go in and my formal education into energy healing began.
I took my first Healing Touch class that year and continue to learn more about energy healing all the time. I have always had a strong desire to help people & animals, and I am very thankful to have found Healing Touch as well as other energy healing modalities to help me assist in their healing including mediumship.
When I was younger I use to see spirits and was told by a well meaning sibling that I watch too many spooky movies. When Dugan my dog passed it broke my heart to see him sitting by the window like he did when he was alive waiting for me to come home. I didn’t know what to make of it at that time and felt horrible and very alone and I did not want to see him like this anymore.
Every once in awhile I would catch a glimpse of something that was not there physically or hear something and dismiss it as my imagination. I am thankful to now to embrace my gift and include mediumship to assist with healing. I feel I was given these gifts for a reason and I am no longer afraid and feel very blessed and I am very thankful and blessed to be able to use it to assist others in their healing.
Highlights of my formal education:
Healing Touch – Healing Touch Program
Intuition – Kathryn Grace
Healing Touch for Animals taught by Kathy Veder, CHTP, BS, HTACP
Medical Intuition and Quantum Healing Classes, taught by Diana Machnak QHP/I, CHTP.
Energetic Transformations taught by Kathy Sinnett, HNC, RN, CHTP/I
Reiki for people and animals – Aoghain Lakes
Usui Reiki taught by Julie Kusiak, MA, Reiki Master/Teacher, PYT through Beaumont Hospital
Intuition – Rev. Shala Kilmer
Channeling basic and advanced – Rev. Shala Kilmer
Healing Touch Programs – My Helpful Healing Touch
Mediumship & Spirit Communication As Healing – with Rev. Elaine D. Thomas, M.S.
James Van Praagh – Healing Grief online
James Van Praagh – Enhancing Intuition online
Foundational Keys to Mediumship – Janet Nohavec
Higher levels of Mediumship – Janet Nohavec
Mediumship Development – Rev. Lisa Bouson
Advanced Mediumship – Val Williams
By appointment only in Shelby Township: Healing Touch, Reiki and email or phone readings
and in Rochester I offer readings 30 minute minimum.
Other moldalities availabe with a two hour energy healing session:
Energetic Transformation
Quantum Healing & Medical Intuition
Distance healings (one hour available)
Angel readings
Mediumship
Classes:
Energy techniques
Individuals and groups.
My Helpful Healing Touch for children (summer camp, holiday camp?)
Teaches Healing Touch techniques to students ages 6 – 12.
Class size limited to 10.
Not only will parents benefit from giving your child this unique and amazing educational gift, but the children learn vital skills helpful in everyday life:
* Basic energy concepts in a simple and enjoyable format
* How to use healing energy for their wellness and self care
* How to balance their emotions through the use of breath
* How to elicit an internal sense of peace and calm
* Meditation for self care
* How to use their energy field as a protective shield
* To create stronger sense of self
* How to use the universal life force energy for comforting and caring
Associations and Institutions I work with
Gilda’s Club Gilda’s Club Detroit
- Teaching energetic techniques
- Presentations on Healing Touch
- Spa Days doing Healing Touch at Gilda’s Club.
William Beaumont Hospital Integrated Health Department (Integrated Health Department)
- Reiki.
- Energetic Transformation classes (assisted)
Currently serves the Healing Touch Clinic on the Board of Directors.
Healing Touch for Animals
This is a passion of mine and it can be so rewarding to the animal owners to give the gift of healing to their beloved friends. In most cases I will go onsite.
Products: Young Living Essential Oils.
I had read about energy healing but finding Healing Touch allowed me to really make it a part of my life and also to be able to help those I loved who had been in pain. It turned out I could help others as well with this wonderful healing modality, that was the direction that I wanted my life to go in and my formal education into energy healing began.
I took my first Healing Touch class that year and continue to learn more about energy healing all the time. I have always had a strong desire to help people & animals, and I am very thankful to have found Healing Touch as well as other energy healing modalities to help me assist in their healing including mediumship.
When I was younger I use to see spirits and was told by a well meaning sibling that I watch too many spooky movies. When Dugan my dog passed it broke my heart to see him sitting by the window like he did when he was alive waiting for me to come home. I didn’t know what to make of it at that time and felt horrible and very alone and I did not want to see him like this anymore.
Every once in awhile I would catch a glimpse of something that was not there physically or hear something and dismiss it as my imagination. I am thankful to now to embrace my gift and include mediumship to assist with healing. I feel I was given these gifts for a reason and I am no longer afraid and feel very blessed and I am very thankful and blessed to be able to use it to assist others in their healing.
Highlights of my formal education:
Healing Touch – Healing Touch Program
Intuition – Kathryn Grace
Healing Touch for Animals taught by Kathy Veder, CHTP, BS, HTACP
Medical Intuition and Quantum Healing Classes, taught by Diana Machnak QHP/I, CHTP.
Energetic Transformations taught by Kathy Sinnett, HNC, RN, CHTP/I
Reiki for people and animals – Aoghain Lakes
Usui Reiki taught by Julie Kusiak, MA, Reiki Master/Teacher, PYT through Beaumont Hospital
Intuition – Rev. Shala Kilmer
Channeling basic and advanced – Rev. Shala Kilmer
Healing Touch Programs – My Helpful Healing Touch
Mediumship & Spirit Communication As Healing – with Rev. Elaine D. Thomas, M.S.
James Van Praagh – Healing Grief online
James Van Praagh – Enhancing Intuition online
Foundational Keys to Mediumship – Janet Nohavec
Higher levels of Mediumship – Janet Nohavec
Mediumship Development – Rev. Lisa Bouson
Advanced Mediumship – Val Williams
By appointment only in Shelby Township: Healing Touch, Reiki and email or phone readings
and in Rochester I offer readings 30 minute minimum.
Other moldalities availabe with a two hour energy healing session:
Energetic Transformation
Quantum Healing & Medical Intuition
Distance healings (one hour available)
Angel readings
Mediumship
Classes:
Energy techniques
Individuals and groups.
My Helpful Healing Touch for children (summer camp, holiday camp?)
Teaches Healing Touch techniques to students ages 6 – 12.
Class size limited to 10.
Not only will parents benefit from giving your child this unique and amazing educational gift, but the children learn vital skills helpful in everyday life:
* Basic energy concepts in a simple and enjoyable format
* How to use healing energy for their wellness and self care
* How to balance their emotions through the use of breath
* How to elicit an internal sense of peace and calm
* Meditation for self care
* How to use their energy field as a protective shield
* To create stronger sense of self
* How to use the universal life force energy for comforting and caring
Associations and Institutions I work with
Gilda’s Club Gilda’s Club Detroit
- Teaching energetic techniques
- Presentations on Healing Touch
- Spa Days doing Healing Touch at Gilda’s Club.
William Beaumont Hospital Integrated Health Department (Integrated Health Department)
- Reiki.
- Energetic Transformation classes (assisted)
Currently serves the Healing Touch Clinic on the Board of Directors.
Healing Touch for Animals
This is a passion of mine and it can be so rewarding to the animal owners to give the gift of healing to their beloved friends. In most cases I will go onsite.
Products: Young Living Essential Oils.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Healing Touch therapy By Shari Rudavsky
April 15, 2010
Healing Touch therapy
By Shari Rudavsky
shari.rudavsky@indystar.com
Six years ago, when Kimberly Bell, manager of the St. Francis Pain Center, started doing Healing Touch on her chronic pain patients, people -- even many colleagues -- thought she was crazy.
Now about 75 of her colleagues throughout St. Francis' three campuses have been trained in providing Healing Touch and offer it to inpatients, outpatients and one another.
Like other energy therapies, Healing Touch, an energy-based therapy designed by and for nurses, entails the practitioner gently placing his or her hands over the person's body or just off the body.
During a session, which can range from a few minutes to an hour and a half, the person's body goes into a state of deep relaxation. When that occurs, oxygen exchange and blood flow improve.
"All of those physiological things that our bodies do, it increases or improves," said Bell, coordinator of St. Francis' Healing Touch. "It allows the body to go to a state where maximum self- healing can occur."
Such healing happens for a variety of conditions, from acute pain to fibromyalgia or to lower anxiety before another procedure, Bell said. Patients on any unit at St. Francis may find themselves recipients of Healing Touch. For instance, a nurse might try a 5- or 10-minute treatment to alleviate nausea after surgery.
Many patients who come in for pain treatments report pain scores as high as eight out of 10. After treatment, those scores hover in the one or two range, Bell said.
Over the past year, Shirley Aldenderfer, 74, has missed only one of her weekly Healing Touch treatments for arthritis. Since she started, she said, she has had less pain, she stands up straighter, and she has reduced her dosage of painkillers. Before, she suffered muscle spasms; she has not had one for a year.
"I wish I had come upon this a lot sooner in my life," the Southside resident said. "I would advise everyone who has a problem to try it because the world runs on energy. . . . You won't have that pain, and it's just a wonderful thing."
During sessions, the practitioner usually dims the lights and plays soothing music. Sometimes, the practitioner chats with the client and incorporates aromatherapy into the treatment.
Outpatient treatments cost about $70 an hour. Few insurance companies cover the service, but some flexible health-care accounts will pay for it, Bell said.
Patients may start out with weekly treatments and slowly taper off, learning how to incorporate some of the relaxation techniques on their own.
Healing Touch isn't just about the physical. The treatment also has spiritual components for both practitioner and patient.
"We are the vessel. We are not the healer," Bell said. "Whenever I work, I know that there's someone greater than me that really has the control, and I think that is why St Francis has embraced this."
Healing Touch therapy
By Shari Rudavsky
shari.rudavsky@indystar.com
Six years ago, when Kimberly Bell, manager of the St. Francis Pain Center, started doing Healing Touch on her chronic pain patients, people -- even many colleagues -- thought she was crazy.
Now about 75 of her colleagues throughout St. Francis' three campuses have been trained in providing Healing Touch and offer it to inpatients, outpatients and one another.
Like other energy therapies, Healing Touch, an energy-based therapy designed by and for nurses, entails the practitioner gently placing his or her hands over the person's body or just off the body.
During a session, which can range from a few minutes to an hour and a half, the person's body goes into a state of deep relaxation. When that occurs, oxygen exchange and blood flow improve.
"All of those physiological things that our bodies do, it increases or improves," said Bell, coordinator of St. Francis' Healing Touch. "It allows the body to go to a state where maximum self- healing can occur."
Such healing happens for a variety of conditions, from acute pain to fibromyalgia or to lower anxiety before another procedure, Bell said. Patients on any unit at St. Francis may find themselves recipients of Healing Touch. For instance, a nurse might try a 5- or 10-minute treatment to alleviate nausea after surgery.
Many patients who come in for pain treatments report pain scores as high as eight out of 10. After treatment, those scores hover in the one or two range, Bell said.
Over the past year, Shirley Aldenderfer, 74, has missed only one of her weekly Healing Touch treatments for arthritis. Since she started, she said, she has had less pain, she stands up straighter, and she has reduced her dosage of painkillers. Before, she suffered muscle spasms; she has not had one for a year.
"I wish I had come upon this a lot sooner in my life," the Southside resident said. "I would advise everyone who has a problem to try it because the world runs on energy. . . . You won't have that pain, and it's just a wonderful thing."
During sessions, the practitioner usually dims the lights and plays soothing music. Sometimes, the practitioner chats with the client and incorporates aromatherapy into the treatment.
Outpatient treatments cost about $70 an hour. Few insurance companies cover the service, but some flexible health-care accounts will pay for it, Bell said.
Patients may start out with weekly treatments and slowly taper off, learning how to incorporate some of the relaxation techniques on their own.
Healing Touch isn't just about the physical. The treatment also has spiritual components for both practitioner and patient.
"We are the vessel. We are not the healer," Bell said. "Whenever I work, I know that there's someone greater than me that really has the control, and I think that is why St Francis has embraced this."
Friday, September 25, 2009
Appointments
Appointments available in Shelby Township and in Birmingham.
To schedule an appointment for yourself or your pet please call: (586) 719-4582 or email CaroleGrace@Gmail.com
Healing Touch treatments run approximately an hour.
Healing Touch for Animals runs approximately 45 minutes to an hour. I currently do not see pets at either location.
Quantum Healing and Medical Intuition runs approximately an hour and a half to two hours.
Distant treatments for Healing Touch and Reiki.
Cash or Pay Pal accepted, no personal checks or credit cards.
To schedule an appointment for yourself or your pet please call: (586) 719-4582 or email CaroleGrace@Gmail.com
Healing Touch treatments run approximately an hour.
Healing Touch for Animals runs approximately 45 minutes to an hour. I currently do not see pets at either location.
Quantum Healing and Medical Intuition runs approximately an hour and a half to two hours.
Distant treatments for Healing Touch and Reiki.
Cash or Pay Pal accepted, no personal checks or credit cards.
Monday, September 14, 2009
From Baltimore Dog -- Ancient Wisdom Meets The 21st Century By Harriet Meyers
Healing Touch
Ancient Wisdom Meets The 21st Century
By Harriet Meyers
Image Rigel is recovering from major surgery. He has a metal plate and six screws stabilizing his “knee” joint. The surgeon says it is critical for him to take it easy. But try telling that to an eight-year-old English Setter. The first thing he wants to do when he gets home is jump right up onto his favorite living room chair.
Shari Sternberger, Rigel’s owner, takes a hands-on approach to helping him heal. She’s a schooled and certified Healing Touch Practitioner for animals and people. She’s trained to assist with surgeries, injuries, wound healing and illness, reduce anxiety, address behavioral issues and more. And since she can’t tell Rigel to take a load off and sit still, she’s doing all she can to help him recover as quickly as possible.
Age-old Insight
Centuries ago, enlightened cultures knew how to heal the body using chakras and meridians — centers of energy that link the body and mind. Today we are beginning to understand the wisdom of these treatments.
Image Healing Touch is a holistic therapy that uses age-old techniques to balance and align the energy fields that surround the body. Our bodies and those of our dogs and other animals radiate, absorb, conduct and transmit this energy.
The theory is that by balancing the energy within and surrounding our bodies, we facilitate physical and psychological health, healing and well being. In the case of Rigel’s surgery, the balance of energy contributes to increased circulation, muscle relaxation, the release of toxins, an enhanced immune system and a body primed for and receptive to healing.
Yellow Labrador Star ruptured the cranial cruciate ligament in both hind legs, requiring the identical surgery twice in a six-month period (tibial plateau leveling osteotamy known as TPLO). Both TPLO operations were handled by the same surgical team in the same veterinary hospital, yet recovery the second time around was easier and faster.
“The only difference in treatment the second time was the therapy Shari performed, said Star’s owner, Denise Iannatuono. “But the difference in Star was absolutely incredible.”
After asking for Denise’s permission, Shari “went into Star’s energy field” through a process she uses to conduct distance work. She concentrated on helping the dog prepare for and receive the surgery, seal the wound, manage the pain and heal.
Partnership with Medicine
Shari emphasizes that Healing Touch works in partnership with conventional healthcare. “It does not replace traditional medical or veterinary care, medical diagnosis or medical treatment, nor do we prescribe medications or perform surgery. What it does do is add a non-invasive, gentle, compassionate treatment to the range of options for patient care,” she said.
The human medical community has recognized Healing Touch as an alternative treatment since 1989, and today more and more hospitals throughout the United States and the world have incorporated this therapy into their patient care systems. Healing Touch for Animals® (HTA) was founded by Carol Komitor, a certified massage therapist, certified hospital-based massage therapist, equine sport massage therapist and veterinary technician for 13 years.
Rigel was prepped for surgery early in the morning, but he was fifth in line, so he had a long waiting period. Every hour, the vet’s staff sprayed him with essential oils of rose and lavender provided by Shari, keeping anxiety levels down for the dog and the veterinary staff, too. Before, during and following surgery, Shari used her skills to enhance the surgery’s success.
“He had a tough time at first with the pain medications,” Shari said. She introduced pain management techniques to make him more comfortable and energy work to make it easier for his body to accept the medications. At his follow-up check, the vet tech said Rigel’s range of motion was a little better than normal.
Modern Applications
Image Non-traditional holistic treatments sometimes generate questions and skepticism from people who want cold, hard proof that they work. For the past 10 years, medical centers and hospitals have conducted research that is proving that Healing Touch has much more than a placebo effect.
For example, Stanford University is currently running a clinical trial with breast cancer patients to test whether energy therapy can reduce the strong side effects of chemotherapy. The National Institutes of Health has studied the treatment’s impact on healing. Other hospitals are considering whether treatments help pre- and post-cardiac patients.
When it comes to our dogs, the proof is in the pudding. HTA reports that the therapy has reduced anxiety and stress, helped mitigate emotional traumas, prepared dogs and horses for competition and aided in preparation for medical treatments and with follow-up care.
“After her first surgery, Star was barely functioning for several days,” said Denise. “When we picked her up from the vet the second time, she immediately tried to jump into the truck. The first night, I slept on the first floor with her. When I woke during the night, she was missing. I frantically searched the entire first floor. Then I heard the thump of a wagging tail coming from my second floor landing. I could not believe that she was able to walk up a full flight of stairs to the second floor.”
Shari started her schooling for Healing Touch for Animals in 1999, taking classes and participating in an elaborate certification program. She’s the eleventh person to earn certification in HTA and abides by a strict code of ethics. In addition to studying and working with people and animals, she volunteers at a veterinary hospital. She works with pre- and post-op patients, calms puppies at their first vet visits and soothes dogs and their owners during the euthanasia process.
“I’ve always had an extremely strong connection with my dogs,” said Shari. In 1990, Shari and her husband helped found National Capital Therapy Dogs, Inc. (NCTD), the local affiliate of the Delta Society to share the human-animal bond with patients in healthcare facilities.
“I enjoy working with animals. They are energetically clean and pure, and they give me a very clear message when they’re finished with the treatment,” said Shari. “The joy comes when I see the positive outcomes we achieve by including Healing Touch in a patient’s treatment plan.”
Learn More About Healing Touch
Shari Sternberger is a certified Healing Touch Practitioner for animals and people with a private practice in Highland. You can learn more about what she does by visiting her website, www.elementsofenergy.com .
To learn more about Healing Touch for Animals, go to www.healingtouchforanimals.com .
If you’re interested in Healing Touch for people, visit the Healing Touch ProgramTM site at www.healingtouchprogram.com .
Ancient Wisdom Meets The 21st Century
By Harriet Meyers
Image Rigel is recovering from major surgery. He has a metal plate and six screws stabilizing his “knee” joint. The surgeon says it is critical for him to take it easy. But try telling that to an eight-year-old English Setter. The first thing he wants to do when he gets home is jump right up onto his favorite living room chair.
Shari Sternberger, Rigel’s owner, takes a hands-on approach to helping him heal. She’s a schooled and certified Healing Touch Practitioner for animals and people. She’s trained to assist with surgeries, injuries, wound healing and illness, reduce anxiety, address behavioral issues and more. And since she can’t tell Rigel to take a load off and sit still, she’s doing all she can to help him recover as quickly as possible.
Age-old Insight
Centuries ago, enlightened cultures knew how to heal the body using chakras and meridians — centers of energy that link the body and mind. Today we are beginning to understand the wisdom of these treatments.
Image Healing Touch is a holistic therapy that uses age-old techniques to balance and align the energy fields that surround the body. Our bodies and those of our dogs and other animals radiate, absorb, conduct and transmit this energy.
The theory is that by balancing the energy within and surrounding our bodies, we facilitate physical and psychological health, healing and well being. In the case of Rigel’s surgery, the balance of energy contributes to increased circulation, muscle relaxation, the release of toxins, an enhanced immune system and a body primed for and receptive to healing.
Yellow Labrador Star ruptured the cranial cruciate ligament in both hind legs, requiring the identical surgery twice in a six-month period (tibial plateau leveling osteotamy known as TPLO). Both TPLO operations were handled by the same surgical team in the same veterinary hospital, yet recovery the second time around was easier and faster.
“The only difference in treatment the second time was the therapy Shari performed, said Star’s owner, Denise Iannatuono. “But the difference in Star was absolutely incredible.”
After asking for Denise’s permission, Shari “went into Star’s energy field” through a process she uses to conduct distance work. She concentrated on helping the dog prepare for and receive the surgery, seal the wound, manage the pain and heal.
Partnership with Medicine
Shari emphasizes that Healing Touch works in partnership with conventional healthcare. “It does not replace traditional medical or veterinary care, medical diagnosis or medical treatment, nor do we prescribe medications or perform surgery. What it does do is add a non-invasive, gentle, compassionate treatment to the range of options for patient care,” she said.
The human medical community has recognized Healing Touch as an alternative treatment since 1989, and today more and more hospitals throughout the United States and the world have incorporated this therapy into their patient care systems. Healing Touch for Animals® (HTA) was founded by Carol Komitor, a certified massage therapist, certified hospital-based massage therapist, equine sport massage therapist and veterinary technician for 13 years.
Rigel was prepped for surgery early in the morning, but he was fifth in line, so he had a long waiting period. Every hour, the vet’s staff sprayed him with essential oils of rose and lavender provided by Shari, keeping anxiety levels down for the dog and the veterinary staff, too. Before, during and following surgery, Shari used her skills to enhance the surgery’s success.
“He had a tough time at first with the pain medications,” Shari said. She introduced pain management techniques to make him more comfortable and energy work to make it easier for his body to accept the medications. At his follow-up check, the vet tech said Rigel’s range of motion was a little better than normal.
Modern Applications
Image Non-traditional holistic treatments sometimes generate questions and skepticism from people who want cold, hard proof that they work. For the past 10 years, medical centers and hospitals have conducted research that is proving that Healing Touch has much more than a placebo effect.
For example, Stanford University is currently running a clinical trial with breast cancer patients to test whether energy therapy can reduce the strong side effects of chemotherapy. The National Institutes of Health has studied the treatment’s impact on healing. Other hospitals are considering whether treatments help pre- and post-cardiac patients.
When it comes to our dogs, the proof is in the pudding. HTA reports that the therapy has reduced anxiety and stress, helped mitigate emotional traumas, prepared dogs and horses for competition and aided in preparation for medical treatments and with follow-up care.
“After her first surgery, Star was barely functioning for several days,” said Denise. “When we picked her up from the vet the second time, she immediately tried to jump into the truck. The first night, I slept on the first floor with her. When I woke during the night, she was missing. I frantically searched the entire first floor. Then I heard the thump of a wagging tail coming from my second floor landing. I could not believe that she was able to walk up a full flight of stairs to the second floor.”
Shari started her schooling for Healing Touch for Animals in 1999, taking classes and participating in an elaborate certification program. She’s the eleventh person to earn certification in HTA and abides by a strict code of ethics. In addition to studying and working with people and animals, she volunteers at a veterinary hospital. She works with pre- and post-op patients, calms puppies at their first vet visits and soothes dogs and their owners during the euthanasia process.
“I’ve always had an extremely strong connection with my dogs,” said Shari. In 1990, Shari and her husband helped found National Capital Therapy Dogs, Inc. (NCTD), the local affiliate of the Delta Society to share the human-animal bond with patients in healthcare facilities.
“I enjoy working with animals. They are energetically clean and pure, and they give me a very clear message when they’re finished with the treatment,” said Shari. “The joy comes when I see the positive outcomes we achieve by including Healing Touch in a patient’s treatment plan.”
Learn More About Healing Touch
Shari Sternberger is a certified Healing Touch Practitioner for animals and people with a private practice in Highland. You can learn more about what she does by visiting her website, www.elementsofenergy.com .
To learn more about Healing Touch for Animals, go to www.healingtouchforanimals.com .
If you’re interested in Healing Touch for people, visit the Healing Touch ProgramTM site at www.healingtouchprogram.com .
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Study Of The Effects Of Healing Touch Therapy
Complementary Medicine / Alternative Medicine News
Study Of The Effects Of Healing Touch Therapy
Main Category: Complementary Medicine / Alternative Medicine
Article Date: 02 Jul 2008 - 1:00 PDT
Often, a gentle hand on your shoulder when you're upset is all it takes to ease your mind and calm your nerves.
Now, UC researchers are looking at a similar occurrence by pairing a complementary therapy known as Healing Touch with mild sedation to see if the technique truly calms patients undergoing minor procedures.
Healing Touch is a series of techniques that balance energy for wholeness within a person's body, mind and soul. It is an energy therapy that can be used in conjunction with other traditional medical treatments.
Nathan Schmulewitz, MD, the lead author of this investigator-initiated study and assistant professor of digestive diseases, says people undergoing procedures often have problems falling asleep because of anxiety.
Schmulewitz specializes in endoscopic ultrasound (EUS), a technique for imaging and accessing deep structures in the chest and abdomen which are near the GI tract. EUS is used as a screening tool for cancer or other suspicious polyps.
He says if a patient is unable to fall asleep with intravenous sedation, it might be necessary to use stronger anesthesia which is expensive and not often covered by insurance companies.
"In addition, stronger sedation can prolong recovery for the patient and can cause slight amnesia following the procedure," Schmulewitz says.
This study is looking at whether coupling Healing Touch with mild sedation prior to an EUS procedure can help relax patients, avoiding problems with anesthesia and making the procedure run more smoothly.
Judy Bowers, a nurse at University Hospital, Healing Touch practitioner and co-author of the study, has been doing this therapy for about seven years and has administered it to over 40 patients involved in this study.
"By restoring balance within the energy system, you create an optimal environment for healing," Bowers says. "This is complementary medicine, not alternative medicine, so it can be easily incorporated in a medical model."
Although there are many healing touch therapies, this study is only looking at three: the Chakra Connection, which facilitates movement of energy from one energy center to another, Magnetic Clearing, which clears the field of congested energy, and Mind Clearing, which involves a light touch on the face, head and neck.
As part of the study, a third party calls the patient two days after the procedure to ask a number of questions about how Healing Touch affected the patient during the EUS and recovery.
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The results are being analyzed, but Bowers says she's observed some fairly positive responses.
"Some of the patients are asleep before they even receive the intravenous sedation," she says, noting that she stays with patients throughout the procedure in order to continue sharing her energy with them and maintaining the balance.
Schmulewitz says if the results are positive, this could be an inexpensive, effective way to reduce costs and improve care at University Hospital.
"It will be a fairly easy way to enhance patient care with acceptable and specific means and without increased risk of injury," he says.
----------------------------
Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
----------------------------
Source: Katie Pence
University of Cincinnati
Study Of The Effects Of Healing Touch Therapy
Main Category: Complementary Medicine / Alternative Medicine
Article Date: 02 Jul 2008 - 1:00 PDT
Often, a gentle hand on your shoulder when you're upset is all it takes to ease your mind and calm your nerves.
Now, UC researchers are looking at a similar occurrence by pairing a complementary therapy known as Healing Touch with mild sedation to see if the technique truly calms patients undergoing minor procedures.
Healing Touch is a series of techniques that balance energy for wholeness within a person's body, mind and soul. It is an energy therapy that can be used in conjunction with other traditional medical treatments.
Nathan Schmulewitz, MD, the lead author of this investigator-initiated study and assistant professor of digestive diseases, says people undergoing procedures often have problems falling asleep because of anxiety.
Schmulewitz specializes in endoscopic ultrasound (EUS), a technique for imaging and accessing deep structures in the chest and abdomen which are near the GI tract. EUS is used as a screening tool for cancer or other suspicious polyps.
He says if a patient is unable to fall asleep with intravenous sedation, it might be necessary to use stronger anesthesia which is expensive and not often covered by insurance companies.
"In addition, stronger sedation can prolong recovery for the patient and can cause slight amnesia following the procedure," Schmulewitz says.
This study is looking at whether coupling Healing Touch with mild sedation prior to an EUS procedure can help relax patients, avoiding problems with anesthesia and making the procedure run more smoothly.
Judy Bowers, a nurse at University Hospital, Healing Touch practitioner and co-author of the study, has been doing this therapy for about seven years and has administered it to over 40 patients involved in this study.
"By restoring balance within the energy system, you create an optimal environment for healing," Bowers says. "This is complementary medicine, not alternative medicine, so it can be easily incorporated in a medical model."
Although there are many healing touch therapies, this study is only looking at three: the Chakra Connection, which facilitates movement of energy from one energy center to another, Magnetic Clearing, which clears the field of congested energy, and Mind Clearing, which involves a light touch on the face, head and neck.
As part of the study, a third party calls the patient two days after the procedure to ask a number of questions about how Healing Touch affected the patient during the EUS and recovery.
javascript:void(0)
The results are being analyzed, but Bowers says she's observed some fairly positive responses.
"Some of the patients are asleep before they even receive the intravenous sedation," she says, noting that she stays with patients throughout the procedure in order to continue sharing her energy with them and maintaining the balance.
Schmulewitz says if the results are positive, this could be an inexpensive, effective way to reduce costs and improve care at University Hospital.
"It will be a fairly easy way to enhance patient care with acceptable and specific means and without increased risk of injury," he says.
----------------------------
Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
----------------------------
Source: Katie Pence
University of Cincinnati
Healing Touch Augments Radiation Therapy
R E S E A R C H
Healing Touch Augments Radiation Therapy
Healing Touch can decrease pain, improve vitality and increase physical functioning in women undergoing radiation for gynecological or breast cancer, according to recent research.
“Healing Touch and Quality of Life in Women Receiving Radiation Treatment for Cancer: A Randomized Controlled Trial” was conducted by staff at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, and the School of Social Service, St. Louis University, in St. Louis, Missouri.
The study involved 62 women receiving radiation treatment for newly diagnosed gynecological or breast cancer. The women were randomly assigned to receive either Healing Touch or mock treatment, along with standard care, and were blind to their actual group assignment.
Subjects in both groups received a total of six 30-minute sessions; each one took place immediately after radiation treatment. The first session happened no more than one-third of the way through the radiation schedule. The next four sessions happened on a weekly basis, and the last session was given four weeks later.
During the sessions, subjects laid fully clothed on a massage table. A three-by-three-foot opaque screen was placed between the subject’s head and her body so she could not see who was providing the session or what they were doing.
Each Healing Touch session consisted of four phases: healer preparation, such as centering; pretreatment energetic assessment; Healing Touch intervention; and post-treatment energetic assessment.
The mock treatments were provided by laypeople with no training in or knowledge of Healing Touch. These people were instructed to walk around the table and stand at the end of it, keep their hands by their sides, and not focus any thoughts on the subject, but to think of simple math problems.
The study’s primary outcome measure was health-related quality of life, which was assessed before and after the study using the SF-36, a 36-item questionnaire from the Medical Outcomes Study at the Rand Corporation. The SF-36 measures nine health-related areas, such as bodily pain, general mental health, vitality, and limitations in social activities due to physical or emotional problems. Scores range from zero to 100, and higher scores are associated with better functioning.
The overall average score for all subjects at baseline was 53. After intervention, the Healing Touch group had an overall average score of 63.3, whereas the mock-treatment group had an overall average score of 54.3.
The Healing Touch group scored higher than the mock-treatment group in all nine areas of the health-related quality-of-life assessment. Subjects in the Healing Touch group showed statistically significant improvements in pain, vitality and physical functioning.
“Subjects who received Healing Touch demonstrated better [health-related quality of life] following radiation treatment than their counterparts who received mock treatment,” state the study’s authors. “The significant effects of [Healing Touch] on vitality, pain and physical functioning in this study lend support to the potential value of [Healing Touch] in improving the health-related quality of life of women with gynecological or breast cancer who undergo radiation therapy.”
- Source: Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri, and the School of Social Service, St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri. Authors: Cynthia A. Loveland Cook, Ph.D., R.N.; Joanne F. Guerrerio, R.N.; and Victoria E. Slater, Ph.D., R.N. Originally published in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 2004, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 34-40.
Healing Touch Augments Radiation Therapy
Healing Touch can decrease pain, improve vitality and increase physical functioning in women undergoing radiation for gynecological or breast cancer, according to recent research.
“Healing Touch and Quality of Life in Women Receiving Radiation Treatment for Cancer: A Randomized Controlled Trial” was conducted by staff at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, and the School of Social Service, St. Louis University, in St. Louis, Missouri.
The study involved 62 women receiving radiation treatment for newly diagnosed gynecological or breast cancer. The women were randomly assigned to receive either Healing Touch or mock treatment, along with standard care, and were blind to their actual group assignment.
Subjects in both groups received a total of six 30-minute sessions; each one took place immediately after radiation treatment. The first session happened no more than one-third of the way through the radiation schedule. The next four sessions happened on a weekly basis, and the last session was given four weeks later.
During the sessions, subjects laid fully clothed on a massage table. A three-by-three-foot opaque screen was placed between the subject’s head and her body so she could not see who was providing the session or what they were doing.
Each Healing Touch session consisted of four phases: healer preparation, such as centering; pretreatment energetic assessment; Healing Touch intervention; and post-treatment energetic assessment.
The mock treatments were provided by laypeople with no training in or knowledge of Healing Touch. These people were instructed to walk around the table and stand at the end of it, keep their hands by their sides, and not focus any thoughts on the subject, but to think of simple math problems.
The study’s primary outcome measure was health-related quality of life, which was assessed before and after the study using the SF-36, a 36-item questionnaire from the Medical Outcomes Study at the Rand Corporation. The SF-36 measures nine health-related areas, such as bodily pain, general mental health, vitality, and limitations in social activities due to physical or emotional problems. Scores range from zero to 100, and higher scores are associated with better functioning.
The overall average score for all subjects at baseline was 53. After intervention, the Healing Touch group had an overall average score of 63.3, whereas the mock-treatment group had an overall average score of 54.3.
The Healing Touch group scored higher than the mock-treatment group in all nine areas of the health-related quality-of-life assessment. Subjects in the Healing Touch group showed statistically significant improvements in pain, vitality and physical functioning.
“Subjects who received Healing Touch demonstrated better [health-related quality of life] following radiation treatment than their counterparts who received mock treatment,” state the study’s authors. “The significant effects of [Healing Touch] on vitality, pain and physical functioning in this study lend support to the potential value of [Healing Touch] in improving the health-related quality of life of women with gynecological or breast cancer who undergo radiation therapy.”
- Source: Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri, and the School of Social Service, St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri. Authors: Cynthia A. Loveland Cook, Ph.D., R.N.; Joanne F. Guerrerio, R.N.; and Victoria E. Slater, Ph.D., R.N. Originally published in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 2004, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 34-40.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Young Living Essential Oils
Contact Information
Brandi Rainey, Director of Marketing Communications
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Essential Oils Enhance Integrated Medical Efforts
Lehi, Utah—As the general population turns to alternative health care, holistic practices such as yoga, tai chi, meditation, and massage therapy are becoming increasingly popular. An ideal way to support and maximize the benefits of such practices is by using Young Living's therapeutic-grade essential oils. Known for their stress relieving, muscle soothing, and mind clarifying qualities, Young Living essential oils can add balance and harmony to any daily routine.
A year ago, Gillian Keiper founded the Concentric Healing Institute, also known as CHI, in Boulder, Colorado. As a private occupational school, all programs must be approved by the Colorado Department of Higher Education's Division of Private Occupational Schools. Here, massage therapy, qigong, esthetics, aromatherapy, and reiki are practiced using Young Living's essential oils. According to Keiper, “I find that when you add oils, it enhances all the treatments we have in the school.”
As a licensed esthetician, reflexology, and reiki master, Keiper leaves oils sitting out for students to use freely so they can better understand the effects of the oils. In massage therapy, whether it's a Japanese foot massage, deep circulatory massage, or hot stone treatment, essential oils are incorporated into the practice. Stones, for example, are soaked in hot water infused with oils. Clients who come in are asked about how they are feeling that particular day. Based on their response, the appropriate oils are selected for use in therapy. “The Swedish massage is wonderful, but when we give them Peace & Calming® oil blend, it just enhances the treatment,” says Keiper.
Even esthetics facials are infused with essential oils. A typical treatment begins with towels soaked in peppermint oil that are placed on the feet as part of a cleansing ritual. Energy work, or reiki, follows. Using Young Living's oil-enhanced skincare products, the face is cleansed and then steamed using a fragrant oil such as lavender, which is saturated with various soothing properties. A gentle facial massage is performed and then a mask is applied. When the mask is removed, a towel soaked in essential oils is placed on the face. Young Living's Essential Beauty Serums are combined with a vitamin oil and applied to the skin. Clients are then given a light treatment. Red light is good for stimulating collagen while blue light is ideal for acne-prone skin. Qigong, a traditional form of Chinese medicine, utilizes various breathing patterns and physical postures to promote general health maintenance. Meditation is part of this process and includes the incorporation of essential oils to increase focus and foster relaxation. An aromatherapy program to be launched in July headed by Chalyce Saunders will utilize Young Living's essential oils in daily instruction.
“In our classes, we use the Everyday Oils pack right now. In addition to that, we use wintergreen, lemongrass, and Believe oils. I've had really good success with those who have muscle trauma,” says Saunders. Holistic practices such as aromatherapy and massage therapy are becoming popular for several reasons. According to Saunders, “The benefits are way better than the alternatives we have now. You can use them on your children, on your animals; you can use them internally without having to worry about the side effects. It's a form of alternative care.” Keiper adds, “You don't just treat the symptom, you treat the whole body in holistic fashion. That's what we do.” Currently, free classes are being offered at CHI about how to use the oils and the benefits the oils produce. As Saunders points out, “People are starting to realize that people are not getting the results they need and want. With the essentials oils they are.”
Brandi Rainey, Director of Marketing Communications
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Essential Oils Enhance Integrated Medical Efforts
Lehi, Utah—As the general population turns to alternative health care, holistic practices such as yoga, tai chi, meditation, and massage therapy are becoming increasingly popular. An ideal way to support and maximize the benefits of such practices is by using Young Living's therapeutic-grade essential oils. Known for their stress relieving, muscle soothing, and mind clarifying qualities, Young Living essential oils can add balance and harmony to any daily routine.
A year ago, Gillian Keiper founded the Concentric Healing Institute, also known as CHI, in Boulder, Colorado. As a private occupational school, all programs must be approved by the Colorado Department of Higher Education's Division of Private Occupational Schools. Here, massage therapy, qigong, esthetics, aromatherapy, and reiki are practiced using Young Living's essential oils. According to Keiper, “I find that when you add oils, it enhances all the treatments we have in the school.”
As a licensed esthetician, reflexology, and reiki master, Keiper leaves oils sitting out for students to use freely so they can better understand the effects of the oils. In massage therapy, whether it's a Japanese foot massage, deep circulatory massage, or hot stone treatment, essential oils are incorporated into the practice. Stones, for example, are soaked in hot water infused with oils. Clients who come in are asked about how they are feeling that particular day. Based on their response, the appropriate oils are selected for use in therapy. “The Swedish massage is wonderful, but when we give them Peace & Calming® oil blend, it just enhances the treatment,” says Keiper.
Even esthetics facials are infused with essential oils. A typical treatment begins with towels soaked in peppermint oil that are placed on the feet as part of a cleansing ritual. Energy work, or reiki, follows. Using Young Living's oil-enhanced skincare products, the face is cleansed and then steamed using a fragrant oil such as lavender, which is saturated with various soothing properties. A gentle facial massage is performed and then a mask is applied. When the mask is removed, a towel soaked in essential oils is placed on the face. Young Living's Essential Beauty Serums are combined with a vitamin oil and applied to the skin. Clients are then given a light treatment. Red light is good for stimulating collagen while blue light is ideal for acne-prone skin. Qigong, a traditional form of Chinese medicine, utilizes various breathing patterns and physical postures to promote general health maintenance. Meditation is part of this process and includes the incorporation of essential oils to increase focus and foster relaxation. An aromatherapy program to be launched in July headed by Chalyce Saunders will utilize Young Living's essential oils in daily instruction.
“In our classes, we use the Everyday Oils pack right now. In addition to that, we use wintergreen, lemongrass, and Believe oils. I've had really good success with those who have muscle trauma,” says Saunders. Holistic practices such as aromatherapy and massage therapy are becoming popular for several reasons. According to Saunders, “The benefits are way better than the alternatives we have now. You can use them on your children, on your animals; you can use them internally without having to worry about the side effects. It's a form of alternative care.” Keiper adds, “You don't just treat the symptom, you treat the whole body in holistic fashion. That's what we do.” Currently, free classes are being offered at CHI about how to use the oils and the benefits the oils produce. As Saunders points out, “People are starting to realize that people are not getting the results they need and want. With the essentials oils they are.”
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
University of MN article - What is Healing Touch
Healing Touch is an "energy therapy" that uses gentle hand techniques thought to help re-pattern the patient's energy field and accelerate healing of the body, mind, and spirit.
Healing Touch is based on the belief that human beings are fields of energy that are in constant interaction with others and the environment. The goal of Healing Touch is to purposefully use the energetic interaction between the Healing Touch practitioner and the patient to restore harmony to the patient's energy system.
In a Healing Touch session, the practitioner begins with a centering process to calm the mind, access a sense of compassion, and become fully present with the patient. The practitioner then focuses intention on the patient's highest good and places his or her hands lightly on the patient's body or makes sweeping hands motions above the body.
Healing Touch practitioners believe that this process balances and realigns energy flow that has been disrupted by stress, pain, or illness. The process eliminates blockages in the energy field so that the patient is in an optimal state for healing to occur.
Healing Touch
Healing Touch complements other healing techniques a patient may already be using, including conventional medical practice in hospitals, clinics and in-home care, or other body-mind oriented therapies such as massage, guided imagery, music therapy, acupressure, biofeedback, and psychotherapy. It is not intended as a cure.
What are energy therapies?
According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), this category of complementary therapies involves the use of various types of energy fields. In general, the goal of energy therapies is to bring energy into the patient or balance the energy within a patient.
There are many kinds of energy therapies, some which use treatments such as light, sound, and magnets. These treatments are relatively easy to measure. Other kinds of energy therapies, such as Healing Touch, Reiki, Qigong, and therapeutic touch, are "intended to affect energy fields that purportedly surround and penetrate the human body." These therapies cannot be as easily measured or researched.
Even though the results of these therapies have not been measured quantitatively in a reliable way, some new instruments, such as the superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) are showing promise for research with energy therapies.
Moreover, and importantly, many of the techniques used in energy therapies come from practices in shamanistic and Asian traditions with thousands of years of use. For example, more than 2,000 years ago, Asian healers believed that the flow and balance of life energies were important in maintaining health, and that illnesses were due to energy imbalances. They developed therapies and practices, such as acupuncture, yoga, and Qigong to correct these imbalances. Modern energy therapies such as Healing Touch are based on the same principles.
Where does healing touch come from?
Janet MentgenHealing Touch was developed as a touch therapy program by Janet Mentgen, a nurse who has used energy-based care in her practice in Colorado since 1980. Mentgen and some of her colleagues developed a training program that incorporated the techniques of many well-known healers, as well as concepts borrowed from ancient shamanic and aboriginal healing traditions.
An evolving Healing Touch curriculum supports students in broadening and deepening their skills as energy healers as they move from the beginner to advanced level.
References
Engebretson, J., Wardell, D. (2007). Energy-based modalities. Nursing Clinics of North America, 42, 243-259.
Hutchison, P. (1999). Healing touch. An energetic approach. American Journal of Nursing, 4, 43-8.
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Energy Medicine: An Overview. Retrieved February 2007, from http://nccam.nih.gov/health/backgrounds/energymed.htm.
Umbreit, A. (2006). Healing Touch. In Snyder, Mariah & Lindquist, Ruth (Eds.), Complementary/Alternative Therapies in Nursing (5th edition). New York: Springer Publishing Co.
Expert Contributor:
Marilyn Bach, MS, APRN, BC, CHTP
Healing Touch is based on the belief that human beings are fields of energy that are in constant interaction with others and the environment. The goal of Healing Touch is to purposefully use the energetic interaction between the Healing Touch practitioner and the patient to restore harmony to the patient's energy system.
In a Healing Touch session, the practitioner begins with a centering process to calm the mind, access a sense of compassion, and become fully present with the patient. The practitioner then focuses intention on the patient's highest good and places his or her hands lightly on the patient's body or makes sweeping hands motions above the body.
Healing Touch practitioners believe that this process balances and realigns energy flow that has been disrupted by stress, pain, or illness. The process eliminates blockages in the energy field so that the patient is in an optimal state for healing to occur.
Healing Touch
Healing Touch complements other healing techniques a patient may already be using, including conventional medical practice in hospitals, clinics and in-home care, or other body-mind oriented therapies such as massage, guided imagery, music therapy, acupressure, biofeedback, and psychotherapy. It is not intended as a cure.
What are energy therapies?
According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), this category of complementary therapies involves the use of various types of energy fields. In general, the goal of energy therapies is to bring energy into the patient or balance the energy within a patient.
There are many kinds of energy therapies, some which use treatments such as light, sound, and magnets. These treatments are relatively easy to measure. Other kinds of energy therapies, such as Healing Touch, Reiki, Qigong, and therapeutic touch, are "intended to affect energy fields that purportedly surround and penetrate the human body." These therapies cannot be as easily measured or researched.
Even though the results of these therapies have not been measured quantitatively in a reliable way, some new instruments, such as the superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) are showing promise for research with energy therapies.
Moreover, and importantly, many of the techniques used in energy therapies come from practices in shamanistic and Asian traditions with thousands of years of use. For example, more than 2,000 years ago, Asian healers believed that the flow and balance of life energies were important in maintaining health, and that illnesses were due to energy imbalances. They developed therapies and practices, such as acupuncture, yoga, and Qigong to correct these imbalances. Modern energy therapies such as Healing Touch are based on the same principles.
Where does healing touch come from?
Janet MentgenHealing Touch was developed as a touch therapy program by Janet Mentgen, a nurse who has used energy-based care in her practice in Colorado since 1980. Mentgen and some of her colleagues developed a training program that incorporated the techniques of many well-known healers, as well as concepts borrowed from ancient shamanic and aboriginal healing traditions.
An evolving Healing Touch curriculum supports students in broadening and deepening their skills as energy healers as they move from the beginner to advanced level.
References
Engebretson, J., Wardell, D. (2007). Energy-based modalities. Nursing Clinics of North America, 42, 243-259.
Hutchison, P. (1999). Healing touch. An energetic approach. American Journal of Nursing, 4, 43-8.
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Energy Medicine: An Overview. Retrieved February 2007, from http://nccam.nih.gov/health/backgrounds/energymed.htm.
Umbreit, A. (2006). Healing Touch. In Snyder, Mariah & Lindquist, Ruth (Eds.), Complementary/Alternative Therapies in Nursing (5th edition). New York: Springer Publishing Co.
Expert Contributor:
Marilyn Bach, MS, APRN, BC, CHTP
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Stress how much is it really costing businesses and more importantly you?
How much is it really costing you?
Do you fully understand the magnitude of stress on the work place environment?
A 2000 Integra survey reported:
* 65% of workers said that workplace stress had caused difficulties & more than 10% described these as having major effects;
* 10% said they work in an atmosphere where physical violence has occurred because of job stress & in this group, 42% report that yelling & other verbal abuse is common;
* 29% had yelled at co-workers because of workplace stress, 14% said they work where machinery or equipment has been damaged because of workplace rage & 2% admitted that they had actually personally struck someone;
* 19% or almost one in five respondents had quit a previous position because of job stress & nearly one in four have been driven to tears because of workplace stress;
* 62% routinely find that they end the day with work-related neck pain, 44% reported stressed-out eyes, 38% complained of hurting hands & 34% reported difficulty in sleeping because they were too stressed-out;
* 12% called in sick because of job stress;
* Over half said they often spend 12-hour days on work related duties & an equal number frequently skip lunch because of the stress of job demands.
2000 Integra survey can be found at http://www.stress.org/job.htm
Below studies done on Healing Touch & it's effectiveness in reducing stress:
A Persuasive Commentary & Study: Exploring Perception of HT Therapy as a Positive Treatment Modality for Wellness Maintenance, Physical & Psychological Concerns in Adults. Norma L. Garrett, MSW: The purpose of this 2006 study was to determine the perception of benefits of HT treatments in adults for physical & psychological concerns & maintaining health. Positive results from Healing Touch were perceived for physical problems & for psychological. No one perceived it as negative. For most the treatment was beyond expectations.
Perceived Effectiveness of Healing Touch Treatments: A Performance Improvement Study. Sr. Rita Jean DuBrey, CSJ, RN, MSN, CHTP/I: This performance improvement study was conducted over a seven-week period. 20 clients received Healing Touch in a community based practice. Each participant was asked to complete a survey utilizing 4 indicators: stress reduction, pain reduction (if applicable); emotional well-being, & spiritual well-being. All participants reported a decrease in stress following treatment. The levels of stress were reduced for greater than 2 weeks by 40% of the participants followed by 4-7 days for 30% of the participants. For those 8 individuals who sought treatment for pain reduction they experienced a reduction in pain either for 1-2 weeks (50%) or 2 weeks (50%). Emotional well-being was reported to last for greater a minimum of a week for 50% of the sample. Spiritual well-being was reported by all but one of the subjects. The increase in spiritual well being lasted for 2 weeks for the majority of subjects (60%).
If you are a business owner & would like to to see how Healing Touch can benefit your office please contact me via email or by phone (586) 719-4582 to set up a special rate for you & your employees.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Embracing Alternative Care - Top hospitals put unorthodox therapies into practice
Embracing Alternative Care
Top hospitals put unorthodox therapies into practice
By Avery Comarow - US News
"To be blunt, if my wife and I didn't think it was helping him, we wouldn't have continued with it," says Dan Polley. He's talking about Mikey, the Polleys' 2½-year-old in the next room, who was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia when he was 6 months old. Chemotherapy, radiation, and a bone marrow transplant have been crucial elements of Mikey's treatment. But the "it" his father speaks of is nothing like these aggressive, costly, and heavily researched exemplars of western care—it is a kind of touch therapy, from the camp of alternative medicine. Gentle and benign, "healing touch" is intended to rebalance the energy field that its practitioners believe surrounds the body and flows through it along defined pathways, affecting health when disrupted. Several times a week, therapist Lynne Morrison spends 20 minutes unblocking and smoothing Mikey's energy field, which energy healers like Morrison say they can feel and correct.
Before a recent session, Mikey was grouchy, drawing up his legs and issuing periodic yowls. His stomach hurt, said his father. But as the little boy nestled in his father's arms and Morrison moved her hands around his body, lightly resting them here and then there, his tenseness loosened and he quieted for a few minutes at a time. The Polleys believe that the therapy not only calms their son but is aiding his return to health.
The setting for the unorthodox therapy—an academic medical center—would have been startling just five or 10 years ago. Morrison is on the staff of Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, a hard-nosed, tough-cases, research-oriented emblem of western medicine. It perennially ranks among America's premier hospitals and is the principal pediatric teaching hospital for Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. And Mikey is only one of many children there receiving care that not long ago was called alternative medicine. Now it is more often called CAM, for complementary and alternative medicine, or integrative medicine, to avoid the loaded "alternative." The message the new labels are meant to convey is that the therapies more often go hand in hand with traditional medicine than substitute for it.
Children's Memorial is just one of many academic hospitals where unconventional therapies have found a home. Elite centers like the Mayo Clinic, Duke University Medical Center, and the University of California-San Francisco now offer acupuncture, massage, and other CAM services. All 18 hospitals on U.S. News's most recent "America's Best Hospitals" superselective Honor Roll provide CAM of some type. Fifteen of the 18 also belong to the three-year-old Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine, 36 U.S. teaching hospitals pushing to blend CAM with traditional care.
Thicket of therapies. Each center has its own notion of CAM and how best to fit it into the medical mix, which can be challenging. "There is rarely a consensus among CAM experts on the optimal product, dose, or intended users," states a report from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, an arm of the National Institutes of Health charged with doling out research funds and tidying the thicket of therapies deemed to fall within CAM's broad reach.
At one extreme are found techniques such as yoga and massage, acknowledged by the most hard-line skeptics to have some benefit, if only to lower stress and anxiety. At the other are therapies that even many who applaud CAM's newfound academic popularity call "woo-woo medicine" because of the sheer implausibility of their rationale. Homeopathy, which involves remedies often lacking a single molecule of active substance, is the poster child; some would add energy therapies such as healing touch. The broad middle takes in acupuncture, herbal medicine, and other CAM approaches that seem to benefit some people with certain conditions.
Until the mid-1990s, most academic centers treated CAM like a pack of scruffy mutts, noisy and unworthy of notice. A large pot of federal and foundation research funds—now close to $250 million per year just from NCCAM and the National Cancer Institute, plus tens of millions more from private donors such as the Bravewell Collaborative—helped turn that sniffy attitude into solicitous attention, says longtime CAM commentator Donald Marcus. "The funding gave them respect from the medical school community," says Marcus, a professor of medicine and immunology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, where he has long taught a CAM course. A survey of hospitals found that 27 percent offered CAM in 2005, up from 8 percent in 1998. At the Cleveland Clinic, for example, NIH money is behind a clinical trial to see whether reiki, another energy therapy, can reduce stress and anxiety in prostate cancer patients.
The integrative medicine program at Children's Memorial got off the ground in 2003 with $1.7 million in foundation seed money and is now chasing NIH grants. David Steinhorn, a pediatric intensivist and medical director of the hospital's CAM program, says several privately funded trials, including Mikey's, are underway or in the works. Steinhorn is a passionate champion of investigating CAM therapies, no matter how unlikely, if he believes they may help patients and are safe. "I'm a very serious, hard-core ICU doctor, but I have seen these therapies benefit my patients, even if I don't know how," he says.
Patient access. CAM's ascendance isn't entirely driven by money—researchers make frequent references to obligation. "We want patients to have access to these therapies in a responsible fashion," says Lisa Corbin, medical director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Colorado Hospital. That implies a public clamor for such services, and patients may indeed talk about and ask for CAM more than they used to (although that isn't clear). But surveys showing widespread use—like one issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2004 reporting that 62 percent of adult Americans had used some form of CAM in the previous year—are highly misleading. The big numbers reflect activities such as prayer, which few would consider CAM, and meditation, now routinely prescribed to help lower high blood pressure. The Atkins and Zone diets ("diet-based therapies") were counted in the CDC survey, too. A more selective reading indicates that about 5 percent used yoga, 1.1 percent acupuncture, and 0.5 percent energy therapy, to pick three more-representative offerings.
The purpose of Mikey's trial is to put his touch therapy to the kind of test demanded by CAM critics: Prove that it can produce medical results beyond simply reducing stress or anxiety. Children having a bone marrow transplant are being divided into two groups. One will receive the therapy before and in the weeks after the marrow transplant. The other group will be visited on the same schedule by staff or volunteers who talk, read, or color with them. (The investigators won't know which children are in which group.) The working presumption, says Steinhorn, is that the energy-therapy group will take up the transplanted bone marrow stem cells more readily and with fewer complications, allowing those children to leave the hospital sooner. Early findings should be available by the end of this year.
For more of the story use the link above.
Top hospitals put unorthodox therapies into practice
By Avery Comarow - US News
"To be blunt, if my wife and I didn't think it was helping him, we wouldn't have continued with it," says Dan Polley. He's talking about Mikey, the Polleys' 2½-year-old in the next room, who was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia when he was 6 months old. Chemotherapy, radiation, and a bone marrow transplant have been crucial elements of Mikey's treatment. But the "it" his father speaks of is nothing like these aggressive, costly, and heavily researched exemplars of western care—it is a kind of touch therapy, from the camp of alternative medicine. Gentle and benign, "healing touch" is intended to rebalance the energy field that its practitioners believe surrounds the body and flows through it along defined pathways, affecting health when disrupted. Several times a week, therapist Lynne Morrison spends 20 minutes unblocking and smoothing Mikey's energy field, which energy healers like Morrison say they can feel and correct.
Before a recent session, Mikey was grouchy, drawing up his legs and issuing periodic yowls. His stomach hurt, said his father. But as the little boy nestled in his father's arms and Morrison moved her hands around his body, lightly resting them here and then there, his tenseness loosened and he quieted for a few minutes at a time. The Polleys believe that the therapy not only calms their son but is aiding his return to health.
The setting for the unorthodox therapy—an academic medical center—would have been startling just five or 10 years ago. Morrison is on the staff of Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, a hard-nosed, tough-cases, research-oriented emblem of western medicine. It perennially ranks among America's premier hospitals and is the principal pediatric teaching hospital for Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. And Mikey is only one of many children there receiving care that not long ago was called alternative medicine. Now it is more often called CAM, for complementary and alternative medicine, or integrative medicine, to avoid the loaded "alternative." The message the new labels are meant to convey is that the therapies more often go hand in hand with traditional medicine than substitute for it.
Children's Memorial is just one of many academic hospitals where unconventional therapies have found a home. Elite centers like the Mayo Clinic, Duke University Medical Center, and the University of California-San Francisco now offer acupuncture, massage, and other CAM services. All 18 hospitals on U.S. News's most recent "America's Best Hospitals" superselective Honor Roll provide CAM of some type. Fifteen of the 18 also belong to the three-year-old Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine, 36 U.S. teaching hospitals pushing to blend CAM with traditional care.
Thicket of therapies. Each center has its own notion of CAM and how best to fit it into the medical mix, which can be challenging. "There is rarely a consensus among CAM experts on the optimal product, dose, or intended users," states a report from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, an arm of the National Institutes of Health charged with doling out research funds and tidying the thicket of therapies deemed to fall within CAM's broad reach.
At one extreme are found techniques such as yoga and massage, acknowledged by the most hard-line skeptics to have some benefit, if only to lower stress and anxiety. At the other are therapies that even many who applaud CAM's newfound academic popularity call "woo-woo medicine" because of the sheer implausibility of their rationale. Homeopathy, which involves remedies often lacking a single molecule of active substance, is the poster child; some would add energy therapies such as healing touch. The broad middle takes in acupuncture, herbal medicine, and other CAM approaches that seem to benefit some people with certain conditions.
Until the mid-1990s, most academic centers treated CAM like a pack of scruffy mutts, noisy and unworthy of notice. A large pot of federal and foundation research funds—now close to $250 million per year just from NCCAM and the National Cancer Institute, plus tens of millions more from private donors such as the Bravewell Collaborative—helped turn that sniffy attitude into solicitous attention, says longtime CAM commentator Donald Marcus. "The funding gave them respect from the medical school community," says Marcus, a professor of medicine and immunology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, where he has long taught a CAM course. A survey of hospitals found that 27 percent offered CAM in 2005, up from 8 percent in 1998. At the Cleveland Clinic, for example, NIH money is behind a clinical trial to see whether reiki, another energy therapy, can reduce stress and anxiety in prostate cancer patients.
The integrative medicine program at Children's Memorial got off the ground in 2003 with $1.7 million in foundation seed money and is now chasing NIH grants. David Steinhorn, a pediatric intensivist and medical director of the hospital's CAM program, says several privately funded trials, including Mikey's, are underway or in the works. Steinhorn is a passionate champion of investigating CAM therapies, no matter how unlikely, if he believes they may help patients and are safe. "I'm a very serious, hard-core ICU doctor, but I have seen these therapies benefit my patients, even if I don't know how," he says.
Patient access. CAM's ascendance isn't entirely driven by money—researchers make frequent references to obligation. "We want patients to have access to these therapies in a responsible fashion," says Lisa Corbin, medical director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Colorado Hospital. That implies a public clamor for such services, and patients may indeed talk about and ask for CAM more than they used to (although that isn't clear). But surveys showing widespread use—like one issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2004 reporting that 62 percent of adult Americans had used some form of CAM in the previous year—are highly misleading. The big numbers reflect activities such as prayer, which few would consider CAM, and meditation, now routinely prescribed to help lower high blood pressure. The Atkins and Zone diets ("diet-based therapies") were counted in the CDC survey, too. A more selective reading indicates that about 5 percent used yoga, 1.1 percent acupuncture, and 0.5 percent energy therapy, to pick three more-representative offerings.
The purpose of Mikey's trial is to put his touch therapy to the kind of test demanded by CAM critics: Prove that it can produce medical results beyond simply reducing stress or anxiety. Children having a bone marrow transplant are being divided into two groups. One will receive the therapy before and in the weeks after the marrow transplant. The other group will be visited on the same schedule by staff or volunteers who talk, read, or color with them. (The investigators won't know which children are in which group.) The working presumption, says Steinhorn, is that the energy-therapy group will take up the transplanted bone marrow stem cells more readily and with fewer complications, allowing those children to leave the hospital sooner. Early findings should be available by the end of this year.
For more of the story use the link above.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
‘Healing touch’ therapy gains popularity
Mumbai News
New York: An unconventional therapy called the healing touch is gaining acceptance as complementary aid in some US hospitals.
Although research on the technique – which uses light touch and deep breathing – is limited, it is practiced at 30 US hospitals and by nearly 2,000 certified therapists, according to Healing Touch International (HTI).
The system incorporates ancient Asian healing techniques and was developed in the 1980s by a nurse, Janet Mentgen.
Nurse Jackie Levin (left) using the healing-touch therapy on fellow nurse Sarla Santos at New York University Medical Centre
A healing touch therapist will gently touch or glide his hands through the patient’s energy points or affected areas, such as shoulders, feet and forehead. The practitioner concentrates on each point for a few minutes.
The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) classifies it as “energy medicine,” in which practitioners believe illness results from disturbances of subtle energy fields, and calls it controversial.
The NIH says neither the external energy fields nor the therapeutic effects have been demonstrated convincingly.
However, some hospitals, including the New York University Medical Centre, have approved it as a complement to traditional rehabilitation.
Lisa Anselme, executive director at the HTI, stresses the method was not meant to stand alone.
“Healing touch is not intended to replace standard treatment. It’s a complementary therapy,” said Anselme, a registered nurse and healing touch practitioner.
Users of the controversial therapy agree.
“I would still see my doctor, but I wanted to make sure there were no blockages between my mind and body,” said Nancy Hauserman, a college professor who used the therapy. “In fact, my own doctor was extremely impressed with how fast my wound has healed.”
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Scripps Doctors Give Touch Therapy A Big Hand
Scripps Doctors Give Touch Therapy A Big Hand
Research Suggests It Speeds Healing, Reduces Anxiety
POSTED: 6:58 pm PDT August 1, 2006
UPDATED: 7:28 pm PDT August 1, 2006
SAN DIEGO -- Employees at Scripps Green Hospital are getting touchy with patients -- and it's getting good results.
The hospital is now using certified healing touch therapists to give patients a hand before surgery and the results are grabbing the attention of medical experts.
The ``laying on'' of hands to heal someone from an illness dates back to biblical times but is getting a modern spin at the hospital, where doctors prescribe touch therapy to patients preparing for surgery.
For instance, 79-year-old Edith Taylor has had at least five stents inserted in her body in the last eight years and before and after every operation, she has a 10-minute touch session with a therapist like Elizabeth Fraser, who is also a registered nurse.
``It's a very light touch, we do things like balancing our chakras, opening them for the patient clearing their electric magnetic field,'' Fraser said.
It's not a massage. Sometimes hands hover above the body and don't actually make contact.
Taylor said she doesn't feel anything during her sessions but visualizes a powerful blue-green wave of pure healing washing though her body.
Scripps Cardiologist Dr. Erminia Guarneri said touch therapy is based on a concept that an ``energy body'' extends out from the physical body and can be manipulated through techniques.
``There are no pills, no chemicals -- you don't even have to believe in it,'' Guarneri said.
Research conducted during the last decade suggests touch therapy can cut pain and recovery time in half as well as promote reduction of pain, relieve anxiety and accelerate wound healing.
Scripps Green Hospital is one of several hospitals across the nation offering touch therapy and many of them prescribe it along with surgery, like a pain medication.
Research Suggests It Speeds Healing, Reduces Anxiety
POSTED: 6:58 pm PDT August 1, 2006
UPDATED: 7:28 pm PDT August 1, 2006
SAN DIEGO -- Employees at Scripps Green Hospital are getting touchy with patients -- and it's getting good results.
The hospital is now using certified healing touch therapists to give patients a hand before surgery and the results are grabbing the attention of medical experts.
The ``laying on'' of hands to heal someone from an illness dates back to biblical times but is getting a modern spin at the hospital, where doctors prescribe touch therapy to patients preparing for surgery.
For instance, 79-year-old Edith Taylor has had at least five stents inserted in her body in the last eight years and before and after every operation, she has a 10-minute touch session with a therapist like Elizabeth Fraser, who is also a registered nurse.
``It's a very light touch, we do things like balancing our chakras, opening them for the patient clearing their electric magnetic field,'' Fraser said.
It's not a massage. Sometimes hands hover above the body and don't actually make contact.
Taylor said she doesn't feel anything during her sessions but visualizes a powerful blue-green wave of pure healing washing though her body.
Scripps Cardiologist Dr. Erminia Guarneri said touch therapy is based on a concept that an ``energy body'' extends out from the physical body and can be manipulated through techniques.
``There are no pills, no chemicals -- you don't even have to believe in it,'' Guarneri said.
Research conducted during the last decade suggests touch therapy can cut pain and recovery time in half as well as promote reduction of pain, relieve anxiety and accelerate wound healing.
Scripps Green Hospital is one of several hospitals across the nation offering touch therapy and many of them prescribe it along with surgery, like a pain medication.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Stable owner believes 'holistic' therapy helps animals
Stable owner believes 'holistic' therapy helps animals
Monday, October 1, 2007
BY Benjamin Duer
REPOSITORY STAFF WRITER
A GOOD FEELING
Travis, a former racing horse suffering from multiple tumors, underwent successful sound and vibration therapy using holistic treatments during a demonstration Sunday. A floppy lip, glazed eyes and droopy ears are positive signs of a relaxed patient, Sheri Antrude of Concord Township said. "He likes this," said Travis' owner Stephani Kames, who also owns Fox Creek Stables, where the demonstration occurred.
LAKE TWP. "Travis" is an old boy.
A former racehorse, he desires to run endlessly, but his body cannot. At 27, the gray thoroughbred has many tumors.
But Travis has found relief in touch.
"He likes this," said Stephani Kames, who owns the aging horse, which was taken to Fox Creek Stables in Lake Township. Fox Creek is owned by Jill Kirsch.
Kames watches as tuning forks - gently applied - vibrate and tingle on the horse's back, chest and ears.
Travis passes gas. His lips become droopy. His head lowers. He has found his chi.
He has found harmony.
Carol Komitor, founder and director of Komitor Healing Methods, taught holistic touching techniques - to help heal and/or calm animals - to a group of students Sunday at Fox Creek. The four-level program is known as Healing Touch for Animals (HTA). Using tuning forks is just one application.
"When you keep the energy system in balance it allows for a deep relaxation to come in, and when we're relaxed - whether it is people or animals - it allows for correct physiology," Komitor, a former veterinary technician, said.
She said holistic therapy can help heal general illnesses, stabilize training, reduce anxiety and behavioral issues and regulate the immune system in animals.
She sees the therapy as a partner to medicine.
Pamela Fisher, a local holistic veterinarian, organized the event. Her practice is in Jackson Township. She has more than 500 clients.
"I was drawn to (the program) because I do energy work in my office," Fisher said. Energy work is another term for holistic therapy.
FISHER'S INFLUENCE
Fisher said the program is a "wonderful avenue" to teach holistic techniques to her clients.
One of her clients is Cindy Van Allen.
Van Allen, a Butler resident, has two epileptic dogs. The seizures were daily.
Van Allen said the holistic techniques have helped calm her animals and reduce the amount of seizures and other epileptic side effects.
With touch therapy, "an owner can see immediate differences," in their pets, she said.
Candace Phillips of Hartville is another client. She is a massage therapist. She owns two horses, three cats and three dogs.
She said the "energy work" of holistic treatments can identify a problem quickly and set you on a path toward a solution - medical or otherwise.
"The body will tell you a thousand times something is wrong before it becomes a problem," Phillips said.
TRAVELING AFAR
Komitor's holistic therapy for animals has attracted students from many countries. Joining students, such as Phillips, were twin sisters from the Netherlands.
Ria and Henriette Roosendaal train horses for competition in the Amsterdam area. They made the trip to Lake Township so they could complete their education.
Henriette Roosendaal said she believes holistic therapy has helped in competition. "(The horses) are more focused on their job."
"It is our self-healing that helps healing, not someone else," Komitor told students.
But, "someone else can facilitate the healing."
Reach Repository writer Benjamin Duer at (330) 580-8567 or e-mail: benjamin.duer@cantonrep.com
To learn more, visit: http://www.healingtouchforanimals.com
Friday, November 30, 2007
Healing touch therapy thrives despite skeptics
By Vivianne Rodrigues
NEW YORK (Reuters) - It's not traditional medicine but patients love it: an unconventional therapy called the healing touch that is gaining acceptance in some U.S. hospitals.
The technique uses light touch and deep breathing to address energy imbalances, its advocates say. Though research on it is limited, the therapy is practiced at 30 U.S. hospitals and by nearly 2,000 certified therapists, according to Healing Touch International, based in Denver.
"Healing touch raised my awareness and brought me a deep state of relaxation, which is not something you can get just by taking pain medicine," said Sarla Santos, 40, a nurse who underwent lung surgery in October and receives healing touch therapy at New York University Medical Center.
"Pain medication takes the pain out but doesn't make you feel good or calm."
The U.S. National Institutes of Health classifies healing touch as "energy medicine," in which practitioners believe illness results from disturbances of subtle energy fields, and calls it controversial.
The NIH says neither the external energy fields nor the therapeutic effects have been demonstrated convincingly.
NYU Medical Center has approved it as a complement to traditional rehabilitation, offering patients and staff free sessions as part of the hospital's MindBody Patient Care Program.
The system incorporates ancient Asian healing techniques and was developed in the 1980s by Janet Mentgen, a nurse in Colorado.
A healing touch therapist will gently touch or glide his hands through the patient's energy points or affected areas, such as shoulders, feet and forehead. The practitioner concentrates on each point for a few minutes.
Lisa Anselme, executive director at the Denver organization, said the method was not meant to stand alone.
"Healing touch is not intended to replace standard treatment. It's a complementary therapy," said Anselme, a registered nurse and healing touch practitioner.
Jackie Levin, a nurse who coordinates the NYU program, said the treatment works well for people with anxiety, depression and stress associated with surgery and cancer treatments.
"It's very safe, very calming and in the end, almost everyone can benefit from it," said Levin.
Nancy Hauserman, 58, a college professor in Iowa City, sought healing touch therapy twice, first during a period of emotional distress and then after foot surgery.
"I would still see my doctor, but I wanted to make sure that there were no blockages between my mind and body at that time," Hauserman said. "In fact, my own doctor was extremely impressed with how fast my wound has healed."
(Editing by Doina Chiacu)
Healing Touch: A Cost Effectiveness Study
Healing Touch: A Cost Effectiveness Study
Mary Beth Lodge, RN, BSN, CHTP
"A cost effectiveness study was conducted to assess the overall impact of the
inclusion of energy medicine (Healing Touch) and imagery on utilization of benefits and medical costs. It was a thirteen-month study with 440 employees in a self-insured manufacturing company. Healing Touch was included as a benefit available to any employee or dependent covered under the medical benefits plan. There were a total of 38 participants with chronic disease. Overall medical costs were higher during the study year than the previous year. The cost of the study represented on 3% of total medical benefit costs to the company. A co-pay comparable to other outpatient benefits of the medical plan would have reduced this. The company decided to include Healing Touch in its benefit plan with a co-pay after receiving demands for continuation of this service from study participants."
Mary Beth Lodge, RN, BSN, CHTP
"A cost effectiveness study was conducted to assess the overall impact of the
inclusion of energy medicine (Healing Touch) and imagery on utilization of benefits and medical costs. It was a thirteen-month study with 440 employees in a self-insured manufacturing company. Healing Touch was included as a benefit available to any employee or dependent covered under the medical benefits plan. There were a total of 38 participants with chronic disease. Overall medical costs were higher during the study year than the previous year. The cost of the study represented on 3% of total medical benefit costs to the company. A co-pay comparable to other outpatient benefits of the medical plan would have reduced this. The company decided to include Healing Touch in its benefit plan with a co-pay after receiving demands for continuation of this service from study participants."
What is Healing Touch?
· Healing Touch is a complimentary (or integrative) energy therapy that can be used in conjunction with traditional therapies or as a stand-alone treatment.
· Healing Touch is an energy based therapy that is used internationally and found in numerous hospitals and medical offices throughout the United States.
· Healing Touch has been actively researched since its inception and has been granted funding from many medical centers, universities and other supporters of Integrative Medicine including National Institute of Health (Office of Complimentary-Alternative Medicine).
· Healing Touch is for people & pets
Healing Touch aids in:
· Reduction of pain, anxiety and stress
· Faster recovery from injury
· Accelerated post-operative recovery and improve mobility after surgery
· Decreased depression
· Reduced effects of trauma, chronic pain and post traumatic stress
· Enhanced quality of life
· Immune system strengthening and support
· Relieve symptoms associated with chemotherapy
· Deeper sense of spiritual connection
What to expect during a Healing Touch session:
Healing Touch sessions begin with the client filling out an intake form to let the practitioner know what they are feeling physically and/or emotionally to better aide in getting the most out of their session. Client and practitioner then discuss what is going on with client; client will then lie on the massage table fully clothed. Healing Touch utilizes light or near body touch to clear balance and energize the energy system in an effort to promote healing for the mind, body and or spirit. After the Healing Touch treatment you are asked about your session, how you are feeling, and to answer any questions you may have. Generally clients have a greater sense of well being after a session.
Healing Touch does not replace medical care.
Contact Information:
Phone: 586.719.4582
Email: CaroleHealingTouch@Hotmail.com
· Healing Touch is a complimentary (or integrative) energy therapy that can be used in conjunction with traditional therapies or as a stand-alone treatment.
· Healing Touch is an energy based therapy that is used internationally and found in numerous hospitals and medical offices throughout the United States.
· Healing Touch has been actively researched since its inception and has been granted funding from many medical centers, universities and other supporters of Integrative Medicine including National Institute of Health (Office of Complimentary-Alternative Medicine).
· Healing Touch is for people & pets
Healing Touch aids in:
· Reduction of pain, anxiety and stress
· Faster recovery from injury
· Accelerated post-operative recovery and improve mobility after surgery
· Decreased depression
· Reduced effects of trauma, chronic pain and post traumatic stress
· Enhanced quality of life
· Immune system strengthening and support
· Relieve symptoms associated with chemotherapy
· Deeper sense of spiritual connection
What to expect during a Healing Touch session:
Healing Touch sessions begin with the client filling out an intake form to let the practitioner know what they are feeling physically and/or emotionally to better aide in getting the most out of their session. Client and practitioner then discuss what is going on with client; client will then lie on the massage table fully clothed. Healing Touch utilizes light or near body touch to clear balance and energize the energy system in an effort to promote healing for the mind, body and or spirit. After the Healing Touch treatment you are asked about your session, how you are feeling, and to answer any questions you may have. Generally clients have a greater sense of well being after a session.
Healing Touch does not replace medical care.
Contact Information:
Phone: 586.719.4582
Email: CaroleHealingTouch@Hotmail.com
Story by Phil Galewitz for USA Today Healing touch: A new patient outreach program
Healing touch: A new patient outreach program
Healing touch practioners Karen Lynch and Paula Kobelt use the technique on Sheldon Smith at Grant Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio.
POPULAR, BUT UNPROVEN
Healing touch was developed by Janet Mentgen, a nurse who has used energy-based care in her practice in Colorado since 1980. Mentgen and some of her colleagues developed a training program that incorporated the techniques, which borrow concepts from ancient Asian healing traditions.
The National Institutes of Health classifies healing touch as a "biofield" therapy because its effects are thought to be a result of manipulation of energy fields around the body.
The NIH considers healing touch and other types of energy medicine "among the most controversial of complementary and alternative medicine practices because neither the external energy fields nor their therapeutic effects have been demonstrated convincingly by any biophysical means."
Nonetheless, NIH notes on its website that energy medicine is gaining popularity in the marketplace and is now being studied at several academic medical centers.
Results of those tests are still pending.
By Phil Galewitz, Special for USA TODAY
Susan Iliff was out of the hospital within four days after open-heart surgery and never needed any pain medication.
She credited her speedy, painless recovery not just to her doctors, but also to an unconventional type of therapy she received at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla, Calif.: a daily dose of healing touch therapy.
Every day, a nurse slowly guided her hands along Iliff's legs and feet and then lightly touched her elbows, wrists and forehead, stopping at each point for about a minute. By the end of the 30-minute session, Iliff would fall asleep in her hospital bed.
"It just put me into a deep state of relaxation," says Iliff, 58, a retired nurse who received the therapy in 2002 and 2005 at the hospital.
Scripps Green is one of at least 100 U.S. hospitals that have started offering the service in the past 15 years. Although there are no large clinical trials that prove its worth, hospitals offer healing touch based on strong anecdotal evidence that it works and the fact that there are no safety worries with this non-invasive procedure, says Diane Wardell, an associate professor of nursing at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston and a healing touch provider.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Medicine | Medical Center | Lynch | Karen | Healing
"Hospitals are being motivated by patients asking for complements to traditional care," Wardell says. "It's always a step forward for patients when alternative care is integrated into hospital settings."
Not just a rubdown
Healing touch is not a massage. Sometimes the practitioner's hands hover above the body and don't actually make contact. Healing touch is an "energy therapy" that uses gentle hand techniques purported to help re-pattern the patient's energy field and accelerate healing of the body and mind. It is based on the belief that people have fields of energy that are in constant interaction with the environment around them, Wardell says.
More than 86,000 nurses and other health professionals use healing touch in hospitals and in private practice, according to Healing Touch International, a non-profit Colorado-based group that certifies practitioners. Many hospitals offer the service at no extra cost —largely because insurance doesn't pay for it. Outside the hospital setting, healing touch costs about the same as a massage therapist — or between $80 to $100 an hour.
The limited studies suggest its effectiveness in a wide variety of conditions, including speeding wound healing following heart surgery, reducing the impact of osteoarthritis and migraine headaches, and reducing anxiety and depression for women undergoing radiation treatment for breast cancer.
At Scripps Green Hospital, healing touch is offered to all open-heart surgery patients. "This is so safe and there is no risk," says Erminia "Mimi" Guarneri, a cardiologist and medical director of Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine.
Guarneri became a believer in healing touch a decade ago when a viral infection knocked her out of work for the first time in years.
"After the treatment, I felt like I had so much energy and I felt better almost immediately," she says. "I felt if this can help me this much, it can help my patients."
Many concede that when they first heard about healing touch they thought it was weird. "I thought it looked a little kooky," says Karen Lynch, a pain management nurse at Grant Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio. That was her reaction when she saw nurses provide the therapy in the hospital's coronary care unit.
But when Lynch showed up for work with abdominal pain a few years ago, she gave healing touch a shot. "In a few minutes, the pain was completely relieved," she says. "That's when I started wondering what was going on with this stuff and began getting trained in it."
Doctors support treatment
Lynch says most doctors don't fully understand how healing touch works, but they believe it when they see patients improve. "It's difficult for me to understand, but it works and there's nothing to lose, and it shows we are treating patients in a caring manner."
Arthur Katz, a heart surgeon in Boca Raton, Fla., says he's convinced healing touch has helped re-energize his patients who were struggling after surgery. "Every time I have used it on one of my patients, I have had a favorable outcome," he says. "The body is more than a machine. It has a mechanical component but also an emotional and psychological component and an energy component."
Last year, he did coronary bypass surgery on a woman in her mid-50s. Although the surgery went well, she was depressed after the procedure and was not motivated to get out of bed or to do other things to help her recovery.
"I tried everything I know. A firm approach, the nice-guy approach to encourage her, but nothing worked," Katz says. "After a healing touch session, she was like a different person with a smile on her face."
Share this story:
Healing touch practioners Karen Lynch and Paula Kobelt use the technique on Sheldon Smith at Grant Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio.
POPULAR, BUT UNPROVEN
Healing touch was developed by Janet Mentgen, a nurse who has used energy-based care in her practice in Colorado since 1980. Mentgen and some of her colleagues developed a training program that incorporated the techniques, which borrow concepts from ancient Asian healing traditions.
The National Institutes of Health classifies healing touch as a "biofield" therapy because its effects are thought to be a result of manipulation of energy fields around the body.
The NIH considers healing touch and other types of energy medicine "among the most controversial of complementary and alternative medicine practices because neither the external energy fields nor their therapeutic effects have been demonstrated convincingly by any biophysical means."
Nonetheless, NIH notes on its website that energy medicine is gaining popularity in the marketplace and is now being studied at several academic medical centers.
Results of those tests are still pending.
By Phil Galewitz, Special for USA TODAY
Susan Iliff was out of the hospital within four days after open-heart surgery and never needed any pain medication.
She credited her speedy, painless recovery not just to her doctors, but also to an unconventional type of therapy she received at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla, Calif.: a daily dose of healing touch therapy.
Every day, a nurse slowly guided her hands along Iliff's legs and feet and then lightly touched her elbows, wrists and forehead, stopping at each point for about a minute. By the end of the 30-minute session, Iliff would fall asleep in her hospital bed.
"It just put me into a deep state of relaxation," says Iliff, 58, a retired nurse who received the therapy in 2002 and 2005 at the hospital.
Scripps Green is one of at least 100 U.S. hospitals that have started offering the service in the past 15 years. Although there are no large clinical trials that prove its worth, hospitals offer healing touch based on strong anecdotal evidence that it works and the fact that there are no safety worries with this non-invasive procedure, says Diane Wardell, an associate professor of nursing at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston and a healing touch provider.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Medicine | Medical Center | Lynch | Karen | Healing
"Hospitals are being motivated by patients asking for complements to traditional care," Wardell says. "It's always a step forward for patients when alternative care is integrated into hospital settings."
Not just a rubdown
Healing touch is not a massage. Sometimes the practitioner's hands hover above the body and don't actually make contact. Healing touch is an "energy therapy" that uses gentle hand techniques purported to help re-pattern the patient's energy field and accelerate healing of the body and mind. It is based on the belief that people have fields of energy that are in constant interaction with the environment around them, Wardell says.
More than 86,000 nurses and other health professionals use healing touch in hospitals and in private practice, according to Healing Touch International, a non-profit Colorado-based group that certifies practitioners. Many hospitals offer the service at no extra cost —largely because insurance doesn't pay for it. Outside the hospital setting, healing touch costs about the same as a massage therapist — or between $80 to $100 an hour.
The limited studies suggest its effectiveness in a wide variety of conditions, including speeding wound healing following heart surgery, reducing the impact of osteoarthritis and migraine headaches, and reducing anxiety and depression for women undergoing radiation treatment for breast cancer.
At Scripps Green Hospital, healing touch is offered to all open-heart surgery patients. "This is so safe and there is no risk," says Erminia "Mimi" Guarneri, a cardiologist and medical director of Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine.
Guarneri became a believer in healing touch a decade ago when a viral infection knocked her out of work for the first time in years.
"After the treatment, I felt like I had so much energy and I felt better almost immediately," she says. "I felt if this can help me this much, it can help my patients."
Many concede that when they first heard about healing touch they thought it was weird. "I thought it looked a little kooky," says Karen Lynch, a pain management nurse at Grant Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio. That was her reaction when she saw nurses provide the therapy in the hospital's coronary care unit.
But when Lynch showed up for work with abdominal pain a few years ago, she gave healing touch a shot. "In a few minutes, the pain was completely relieved," she says. "That's when I started wondering what was going on with this stuff and began getting trained in it."
Doctors support treatment
Lynch says most doctors don't fully understand how healing touch works, but they believe it when they see patients improve. "It's difficult for me to understand, but it works and there's nothing to lose, and it shows we are treating patients in a caring manner."
Arthur Katz, a heart surgeon in Boca Raton, Fla., says he's convinced healing touch has helped re-energize his patients who were struggling after surgery. "Every time I have used it on one of my patients, I have had a favorable outcome," he says. "The body is more than a machine. It has a mechanical component but also an emotional and psychological component and an energy component."
Last year, he did coronary bypass surgery on a woman in her mid-50s. Although the surgery went well, she was depressed after the procedure and was not motivated to get out of bed or to do other things to help her recovery.
"I tried everything I know. A firm approach, the nice-guy approach to encourage her, but nothing worked," Katz says. "After a healing touch session, she was like a different person with a smile on her face."
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— Carol Komitor 
