Various experiments have shown that touch can
* make us feel better about ourselves & our surroundings
* have positive effect in a child's development & IQ
* cause measurable physiological changes in the touchers and the touched
Hugging is a very special therapeutic touch that contributes in a major way to healing and health.
Hugging accomplishes many things:
~feels good
~despels loneliness
~overcomes fear
~opens doors to feelings
~builds self-esteem (wow, he/she is hugging ME?)
~fosters altuism
(I can't believe it but I actually want to hug that old son-of a-gun)
~slows down aging
~helps curb appetite
~eases tension
~fights insomnia
~keeps arms and shoulder muscles in condition
~provides stretch exercise if your short
~provides stooping exercise if you are tall
~offers a wholesome alternative to promiscuity
~safe alternative to alcohol (better hugs than drugs!)
~is democratic (anyone is eligible for a hug)
~energy efficient (saves heat)
~is portable, requires no special equipment
~no special setting
~imparts feeling of belonging
~makes happy days happier
(from K. Keating "Hug Therapy")
Hugs are recognizes as essential for healing. Touch is used to help relieve pain and depression and anxiety, to bolster a patient's will to live, and help premature babies in an incubator.
Hugging is a wonderful tonic. Medical evidence is that a hug makes your body produce more Oxytocin, which is the "feel good" hormone. Research found that one 20-second hug a day makes a big difference between how happy and relaxed we are.
"I understand it takes about twelve hugs a day for us to perform at our peak." -Leo Buscalia, PhD author, educator and lecturer on the art of loving.
A Hug!
A hug is a wonderful gift to share;
to show each other that we care.
There is so much a hug can do,
When you feel those arms, holding you.
It is a place to feel safe and warm;
comfort for a sad heart that is torn.
An expression of the love in our heart,
for ones who we wish, never to be apart.
A greeting when we meet to say hello,
or to say goodbye when we have to go.
It can hold us up when life gets us down,
and make us smile, instead of frown.
A hug can be given for no reason at all,
and given to those, both big and small.
We're never too old to feel the joy it brings,
it is one of life's, most pleasing things.
And for all of this happiness, a hug is free;
costs nothing, yet means so much to me.
We should all hug another to show we care,
for to feel a warm hug, nothing can compare.
©Yolanda Pacheco Garcia
from "Awakening Love"
www.victoryp.com
