In a following video I will share the Body Scan form of HeartTouch, which brings us more familiarity with working with the body and supports us further into the spontaneous 'formless following' practice which is Sei Ki HeartTouch.
We need to build this touch confidence and the simple pattern does help. It is important to understand though that the pattern is offered as a skilful means to help you find your way to work with the person. It is not a rigid therapy form, although you can imitate it.
At all moments, you offer unconditional, open attention to the person in front of you, waiting for a spontaneous calling from some part of the body. When the giver has become sensitive from practice, the eyes are drawn to the calling, or you feel an urge in the hands, or in your instincts or intuition. As soon as you recognise this calling, you let go of the form and follow the call. To do otherwise is sad and misses the depth this practice can take us.
In terms of trauma work and emotional / mental health care, I believe the HeartTouch work has massive potential to heal. It can be offered in a therapist-patient framework and if the practitioner is skilled this can work well assisting the receiver with deep traumas and inner difficulties which may be extremely complicated to resolve through talking therapies alone. It is natural to combine this work with talking or listening at times.
I call the therapist level practice - Sei Ki HeartTouch, as it has come from my contact over many years with a Japanese Shiatsu and Ki Therapy Master, Akinobu Kishi Sensei who named his work Sei Ki Soho.
The name 'HeartTouch' has come about as the work really goes to the heart of what a human being is, leaving us deeply touched and changed by the experience, both as a giver and receiver.
I am even more interested in the potential of this work as a peer based practice in which people in a group take turns playing both the giver and the receiver. In this environment, I empasize the mindfulness and human / social learning aspects of the ritual. We create a sacred bubble together in which the participants have opportunity to explore inter-personal trust, boundaries, empathy and compassion. In my experience, individuals who have habitual difficulty feeling safe with others are able to do so with this work, usually with the support of the solo practices I share in other videos.
This work is so simple, yet it touches deep needs within us for our existance to be recognised and unconditionally affirmed. This happens on a body based emotional level rather than on a head level which is how we usually interact with other humans especially in clinical settings.
HeartTouch naturally evolves into Sei Ki HeartTouch and the more subtle work shared by Kishi Sensei as you become more sensitive and skilled at entering into resonance with different people and discover your own ways of working with them.
At the same time what comes out in the session is an expression of your own personal development. As we work more on our relationship with our hara consciousness through spontaneous practices, and clean our personal mind-body, then we bring this into the 'bubble' with our client / touch partner. Each meeting is a learning in itself and so the touch work becomes a kind of spiritual path of growth in which we change and grow as a human being.
I do not believe it is possible to share this work in a few videos and a bit of writing. It is something to feel and experience with people who have explored it in depth, but still I am hopeful that with this small effort here, I can offer a taster which will start the journey for you.
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