Healing Touch: A Literature Review

literature also includes investigations from countries around the world as well. Finally, and as previously mentioned, this literature is intended to educate and also invite intelligent conversations on this subject matter; it is not intended to persuade or convince one that touch has a connection to health.
THE TOUCH THEAPIES
Due to the obscure nature of the touch therapies, I think it prudent to present an overview of the chakras and the meridians, which are the main systems manipulated during administration of the touch therapies. These two systems are “composed of subtle [energy] of higher frequency levels than that which the [human] eye can perceive” (Gerber, 2001, p.173). It is my intention that this synopsis around the human energetic
Thomas, Stephenson, Swanson, Jesse and Brown (2013), define Healing Touch (HT) as an energy/biofield-therapy under the umbrella of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). According to Freel, Hart, Hylock and Lutgendorf (2011), the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) contends that biofield-therapies include two modes of energy: the first type is veritable energy, which is documented in allopathic medicine and can be measured in “wave lengths or frequencies, such as mechanical vibrations of sound, visible light…” (p.520) and the other type is putative energy which are the “electromageneticfields” (p.520) too subtle to measure such as that of the human energetic anatomy, in particular, the aura which is also known as the human bio-field, the chakras, and the meridians. Of these subtle energy systems just mentioned the energy of the chakras are most manipulated and influenced during Healing Touch (HT) treatment. When the chakra system is in a balanced state, it provides vital energetic support to the physical, mental, and spiritual anatomy. HT is administered by incorporating “intentionality and presence … using a group of noninvasive [hand] techniques to help balance energy systems [in and] surrounding the body and restore harmony to both the human and the environmental fields” (Thomas et al., 2013, p.2). Researchers Freel et al. (2011); Pierce (2007); and Archer (2006) agree that the biofield therapies such as HT are beneficial to reduce anxiety and promote relaxation. In addition, Freel et al. (2011) explains that these benefits are measurable by the reduction of “neuroendocrine stress hormones [such as cortisol that] … may enhance immune functions and other body systems”