The sixth principle of Comfort Touch is encompassing. As one of the six key concepts (SCRIBE: slow, comforting, respectful, into center, broad, and encompassing) that inform this nurturing style of acupressure, “encompassing” describes a quality of touch. In general, strokes of Comfort Touch are applied with a broad, even pressure that encompasses the part of the body being touched.
To practice this principle of encompassing, let your contact surround the part of the body you are touching. Be aware of the space between your two hands. Hold the person in that space. While this principle describes technique, it also describes an attitude. Encompassing touch contributes to a feeling of wholeness and connection. The giver of Comfort Touch holds a nurturing presence, which allows the client to feel cared for and acknowledged as a worthwhile human being.
As you touch your client with both hands, let your hands conform to the shape of the part of the body you are touching. For example, as you hold the person’s hand between your own, let your hands wrap around that hand, molding to its shape. Likewise, as you hold the person’s arm, your hands wrap around the arm, applying an even, broad pressure as they conform to the shape of the arm.
When touching a large area, such as the back, let your touch acknowledge the shapes and contours of the body. When touching a limb or a toe, encompass and enfold that part of the body. One client described it this way: “It is like receiving a hug to every part of the body.” Encompassing touch conveys a feeling of acknowledgment, safety, and support, in much the same way as a parent would hold a child.
Here is an exercise to help you practice giving and receiving Comfort Touch, applying the principles of into center, broad, and encompassing. Practice this exercise with a partner who is sitting in a chair. Place a chair beside your partner and sit so that you are facing your partner’s side.
With your thumbs parallel and pointing upward, wrap your hands around your partner’s upper arm. Apply a broad, encompassing, even pressure directly into the central axis of the arm, in toward the bone. (You can think of this as the even pressure that is applied with a blood pressure cuff.) The palms of the hands and the broader surfaces of the base of the thumb exert a uniformly even pressure around the client’s arm, thereby avoiding poking with the tips of the thumbs. Hold for a few seconds. Let your partner give you feedback. Was the pressure even? Was it into center? Was it broad? Was it encompassing?
Practice on other parts of the body; for example, the shoulders, the arms or the back. Continue to listen to your partner’s feedback. Trade roles and repeat the exercise. It is very important to practice this exercise with a partner – not only to practice giving broad, encompassing pressure into center – but to experience how it feels to receive this touch. Only when you comprehend the quality of touch that underlies these principles in your own body, will you be able to fully convey that quality of touch to your clients.
The principles of Comfort Touch can become a model of how to live your life in the present as you let the meaning of each word influence your actions and attitudes throughout the day. These words can guide you to live a more meaningful life, mindful in each moment of the healing affect you exert on others in the world around you.
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Adapted from “Comfort Touch: Massage for the Elderly and the Ill” (Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, 2009). For more information on Comfort Touch® articles, resources, and trainings visit: www.comforttouch.com.
