 21 Sep 2010 @ 23:48, by Gerald Vest
Our international health promotion team is a modest effort, but hopefully an expanding opportunity, to awaken individuals, couples, families, groups, organizations and communities to an awareness that touch or physical interaction with mindfulness, respect and love are basic human need requirements for safety, survival, resiliency, and for the wellbeing of humanity and all that exists. Our 15-Minute StressOut Program is a great model of Quality Care and Best Practice Research for bringing about change and improvement for the quality of lives, health and relationship throughout our society and beyond.
This past week I was invited to present our safe,skillful and nourishing touch program for soldiers, families and health care professionals at White Sands Missile Range as part of their Suicide Prevention Awareness Program. As we know, physical interaction or touch is one of our basic human need requirements for learning, relating and for experiencing health and wellbeing. Our soldiers were very brave to partner up and give each other one of our "StressOuts" as described in our 15 minute stressout website-- [link]
I also introduced some mindful exercises, breathing, and meditations to support their daily health. There is a lot of evidence that these long and multiple tours produce an injury in the body, mind, emotions, spirit and social relations that is commonly referred to as PTSD. Unfortunately, most mental/behavioral health systems don't include integrative health practices, especially massage & meditation. These methods reduce the agitation, anger, isolation, fear and lonliness, while promoting circulation, healing, and interaction with all of the organs, nervous, muscular-skeleton, skin-protective, digestive and cardia-vascular systems. The brain and other systems are also energized and support the healing processes.
Everyone in this massage forum knows the benefits of massage and integrative health practices, but our conventional mental health and academic therapeutic programs are still mostly skeptical and fearful of touch. I introduce many research programs and guidelines for the safe and skillful use of touch on our forum as well. I recommend that all of our team members and students, visit Dr. Zur's website for the most thorough understanding of the myth of the use of touch by all professionals, health and human service programs.
Anyway, it is good that our program is being used in many military programs and we will continue to advance our safe, skillful, ethical and nourishing touch program in all human and social service programs.
Note: Picture is clinic staff and soldiers in medical clinic learning to give and receive our Stressout Program during Suicide Prevention Week.
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