I recently came across these drawings I made some years ago of people hugging. I don’t know who they are, but their connection touched me also, as I traced their gesture with my hands, pencil to paper, a moment now held forever.
Revisiting these now, they feel much more profound; sketches from another time, when we freely embraced each other, when we held each other for comfort, when a touch, a handshake, a hug was inextricably part of saying hello.
The arms and the hands, are expressed at the level of the heart and are an extension of the energy and feeling associated with the heart. Perhaps it’s stating the obvious, but to touch, to hug, to hold, is a loving act. Hugging is re-connecting, unifying, and nurturing; it is an accepting embrace of another, a moment of coming together as one.
On the level of health and well-being, hugging has been the subject of scientific study revealing hugs not only make us feel good, but they keep us healthy. Hugs release oxytocin, they boost our immune systems, and set forth a cascade of health promoting effects for body and mind. In short, hugs are healing.
As the universe would have it, in the midst of putting together this little post, I watched a presentation with health coach and nutritionist, Andrea Beaman for one of her upcoming courses, in which she described various assessment tools that can be used to transform your health, without going in for a bunch of medical tests. One of these tools involves utilizing the wisdom of the chakra system, in which she highlighted the heart chakra.
She called attention to how the past two years of ‘social-distancing’ has harmed our health, warning that if we don’t reconnect back to our heart chakra in a healthy way moving forward, we will surely see an increase in heart disease and all diseases across the board.
Research has shown the importance of physical touch for healthy development in babies (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2865952/) and how we as adults need touch on a daily basis too, to maintain our health and happiness, as this interesting article explores: (https://psychology-spot.com/how-many-hugs-do-we-need-a-day/).
Hugs and all forms of nurturing touch, are an essential part of not only human connection and interaction, but to our overall health and well-being. Greater health and wellness are as close as a hug. As we seek to improve our own health and quality of life and contribute to the betterment of those around us, may we remember that the path of healing is also the path of love.
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