How To Jump Higher

Sometimes language is not precise enough to make the actual meaning totally clear. Let’s take the word “love” as an example. Loving emotions can be expressed about many things: your loved ones, your food, your husband, your favorite football team, your pets, your wedding dress, or your evening beer.

Clearly loving God is quite a different concept from loving your job. Love for your family is a totally different concept from loving a specific brand of beer. We use the same word “love”, but its meaning changes depending on the context. The word by itself does not have meaning.

It’s the same with “touch”. Your laptop has a touchpad. That’s a very mechanical, non-emotional concept. You can physically touch another person. Depending on your intention, this could range from friendly to aggressive to sexual.

You can be touched by a massage professional in a clinical way. Truly skilled and gifted therapists can touch you in a way that feels heavenly. A story or a movie can touch us intensely.

One word, many meanings. Touch might be mechanical, sensual, loving, aggressive – without knowing the circumstances, touch has no clear meaning of its own. Our intentions give “touch” its meaning. When we touch objects, our intentions are clear. But when we touch people, it is often not so easy and clear.

When you touch your cat or your puppy, they do not mentally process what you are doing. They don’t care if you are male or female. They just enjoy it without any second thoughts. This also holds true for infants. They simply enjoy being touched or hugged or stroked. And they also love touching each other quite naturally.

Some years ago a very interesting study was conducted with new born babies. The babies were divided into two groups. One was touched regularly and the other not at all. The results were dramatic. The touch deprived babies were rapidly losing their vital symptoms and the study had to be ended quickly for fear of any babies dying.

Clearly babies and young children enjoy being touched. But there comes a time when this changes and for some reason it is not appropriate anymore. Why and when do the rules change for touching? There is no doubt that children model the adults and adopt their behaviors.

When adults touch each other, many issues come into play. Does the culture or religion permit it? How about sexual advances? How does the other person perceive it? Hugs between men can be just a friendly form of greeting. But often the fear of homosexuality prevents men from touching each other.

Hugs between men and women can be a pleasant interaction or an inappropriate sexual advance. When adults touch each other, their minds enter the picture. In various cultures touching rules can be very different. It is normal for Arab men to exchange kisses on the cheek as a greeting, but European or American men would be shocked if another man tried to kiss them. Some cultures permit hugging, others totally shy away from it.

So what is the conclusion of all those ‘touch complications’? Most people love to be touched but are prevented from experiencing it due to cultural taboos, mind games, ill-intentioned people, shyness, or in some countries by the law. Massage therapy can be the perfect way to bypass all those cultural, moral or religious limitations and enjoy touch for what it can be – a deeply relaxing, healing and wonderfully pleasant experience.