HEALING TOUCH
Healing Touch (HT) is a heart-centered complementary/integrative health modality where practitioners consciously use their hands in a heart-centered and intentional way to support physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health and self-healing.*
Healing Touch Q&A
How does Healing Touch work?
Healing Touch is an energy therapy that focuses on clearing energy congestion that forms in our energy fields and centers. It influences the human energy system, specifically the energy field that surrounds the body (aura) and energy centers (chakras). By using gentle, light, or near-body touch, Healing Touch helps to bring the whole person: mind, body, and spirit into balance by re-establishing healthy energy flow through opening, connecting, balancing and energizing the human energy system, thus speeding up our natural healing abilities. Our bodies are meant to self-heal, but if our energy body is congested, we might not be able to heal as easily. Healing Touch promotes the initiation of the relaxation response, our body’s counterpart to the fight/flight/freeze response, to bring a client’s energetic body to a place of balance and openness, where self-healing is more likely to occur.
What are the Benefits
Our bodies heal best when we are in a state of relaxation. Healing Touch helps to bring our bodies to that optimal, relaxed state for self-healing. Healing Touch is a non-invasive, non-toxic, effective approach to healing that enhances the healing process. Healing Touch complements any medical or psychological treatment. Some of the benefits are:
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Relieves stress and depression
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Enhances the immune system accelerating the body’s self-healing abilities
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Reduces pain and anxiety
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Aids in relaxation which increases the body’s ability to heal itself
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Complements medical treatments
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Speeds up recovery time from surgery and decreases hospital stays
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Provides support during chemotherapy
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Aids in better sleep
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Creates balance and a sense of well-being
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Supports the dying process
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Deepens spiritual connections
To learn more about the research that has been done regarding Healing Touch and the evidenced-based benefits, visit: www.HealingTouchResearch.com.
What can I Expect?
Clients often ask what they can expect from a Healing Touch session. The client will lay fully clothed on a treatment table with a blanket for extra warmth if needed. While listening to peaceful music, silence or guided imagery, the provider may lay still hands on the body or use sweeping motions above the body. Many people report feeling tingling, energy moving, or changes in temperature. Some have an emotional release, and some fall asleep. Most clients report experiencing a feeling of total relaxation.
More about the Healing Touch Program
Healing Touch™ was developed by Janet Mentgen, RN, BSN in the 1980s. Janet’s desire was to have someone in each household know Healing Touch techniques to support their families. The Healing Touch Program is accredited and/or endorsed by several healthcare associations, most notably ANCC (American Nurses Credentialing Association). For more information about Janet Mentgen, the Healing Touch Program, and Accreditation, please visit: HealingTouchProgram.com
* Healing Touch (HT) does not take the place of medical care. It is a complementary, not alternative, therapy. It is recommended that the client sees a licensed physician or licensed health care professional for any physical or psychological ailment he/she has. HT Practitioners do not diagnose conditions nor prescribe or perform medical treatments, prescribe substances, nor interfere with the treatment of a licensed medical professional.
Leanne Bishop, M, Ed., HTCHP
Leanne Bishop, M.Ed, HTCP/I is a Healing Touch Certified Practitioner and Instructor. Leanne grew up in the Presque Isle, Maine area and now lives with her husband and two daughters in Hampden, ME. She received her B.S. in Elementary Education and M.Ed in Counselor Education from the University of Maine. She worked as a school counselor until deciding to be a stay-at-home mother after her first daughter was born premature.
Leanne started her journey with Healing Touch after some medical challenges within her family. She learned the benefits of energy therapies, including Healing Touch, to help with stress management while dealing with challenges she experienced with a child on the autism spectrum and another child with Brittle Bone Disease (at first the medical staff thought she had cancer). During this time, Leanne also experienced great spiritual growth and a connection with her Higher Power, realizing her Divine purpose in life.
Leanne is now providing Healing Touch for a fee at the Bangor YMCA and is also overseeing the growth of a vibrant volunteer community that provides Healing Touch to cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers through Caring Connections, a cooperative program of the Bangor YMCA and Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center. Through this position, she is able to provide what she feels is one of her purposes, providing Healing Touch to those who might not be able to access Healing Touch because of financial constraints due to medical challenges or economic disadvantages.
Leanne has a passion for helping others. Through her own journey, she understands the stressors of being a caregiver (and/or parent). She hopes to help others “fill their cup” so they are not “running on empty”. She also has a passion for educating others on how they can use Healing Touch for their own self-care between appointments as well as support their family, friends, and loved ones. Leanne loves supporting others in their journey to wholeness and hopes to teach others what she wishes she had known when her children had health challenges.
Services & Pricing
Caring Connections offers the complementary energy therapy, Healing Touch (HT) for a fee to members and non-members of the Bangor YMCA.
Caring Connections also wants to support those undergoing current cancer treatment by offering up to 8 Healing Touch sessions, provided by Leanne Bishop, HTCP (based upon scheduling availability) free of charge. We also offer up to 6 free Healing Touch sessions provided to cancer survivors and caregivers by Healing Touch Volunteers at the Healing Touch Studio at the Bangor YMCA (based upon volunteer and studio availability). We know the financial challenges that people can face because of a cancer diagnosis, so we ask for any size donation be given to Caring Connections in exchange for the Healing Touch sessions. We also offer Days of Caring with Healing Touch, again for those living with cancer, survivors of cancer, as well as caregivers. Please contact Caring Connections for more information or visit our calendar for a schedule of events.
Session
Regular Session
Extended Session
Length
1 hour
1.5-2 hours
YMCA Member/Non-Member Rate
$45/$60
$75/$90
Any size donation requested for cancer patients, survivors, or caregivers – see above
Payments are made through the Bangor YMCA Welcome Center: accepting cash, check, or credit card.
The Caring Connections Healing Touch Studio is located in the Isaac Farrar Mansion, porch entrance, on 17 2nd St., Bangor, ME – beside the main building of the Bangor YMCA.
Healing Touch Self-Care Workshop – At a 1 – 2 hour workshop, learn what Healing Touch (energy therapy) is, how it works, feel your own (and another’s) energy field, HT techniques of Magnetic Passes: Hands in Motion and Hands Still, with possibility of being led in a Self-Chakra Connection. This a free workshop offered to groups within the Greater Bangor area. Call for more information.
Healing Touch in the News