Blog

Hello friends!

These past months have been a whirlwind for me. I’ve been taking a break from the more educational or topical style of blogs that I typically write, enjoying some good summer weather (a bit early!) and even having a real, solid vacation. Life has been busy on many fronts, and life has been very, very good. I thought this week I’d try to provide a simple update on Touch Practice, where the work is going and how things are moving.

The website continues to average roughly 500 visitors per week. Visitors come from all over the world. Here’s a quick snapshot, thanks to wordpress.com stats, of what that looks like:

I’ve had to cut back on individual Touch Practice work, but continue to put energy into planning for regional group workshops (typically a weekend in length.) Our next retreat, the Fall New England workshop, will open for registration sometime in the next month or two. Meanwhile, I’ve been in conversation with many of you from all over the country, and as geographic clusters of interest emerge, we will create small group opportunities in your areas. Touch Practice is “user driven:” we custom build workshops for specific communities, rather than offering a one-size-fits-all group experience.

Upcoming planning is centering around Asheville, NC; Tampa/Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale areas, Toronto, Minneapolis/St. Paul, San Diego, and what I have dubbed for the moment the number one snuggliest place in the United States: Seattle. It is unlikely that we’ll be able to offer more than three or four workshops per year, but my hope is that we will be able to slowly increase the number over time.

There has been interest in studying and writing about the work of Touch Practice from several fronts. Several psychologists have inquired about studying the work as it relates to trauma and recovery aspects, including the possibility of a double-blind study to demonstrate the physiological and psychological impact of being held on trauma survivors. We know instinctively that the right kind of touch at the right time can be healing, but collecting hard data on that can be challenging.

There is interest in studying and writing about Touch Practice as a form of yoga or yogic practice, which makes a lot of sense to me. I didn’t think about Touch Practice as having anything to do with yoga, at first, but I realized after many hours of practice that Touch Practice is a form of mindfulness using the body; that is, it is physical mindfulness. It cultivates an attitude of staying present with what is unfolding, using the physical body and physical contact as a container for that process much as we use the breath as a container in breath-based meditation practice.

So my energies are being budgeted slightly away from individual sessions, which I still pursue as time permits, towards the academic or scholarly aspects of research and writing, as well as the group workshop effort. I must say from my own point of view, every group workshop I’ve been part of has been enlivening and heartwarming for me. I’ve met dozens and dozens of warm, caring men many of whom have gone out and established their own conscious practice of touch in the communities in which they live. These practices are diverse, each one unique, each one a manifestation of that particular man, his gifts, and his insights.

That’s all for now–I’ll keep this short and sweet, but for many of you who have been so caring with inquiries over the past weeks as to how I’m doing, life is good, life is busy, and Touch Practice is in a bit of a caterpillar-in-a-cocoon state. I look forward to whatever will unfold in the year ahead.

Warm summer wishes to everyone.

Have thoughts you’d like to share?

Touch Practice is a sacred practice for me, and part of that is keeping confidences sacred. While a name and e-mail address are required to post a comment, feel free to use just your first name, or a pseudonym if you wish. Your e-mail address will never be seen by or shared with anyone. It is used to prevent spam and inappropriate comments from appearing in the blog. I’d really like to hear from you!