Читать книгу Indian Head Massage: Discover the power of touch - Narendra Mehta - Страница 14

Amongst higher animals, touch and grooming form an important part of daily life. Many hours are spent in these activities, which provide comfort and create close social bonds. As highly evolved primates, touch remains a fundamental part of our biological heritage and plays a vital role in our development from infants to adults.

As babies, our most powerful experiences come through the medium of touch. We reach out to touch and explore the world around us, and we are also held and cradled by our parents. Many studies have shown that the quality and amount of handling that a young baby receives is crucial for healthy physical, emotional and mental development. For example, groups of baby rats that were handled and stroked with gentleness and care grew up to have greater body weight and brain size, less fear of the external world, and an increased resistance to stress and disease compared to groups of rats that were infrequently and roughly handled.

A famous study conducted by Harlow on Rhesus monkeys in America goes even further in demonstrating the primary importance of touch. In the experiment, infant monkeys raised in the laboratory were given a choice of two surrogate mothers. One was made of soft terry cloth and lit from behind with a light bulb for warmth. The other mother was made of wire mesh, but possessed an artificial nipple which supplied milk. Time and again the monkeys clung to the terry-cloth ‘mother’ for comfort rather than the milk-providing ‘mother’. Only when the infants were extremely hungry would they be forced to make a brief dash for milk, scampering back to the comfort mother afterwards.

This experiment also demonstrated how important touch is to healthy personality development and social skills. These laboratory-raised monkeys were introduced to other monkeys of similar age but were totally unable to co-exist peacefully with them. Furthermore, when it came to raising baby monkeys themselves, the laboratory monkeys demonstrated no maternal attachment.

Touch is essential for stimulating our nervous system and promoting healthy physical development. However, it is also critical for our mental and social development. A large part of our self-definition and the way we feel about ourselves comes from the way we are held and touched by our parents. Through it we develop a sense of being valued and of being valuable which is the cornerstone of our self-esteem. We learn about pleasure, warmth and comfort from touch. We learn about expressing our feelings, we learn about reassurance and security, and we learn about connectedness and social bonding.

Children who come from families where there is insufficient physical contact and tenderness may find it difficult to accept and value themselves. They may have difficulty expressing themselves emotionally, and find it hard to form long-term, intimate relationships as adults.

Touch connects us to the outside world, brings people closer and weaves intimacy