The Power of Touch

Book excerpt: Were you raised in a "non-touching" atmosphere? Is your "inner hunger" really a yearning for touch? Do you know what your touching "taboos" are? Do you wish you could feel more comfortable touching others or being touched? Are you fulfilling your loved one's need for touch? Would you like to learn how touching influences behavior and how it could enrich your daily? In the revised edition of her exciting book, The Power of Touch, Phyllis K. Davis explores the human need to touch and be touched--and how America's cultural taboos have made us a touch-starved nation. Phyllis shares important insights on physical contact, not only as a biological need, but also as a language that communicates love more powerfully than words.Thought provoking and inspiring, The Power of Touch examines the catastrophic effects on individuals not nurtured by loving touch. People deprived of this kind of touch often exhibit compulsive overeating, restlessness, drug abuse, promiscuity, and workaholism. Even more shocking--singles deprived of touch have a death rate five times higher than their married counterparts. Phyllis also refutes the myth that picking up crying infants spoils them and stresses the role being physically nurtured as babies plays in becoming well-adjusted adults. To help the reader learn how to bring more touch into their lives, Phyllis includes a chapter of touching exercises and ideas. "Without touch, a baby dies, the human heart aches, and the soul withers. Touch is communication on the most basic level: The Power of Touch is about the language of love spoken through physical contact. The need for touch is a necessity throughout our lives, from birth to death, which serves to sustain us emotionally and physically. She discusses how touch can improve relationships of all kinds-parent/child, man/woman, friend/friend-help heal the body, and open the heart to a deeper love. She provides insights into the role of touch in infant health, sexual satisfaction, well-being of the elderly, and she suggests a number of activities and exercises that will make touching a delightful and valuable tool in your life. In this wonderful book, author Phyllis K. Davis teaches you about the role of touch in healing, infant care, raising children, developmental psychology, lovemaking, old age, and friendship. The message is simple: Open your heart, reach out, and touch those you care about. If you are a friend, parent, massage therapist, teacher, lover, grandparent, caretaker, health-care professional--or just a compassionate human being--you will learn how even the briefest and simplest forms of touch influence your behavior and enrich the lives of those sharing your world.