How it works...

All healing is basically self-healing. Healing Touch is a different and often complementary mode of facilitating the healing process, but functions from an energy perspective rather than only a physical one. The Healing Touch Practitioner re-aligns the energy flow, reactivating the mind/body/spirit connection to eliminate blockages to self-healing. The client is fully clothed and can either sit or lay on a massage table for the treatment. After a brief intake survey, the client�s energy system is assessed. The Practitioner will discuss findings and ask permission to begin appropriate treatment. HT is a light touch to the body or above the body. The client normally experiences deep relaxation along with energy re-alignment. Healing Touch is based on a concept that an energy body extends out from the physical body and can be manipulated. It�s targeted like acupuncture but without the needles. Only the hands. Further information can be found at Healing Beyond Borders.

Photo by Annie Hess

Profile: Nan Arpino

Nan Arpino is a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner who has completed all five levels of training the program offers. Once suffering from Trigeminal Neuralgia, and after receiving Healing Touch treatments herself, she realized first hand the benefits of this unique energy therapy. She began her study in the fall of 2000 and achieved her Healing Touch Certification in spring 2004. Further training has led to Reiki One, Medical Intuitive Seminars , Energetic Healing classes, Quantum-Touch, Therapeutic Touch and the Monroe Institute�s Excursion Workshop. In May of 2005, the Eastern Shore News highlighted her practice in a feature story titled �Healing Touch Therapies - Healing Touch Finds a Niche on the Shore.� The Va. Nursing Students Assoc. invited Nan to lecture about Healing Touch and Energy Therapy in Jan. 2009, for the 57th annual VNSA Convention at the Founder�s Inn and Spa in Va. Beach. It is her belief that pain can be managed and decreased by incorporating a body, mind and spirit approach, which treats the person as a whole. She has been a licensed cosmetologist since 1980 and earned her B.A. in sociology at S.U.N.Y. in 1977. Nan is currently scheduling treatments at The Salon at Eastville by appointment only.