The Power of Subtlety

I am often asked "Why do you use such a light touch?" "Don't you need to use more force to create a structural change?" "Why so subtle?"

The power is in the subtlety or rather the depth of force, the lightness. More force doesn't result in more effectiveness. If you want your spouse or children to empty the dishwasher, for example, being more and more forceful with your request doesn't get them moving quicker.

If my contacts weren't so subtle, your brain wouldn’t know to pay attention to them. If the touch was more forceful or obvious, the brain would have a tendency to ignore it.

We live in a world of constant information flow and stimuli. Many people are not used to consciously paying attention to subtlety. It can take a lot to get our attention these days. When you start to notice the more subtle sensations in life, the world around us comes alive. Sunsets have brighter colours, food tastes more delicious, and the voice of a family member is sweeter.

From a neurological point of view, whenever something touches us, whether we bump into someone or we’re having a massage, we feel the touch and depth of touch because we have all kinds of receptors in our tissues: in the skin, in the muscles and in the connective tissue. These receptors send information to the brain when they’re stimulated. This is what gives us a sense of what is touching us, how deeply, and for how long. Different types of receptors are activated by different types of touch.

The human brain is estimated to use roughly 20% of the body’s energy. With information traveling at 260 mph, more than 100,000 chemical reactions occurring per second, 86 billion cells and over 10,000 types of neurons, the human brain is probably the most complex entity that is known.

With over 100,000 chemical reactions happening at any given time, how is it that we can pay attention to anything? Your brain has evolved to be able to parse and discern what is important to pay attention to and what’s not. It’s at this level of consciousness that a gentle touch is better able to get the brain’s attention.

Once the brain is aware, it’s able to set into motion changes in muscle tension, blood flow, breathing, heart rate, … and the healing begins.

If you’re still not convinced that a small stimulus can cause major change in the body, consider the gentle caress of a lover, or when you’ve had someone give you a look of judgement and shaming. In both cases your body is filled with emotion, tension and energy, albeit very different types of emotions, tensions and energy.

Have you ever been so angry or upset only to have someone lovingly put their hand on your shoulder? You can feel your body starting to calm down, slow down and your mind starts to settle.

A gentle subtle touch can have a huge impact on our bodies.

The gentle touches that I make along your spine are designed not only to get your brain’s attention; They are designed to create physical changes in structure, changes in how your energy flows, and changes in levels of consciousness; all of this gives your brain a chance to integrate information to allow for healing properties to evolve.

That is the power of subtle touch.