QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS COLUMN
How do I know when to stop a Therapeutic Touch session?

It is important to remember that a Therapeutic Touch session is a connective experience between two people, the healer and the healee.

Some people are more sensitive than others to energy work, ie:  the elderly, newborns and infants,and the critically ill patients. If the healee states that something feels uncomfortable, explain to them that you will stop what you are doing and ground them until they feel comfortable again and would like you to continue. If it happens again, repeat the grounding process and talk about it with the healee - you might agree to stop the session.  

When a verbal exchange does not take place then the healer must be observant and respectful of changes occurring within the healee's body that might indicate his or her response to the treatment.

Non verbal clues may include restlessness, twitching, excess drowsiness, change in skin color or texture, etc.If possible the healer might ask the healee what he or she is feeling and discuss what is going on to determine whether the treatment should be continued or else it might just be the time to ground the healee and stop the session. Less is always better than too much.

Can I do TT with someone who does not want it? 

If  a person firmly refuses, of course we as practitioners must honor that decision. Remember that we are not doing TT to or on someone we are doing TT with someone. In order to do that we must obtain their permission and gain their trust. However we can comment on how TT has helped us personally or how it has helped others with similar health issues. Leave some written information on TT for them and their familiy to read and ask them to call if they would like more information. If the person is in hospital they might also have the opportunity to watch you giving TT to others and become interested in trying it.  Even if the person is skeptical at first but trusts that you will do your best to work with him or her toward a better state of health, TT will at least be somewhat effective. Make your intentions clear, obtain their verbal or non verbal permission to proceed and trust begins to grow.  As you continue to offer TT in a slow, gentle and respectful manner they hopefully will become more interested in how the two of you are working together to create balance and wholeness.

Guiding Questions Deepen our TT practice.

 By Brigid Ting, R. Ac, BSN, M.Ed.

 Have you noticed how Dee Krieger uses guiding questions to entice us into probing deeper?  Why do you want to be a healer?[1]   With this question she challenges the novice to reflect on the motivations for starting this journey into healing through TT.  How do you know what you know?  In the Advanced invitational at Indralya, she probes to help you explore your intuitions and develop further insights with a supporting rationale.  In this article I share my experiences using guiding questions to deepen my TT teaching and practice experiences.

 Tell me about the different types of questions.

To set the context, lets start with a “mini lecture” on different types of questions.  Questions can be closed, open, or indirect, all are useful when used appropriately.  A closed question gets a short answer:   “ Would you like some TT, it will help you relax”….  “ Yes” or ” May I touch your feet?”…. Yes.”  I use these closed questions when I introduce myself to the Healee and want to quickly earn their trust.  Closed or direct questions, with a positive answer, often help establish a climate of trust and collaboration.

 Open questions elicit a more elaborate response and often start with “ Who, What, When, Where or Why.”  Open questions are useful when teaching or in practice groups, when you want people to explore their answers more fully.  For example after a Level 1 TT demo, I might ask. “ How did I gain the healee’s trust? “….”What did you notice about Centering?” 

 I think indirect questions are the most fun, as they are implied questions that can be worded imaginatively.  “ Tell me what you noticed about the assessment process.”…”I’d imagine you were a bit anxious when she started to cry.”  I find it’s amazing; I ask an indirect question and people start explaining their thoughts in detail, without realizing they are being questioned.  So you see, with practice you can create open, closed or indirect questions that guide your TT process and deepen your insights as you reflect on the answers.

 One more point. Questions can be cognitive, affective or skill related.  Cognitive questions are concerned with knowledge, facts and logical thinking.  Affective questions relate to the emotions, intuitions and insights.  Skills or psychomotor questions relate to tasks to be accomplished.  It is a good idea to develop guiding questions in all three areas for a well-rounded approach to exploring TT.

 When do I use guiding questions?

I find guiding questions about my TT process help self-reflection and self- awareness. Even framing the initial questions encourages me to think specifically about where I wish to focus.  Guiding questions help when I write an article or reflect in my journal.  You might ask yourself: “ How do I center?” then reflect on the way you quickly establish a sense of inner peace before you start your TT session.  You might use a guiding question to test your own knowledge …“ What are the assumptions that form a foundation for the TT process?” or how you apply this knowledge …”What evidence of these assumptions did I observe in the TT demo?”  You can make the questions into a game!

 I frequently create questions to shape the direction of discussion during my teaching, and so guide learners on their voyage of discovery in TT.  I always demonstrate TT as part of my classes.  To be realistic these demos are mostly silent and may last between 5 – 10 minutes.  To help the class members keep on track, I give them guiding questions to focus their observations and then they report back to the group.  Examples of simple Level 1 guiding questions might be:

• How did the healer convey compassion and caring?
• Which different phases of TT could you observe?
• Tell me if you noticed any signs of relaxation.

As you progress to Level 2, the demo questions draw on a greater depth of knowledge and encourage reflection.

• What did you discover about intention?
• When did you observe evidence of assessment or grounding?
• Who would like to share their insights about modulating energy?

In Level 3, because the class is at an intermediate level, with people having 6 months or more of active TT practice, the guiding questions have greater scope.

• What observations / hunches / intuitions did you have about the physical field…the emotional field?
• Dolores Krieger talks about a “ transpersonal healing experience”[2].  How does that “ fit” with today’s TT demo?  or
• Each person creates and writes down their own guiding question that shapes their observation of the TT demo, and then discusses their insights with the group.

 Pitfalls?

Are there pitfalls to using guiding questions?  Certainly, questions that embarrass, disrespect, belittle or intimidate the learner are counterproductive.  So are too many questions, or those at too high or too low a level for the knowledge and skills of the class.  Also there are cultural variables, Canadian born students are used to the dialogue style of learning in our schools and colleges.  However, new immigrants may be more comfortable with closed questions that test their knowledge, rather than open questions that ask them to elaborate their opinions.  All people are unique, so be sensitive to different learning styles and shape the type and number of your guiding questions to the needs of the people in your class or practice group.

  We will close with a pop quiz:

• What do you think about using guiding questions?
• Do you use guiding questions in your TT practice group?
• Tell me some funny ideas about how you might use them.

 BCTTN News Nov 2003.  This article may be reproduced for Therapeutic Touch Education purposes.  Please give credit to the author and the source.