What is Havening Touch?
Havening Touch is a simple, gentle, and soothing touch that you can do on yourself, or someone else can do for you. It’s a key part of Havening Techniques, which are used to help people release the difficult feelings and memories that come with trauma. It’s not like a massage or something that might feel intrusive; it’s more like a comforting and safe touch, like a hug or a gentle stroke. The touch is very specific and needs to be applied correctly.
How Does Havening Work?
When you experience trauma, your brain can get stuck in a ‘fight or flight’ response. This can lead to feelings of anxiety, fear, and distress that can feel overwhelming. Havening Touch helps to calm this response by stimulating certain parts of your skin, which then sends signals to your brain. This stimulation can cause a release of delta waves which are associated with relaxation. It can also increase the amount of a calming chemical called GABA and serotonin in your brain, helping you feel safer and more at ease.
It’s like giving your brain a gentle hug, letting it know that it’s okay to relax and release those difficult feelings. This touch helps to interrupt old neural pathways and create new, positive ones.
Where Do You Apply Havening Touch?
There are a few places where Havening Touch is most effective:
- The Upper Arms: Gently stroking down your upper arms, from your shoulder to your elbow, as if you are giving yourself a hug.
- The Face: Gently stroking your forehead, temples, and cheeks. Some people find it soothing to use their fingers to gently run through their hair.
- The Palms of Your Hands: Gently rubbing the palms of your hands together, as if you are washing them. You could also use a gentle tapping motion on your thighs or knees.
You can choose the touch that feels most comforting and natural for you.
How Does Havening Touch Help with Trauma?
Havening Touch helps with trauma in several ways:
- Creating a Sense of Safety: The touch provides a feeling of safety and comfort, which is crucial for healing from trauma. It can be particularly helpful if you’ve experienced a trauma where touch was used in a harmful way.
- Reducing Distress: It helps to reduce the intensity of difficult emotions and physical sensations associated with traumatic memories. It can lower the severity of unpleasant emotions such as anxiety and fear.
- Releasing Traumatic Memories: When combined with a focus on a difficult memory, the touch can help to release the emotional charge associated with the memory, making it less distressing. It allows the brain to process the memory without re-experiencing the trauma.
- Promoting Relaxation: It promotes a state of relaxation and calmness, which can help to reduce feelings of tension and anxiety.
- Enhancing Self-Awareness: By using Havening Touch, you can learn to better understand and accept your emotions and thoughts. It helps you to connect with yourself in a safe and supportive way.
- Increasing Resilience: It helps to build resilience, making it easier to cope with future challenges and stresses. It promotes a sense of empowerment and control over your own body and mind.
- Empowering Self-Healing: Havening Touch helps the body to activate its own healing systems. It provides you with a powerful tool to take care of your own emotional well-being.
What Might You Experience?
When using Havening Touch, you might notice:
- A sense of calm and relaxation.
- A reduction in physical tension or discomfort.
- A feeling of being more grounded and present.
- A release of difficult emotions, such as sadness, anger, or fear.
- Changes in how you experience a traumatic memory, perhaps feeling more distant or less distressed by it.
- A sense of empowerment and hope.
It’s important to remember that healing from trauma is a journey and it takes time. Be patient and kind with yourself as you work with Havening Touch, and remember to seek support from a professional if you need it.
Havening Touch Is Not a Replacement For Traditional Therapy
It is important to note that although Havening Touch can be a very powerful tool, it may not be appropriate for everyone and it is not a replacement for professional therapeutic help. If you have experienced trauma, it’s important to work with a qualified mental health professional who can help you develop a personalised treatment plan that addresses your specific needs and concerns.
However, Havening touch can be a very helpful tool to use in addition to other therapies. It can be integrated into almost any therapeutic approach, or even non-therapeutic approaches.
Havening can be a way of taking back control. Many people describe trauma as having the feeling of being trapped or in a movie you can’t escape from. Havening can be a way of feeling like the lights are turned on and you can feel more safe and in control.
How to Use Havening Touch
- Find a quiet place where you feel safe and comfortable.
- Choose a Havening Touch that feels soothing to you. This might be stroking your arms, face, or gently rubbing your hands.
- Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to center yourself.
- Focus your attention on the difficult memory, feeling, or sensation that you want to work with.
- Begin the Havening Touch gently and rhythmically, focusing on the physical sensation of the touch.
- You can also repeat a positive affirmation or visualisation to yourself, such as “I am safe” or “I am strong”.
- Continue the touch for several minutes, noticing any changes in how you feel.
- When you are ready, release the touch and take a few more deep breaths.
- Reflect on how you feel after using Havening Touch.
If you feel like it’s helpful you can practice Havening Touch every day.
Havening Touch is a simple yet powerful tool that you can use to help yourself feel calmer, safer, and more in control of your feelings, and your responses to difficult memories.