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THE IMAGINATION ACTS website has been created by Anne Yarwood, resident in Ascot for over 50 years, to show how individuals CAN effect change… can DO something about their concerns, in an imaginative way.

Dear Readers,

Welcome to our  Spring Edition 2021 edition :-

THE POWER OF TOUCH  

In our Spring edition, we’re delighted to welcome our Guest Editor, Jan Trewartha.

About 30 years ago, a perky voice came over the phone. “I’ve heard that you have a room which therapists can use. Is that correct?” “Indeed yes” said I.” ”And your name?”  “Jan Trewartha” she replied. So began a long relationship.

For many years, Jan and I joined with two others for an unstructured group, in which we shared how our life was moving along. Such a group is to be warmly recommended. Regular meets in which each member has about 20 minutes to tell the others, in an unrehearsed way, how life has been experienced since the last meet.

Jan introduces – My theme is The Power of Touch, something close to my heart. I’m a complementary therapist and I make my living from giving touch within the therapeutic context.

For the last year in the UK and in most of the world, our contact with each other has been minimal and many have suffered deeply because of it.  Not to be able to hug or to take a friend’s hands when they need support, has been contrary to all our instincts.  Something the media are calling ‘touch hunger’ has set in as we long for the depth of human connection.

So, why is touch so necessary to us and how profound is its power?

 BLOG : The Power of Touch   –  HERE

STORY : Jan’s story tells of  ‘A therapeutic journey’  – HERE

GALLERY : Touch in all its guises  HERE

WAKEUP : To the physical and psychological value of touch  –  HERE

 

TIA’s Spring Climate Change and Elsewhere updates us – 

CLIMATE CHANGE : major pension funds and the Church calls for change, Drax’s plans, grassroot schemes, UK COP26 President’s message including helping poorer countries, Galapagos fishing and the destruction of world’s forests  – HERE

ELSEWHERE : ‘Home-Thoughts, From Abroad’ – Spring is here with spring flowers  –  HERE                                                                                                                                                    

In the Summer Edition – we’ll be looking at Ancestry and Regeneration.

 

 

Warm greetings to you all and we hope you find the ‘The Power of Touch’ interesting.

Keep well

Anne Yarwood and Sally Dillon

TODAY’S BLOG  / VIEW ALL BLOGS

The Power of Touch

By Blogs

While we all vary in terms of what kind of touch we need, studies have long shown that expressions of affection — whether you give or receive them — have real and measurable health and wellness impacts on our physical and mental health. A variety of touches — from hugs to handshakes, a pat on the arm, back or head, kisses on the cheek, or hand-holding — can:

  • Calm the nervous system
  • Boost the immune system
  • Activate oxytocin, sometimes called the cuddle hormone, that’s critical for bonding, especially between a mother and child at birth. Research shows oxytocin also affects our general well-being, induces calm, and enhances relationships.
  • Reduce the stress hormone cortisol
  • Lessen pain, improve healing, and lower blood pressure and heart rate
  • Improve mood and reduce stress, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, loneliness, isolation, and more

“We understand touch as essential. It’s a universal need and natural method of communicating joy and intimacy,” “Touch is powerful on so many levels. For many people, it is a source of healing relief. For others, it’s an attempt to comfort.”

By Jennifer Clopton. How to cope when covid steals loving touch and hugs

Read More

LATEST STORY  / VIEW ALL STORIES

A Therapeutic Journey 

I trained nearly thirty years ago as a massage therapist. Before that I was a State Registered Nurse, who had left nursing and moved into magazine writing. I left and went travelling, only to discover my passion-to-be at a New Year’s festival under blue gum trees about 100 miles south of Sydney, Australia when I was given a life-changing massage.  On returning to the UK, I trained and have been in practice ever since.

Jan Trewartha

Click below to continue reading the Story

  

Wake Up

No.28 – Wake Up to the physical and psychological value of touch

By Wake Up

The last year has made us really value touch.

Years ago I wrote an article about the children in a Romanian orphanage (the shocking conditions made the news at the time); the children were left in their cots all day, left to cry, left unhugged.  We can only imagine the damage this will have done to them psychologically, but Lockdown has given us some idea.

The Power of Touch | Jane Anderson | TEDxUofM – YouTube – Jane Anderson, The Power of Touch Ted Talk looking at why touch is so vital for us.

BBC Radio 4 – Anatomy of Touch – Nine things we learned from the world’s largest study of touch – Radio 4’s Touch Test results and what was learned from the world’s largest study of touch.

What the bleep do we know – the movie – YouTube  – seeing the body and life in a very different way, looking at the power of self hate….. and self love

Read More

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