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Therapeutic Touch

Therapeutic Touch is a contemporary healing modality drawn from ancient practices and developed by Dora Kunz and Dolores Krieger. The practice is based on the assumptions that human beings are complex fields of energy, and that the ability to enhance healing in another is a natural potential.

Therapeutic Touch (TT) is used to balance and promote the flow of human energy. It is taught in colleges around the world and has a substantial base of formal and clinical research. This research has shown that TT is useful in reducing pain, improving wound healing, aiding relaxation, and easing the dying process. It can be learned by anyone with a sincere interest and motivation towards helping others.

History of Therapeutic Touch at Pumpkin Hollow Farm

Therapeutic Touch started at Pumpkin Hollow Farm, a family camp and spiritual retreat center of the Theosophical Society in the foothills of the Berkshires in New York State. It was preceded by the work of Dora Kunz who had a highly developed sensitivity. Through the use of this natural ability she was able to perceive blockages and dysrhythms in a patient's energy field, subtle disharmonies not accessible to other medical technologies. Dora diagnosed numerous perplexing cases referred by physicians and other scientists and often suggested treatments and resources for her patients.

Dora's abilities extended beyond the usual sense perception. For example, she was particularly known for her work with the unseen human field energies in an individual. Since childhood Dora was aware of such forces, and she made a lifetime study of how they work and how they relate to attitudes and emotions, this awareness later evolved into an understanding of the universal healing field from which both healers and patients can draw fresh, potent healing energies.

In 1972, Dora and her longtime student and colleague Dolores Krieger, PH.D., R.N, a nurse and professor of nursing at New York University. developed Therapeutic Touch (TT). They developed a program for teaching the procedures and attitudes necessary for TT. Formal classes began at PHF, where patients were referred by their physicians. The century-old farmhouse and the cabins around the grounds were filled with patients, and students who wanted to learn TT. Those who were able to participate in the life of Pumpkin Hollow Farm did so, such as swimming in the creek, hiking the 130 acres of woodlands, and attending talks and discussions.

Now there are intensive summer teaching sessions for TT at different levels at Pumpkin Hollow. Dee and others lead these, as did Dora, until she passed away in 1999. In addition, TT is being taught worldwide in universities and workshops for healthcare professionals, as well as interested lay people. TT has become a widely accepted form of alternative therapy in hospitals and other health agencies. But it all began at Pumpkin Hollow with two people in the healing arts who envisioned the possibilities of a wider use of an ancient way of healing.