Posted by sunnydays on December 5, 2007, at 17:55:04
In reply to Re: Reiki » sunnydays, posted by Dinah on December 5, 2007, at 9:42:55
> I'm reasonably sure that if touch became a part of my therapy, I'd find the touch so distracting that the therapy would go out the window. My need for personal space is huge.
**** Mine is usually fairly wide, but I think I could overcome that. I am looking into getting a massage over my winter break. I think that I have been feeling starved for human contact lately, and that's why the idea of a massage appeals to me so much. And I don't have the impression the energy work would be all of the time or anything. I'm not sure how it works, really, but maybe just a few times?
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> And although I do not have romantic or sexual feelings for my therapist, I'm thinking it might stimulate such feelings. Attention, rapport, empathy, and touch? Brutal combination to resist. Perhaps especially if there was an energy feel to the touch. I know that all those things are a part of the parent/infant relationship but they're also a part of the relationship of courtship.**** Yes, I suppose so. The way my therapist described it, it doesn't involve actual touch at all. He said that the therapist doesn't actually touch you, just runs their hands very close to you (he showed me on himself, like his hands were maybe 2 centimeters from his face). And I'm not particularly worried about sexual feelings developing. I'm pretty sure it would feel like a nonsexual experience to me. I do kind of hope it doesn't involve lying down, though. I'll have to look more into that aspect of it and see.
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> On the other hand, the occasional hugs my therapist and I both feel comfortable with don't stimulate any feelings in me other than mild surprise that they aren't more emotionally laden. They mostly feel awkward.*** Yeah. Sometimes I really want a hug from my therapist, but I don't think it would be like I would want it to be.
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> Does the idea appeal to you?**** Vaguely. Things that I don't know much about tend to frighten me, so my T encouraged me to Google and read about it and find out about it before January so I can decide better if it's something I want to do. I also tend to be more sciency and not so spiritual as this sounds like, but I think that part of it can probably be overcome.
Does it appeal too much?
**** I don't think so. If anything, it makes me a little nervous. But I'm game to try anything that might help me relax, because I really am stressed so much of the time that I could really use something to relax me.
Are you ok with being a guinea pig?
**** Yes, that I'm fine with. I do hope that it has the same chance of working if he's new to it as later on. But from the things online, it seems like if you've done the training you pretty much are qualified.
If you're interested and excited and think it will be helpful, great! But therapists are also people we want to please and that we like and want to help. It's hard to sort those feelings out from the feelings that come from our own wants I find. I guess it's part of what makes therapy work, in general. But there are also times when it could be a drawback.
*** Yes, I agree. But there's a while until I actually have to decide. And I think it has such a good potential to work, plus the fact that my mom will probably pay for it if it's my therapist that does it, whereas I'm pretty sure I'd have trouble getting her to pay for it if it were someone else. I think this is something I'm more nervous about than anything else. And it's not about wanting to help him. It's that I'm so tense all the time I really just want to relax.
sunnydays
poster:sunnydays
thread:798889
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20071204/msgs/798980.html