Dacher Keltner, psychologist from UC Berkeley and specialist in the study of touch: "The science is showing that when I receive a very friendly form of touch, it releases oxytocin, a neuropeptide that promotes trust. It shuts down stress-related parts of the brain like the amygdala, and the locus coeruleus, it activates a branch of the nervous system we study called the vagus nerve, which is involved in connection. And by the way, the vagus nerve controls your immune system in part as well."
That's the budding science. In yoga philosophy, we might say it's all connected to sliding into proper alignment with your true essence, your core, the deeper self not made up of the ego's stories and cultural constructs and insidious mind games.
We might also say: This deeper, essential you is most certainly not touch averse, because that's impossible. After all, like craves like. Energy craves energy. Prana (life force) flows to prana and if you have no idea what I'm talking about just imagine your being is made of water and so is everyone else's and what happens when one water droplet contacts another? Right: An effortless, nearly instantaneous collapsing into a wondrous megadroplet of wow because holy hell, what else is there? Why else are we made of energy and electricity and sly consciousness if not to jack in to the collective interpersonal mainframe all the damn time? But maybe that's just me.
Perhaps you do not wish to hear it. Perhaps it makes you wince and roll your eyes. Perhaps you know far too many people for whom just about any kind of touch feels not just wrong, but slightly terrifying. Perhaps you are one of these people yourself. They are not difficult to find. We are a victim culture, we are a low-touch society; also, abuse is tragically prevalent. ...
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