Feeling the Touch, Touching to Feel

"There are several basic kinds of touch that you may experience:  Intimate -- Here, your pressure receptors respond to a handshake, hug or kiss. If the person giving the touch is someone you care about, you'll probably feel warm and comforted. Your pressure sensors send the feeling of how hard the embrace is, and your brain interprets the nature of the touch as soothing.  Healing or therapeutic -- This type of touch is often associated with massage or acupuncture. Sometimes, the pressure is gentle and meant to soothe sore muscles. Other times, the pressure is deep in order to work out knots. Despite differences in severity of pressure, you likely to be aware that the outcome is healing, so your body allows you to relax.  Exploratory or inquisitive -- We all learn about the world through our sense of touch. Many people test out foods, fabrics or other objects by feeling different textures. Sometimes it's possible to rely solely on the sense of touch. This is why it's easy for you to reach into your bag and find a pair of keys without looking. You know the cold feeling of the metal key and hard smooth feel of your plastic key chain.  Aggressive or painful -- Of course, we all know that touch can also equate to pain if the pressure is too much and the intent is wrong. A handshake that's too firm can be uncomfortable instead of reassuring."

-  Psychology of Touching

"The hand is so widely represented in the brain, the hand's neurologic and biomechanical elements are so prone to spontaneous interaction and reorganization, and the motivations and efforts which give rise to individual use of the hand are so deeply and widely rooted, that we must admit that we are trying to explain a basic imperative of human life."
-  Frank R. Wilson, M.D., The Hand, p. 10

“If a thing can be said to be, to exist, then such is the nature of these expansive times that this thing which is must suffer to be touched. Ours is a time of connection; the private, and we must accept this, and it’s a hard thing to accept, the private is gone. All must be touched. All touch corrupts. All must be corrupted."
-  Tony Kushner, Homebody/Kabul

"Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together."
-  John Ruskin 

Touching

The Five Senses 

He Who Feels It, Knows It More

"The human body is not an instrument to be used, but a realm of one's being to be experienced, explored, enriched and, thereby, educated."
-  Thomas Hanna

"There is deep wisdom within our very flesh,  if we can only come to our senses and feel it."
 -  Elizabeth A. Behnke

"He who feels it, knows it more."
-  Bob Marley  

"No matter how closely we look, it is difficult to find a mental act that can take place without the support of some physical function."
-  Moshe Feldenkrais  

"I would have touched it like a child
But knew my finger could but have touched
Cold stone and water.   I grew wild,
Even accusing heaven because
It had set down among its laws:
Nothing that we love over-much
Is ponderable to our touch."
-  W. B. Yeats  

Touching, Feeling, Sensation: Quotations

The Five Senses

Bodymind Theory and Practices, Somaesthetics

Self-Massage 

Ling Gu "Miraculous Bone" Acupressure Technique

    "Perhaps the most famous, and one of the most commonly used points of Tung Ching Ch'ang's (1916-1975) system is Ling Gu.  The name 'Ling Gu' literally means 'miraculous bone,' and without a doubt the effectiveness of Ling Gu is extraordinary.  Ling Gu is located on the back of the hand in the space between the thumb and first finger, as far back as possible at the junction of the metacarpal bones.  It is in a similar location to the conventional point He Gu LI-4, but is located closer to the wrist than He Gu. 
     In Chinese medical terms, Ling Gu frees the channels and quickens the network vessels (luo mai), clears and regulates Lung qi, frees and descends the Stomach and intestines, frees the qi and disperses stasis.  Since it has a very strong moving function it is a main point to treat many types of pain.  However, because of its strong moving function it should not be used on pregnant women.
     The list of conditions the Ling Gu point treats includes migraine, low back pain, sciatica, facial paralysis, hemiplegia (e.g., paralysis after stroke), tinnitus, deafness, menstrual disorders (irregular, scanty, profuse, absent), frequent urination, incontinence, foot pain, intestinal pain, and breathing difficulties.  I usually recommend this point for home acupressure treatment in patients with any type of headache, low back pain, sciatica or leg pain. 
     To stimulate the point, press deep into the hand using the thumb of the opposite hand.  Pressure should be strong enough to feel a numbing or aching sensation deep in the point.  Hold the pressure for several seconds and then release.  Repeat several times for the next minute or two.  Remember to stimulate the point on the opposite side of where the pain is felt.  The, be sure move the area of the pain (the Moving Qi technique).  For example, to treat right-sided back or leg pain, press into the left Ling Gu.  At the same time bend and stretch the low back, or move the leg that is painful.  Repeat this stimulation several times per day or as needed."
 -  Henry McCann, DAOM, LAc, "Tung Lineage Classical Acupuncture," Qi: the Journal of Traditional Eastern Health and Fitness, Volume 25, No. 1, Spring, 2015, pp. 26-33.


Self Massage and Acupressure

Qigong and Healing

Hand, Touching, Haptics

  

The Art of Little Trees

I have enjoyed growing plants in pots since I was a child.  We still grow many small tomatoes in pots in our back yard in the summer.  Here is a display of one of our bonsai.  

When I was a teenager in 1960, I used the Montebello Library and their bonsai art books.  Many of the bonsai photos, back then, were in black and white.  Now there are many bonsai books in full color.  The worked from 1962-1968 for the City of Commerce Public Library in East Los Angeles.  

The Montebello Library housed the Asian-Pacific Resource Center back in 1998.  The Montebello Library is a Regional Library of the County of Los Angeles Public Library System.  

I was employed by the Country Library in 1974 as a reference librarian at the old Compton Library; and, many years later, after promotions and successes, I decided to retire in 1998 from my position as the Regional Administrator of East Region of the County Library.  I moved to Red Bluff, California, and in 1999 became the District Librarian and Technology and Media Services Supervisor for the Corning Union Elementary School District (K-8, 2,300 students) and worked till 70 years of age. 

I held many thousand's of books and many media products in my hands, and boxes of these inanimate objects, from 1963-2017.  

I believe that millions of minds were informed, entertained, educated, persuaded, uplifted, and prepared to pass along and act on our common culture starting in 1962, and back then our talk about what our "future" was to be in 1963-1998 in East Los Angeles.  '

Hands, Touching, Moving, Feeling, Manipulating on Command

A Hypertext Notebook by Mike Garofalo  

Holding a book
reading
2019
Vancouver
WA

Deep Wisdom Within Our Very Flesh

  "The human body is not an instrument to be used, but a realm of one's being to be experienced, explored, enriched and, thereby, educated."

-  Thomas Hanna

"There is deep wisdom within our very flesh,  if we can only come to our senses and feel it."
 -  Elizabeth A. Behnke

"He who feels it, knows it more."-  Bob Marley  

 "The hand is the cutting edge of the mind."
-  Jacob Bronowski


'The Heavenly Level is the function of feeling."
-  Cheng Man-ch'ing

"No matter how closely we look, it is difficult to find a mental act that can take place without the support of some physical function."
-  Moshe Feldenkrais  

"I would have touched it like a child
But knew my finger could but have touched
Cold stone and water.   I grew wild,
Even accusing heaven because
It had set down among its laws:
Nothing that we love over-much
Is ponderable to our touch."-  W. B. Yeats  

Touching, Feeling, Sensation: Quotations

The Five Senses

Bodymind Theory and Practices, Somaesthetics

Self-Massage 

(Originally posted on 4/3/16.)

Deep Wisdom Within Our Very Flesh

"The human body is not an instrument to be used, but a realm of one's being to be experienced, explored, enriched and, thereby, educated."
-  Thomas Hanna

"There is deep wisdom within our very flesh,  if we can only come to our senses and feel it."
 -  Elizabeth A. Behnke

"He who feels it, knows it more."-  Bob Marley  

 "The hand is the cutting edge of the mind."
-  Jacob Bronowski


'The Heavenly Level is the function of feeling."
-  Cheng Man-ch'ing

"No matter how closely we look, it is difficult to find a mental act that can take place without the support of some physical function."
-  Moshe Feldenkrais  

"I would have touched it like a child
But knew my finger could but have touched
Cold stone and water.   I grew wild,
Even accusing heaven because
It had set down among its laws:
Nothing that we love over-much
Is ponderable to our touch."-  W. B. Yeats  

Touching, Feeling, Sensation: Quotations

The Five Senses

Bodymind Theory and Practices, Somaesthetics

Self-Massage 

(Originally posted on 4/3/16.)

Hands and Touching

"The hand is the cutting edge of the mind."
-  Jacob Bronowski

"The mind has exactly the same power as the hands: not merely to grasp the world, but to change it."

-  Colin Wilson 

"By rubbing up against the world, I define myself to myself."
-  Deane Juhan

"The upper limb is the lightning rod to the soul."
-  Robert Markison

“We leave traces of ourselves wherever we go, on whatever we touch.”
-  Lewis Thomas

Hands and Touching:  http://www.egreenway.com/reason/touch.htm

"When things get out of control, we say they are out of hand. When we want to take control, we try to get a grip, or get a handle on things. When we are missing a view of fundamental reality, we say we are out of touch. When we are likely to say something, truthful, but possibly embarrassing, our mothers tell us to sit on our hands. This last one describes the interesting relationship between the hands and speech. Stifle the hands and the mouth is mute, but the body, its weight squirming on restrained hands, hints of things ready to pop from the mouths of babes. So which came first? The intelligent use of the hands? I would say so, hands down. If the hands have the power to restrain speech, we know where they fit the hierarchy in relation to the brain.

    Educators like Froebel, Otto Salomon, and Felix Adler made it quite clear that the education of the hands was a direct means of social liberation, not just for the lower classes, but for all. It wasn't a conspiracy. They were very clear about their objectives. Froebel's kindergartens were shut down for a time by the Kaiser. Could it be that the Kaiser and rulers of other nations had not yet figured out how to disguise their intentions? There are at this point countless confirmations of the fact that all human expressions of intelligence both in art/craft and the written/spoken word are rooted in the hands. One is the insight that the study of metaphor provides. Another is Susan Goldin-Meadow's study of gesture at the University of Chicago. Still another is the baby signs movement in which children are being taught sign language first, before speech and realizing a major advancement in verbal skills as a result.

    There are at this point countless confirmations of the fact that all human expressions of intelligence both in art/craft and the written/spoken word are rooted in the hands. One is the insight that the study of metaphor provides. Another is Susan Goldin-Meadow's study of gesture at the University of Chicago. Still another is the baby signs movement in which children are being taught sign language first, before speech and realizing a major advancement in verbal skills as a result."
-  Doug Stowe, The Hands as Metaphor

He Kissed Her Hand

"It is clear that the decisive form of our intercourse with things is in fact touch.  And if this is so, touch and contact are necessarily the most conclusive factor in determining the structure of our world."
-  Ortega y Gasset 

"Touch receptors, called Meissner's corpuscles, are the receptor cells for detecting light touch.  Though taste and smell receptor cells are located only in small areas of the body, the receptor cells for touch are located all over the body, in your skin. Where there are many receptors, or the cells are more concentrated, your sense of touch is heightened. So, the greater the number of receptors a body part has, the more sensitive it will be.  It is true that the lips do have many of these touch receptors. When scientists list the top areas of the body in terms of sensitivity, the lips and fingertips are often ranked as the areas with the highest concentrations of receptor cells.  This sensitivity is also connected to the brain. The areas of the brain that receive messages from touch receptors in the lips and hands are much larger than the areas for receiving messages from less sensitive places, such as the back. More brain power is spent interpreting sensations of touch from the lips and fingers than from other areas that contain these cells.  So, yes, lips are one of the most sensitive parts of the body.  Depending on your particular arrangement of nerves, however, your lips may or may not be more sensitive than your hands."
-  Touch Sensitivity of Lips and Fingers

The Five Senses

Touch and the Hands

Deep Within Our Very Flesh

"The human body is not an instrument to be used, but a realm of one's being to be experienced, explored, enriched and, thereby, educated."
-  Thomas Hanna

"There is deep wisdom within our very flesh,  if we can only come to our senses and feel it."
 -  Elizabeth A. Behnke

"He who feels it, knows it more."-  Bob Marley  

"No matter how closely we look, it is difficult to find a mental act that can take place without the support of some physical function."
-  Moshe Feldenkrais  

"I would have touched it like a child
But knew my finger could but have touched
Cold stone and water.   I grew wild,
Even accusing heaven because
It had set down among its laws:
Nothing that we love over-much
Is ponderable to our touch."-  W. B. Yeats  

Touching, Feeling, Sensation: Quotations

The Five Senses

Reiki Touch Healing in Red Bluff, California

By Karen Garofalo, Reiki Master, Third Degree 

In the Usui Shiki Ryoho Reiki Tradition
Valley Spirit Center
Red Bluff, California

Reiki: Bibliography, Quotations, Information, Resources

The Hand and the Heart of Man Go Together

"There are several basic kinds of touch that you may experience:  Intimate -- Here, your pressure receptors respond to a handshake, hug or kiss. If the person giving the touch is someone you care about, you'll probably feel warm and comforted. Your pressure sensors send the feeling of how hard the embrace is, and your brain interprets the nature of the touch as soothing.  Healing or therapeutic -- This type of touch is often associated with massage or acupuncture. Sometimes, the pressure is gentle and meant to soothe sore muscles. Other times, the pressure is deep in order to work out knots. Despite differences in severity of pressure, you likely to be aware that the outcome is healing, so your body allows you to relax.  Exploratory or inquisitive -- We all learn about the world through our sense of touch. Many people test out foods, fabrics or other objects by feeling different textures. Sometimes it's possible to rely solely on the sense of touch. This is why it's easy for you to reach into your bag and find a pair of keys without looking. You know the cold feeling of the metal key and hard smooth feel of your plastic key chain.  Aggressive or painful -- Of course, we all know that touch can also equate to pain if the pressure is too much and the intent is wrong. A handshake that's too firm can be uncomfortable instead of reassuring."
-  Psychology of Touching

"The hand is so widely represented in the brain, the hand's neurologic and biomechanical elements are so prone to spontaneous interaction and reorganization, and the motivations and efforts which give rise to individual use of the hand are so deeply and widely rooted, that we must admit that we are trying to explain a basic imperative of human life."
-  Frank R. Wilson, M.D., The Hand, p. 10

“If a thing can be said to be, to exist, then such is the nature of these expansive times that this thing which is must suffer to be touched. Ours is a time of connection; the private, and we must accept this, and it’s a hard thing to accept, the private is gone. All must be touched. All touch corrupts. All must be corrupted."
-  Tony Kushner, Homebody/Kabul

"Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together."
-  John Ruskin 

Touching

The Five Senses 

Somatics, Bodymind

 

Ponderable To Our Touch

"The human body is not an instrument to be used, but a realm of one's being to be experienced, explored, enriched and, thereby, educated."
-  Thomas Hanna

"There is deep wisdom within our very flesh,  if we can only come to our senses and feel it."
 -  Elizabeth A. Behnke

"He who feels it, knows it more."
-  Bob Marley  

"No matter how closely we look, it is difficult to find a mental act that can take place without the support of some physical function."
-  Moshe Feldenkrais  

"I would have touched it like a child
But knew my finger could but have touched
Cold stone and water.   I grew wild,
Even accusing heaven because
It had set down among its laws:
Nothing that we love over-much
Is ponderable to our touch."
-  W. B. Yeats  

Touching, Feeling, Sensation: Quotations

The Five Senses

 

The Hand is the Cutting Edge of the Mind

"The hand is the cutting edge of the mind."
-  Jacob Bronowski

"The mind has exactly the same power as the hands: not merely to grasp the world, but to change it."
-  Colin Wilson 

"By rubbing up against the world, I define myself to myself."
-  Deane Juhan

"The upper limb is the lightning rod to the soul."
-  Robert Markison

"A callused palm and dirty fingernails precede a Green Thumb."
-  Mike Garofalo

“We leave traces of ourselves wherever we go, on whatever we touch.”
-  Lewis Thomas 

Hands On 
Fingers, Hands, Touching, Feeling, Somatics
Quotations, Bibliography, Links, Reflections

 

All Must Be Touched

"There are several basic kinds of touch that you may experience:  Intimate -- Here, your pressure receptors respond to a handshake, hug or kiss. If the person giving the touch is someone you care about, you'll probably feel warm and comforted. Your pressure sensors send the feeling of how hard the embrace is, and your brain interprets the nature of the touch as soothing.  Healing or therapeutic -- This type of touch is often associated with massage or acupuncture. Sometimes, the pressure is gentle and meant to soothe sore muscles. Other times, the pressure is deep in order to work out knots. Despite differences in severity of pressure, you likely to be aware that the outcome is healing, so your body allows you to relax.  Exploratory or inquisitive -- We all learn about the world through our sense of touch. Many people test out foods, fabrics or other objects by feeling different textures. Sometimes it's possible to rely solely on the sense of touch. This is why it's easy for you to reach into your bag and find a pair of keys without looking. You know the cold feeling of the metal key and hard smooth feel of your plastic key chain.  Aggressive or painful -- Of course, we all know that touch can also equate to pain if the pressure is too much and the intent is wrong. A handshake that's too firm can be uncomfortable instead of reassuring."
-  Psychology of Touching

"The hand is so widely represented in the brain, the hand's neurologic and biomechanical elements are so prone to spontaneous interaction and reorganization, and the motivations and efforts which give rise to individual use of the hand are so deeply and widely rooted, that we must admit that we are trying to explain a basic imperative of human life."
-  Frank R. Wilson, M.D., The Hand, p. 10

“If a thing can be said to be, to exist, then such is the nature of these expansive times that this thing which is must suffer to be touched. Ours is a time of connection; the private, and we must accept this, and it’s a hard thing to accept, the private is gone. All must be touched. All touch corrupts. All must be corrupted."
-  Tony Kushner, Homebody/Kabul

"Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together."
-  John Ruskin 

Touching

The Five Senses 

 

 

Playing to Improve the Brain

"Play certainly seems to facilitate an animal's ability to move in a more deftly coordinated and responsive way.  Chasing, tumbling, and scrambling about are a requisite part of strengthening muscles, honing eye-limb coordination, and laying down essential synaptic pathways to the brain.  Limb and eye-limb movements are coordinated in the cerebellum, and the number of cerebellar synapes is significantly influences by behavior.  Not surprisingly, there is a relationship between play and synaptic growth.  ...  Physical skills, such as those involved in hunting or defense, stem at least in part from the complex behaviors learned and practiced during play.  Most young mammals play with objects, an activity which, among other things, teaches them how to catch prey and how to explore the physical world.  Many species― including our own, nonhuman primates, rats, and those in the mustelid family― show a preference for complex and novel play rather than simple object manipulation."
-  Kay Redfield Jamison M.D., Exuberance, p.51

Fingers, Hands, Touching, Feeling, Somatics, Haptics: Quotations, Bibliography, Notes

Jamison, Kay Redfield, M.D.  Exuberance: The Passion for Life.  Vintage, 2005.  Detailed notes, index, 416 pages.  ISBN: 9780375701481.  VSCL.  

 

Defining Myself to Myself

"The hand is the cutting edge of the mind."
-  Jacob Bronowski

"The mind has exactly the same power as the hands: not merely to grasp the world, but to change it."
-  Colin Wilson 

"By rubbing up against the world, I define myself to myself."
-  Deane Juhan

"The upper limb is the lightning rod to the soul."
-  Robert Markison

"A callused palm and dirty fingernails precede a Green Thumb."
-  Mike Garofalo

“We leave traces of ourselves wherever we go, on whatever we touch.”
-  Lewis Thomas 

Hands On 
Fingers, Hands, Touching, Feeling, Somatics
Quotations, Bibliography, Links, Reflections

A Fist in Your Face

"Most primate hands are long of palm and finger, short of thumb, and suited for climbing. Human hands have short palms, short fingers and long thumbs, which are not. These proportions do, though, make it possible to grip things in two ways that other apes’ hands cannot manage well. One is by using what is known as a precision grip, in which an object is held between the pads of the finger tips (especially the first and second fingers) and the pad of the thumb. The other is by means of a power grip, in which all the fingers and the thumb are wrapped around what is being grasped. These two grips are crucial to Homo sapiens’s characteristic tool-crafting skills, and it has thus long been thought that the widespread use of tools by humanity’s ancestors was the driving force behind the modern hand’s proportions.  In a study just published in the Journal of Experimental Biology (12/2012) by Michael Morgan and David Carrier of the University of Utah has shown that the exact geometry of the hand is probably the result of its destructive rather than its constructive power.  Most natural weapons are obvious: teeth, claws, antlers, horns. But the hand becomes a weapon only when it turns into a fist.  “There may, however, be only one set of skeletal proportions that allows the hand to function both as a mechanism for precise manipulation and as a club for striking,” the researchers write. “Ultimately, the evolutionary significance of the human hand may lie in its remarkable ability to serve two seemingly incompatible, but intrinsically human, functions."
-  Making a Fist of It
 
Even better than a fist alone is a fist holding a cane staff weapon.  

Photo of Mike starting on a long hike
Patrick's Point State Park, Northern California Coastline
June 2011

Hands On 
Fingers, Hands, Touching, Feeling, Somatics
Quotations, Bibliography, Links, Reflections

 

The Spring is Flowing

"The pressure of the hands causes the springs of life to flow."-  Tokujiro Namikoshi  

Fingers and Hands: Quotations, Bibliography, Facts, Reflections

Exploring the Body

"The human body is not an instrument to be used, but a realm of one's being to be experienced, explored, enriched and, thereby, educated." -  Thomas Hanna

Fingers and Hands: Quotations, Bibliography, Facts, Reflections

Feeling Somethings Right

"The intellect is only one among several fundamental psychic functions and therefore does not suffice to give a complete picture of the world.  For this another function― feeling― is needed to.  Feeling often arrives at convictions that are different from those of the intellect, and we cannot always prove that the convictions of feeling are necessarily inferior."
-  Carl G. Jung, M.D., Psychological Reflections, p.276 

 

"The pressure of the hands causes the springs of life to flow."
-  Tokujiro Namikoshi  

“I remember that feeling of skin.  It's strange to remember touch more than thought.  But my fingers still tingle with it.”
-  Lucy Christopher

   

Hands, Fingers, Touching, Feelings