The Healing Power of Holding
By Sylvia Poareo, M.A.December 31, 2006
Discover how important it is to get the holding that you might have missed out on as you were growing up.
Every day, my children want to be held, snuggled, caressed. Why? Because this mother space is where children feel safe and where they know they belong. Also, because touch is crucial to our survival; science shows us it helps us grow, learn and heal. All is well in the world as long as there is mother (or other primary caregiver) who offers loving holding, and especially a mother who is connected to Spirit, bringing God's love through. This is how children integrate self-love and concepts that nurture their self worth; I am lovable, good, worthy. And they then begin to bring this love through to themselves because they know what it feels like and looks like.
I remember one night when I was in college. I was crying in my room in great pain over feelings of abandonment, when my very loving roommate (who had had love modeled to her from a caring mother) came over and put her arms around me from behind and just held me. This was an incredibly powerful moment for me. I could not remember ever having been held, let alone with such love. Until then I could not define Love's embrace; God was theoretically loving but I did not know what that love would feel like. In that moment, acting as a vessel, she made my experience of God real. Suddenly, I knew what the loving arms of Spirit felt like and I could draw on that experience when I needed to visualize God's presence all around me.
As I began to learn about taking responsibility to become my own loving mother and re-parent myself, this holding served as a model of love for me. I would often visualize myself with arms around my child and Spirit's arms around me. And it was no longer just a visualization but a visceral experience because I could access the sensory memory of having been held this way. As I practiced Inner Bonding and received more holding as I held my little girl, this self-nurturing became stronger and easier for me.
Now, as I observe my children who brighten at the slightest touch and loving interaction, and who request it (often!), I am even more aware of the need to be loving to myself constantly. I am more aware that the child in all of us requires attention, commitment, interested communication, essentially internal holding, many times throughout the day. If you have never experienced the power of holding, this is a crucial piece for knowing how to mother yourself at this level, bringing God's love through.
You can receive holding from a friend or family member, as well as a professional for whom it is within the scope of their practice (clergy, spiritual counselors, etc.) It is very important to enter holding as a loving Adult, holding your own child, with an intention to learn about how to be loving to yourself. If your intent is to have the other person love you it will not be helpful or empowering. In Do I Have to Give Up Me To Be Loved By God?, Margaret offers many wonderful clarifiers for how to make holding most beneficial for your healing.
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Daily Inspiration
Today attend to your body, the wonderful house of your soul. Nourish your body with what it really needs - clean pure additive-free and pesticide-free food and clean pure water. Nourish your body with clean pure thoughts, thoughts based on truth rather than on the lies of the wounded self. Nourishing your body creates the frequency for connection to Spirit.
By Dr. Margaret Paul