The Healing Power of Touch
Every day I help heal my nonverbal child through touch. My daughter, Raegan, has Rett syndrome. Over a year ago, Raegan was intubated because of an undiagnosed E-coli infection, it was extremely severe and almost too late, but touch helped her heal. I constantly touched her body by rubbing her legs, arms, chest, neck, head. I once wrapped her in cabbage too! In an ICU, with my kid asleep with breathing tubes in her, that was the environment in which ANSHI was born.
Initially, it was about feeding Raegan, my 6-year old kiddo. I couldn’t handle that she wasn’t eating so I started to look up fats that were transdermal - meaning the skin absorbs the fat into the body, rather than the gut and liver. The blend of oils eventually settled on were Coconut and Castor Oil. Eventually, pink salt was added, as I became interested in getting the minerals she was lacking again into her body, but not via the gut. Simply because at the time, oral ingestion wasn’t an option. I also loved adding salt to gently exfoliate the first layer of skin, so what I was putting on her absorbed better. It is widely known in Korean culture that the power of scrubbing the skin before moisturizing leads to better absorption.
When she woke up from her first intubation (we’ve had 2 sadly), there was a long healing journey to go. Fevers, swelling, congestion, headaches, gut distress - all of these symptoms underneath the big umbrellas of Raegan’s major infections became things I wanted to fix by rubbing her. I treated everything via the skin, with essential oils and other plants. It was often not possible to give her anything by mouth while sitting in the ER waiting to find out what exactly we were dealing with. Touching her was always allowed no matter what was going on (except in the trauma room when and where the real life-saving work gets done).
Mostly it was easier to touch her and give her something that could work in minutes vs. orally ingesting supplements. But in reality, we did both. In the beginning, my journey to rediscover natures powerful medicine was testing both orally ingested plants, supplements, and foods as well as skin-absorbed natural medicine. With that ANSHI’s complete line of rubs was born and tested over and over again, as her health issues ebbed and flowed in a messy maze of ICU’s around the country.
When it comes down to it, touching Raegan made me feel better too. It was like I was doing something to help her. I could feel her breath, if she was cold or hot, or how her tummy is acting at any given time just putting a hand on her belly. I feel what she cannot express with words when I touch her. And then I do something about it. Those little moments of relief really added up for us. Through all of the medical trauma and acute battles, Raegan has not chronically declined. Dealing with a chronic condition like Rett Syndrome means that any illness can trigger seizures, that in turn worsen the symptoms and severity of the neurological condition.
Rubbing the body with simple, safe ingredients is so effective and underutilized in modern medicine. Instantly being able to see improvement in modeled circulation issues (using ANSHI Turmeric), to total fever reduction in 15 minutes (Peppermint), is why our customers love us. Still, it really all comes down to touch. When we touch another being, we feel them on so many different levels. The building blocks of healing do not exist without love. Love, in its purest forms, is expressed through touch. With ANSHI you can make touch so much more powerful in your home, for yourself, and for those you care about.
Some examples of how you can incorporate ANSHI with touch on your own, or with a partner!
Detox Aloe , like all our rubs, is safe for kids. Great as a lip and general moisturizer but can help with constipation when rubbed on the belly!
Nurturing Peppermint is great as a neck, chest, and foot rub to combat cold and flu symptoms
Rub Peppermint along the spine for instant relief directly to your central nervous system.
Total Healing Turmeric helps reduce swelling like nothing else on the market! Using ANSHI Turmeric to heal a severely sprained ankle cuts recovery time in half.