Touch Assists
Scientologists (especially Volunteer Ministers) are taught to administer the "Touch Assist", a procedure designed by Hubbard to help heal illnesses or injuries. The Scientologist touches the person's body in a set manner, avoiding sexual areas, and asks the recipient of the process, who is lying or sitting still, to "Feel my finger". This is continued until the recipient states that he feels better about what was bothering him and looks more cheerful overall. The process is claimed to help restore the spiritual being's (thetan in Scientology terminology) ability to communicate with the affected area and thereby to speed healing and reduce mental trauma.
The touch assist is not to be used to treat headaches, however:
"Do not do a Touch Assist on a person who has a headache. Research has shown that headaches are often the result of mental phenomena that a Touch Assist would be the incorrect handling for." (The Scientology Handbook, 1994 edition, p. 218)
It is probably the most well-known of all Scientology Assists, which also include the "Nerve Assist" and the "Unconscious Person Assist".
Read more about this topic: Supernatural Abilities In Scientology Doctrine
Famous quotes containing the word touch:
“You did not sense the wings beyond the gate;
you could not see,
you could not touch and feel,
actually the sea-sand
and the sea-shell.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)