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AMAZING EMBRACE The Healing Power of Hugs by April Thompson
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These behaviors ugs don’t just feel A Primal Need good; they do also turn down our for Connection good. A simple biological response Mata Amritanandamayi, embrace can boost our to stress and may a 65-year-old Indian spirihealth and mood, connect tual leader better known even improve us spiritually and even help as Amma, has hugged mend society. how our immune tens of millions of people Hugs and other types system works. around the world, earning of affectionate touching her the nickname, “the ~Michael Murphy, can provide numerous hugging saint.” benefits in the face of researcher Amma’s tradition of threats or stress, according hugging people grew organically, from hugto Michael Murphy, Ph.D., a researcher ging someone she noticed in distress, to how with the Laboratory for the Study of she receives massive crowds clamoring for Stress, Immunity and Disease at Carnegie one of her loving, compassionate embraces. Mellon University, in Pittsburgh. “The “A hug is a gesture that reveals the research shows that touch behaviors like spiritual truth that, ‘We are not two—we hugs reduce negative responses to threats are one,’” says Swami Amritaswaruand make people feel happier, more secure pananda, one of Amma’s senior disciples. and more supported.” “In today’s world, where people often feel In a study of 404 adults, Carnegie alienated and lonely, a hug can uplift and Mellon researchers looked at how social support and hugs affected participants’ sus- make us feel reconnected to the people and world around us.” ceptibility to the common cold after being Intention is key to the exchange of exposed to the virus. “People experiencing energy that occurs with a hug, says Amrilots of conflict are more likely to get a cold taswarupananda. “What is important is the when exposed to a virus,” says Murphy. sincerity behind the action—the genuine “But individuals who also tend to receive feeling of love and compassion. A simple lots of hugs appear protected from this adglance or mere touch of the hand can have ditional risk.”
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