The Spirituality of the Love Languages: Physical Touch #229

Sometimes, the loudest communication we receive is completely unspoken. A comforting hug, a reassuring hand on the shoulder, or holding someone close can say what words never could. From the moment we’re born, touch is one of our first experiences of love—it soothes, nurtures, and connects us in ways beyond the physical. Touch isn’t just about affection; it carries an energy that speaks to something deeper within us.

In this first episode of our five-part series on the Spirituality of the Love Languages, we’re exploring the deeper, energetic meaning of Physical Touch and how it serves as a powerful vessel for Divine love. Whether you naturally seek out physical connection or it’s not your primary love language, understanding its spiritual significance can open your heart to new ways of experiencing love, healing, and connection.

We’ll dive into how touch carries energy, why it plays such a central role in spiritual practices like Reiki and laying on of hands, and how even those who aren’t big on physical affection can still embrace its essence in a meaningful way. This episode will help you see Physical Touch in a whole new light.

Christina Wooten helps you access the wisdom and support of the Spirit World to elevate your life.
She is a Certified Psychic Medium and Reiki Master Teacher.  Christina is the owner of Sedona Medium and co-host of Modern Life and Spirit podcast.

She offers Psychic Medium Readings, Soul Readings, Past Life Regressions, and teaches how you can start communicating and receiving messages from your Spirit Guides - through her program.
Learn more about her offerings here

Enroll in Fall Reiki Classes Today! Space is limited.

Visit sedonamedium.com to learn more.

Transcript

Unknown: 1:38

Music. Welcome to the Modern Life and Spirit Podcast where we explore spiritual topics relevant to today's world. Your hosts, certified psychic medium Christina Wooten and Reiki master teacher Robert Wooten break down how to work with spirit to create more positive growth in your life. Consider this podcast your go to spiritual resource for navigating the modern world.

Christina Wooten: 2:06

Hey there, kindred spirits. Welcome to Modern Life and Spirit Podcast. It's Christina Wooten, certified psychic medium at SedonaMedium.com Welcome to our show before we get started, I just thought I would ask, how is your Venus retrograde going? Because I have been so amazed, I mean, amazed, flabbergasted. I don't know at what has been unfolding during this time. I have had old friends who I haven't heard from in literally years. Have just suddenly reached out. I've had family members who I rarely ever see let me know that they're coming in town. Of course, they're coming in before the end of the Venus retrograde, so I have the chance to see them, even some of my favorite clients who I haven't talked to in so long, but I really love working with just out of the blue reconnected. It's just been so interesting. And I was like, wow, this is Venus retrograde like clockwork. And then I had some interesting dreams the other night. I had one that really brought up just feelings around an old friendship. And the next day, I just could not stop thinking about it. It stayed with me until I had this realization from our episode recently about Venus retrograde, that this was part of that heart clearing and rebalancing that happens, and it was just this message from the universe letting me know that something still felt unresolved there. So that was really interesting. And then this past weekend, I found myself in a market in Jerome, so just up the hill from here, cute little mining town, if you're ever in the area, and I felt drawn to this Rhodochrosite bracelet. I've been looking for some Rhodochrosite pieces for a long time, but I saw this bracelet, and it just really was the right energy and connect it with me. And so it wasn't until later I was putting all of this together, and I was like, Oh my gosh, it's that stone of compassion and love. And of course, I brought it home during this time, and that's probably why I felt drawn to it. When, you know, for months and months, I've been looking for something and just haven't felt drawn to it. Anyway. I hope that this retrograde season for you is bringing some unexpected gifts and maybe some extra insights your way to on things that you're reflecting on, or energies that you're dancing with right now, and maybe even finding some extra clarity around things, which sounds kind of crazy to say around Retrogrades that it's clarity, but the truth is, I think when we are really intentional, it can bring so much clarity to us. So because we have both Venus retrograde and Mercury Retrograde happening, we are in this season of reflection and realignment and rediscovery, especially when it comes to love and communication and the way that we connect on a soul level, Retrogrades give us this gift of that sacred pause, which is a chance to slow down in this crazy, chaotic world and integrate what it is that we've learned to fine tune what really matters in our relationships, and that includes our relationship and connection with the divine, our awareness of that. So I thought, what better time for us to revisit the way that we give and receive love? So the love languages, which are originally introduced by Dr Gary Chapman, gave us insight to how we feel most valued and connected in our relationships. But that's not just for our interactions with others. They also reveal how we can strengthen our relationship spiritually with the divine in a way that feels natural and comforting and fulfilling. I'm so stoked about this topic, and I'm so glad that you are here for this special series. We are going to explore the five love languages, not just in our relationships with other people and how it impacts that, but in how we experience and express love in our connection with spirit. So I'm going to share some nuggets of wisdom that I got from one of Gary Chapman's books. I'll talk about that in just a minute, and also my insights as a psychic medium and intuition teacher and energy practitioner and how that kind of all weaves. Together, and today we're going to start with physical touch, which might sound a little tricky when we're talking about something as intangible as divine energy and spirit, but just stay with me, because we're going to explore how touch and presence and energetic connection play a powerful role in feeling spiritually held and supported. All right, so if you aren't familiar with The Five Love Languages, I'll give you a really brief synopsis of the concept. The concept of the Five Love Languages is that they reveal the unique ways that you give and receive love. So each of us has a natural preference, whether it's through words or actions, time touch or gifts, that make us feel really deeply seen and appreciated. So when you understand your own love language, as well as those of the people that are significant to you around you, we can use that information to create more fulfilling and harmonious relationships. So it's kind of the prescription for how to fill up somebody's love tank, their gas tank, right? But here's where we're taking it to the next level. I was interested in exploring the concept of how our love languages don't just apply to that human connection and relationships, that they also shape how we experience love on the spiritual level. And as I was working with that and processing it and exploring it, I found Gary Chapman's book, God speaks your love language, how to experience and express God's love. And I was really curious. I thought, Okay, this is interesting. I have found the five love languages to be a really good tool in life, so I was really interested to see how this different nuance of it would potentially be a benefit. And I do want to mention this before we move forward. So before you complete that Amazon purchase, or wherever the book God speaks your love language, which inspired part of this series is written from a very Christian perspective, and while some of you may resonate with that, I also know that many of you come from a lot of diverse spiritual backgrounds, or perhaps none at all, and that's fine. My goal in this series is to explore those ideas in a way that's expansive, inclusive and open to different interpretations of the Divine. But here we're going to be broadening the conversation to embrace that wider spiritual perspective. All right, so now that we've gotten that out of the way, Chapman in the book, his hypothesis is that people experience the love of the Divine when source speaks to them in their primary love language. And of course, the Divine is proficient in all love languages, but it awakens something different within us, a different kind of response when we feel that connection made in our own true love language. So in this episode, we're going to focus on the love language known as physical touch. So if you have the love language of physical touch, it's all about feeling love through connection. It could be through hugs, hand holding a fist bump with your teenager, or just a reassuring hand on the shoulder, but for people who have this as their primary love language, touch isn't just about affection. It is about helping them to feel safe, feel grounded and feel really deeply connected through that safety and that exchange that's had in physical touch. So a hug after a long day, or the hand on the shoulder, or even just cuddling up on the couch can really speak volumes to them. For people who have physical touch as a love language. It's less about the words that someone says and more about that feeling that someone is physically present with them and that they are fully supported. And this is really the first love language that any of us really fully experience at the beginning of life. So as babies, before we can understand words, or before we can receive gifts or even have any concept of acts of service, which is certainly plentiful when you have a newborn, we experience love through the power of physical touch. People around children are just called. We pick up babies, we cuddle them, we hold them to our chest. A child knows how instinctively, how to feel loved and supported by physical touch that it means something more than the touch itself. It's the energy behind the touch that's so important and. And as human beings, physical touch lowers our blood pressure. It lowers stress hormones and releases other good hormones. It's really important to our overall well being and just to nervous system regulation. I think to myself, like hugs are so powerful sometimes when you're just feeling really exhausted or tired and overwhelmed, it just is wonderful to have a hug in those moments. Now let's explore this more from the spiritual perspective. We also innately seem to have a natural desire to touch and to experience holy places and holy people. There's lots of examples of people, you know, trying to touch the feet the robes. You can see an old statuary where pieces are rubbed off, or finishes are changed from, where people are, you know, reaching and touching to try and connect with the energy of certain statuary. We're just kind of drawn to be present, to be there. I think that's why so many people do pilgrimages across the world to physically be in the presence and be in the space of that sacred energy. And there are lots of examples across religions of the world where people gather also to be touched and to be blessed, that seems to be a very uniting principle in the spiritual sense the physical touch, love language can be experienced more directly in four ways. The first one is feeling the presence. So this is experiencing physical sensations that validate your connection with the other side. So maybe you're feeling a tingling in your spine when you meditate, or a buzzing feeling in your third eye, or maybe you occasionally have that feeling of being touched that validates that you're not alone, but somehow a physical sensation indicates that something has changed, that you have shifted from one level of consciousness into another level, and one or more physical sensations validate that, for you, it gives you that feedback loop that says, Yes, I've made it I am connected with the Divine. I'm connected with spirit. I'm connected with my guides. I'm connected with the other side. But it's that sensation that gives you, that information that is something that you may seek after, where you really just know I'm truly in the presence of something that's powerful, that's meaningful, that is flowing through me in a significant way. So feeling the presence, having those physical sensations feed back to you, is a form of that physical touch, love language from a spiritual perspective. So that may be something that you seek, that you feel really comforted by, that you feel very supported by, when you have that more tangible experience of the intangible. Okay, so physical sensations is number one. So let's talk about number two, which is healing touch, so Reiki, or energy healing, similar modalities work with the idea that touch or even intentionally directed energy, with or without direct contact, can be a conduit of healing, of spiritual connection. In Reiki, for example, a practitioner channels universal life force energy through their hands to help clear blockages, restore balance and promote healing on a physical, emotional and energetic level. So whether they are placing their hands on parts of their own body and allowing that healing energy, the Universal Life Force, energy, to flow through, or whether they're directing that to someone else through physical touch or working directly in their auric field. That also is this healing touch that we're talking about in many spiritual traditions, touch has been used as a sacred tool, whether it's blessings or laying out of hands or anointing rituals. I mean, really across the board, there's some sort of touch ritual usually involved that passes on divine energy or protection or guidance. When we engage with healing touch, we are opening ourselves to receive and to transmit spiritual love in a really beautiful and tangible way. And this isn't just about receiving Reiki or any form of healing touch, but people with this love language may feel closer to the Divine when they're practicing Reiki or healing touch for themselves or for other people. So you may feel deeply guided by the wisdom of your hands and your body, and feel how that wisdom is coming from a place beyond yourself. I think people who are very natural healers, who are really drawn to Reiki or drawn to energy work, have this physical touch, love, language and as part of their practice, it naturally helps them to feel closer to the divine in amazing, beautiful ways as well. So number one is feeling the presence. Number two is healing touch. Let's look at number three. Number three is empathic abilities. I think that this love language aligns strongly with people who are naturally very empathic. Being an empath just means that you deeply feel and sometimes absorb the energies the emotions of those that are around you, so you may find yourself sensing what others are experiencing, even without them saying a word. I think of it like it's an unconscious energetic radar sweep that's on high alert constantly, and it just picks up the unseen layers of a situation. That's kind of the energy that empaths have, this ability to be aware of what is generally unseen in the situation. And its other name is clear sentience or clear feeling, and this is that heightened intuitive ability where you perceive spiritual or energetic information through physical sensations, through emotions, it can show up as a sudden wave of emotion that isn't yours, or even a tingling or pressure or pain in certain areas of your body that may be related to a message or to psychic information that you are receiving. And I think that that intuitive ability that empaths have, that really strong connection with Clare sendians, is part of what helps them be amazing healers. So it helps them amplify their abilities in you know that number two that we were talking about with healing touch. So they go a bit hand in hand, but I feel like they're distinct as well. So let's talk about number four. While we're on the topic of natural abilities, I also find that this love language is really connected with psychometry. Psychometry is the ability to sense energy and intuitive information through touch. So psychometry allows us to read energetic imprints left on objects by people who've touched them or owned them, and this can manifest as feeling emotions or receiving mental images or even sensing past events simply by holding an item, like a piece of jewelry, a photograph or an heirloom. For those whose spiritual love language is physical touch, this ability can be a way of connecting more deeply with the unseen world, so tuning into the lingering energies of loved ones or places or moments in time. So really cool thing that if you have this love language and you've kind of identified with what we're talking about here today, is to practice expanding your expression of this into developing more psychometry of when you touch an object that belongs to someone. What do you feel comes with that? Do you have a sense of did it belong to a male or a female without looking at it? You know, because some things can be deceiving. Really, it might look like it's from someone else, but it's really not or one type of person, and it's not so you really have to go beyond the bias that you may have cognitively and get into the energy of it, of what do you feel and sense around this object? This is why some psychics or some mediums hold objects, or like to hold objects. Maybe they like for you to bring a picture in to help them. Or maybe they, you know, you bring somebody's keys or their wedding ring or something, and you want the medium to hold that. Now, those are all examples of just pulling information directly from the item that they are touching in that moment. So psychometry can be a really interesting art, and something that you can explore if you have been wanting to develop more of your intuitive side, so physical touch spiritually can be experienced through feeling the presence, through healing touch practices, through our empathic abilities, and through psychometry, if that's something that you choose to develop, you. So let's talk about some ways also that you can expand your use of physical touch as a spiritual practice. And one really important thing to keep in mind with this particular love language is consent. For some people, touch hasn't always been a safe or a welcome experience, whether it's due to personal boundaries or past experiences or trauma. It can be a myriad of different things. People can be very over stimulated if they're neurodivergent, where touch can be really insensitive to them or overwhelming. And that's why touch, when used as an expression of love, should always be offered, never like forced or with expectation, and this is so important to understand about the physical touch love language is that true loving touch is about what feels safe and supportive for the person who's receiving it. So if you are expressing your love through physical touch, it's not just what you think they need, whether it's offering a hug or a comforting hand on the shoulder or even energy healing, but you have to always check in and honor what feels right for that person, and that's what makes it a genuine act of love, is that communication in that exchange, one practice that I thought would maybe stimulate some conversation. I thought this was an interesting insight about physical touch. So Gary Chapman talks about in his book what he called touching the untouchables as a way of expressing and demonstrating love and also feeling that connection with the Divine by sort of expressing that love to others. Do you remember when Princess Diana touched someone who was HIV positive without gloves? It was such a huge thing. It caused all these waves, because at the time, people who were experiencing this were so isolated, they were starved of touch. There was so much fear around their condition and so much prejudice and hate around you know what they were experiencing. It made an enormous impact on people at the time. For this person who people really admired, to their minds, take this enormous risk by touching and untouchable a really powerful signal and powerful moment, and that simple act, I think, really did change some people's hearts and minds, or at least brought forward more conversations. If she was willing to do it, then maybe we had to look, as a society, at how we were treating people. Every society has people who are ignored. Think about the homeless people that a lot of people just refuse to make even eye contact with or just outright ignore completely, making an effort to literally reach out to the people who might be the untouchables in your corner of the world, and offer touch is one form of practice, but it also requires intentionality, because you have to put yourself into those environments and situations that allow you to exercise that but if you do listen with your heart to the people who really need nurture and touch, I think that you can help people to experience that love and care and compassion where they really need it. And it also makes me think of the elderly, who aren't visited very often, and who really crave interaction. They need that stimulation. They need that connection. There's such an epidemic of loneliness amongst the elderly. One thing that I learned recently was something I never would have considered, was that this hospital was looking for more volunteers to hold NICU babies and help love and nurture them while they're in this, you know, strange environment, so that nurses can focus on the medical care and the critical emotional needs of the baby are being taken care of, so that they can be healthy and well adjusted and know that They are being loved. I mean, that's a pretty amazing job and opportunity right to be able to volunteer to hold these, you know, sweet little babies who are so fresh from the spirit world. There are lots of people in our world who feel isolated, who need someone who cares to show up, someone who can be a conduit of love and kindness and acceptance. So one practice that he recommends is touching the untouchables, and I think there's many populations that can really benefit from that. So connect with you know, where you can get involved. From your heart, you know, maybe can commit one day a month to connecting with one of the nursing care communities around you, or maybe you can volunteer at a soup kitchen and be intentional about offering touch to others while you're there and showing care and showing compassion in that way. There's many different ways, so see what speaks to you. Specifically. I also have one more practice that I wanted to recommend that I think is really aligned with this, because physical touch does really connect with sacred objects and seeking. You know, physical representations of the spiritual so many years ago, I knit a shawl that was inspired by a prayer shawl I was given as a teenager that just had a big impact on me. I really love the energy of it. And as I was creating my version with each stitch, I spoke a mantra that had really special meaning to me. And that shawl is so charged up with love and good energy. It is amazing. Even years later, I have never had to cleanse it or recharge it once, which is incredible. And there have been certain times where I wanted that extra feeling of support. I wanted to feel it physically, or wanted more of a sense of protection for my energy. And I would wrap this beautiful shawl around me and feel its love and beautiful energy. And that was amazing, just that physical presence, that feeling of just a little bit of weight, knowing that I was fully loved, fully protected. It was really, really a cool thing to have. So if you know how to sew, crochet or knit, creating something like this with some sort of strong intention that really resonates with you could be a really neat addition to your life. So that brings me to something I'd love for you to reflect on this week, whether physical touch is your love language or not. We all benefit from learning to express love in all the different ways. So just take a moment, and I want you to reflect on this and ask yourself, when was the last time I felt a deep sense of being spiritually held, and how can I invite more of that feeling into my daily life? Maybe it's wrapping yourself in a cozy blanket with all that good energy. Maybe it's traveling to a sacred site and feeling that physical sensation of being in the presence of something that's really sacred, or simply just placing a hand over your heart and having a moment of quiet and a moment of stillness for yourself, whatever it is, I encourage you to practice just one small spiritual touch ritual this week, and just see how it shifts your connection with yourself and the divine. Notice how it impacts you, how you receive and give love, how you feel seen and deeply held in your connection with the Divine. And of course, if you know people with the physical touch love language, share this episode with them, let them know that there is so much more to understand about this love language and so many ways that we can keep growing and expanding, and how it, you know, enriches our life or enriches our practices. All right, next week, we're gonna explore the spiritual side of words of affirmation. So stay tuned, because we still have a lot to uncover in this series. I'm excited to start this with you, and I'd love to talk about this some more. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Don't think we're talking about this enough. I think this is just so interesting to see how there's this intersection in this form of relationship. So if you have thoughts about this episode, you want to just share them with me on Instagram at Sedona medium or Facebook at Sedona medium. I would love to hear more from you as well. All right, everyone. Much love. Many blessings. Have a great week. The

Robert Wooten: 30:45

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