best health AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019 47
He does it because once, back in 2012, when he
was feeling very stressed and anxious during a
visit to Paris, a stranger gave him a free hug. He’s
never forgotten how it filled him with unexpected
calm and joy.
For those who take up his offer, getting a hug
makes them laugh and smile. But sometimes it
does more, as when an elderly woman in a tour
group stopped and watched him. The group moved
on, but she asked, “Can I have a hug?”
“Of course you can!” said Ohana who wrapped
his arms around her.
When they broke their embrace, she kept hold-
ing onto his shoulders and looked into his eyes.
“Thank you,” she said. “I can’t remember the last
time I was hugged this way.”
It’s a memory that still makes Thyago emo-
tional. “It was a really powerful moment of human
connection. It is why I keep doing it.”
Of our five senses, our sense of touch is the one
we are most apt to take for granted and yet the one
we can least do without.
“A child can be born blind or deaf and they will
g row up just f ine, with no cog nitive impa irments,”
says US neuroscientist David J. Linden, author of
Touch: The Science of Hand, Heart, and Mind. “Yet
if an infant is deprived of loving social touch for
the first two years of life, then all sorts of disasters
unfold.”
Citing the terrible experience of some young
children who were deprived of loving touch in
Romanian orphanages during the 1980s and
1990s, Linden describes how not only did they
have psychological and intellectual difficulties,
their immune systems did not develop properly
nor did their digestive systems.
That’s one reason why when babies are born, the
naked infant is now usually placed on her mother’s
naked skin. Research studies now encourage the
regular stroking and holding of premature infants,
even through special portholes in incubators. It is
also a reason why classes in infant massage tech-
niques have passionate supporters worldwide.
Elsie Peña Tret v i k , of Molde, Nor way, soug ht outsuch a class because she wanted to comfort and
bond with her colicky infant daughter, Maya. Born
and raised in Costa Rica, Elsie was visiting home
with three-month-old Maya when her daughter
was crying up to three hours each evening.
One of her old friends, Paola Rodriguez, just
happened to be the CEO of the International Asso-
ciation of Infant Massage, whose more than 30
international chapters include one in Costa Rica.
When Elsie contacted her looking for help, she
suggested Elsie take one of the organization’s five-
day courses.
The course change Elsie’s life. “Not only did I“If an infant is deprived of
loving social touch, all sorts
of disasters unfold.”
- Dr. David J. Linden
Every two or three months, Thyago Ohana goes out on the busy
streets of Vienna with a big smile and a sign saying “Free Hugs.” The handsome Brazilian, who works in
international trade at India’s Vienna embassy, chooses a popular locale, like the historic shopping street
Kaerntner Strasse. There he opens his arms to anyone who wants a hearty embrace.IS
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