Because Sometimes Talking Is Not Enough...

Transforming Touch® is a gentle, non-invasive, hands-on somatic approach to working with nervous system dysregulation. Developed specifically for clients with early life trauma and attachment wounds, Transforming Touch® is helpful for a wide range of conditions where the autonomic nervous system (i.e., fight-or-flight and rest-and-digest responses) is, in some way, involved.

During a Transforming Touch® session, the client is lying fully-clothed on a comfortable massage table. The therapist then places their hands directly on the client's body, over key structures involved in stress physiology. The therapist holds the right shoulder and left wrist, left shoulder and right wrist, the left and right adrenal glands on the low back, the brain stem where the skull meets the neck, and the ankles. When held, these structures begin to help the body to down regulate over-arousal. 

After a series of sessions, depending on what is emerging for the client, additional holds or movements may be incorporated into the protocol to further support balance in the autonomic nervous system and to integrate unresolved physiological processes (e.g., reflexes) that often contribute to the client's emotional, behavioral, physical, interpersonal, and cognitive difficulties.

There are two ways of processing our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and behaviors: top-down and bottom-up. Top-down processing involves the use of the brain's capacity for cognitive awareness, conscious thought, language, and insight to regulate emotions and change behavioral patterns. Top-down processing has long been the domain of traditional approaches to psychotherapy and mental health more generally. Bottom-up processing, on the other hand, focuses on helping the nervous system to better regulate itself by working with implicit, body-based, unconscious processes and responses that keep unhelpful thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in place. Bottom-up processing involves body-based techniques, sensory awareness, and somatic regulation practices to help the body and mind to process the unresolved pain and nervous system dysregulation that drive symptoms. Bottom-up processing is essential for addressing trauma, emotional dysregulation, and somatic symptoms that traditional talk therapy may not fully resolve. This approach focuses on engaging the body and nervous system first, rather than relying solely on cognitive or verbal processing. 

Bottom-up approaches, like Transforming Touch®, help clients regulate physiological responses to stress and trauma by targeting the brain’s lower regions, including the brain stem and limbic system. These interventions work by restoring a sense of safety and self-regulation, allowing individuals to process experiences that may be stored implicitly in the body. Bottom-up methods are particularly effective for individuals with PTSD, anxiety, and attachment wounds, as they help rewire habitual survival responses before integrating higher-level cognitive insights. By prioritizing the body’s wisdom and innate capacity for healing, bottom-up approaches create a foundation for deeper emotional resilience and long-term psychological well-being.

The practice of Transforming Touch® by practitioners in California who are not licensed by the state to provide hands-on services is permitted by Senate Bill 577, which was signed by the governor in 2002. SB 577 requires the following disclosures:

Sil Machado, Ph.D. is not a licensed physician and the Transforming Touch services he provides are not licensed by the state.

Sil Machado, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist. Transforming Touch is not in the scope of practice of psychologists licensed in the state of California.

When Sil Machado, Ph.D. provides Transforming Touch services, he is practicing according to his training in Transforming Touch.

Sil Machado, Ph.D. is studying Transforming Touch® with its developer, Stephen Terrell, Psy.D. and the Austin Attachment & Counseling Center.