New from Hohm Press
(November, 2002)

To Touch is to Live
The Need for Genuine Affection in an Impersonal World
(This is a fully revised and updated edition of Caplan's previous book, titled Untouched)

Foreword by Ashley Montagu

"We are a touch-starved nation," writes counselor and author, Mariana Caplan. For a baby to develop normally it is essential that he or she be touched. And adults too thrive when touch is a normal and healthy part of their everyday experience. A reassuring handshake . . . a sympathetic or congratulatory hug . . . a healing massage . . . ? How often do we permit ourselves or others these simple forms of contact?

Caplan exposes an understanding of this phenomenon of touch-starvation, citing its roots in childraising, education, family culture, a lack of healthy models of sexuality, and other sources. She emphasizes the need to get more "in touch" closer to who we really are as a species, and closer to others in ways that support our highest potential as human beings. Citing the areas of physical touch, emotional presence and spiritual communion, she points to the myriad ways we can learn to touch each other: through caring communication and listening, through friendship, more profound and sacred intimacy, through acts of kindness, by simple service to one another, by sharing our love for God.



Topics include:

· Loving and teaching our children through healthy touch.
· The roots of violence and abuse.
· Healing through touch.
· A healthy model of sexuality.
· Touch as a context for our lives.

"Mariana Caplan has written a beautiful book, wonderful, courageous, and distinguished by its eloquence, soundness and originality. A book that all the world should read, for it carries a healing message, easy to apply, full of highly realizable promises, and happily rewarding…"
~Ashley Montagu, Author of, Touching, The Human Significance of the Skin