Healthy skin

Bodily contact is essential for both humans and animals. Studies on premature birth have shown that if a baby lies on the naked breast of ifs mother, ifs breathing patterns are calmer. The links between our skin and our feelings have long since been incorporated into everyday language. Who hasn't been 'frightened out of his or her skin'? How many of our emotions are really 'skin deep"? How many of us are 'thick skinned' enough to fend off the harsher blows? Things 'get under our skin' we turn red with shame, white with fear and green with envy. Yet even if we don't feel comfortable in our own skin, we cannot, like the proverbial leopard, actually change it.

More than words
Our skin is so much more than a buffer against the outside world. It is also two way mirror between our innermost feelings and the outside world. A caress, a touch can reach parts that words cannot reach amid convey the warmth, tenderness and trust on which we all, ultimately, depend.