Over the years there have been various scientific studies into the benefits of TTouch. Below I include a summary of some of the findings, and, where possible, links to more detailed versions of the studies.

Mind Mirror Study

In 1987, Anna Wise (Boulder Institute of Biofeedback, Colorado, USA) carried out a Mind Mirror Study of TTouch. The Mind Mirror is a type of EEC developed by British psychobiologist and biophysicist, Maxwell Cade. The Mind Mirror measures beta, alpha, theta and delta brain waves in both hemispheres of the brain simultaneously.  Cade developed the Mind Mirror to look at the brainwave patterns of healers and those in advanced meditative states.

The 4 brainwaves work as follows:

 Beta - waking consciousness, our "everyday" state, where we are aware of external stimuli and have logical thinking.  

 Alpha - seen when we are relaxed, daydreaming or visualizing. We need Alpha to be present to remember the content of our dreams, so Alpha is the bridge to Theta.

 Theta - the subconscious, present during dream sleep (REM sleep), meditation and during peak experiences and creative states. However if Alpha waves are not present, the creativity of Theta is not accessible to our conscious minds (eg when you cannot remember a dream).

 Delta - the unconscious, present during dreamless, deep sleep. In combination with other brainwaves, Delta waves represent intuition, curiosity and those times when we have a "gut feeling" about something. They are often seen in people who work in therapeutic environments.

 Maxwell Cade discovered that there were distinctive brainwave patterns in those in advanced meditative states, healers, and spiritual teachers such as Yogis. He called this pattern the Awakened Mind State, describing it as the “lucid awareness” of meditation “coexistent with thought processes”. 

 During this state, all four brainwaves are present at once, allowing us access to intuition (delta), creativity and personal insight (theta), relaxed daydreaming (alpha) and the conscious processing of thoughts (beta) all at the same time. 

 Anna Wise took the work further and measured artists, inventors, scientists, CEOs etc and found that during bursts of peak performance, when a person has one of those "a-ha!" moments, this was the state that they were in, even if only briefly so (Yogis and Swamis on the other hand tend to actually live in this state most of the time).  Our consciousness is faster, sharper and more flexible and we can be highly creative in this state. Please read on to find out how this relates to TTouch.

 To read more detail on these brainwaves, please go to http://www.hirnwellen-und-bewusstsein.de/brainwaves_2.html

The TTouch Mind Mirror Study

Anna Wise initially carried out a Mind Mirror EEC on Linda Tellington-Jones herself whilst she was performing TTouch bodywork on a horse, and found that Linda was displaying an Awakened Mind State.

 Wise then carried out studies on other humans being petted, massaged or TTouched to find out if simply being touched was the key, or if there was something specific about TTouch. Surprisingly, only when the one-and-a-quarter circular TTouches were being done to the subjects did the Awakened Mind State patterns occur (specifically that Beta brainwaves were only present during TTouch) – clearly demonstrating that there is something key in the TTouches which has a different effect to massage or petting.  Studies were then carried out on a number of horses, and also on the practitioners whilst they worked on them. Similar Awakened Mind State brainwave patterns were recorded in a high number of the practitioners. 

Brainwave patterns in a mare undergoing TTouch

Whilst in a resting state, the Mind Mirror indicated huge fluctuations in brainwave activity in the mare. However, immediately when TTouches were applied, all four brainwaves were present at once. These patterns were not balanced enough to be an Awakened Mind State, but what was highly significant was the presence of Beta brainwaves –analytical thinking – in the presence of the other brainwaves. The mare was learning and processing information whenever the TTouches were applied.  The mare’s brainwaves were also monitored during a groundwork session, and during each and every slow turn and stepping over of obstacles, Beta waves were consistently present, indicating that the mare’s analytical thinking processes were activated.  When the mare was not going around and over these obstacles, Beta was not present.

It is worth noting that when there is widespread activity in the brain (i.e. both sides stimulated at once, as happens when all 4 brainwaves are firing), the brain is stimulated to create new neural pathways.

"Neural stimulation encourages new dendritic growth within the brain. New dendritic growth allows for faster and smoother neural communication in the brain, and also provides more "processing power" in the brain. The dendrites are the many branching fibers extending from the neuron/cell body. These fibers increase the surface area available for receiving incoming information. The more dendrites the brain has at its disposal, the more quickly and smoothly it can process information.

Dendritic growth is a process that occurs throughout our lifetime. Whenever you learn something new, such as learning to play the piano, new dendritic growth occurs as a result of stimulating the mind in a new and different way." (quote from Immrama Institute for Consciousness Studies, www.immrama.org)

What we as practitioners certainly find is that animals consistently seem to be much more open to learning during a session of TTouch.  We frequently find that animals can begin to shift their behaviour (being less reactive and more considered in their responses) quite quickly during and following a TTouch session. Sometimes it only takes a single session to see quite a significant change in response, and if the animals we work with are activating all four brainwaves during a session, stimulating the creation of new neural pathways, then this may explain why TTouch can help to effect such a change.

Moreover, owners tend to find that the changes effected by TTouch are permanent with their pets able to continually respond in more appropriate ways to their environment even if something negative happens. 

As Linda Tellington-Jones writes, TTouch allows animals "to move out of instinctive fear-based responses into a calm state, in which old fears can be processed and new behaviours learned.”

 For further reading on some of the research that has been carried out on TTouch, see the following links:

 http://www.ttouch.com/researchMindMirror.shtml

http://www.ttouch.com/PDFs/EEGstudyOfEquineBrainwaves2006.pdf

http://www.ttouch.com/PDFs/BenefitsTTouchEEG.pdf