Quantum-Touch

1. Introduction

Version followed: the Quantum-Touch, Inc. "7-Level System" as the organisation currently publishes it [source: Seven Levels page], centred on Level 1 "Becoming Energized" (technique list taken from an official Level 1 workshop listing on quantumtouch.com), with the hands-off Level 2 work as Richard Gordon described it in 2015, the Level 3 emotional process as the organisation publishes it, and the book structure of Gordon's Quantum-Touch: The Power to Heal (North Atlantic Books, 2011 edition) as the publisher lists it. "Self-Created Health" is the former name of Level 3, Becoming Whole [source: Level 3 listing]. Quantum-Touch 2.0 – The New Human (Gordon, Duffield and Wickhorst; North Atlantic Books, 2013) is a follow-up book whose publisher description covers working on several people or conditions at once, helping people shift beliefs, and working "across time and space"; its techniques are not reproduced here [source: North Atlantic Books, Quantum-Touch 2.0 page].

• What it is. Quantum-Touch is a hands-on and hands-off biofield (energy) healing method developed by Richard Gordon and taught by Quantum-Touch, Inc. through tiered workshops, instructors and a practitioner certification. Gordon dates his learning of the underlying breathing and body-awareness techniques to 1978, and says a faster hands-off way of working arrived in 2007 [source: Gordon 2015, MASSAGE Magazine]. The organisation states it has run workshops since 2000 [source: quantumtouch.com Level 1 page].
• How change happens, as the method holds it. The practitioner uses "breathwork, body awareness, and focused intention" to amplify and direct what the organisation calls Life Force Energy [source: quantumtouch.com, How does QT work]. By resonance and entrainment, the practitioner holds a "high vibration" field and the recipient's system is said to "rise to match" it, after which the body's own intelligence does whatever healing it needs; the practitioner is said not to be drained because they are not giving their own energy [source: Gordon 2015; North Atlantic Books description of Herriott 2007]. These are the method's own concepts, described here as attributed, not as established physiology.
• Physical-health claims. The organisation and publisher claim support for pain relief, faster healing and emotional relief [source: quantumtouch.com; Penguin book page]. Evidence status in one line: the controlled evidence is very limited (for example a small randomised pilot on chronic musculoskeletal pain, Walton 2011, published in Energy Psychology), and no claim to treat disease is established [source: PEDro record]. Nothing in this guide presents Quantum-Touch as treatment for any physical disease.
• Use by a psychotherapist. For a therapist, Quantum-Touch is an optional complementary practice: mainly its breath and body-awareness components, plus (only with explicit consent) light touch or hands-off work, as a relaxation and self-regulation adjunct inside a normal psychotherapy frame [synthesis].

2. Framework

Training route (as Quantum-Touch, Inc. publishes it) [source: quantumtouch.com, Become a Practitioner; How does QT work; Level 1 listing]

Certification (who certifies: Quantum-Touch, Inc.). Level 1 taken twice, plus one of Levels 2–5; at least 90 hours of individually documented sessions using Level 1–5 techniques (all may be distance sessions; no more than 30 hours on self, plants or animals; each workshop counts as 4 hours; Becoming Whole sessions do not count); five written "creative insights" from Quantum-Touch experience; an application fee; review by Quantum-Touch, Inc., which states completion does not guarantee certification; a signed Practitioner Agreement containing a Code of Ethics and Trademark Policy; an annual fee to stay active. No exam, mentoring or insurance requirement is stated. Separate instructor certifications exist for Levels 1–4 (requirements not verified [uncertain]). Workshops are advertised as carrying CE hours, but the accrediting body is not named [uncertain].

Session format as published. Client on a table or in a chair, fully clothed; no special preparation beyond asking what the issue is; sessions of roughly 10 to 75 minutes; can be combined with any other modality [source: Gordon 2015].

How the founder says to combine it. Gordon says Level 1 "works with whatever modality" the practitioner already uses [source: Gordon 2015]; the publisher says it can be used alongside Western medicine and other approaches [source: Penguin book page]. An official Level 3 workshop listing presents Becoming Whole as a self-help, energy-based pathway and says it is not counselling [source: Level 3 listing]. The cited sources give no Quantum-Touch guidance specific to psychotherapy [uncertain].

Professional-body positions. No psychotherapy body is known to have published a position on Quantum-Touch specifically [uncertain]. BACP treats touch as dependent on the therapy model and on client agreement, requires discussing touch, its purpose and meaning, and asking permission, and directs boundary issues to supervision [source: BACP GPiA 110, 2023]. Check your own licensing board and insurer before adding any touch or energy method to your practice [synthesis].

Phases for a psychotherapist integrating it [synthesis throughout]

1. Own training and self-practice. Complete Level 1 and practise the breath and awareness work on yourself before using any of it with clients. Move on when you can do it while staying fully present to the client.
2. Assessment and suitability (session 1–2 of the contract). Ask what the client hopes for, check the medical picture, trauma history, dissociation, touch history and beliefs. Move on only if the client initiates or clearly welcomes the idea and there are no exclusions (Section 5).
3. Informed consent and contracting. Written consent covering: complementary method; what it involves (breathing, attention, optional light touch over clothing or hands-off, optional distant work); one-line evidence status; no diagnosis and no replacement of medical care; right to stop at any moment; never sexual or intimate-area touch; how it will be recorded. Move on when consent is documented.
4. Introductory use. Begin hands-off, short and inside a session that remains talk-therapy-led; client-guided breath and body awareness first. Move on if the client reports the experience as tolerable and wanted.
5. Integrated use. Use selected techniques for minutes within sessions (for example opening regulation, or around distressing material), always followed by verbal processing. Typical frequency depends on the therapy plan; there is no published psychotherapy session count.
6. Review and ending. Review every few sessions whether it still serves the therapy goals; teach self-practice so the client does not depend on the therapist.

3. Guiding principles

Founder and organisation principles (attributed) [source: Penguin book page; Gordon 2015; quantumtouch.com; Level 1 listing; North Atlantic Books]

• Healing is a teachable skill. Practical meaning: the method presents itself as learnable by anyone without prior experience; treat it as a skill to practise, not a gift.
• Life Force and resonance. The practitioner raises their own energy and the recipient is said to match it. Practical meaning: your own regulated, attentive state is the starting point; tend to it first.
• Breath, attention and intention are the core process. Practical meaning: the technique lives in your breathing and focus, not in pressure or manipulation.
• The body's own intelligence does the healing ("Inner Intelligence"; the publisher's "biological intelligence"). Practical meaning: the practitioner does not direct outcomes or diagnose; the client's system leads.
• No set positions and no attunements. Practical meaning: hand placement follows comfort and the area of concern, so a hands-off or distant option is always available.
• The practitioner is not drained. Practical meaning: as the method holds it, you are not giving your own energy; if you feel depleted, review your practice and self-care.
• Works with any modality. Practical meaning: it is an add-on; the host therapy keeps its own structure.
• Heart and love. The organisation frames its vision as awakening "the healing power of love". Practical meaning: stance of warmth and non-striving.

Psychotherapy stance principles [synthesis]

• The therapy frame comes first. Quantum-Touch is a brief adjunct; assessment, formulation and the therapeutic relationship remain primary.
• Client-initiated, never sold. Offer it only where it fits the client's wishes and values; do not market courses or sessions to therapy clients.
• Consent is continuous. Ask before, check during, accept any "stop" at once without needing a reason.
• Touch is optional and never sexual. Light touch only on agreed, non-intimate areas, over clothing; hands-off is the default.
• No diagnosis, no medical claims. Energy-pattern "readings" are not assessments; never suggest stopping or changing medical care or medicines.
• Attribute beliefs. Describe energy concepts as the method holds them; respect clients who hold them and clients who do not.
• Trauma-informed titration. Short exposures, eyes open if preferred, grounding available, processing afterwards.
• Process in words. Every use is followed by talking about what the client noticed and what it meant.

4. Intervention inventory

Technique names and their place in the curriculum come from the official Level 1 listing, Gordon's 2015 article and the book's published contents [source: Level 1 listing; Gordon 2015; Penguin book page]. The workshop and book teach the exact breathing counts, hand configurations and sequences; those specifics are not reproduced here and are marked [uncertain: not verified] where they matter. In-session wrapping (consent checks, processing, titration) is [synthesis]. Physical and energy claims are the method's own.

4.0 Consent and touch agreement (precedes every technique)

• Purpose / when: Before the first use, and briefly before each later use. Grounded in BACP's requirement to discuss touch, its purpose and meaning, and ask permission [source: BACP GPiA 110]; the rest is [synthesis].
• Steps: (1) Explain what Quantum-Touch is, that it is complementary and optional, and its one-line evidence status. (2) Describe exactly what would happen: breathing and attention by you, optional client breathing, your hands near or lightly on an agreed area over clothing, or no proximity at all. (3) Name the areas that are never touched (chest, buttocks, genital and other intimate areas, and any area the client excludes). (4) Agree a stop signal (word or raised hand) and say it will be honoured instantly without explanation. (5) Offer hands-off as the default. (6) Record consent, areas agreed, and what was done in the notes; discuss any touch in supervision. (7) Check in during: "still OK?" at each change of position.
• Example language (illustrative): "This is an optional, complementary practice. Research on it is limited, so I'd offer it as a way to settle and notice your body, not as a treatment. I can keep my hands a little away from you, or rest them lightly on your shoulders over your clothes — whichever you prefer, or neither. Say 'stop' at any point and I'll stop straight away."
• Watch for: Hesitant or compliant "yes" (freeze, fawning), past boundary violations, religious objections, a client who wants it as a cure. Working: clear, freely given consent, comfortable use of the stop signal in practice.

4.1 Body sweeps and energy-awareness exercises

• Purpose / when: Level 1 Part 1 foundation for developing body awareness and sensing [source: Level 1 listing]. For therapy: interoceptive awareness and grounding at session start or before difficult material [synthesis].
• Steps: The published technique is a sweep of attention through the body; its exact sequence is taught in the workshop [uncertain: not verified]. In session [synthesis]: (1) Invite the client to sit comfortably, eyes open or closed. (2) Guide attention slowly through the body from feet upwards (or the reverse), naming regions. (3) Ask them to notice sensation, temperature, tingling or nothing at all, without changing anything. (4) End at the feet and contact with the chair or floor. (5) Ask what they noticed.
• Example language (illustrative): "Let your attention travel slowly up from your feet… just notice what's there — warmth, tingling, tightness, or nothing in particular. Nothing needs to change."
• Watch for: Numbness, panic or flashback when attention reaches a body area linked to trauma; skip or reverse direction. Working: the client names sensations more readily and reports settling.

4.2 Fire Breathing followed by slower balancing breath

• Purpose / when: Level 1 Part 2 practitioner technique to raise the practitioner's energy, followed by a slower balancing breath [source: Level 1 listing]. Primarily the practitioner's own practice.
• Steps: The specific count and pattern are taught in the workshop and book and are not reproduced here [uncertain: not verified]; no progression is given. Therapist use [synthesis]: (1) Practise it yourself before sessions, not as a client exercise by default. (2) If a client wants to learn a breath, start only with the slower balancing breath, at their own natural pace. (3) Stop any energising breath at the first sign of dizziness or tingling in the hands and lips, and return to ordinary breathing.
• Example language (illustrative): "I'm going to settle my own breathing for a moment before we start; you don't need to do anything." / "Let's just slow the out-breath a little, at whatever pace feels easy."
• Watch for: Over-breathing (lightheadedness, tingling, anxiety, panic) in clients with panic disorder, asthma, pregnancy, cardiac or respiratory conditions or seizure history; advise checking with their doctor before learning any vigorous breath practice [synthesis]. Working: a calmer, more present practitioner; for the client, slower breath and reported calm.

4.3 Slope Breathing

• Purpose / when: Level 1 Part 3 breathing technique [source: Level 1 listing].
• Steps: The pattern is taught in the workshop; it is not described in the published sources cited [uncertain: not verified]. Do not improvise a version and present it as Quantum-Touch [synthesis]. If you have learned it, use it first as your own practice; teach it to clients only after checking tolerance with simpler breath awareness (4.2, slower breath).
• Example language (illustrative): "There's a breathing pattern from this method I can show you; let's try it gently and you can stop whenever you like."
• Watch for: As in 4.2.

4.4 Basic Hand Sandwich (and the "Where does it hurt?" approach)

• Purpose / when: Level 1 Part 1 hand position [source: Level 1 listing]. Gordon describes holding the hands over the area needing healing, "sandwiched", while running energy [source: Gordon 2015]. In therapy: a contained, client-chosen focus for regulation, for example hands either side of a shoulder or forearm, or held near without contact [synthesis].
• Steps: (1) Ask where the client feels tension or distress in the body. (2) Confirm consent for that specific, non-intimate area, and touch vs no-touch. (3) Place your hands on either side of the area, lightly over clothing, or a few centimetres away. (4) Run your breath and attention practice (4.2) while holding the intention the method describes. (5) Check in after a short interval. (6) Remove hands, invite the client to notice, then talk. Duration, sequencing and intention wording as taught are [uncertain: not verified].
• Example language (illustrative): "Where in your body are you noticing this right now?… Would it be OK for me to hold my hands either side of your forearm, just resting on your sleeve — or would you prefer I keep them just off? … What are you noticing now?"
• Watch for: Body areas near intimate regions (never use); stiffening, holding breath, looking away; a client who agreed to touch but now seems to endure it — stop and move hands-off. Working: softening, slower breathing, the client reporting warmth, calm or emotion that can be talked through.

4.5 Tripod

• Purpose / when: Level 1 Part 1 hand position [source: Level 1 listing].
• Steps: The configuration is taught in the workshop [uncertain: not verified]. Use only after learning it, on agreed non-intimate areas or hands-off, with the same consent and check-in sequence as 4.4 [synthesis].
• Example language (illustrative): "I'll use a slightly different hand position now; same as before, tell me if you want me to stop."
• Watch for: As in 4.4.

4.6 Stacking Hands

• Purpose / when: Level 1 Part 1 hand position [source: Level 1 listing].
• Steps: Configuration taught in the workshop [uncertain: not verified]. A client can be invited to place their own hand on an agreed area with yours stacked over theirs or held near, which keeps the client in control of contact [synthesis].
• Example language (illustrative): "Would you like to rest your own hand where you feel it? I can place mine over yours, or hold it just above."
• Watch for: As in 4.4; self-touch can also be a useful no-contact alternative to offer.

4.7 Five Energy Patterns (Common, Intense, Blocked, Full, Step)

• Purpose / when: Level 1 Part 2 framework for how the practitioner perceives energy moving during a session [source: Level 1 listing].
• Steps: Pattern definitions are taught in the workshop and book (the book lists "five basic energy patterns") [source: Penguin book page; details uncertain: not verified]. In therapy [synthesis]: treat your perceptions as your own experience, not assessment data; do not tell a client their energy is "blocked"; instead ask what they notice.
• Example language (illustrative): "I'm noticing my hands feel warm here; what do you notice, if anything?"
• Watch for: Pattern language becoming quasi-diagnostic, suggestible clients adopting it as explanation for symptoms. Working: the frame stays curious and client-led.

4.8 Hip and occipital-ridge balancing "using energy alone"

• Purpose / when: Level 1 Part 1 practice for balancing the hips and the occipital ridge; Gordon describes untwisting pelvic and occipital "torsion" with light touch at Level 1 and without touch at Level 2, and claims a lasting structural shift [source: Level 1 listing; Gordon 2015]. These are the method's claims; the book's Part 3 covers "using energy to alter posture" [source: Penguin book page].
• Steps: Taught in the workshop [uncertain: not verified]. For psychotherapists [synthesis]: postural or structural correction is outside psychotherapy scope; do not offer it to therapy clients or make structural claims. Refer musculoskeletal concerns to a medical or physiotherapy professional.
• Example language (illustrative): "That sounds like something to get checked by your doctor or a physiotherapist; in here I can help with how the pain affects you and how you settle your body."
• Watch for: Clients seeking it as a substitute for medical assessment.

4.9 Hands-on work with emotional energy

• Purpose / when: Level 1 Part 2 covers hands-on work on the head, spine, joints, organs and "emotional energy" [source: Level 1 listing]. Only emotional-energy work sits near psychotherapy scope; body-part and organ work is physical-health practice and is not offered [synthesis].
• Steps: Specifics as taught [uncertain: not verified]. In therapy [synthesis]: (1) When an emotion is present, ask where the client feels it in the body. (2) Offer 4.4 hands-off or light touch on an agreed non-intimate area (for example upper back or shoulder), or the client's own hand (4.6). (3) Hold presence and breath practice briefly. (4) Invite the client to describe changes. (5) Process the emotion verbally in your usual model.
• Example language (illustrative): "You said the sadness sits in your chest. Would you like to rest your own hand there while I keep mine near your shoulder? … What happens to the sadness as you notice it?"
• Watch for: Sudden intense affect, dissociation (glazed eyes, delayed responses), memories of being touched; stop, ground and orient (Section 5). Working: emotion becomes bearable and speakable.

4.10 Energy centres, toning, vortexing and funneling

• Purpose / when: Level 1 Part 3 teaches twelve energy centres, each linked to a colour and "frequency", with toning (voice), vortexing and funneling [source: Level 1 listing]. These are the method's own spiritual and energy concepts.
• Steps: Details taught in the workshop [uncertain: not verified]. In therapy [synthesis]: use only when the client holds or is interested in this framework; toning (humming or sounding a vowel) can be offered as a voice-and-vibration grounding exercise without energy-centre claims.
• Example language (illustrative): "Some people find humming on the out-breath settling. Want to try it together for a few breaths?"
• Watch for: Spiritual frameworks clashing with the client's faith; embarrassment with voice work. Working: the client chooses it again on their own.

4.11 Amplified Resonance Technique; client matching breath; vision "happy and whole"

• Purpose / when: Level 1 Part 4 technique combining hands-on and distant work; the client may be asked to match the practitioner's breathing or to hold a vision of themselves "happy and whole" [source: Level 1 listing].
• Steps: Technique specifics as taught [uncertain: not verified]. Usable components in therapy [synthesis]: (1) Invite the client, if they wish, to let their breathing gently follow yours at a slow, comfortable pace (a co-regulation exercise). (2) Invite an image of themselves well, safe and whole, in their own words. (3) Keep it brief; then explore the image.
• Example language (illustrative): "If you'd like, let your breath fall into step with mine for a little while… And now, imagine yourself on a day when you feel whole and at ease — what do you see?"
• Watch for: Clients who cannot form a positive self-image (depression, shame) — do not push; breath-matching that drifts into over-breathing. Working: a felt shift in mood or a usable resource image.

4.12 Hands-off "sending" (Level 2, Becoming Supercharged)

• Purpose / when: At Level 2, practitioners learn to send "chi or prana" to any location they think about, without touch; Gordon describes, for example, massaging the shoulders while working on an ankle [source: Gordon 2015]. For therapy: the natural default where touch is not wanted or not appropriate [synthesis].
• Steps: Technique as taught at Level 2 [uncertain: not verified]. In therapy [synthesis]: (1) Agree with the client that you will do a short hands-off practice and where they would like the focus. (2) Sit at a normal or slightly closer distance the client approves. (3) Do your breath and attention practice silently. (4) Check in; end; process.
• Example language (illustrative): "I won't touch you at all. I'll just sit here and focus quietly for a minute; you can keep your eyes open and talk to me any time."
• Watch for: Feeling watched or unsure what is happening, magical expectations. Working: the client relaxes without needing contact.

4.13 Distant healing

• Purpose / when: Taught at Level 1 (Parts 1 and 4), including sending energy to people, animals, places or events, and to the "future and past"; certification allows all 90 hours to be distance sessions [source: Level 1 listing; Become a Practitioner].
• Steps: As taught [uncertain: not verified]. For psychotherapists [synthesis]: (1) Do not offer distant sessions as part of psychotherapy unless explicitly requested and contracted, with fees and records clear. (2) Never practise on a client, family member or third party without that person's consent. (3) Do not "send" to a client between sessions as a substitute for contact or risk management. (4) If a client asks you to send healing to a sick relative, explore the request (hope, helplessness, grief) rather than performing it.
• Example language (illustrative): "It sounds like you feel very helpless watching your mother go through treatment. Can we stay with that for a moment?"
• Watch for: Boundary drift, dependency, magical thinking about outcomes for seriously ill people.

4.14 Self-healing and Inner Intelligence: teaching client self-practice

• Purpose / when: Level 1 Part 1 covers "Self-Healing and Inner Intelligence"; the book's Part 3 covers "deepening self-healing" [source: Level 1 listing; Penguin book page]. For therapy: a self-regulation skill between sessions [synthesis].
• Steps [synthesis]: (1) Choose two elements the client found settling (for example a body sweep and a slow out-breath with own hand on an agreed area). (2) Practise them together in session. (3) Agree when they will use it (for example before sleep, after a trigger). (4) Review at the next session what happened. (5) If the client wants to learn the full method, give neutral information that workshops exist; do not sell or run them for your own clients.
• Example language (illustrative): "Let's pick the part that helped most so you can do it on your own — your hand on your chest, and noticing your breath slow down. When this week might you try it?"
• Watch for: Using the practice to avoid emotions or medical care; self-criticism if it "doesn't work". Working: the client uses it and reports more control over arousal.

4.14a Level 3 Becoming Whole: the seven-step emotional process (formerly Self-Created Health)

• Purpose / when: Level 3 teaches a seven-step process for identifying the emotional roots of physical and emotional distress, processing those emotions and releasing them, moving towards forgiveness, self-compassion and a broader sense of love; the organisation presents it as self-help, not counselling, and requires a live Level 1 first [source: Level 3 page; Level 3 listing]. Its premise is that the body can create symptoms that mirror unexpressed emotion [source: Level 3 page]. In therapy, use only the emotional-processing elements, with clients who hold or ask for this framework, and never present a physical symptom as emotionally caused or as resolvable by the process [synthesis]. Formal Becoming Whole sessions are given only by Level 3 instructors (see Framework).
• Steps: The published step names are: (1) Discovery, identifying the emotional cause; (2) Release, letting go of suppressed emotion; (3) Insight, taking responsibility for one's own emotions; (4) Remorse, sincere care for how one has affected oneself or others; (5) Forgiveness, using the Hawaiian Ho'oponopono practice; (6) Self-Love, greater self-acceptance; (7) Greater Self-Love, sustaining a sense of wholeness. The listing cautions against "spiritual bypass", that is, moving to forgiveness before emotion has been felt and released [source: Level 3 listing]. How each step is run, and its energy component, is taught in the workshop [uncertain]. In therapy [synthesis]: (a) explore the feeling and its history with your usual trained methods; (b) let the client set the pace and stay with release before any move to meaning or remorse; (c) offer forgiveness as optional, never as a goal, especially towards someone who harmed them; (d) end on self-acceptance in the client's own words; (e) keep any medical care in place.
• Example language (illustrative): "Before we go anywhere near forgiving, let's give this anger the room it needs. Whether you ever forgive is your choice, not a step you have to reach."
• Watch for: Self-blame ("I caused my illness"); pressure to forgive an abuser; the remorse step tipping into shame; delayed medical assessment of a physical symptom. Working: the client can name and tolerate the feeling with less self-attack.

4.15 Workshop-only practices

• Purpose / when: The Level 1 listing also includes running or charging energy into water, food and wallets with positive intention, and partner or group exercises (Chakra Charging for Two, Heart Connection for Partners, the Sunstar circle) [source: Level 1 listing].
• Steps: These belong to the training setting. Psychotherapists should not use them with clients [synthesis].
• Example language (illustrative): "That's something taught in the workshops; in our work I'd like to keep to what helps you in here."
• Watch for: Prosperity framings ("charging wallets") that may play into financial pressure or magical thinking.

4.16 Processing and documentation after any use

• Purpose / when: After every use [synthesis; recording of contact supported by BACP GPiA 110].
• Steps: (1) Remove hands or end the focus and say so aloud. (2) Orient: feet on the floor, look around the room. (3) Ask what the client noticed in body, emotion, images and thoughts. (4) Link it to the therapy goals. (5) Ask how it was to be touched or worked with in this way, including anything uncomfortable. (6) Record: consent, areas and type of contact or hands-off, duration, client response, any concerns; take touch issues to supervision.
• Example language (illustrative): "I've taken my hands away now. Take a moment to feel the chair under you… What did you notice? Was anything about it uncomfortable, even a little?"
• Watch for: Polite reports covering discomfort; emerging trauma material; idealisation of the therapist as healer. Working: the client can speak about the experience freely, including criticism.

5. Handling problems

The sources contain no problem-handling guidance for psychotherapy use; everything below is [synthesis] unless tagged.

• Client hopes it will cure a physical illness. Explore hopes and fears respectfully; state clearly that it is complementary and not a treatment for disease; encourage continued medical care; with consent, coordinate with their doctor. Never advise on medicines.
• Client stops or delays medical treatment. Explore reasons without judgement, share concern, involve the doctor with consent, and follow safeguarding procedures where a child or a person lacking capacity is affected.
• Hesitant or compliant consent. Default to hands-off or skip the technique; name that "no" is always fine; revisit later.
• Overwhelm, panic or flashback. Stop at once, remove hands, increase distance, eyes open, orient to the room (name objects, feet on floor), slow out-breath; return to talk; do not resume touch that session; review whether the method suits this client.
• Dissociation. Watch for glazed look, slowed responses, numbness; stop, use the client's name, orient to time and place; future use only hands-off, brief, eyes open, with stabilisation work first in the main therapy.
• Trauma, especially sexual or physical abuse history. Touch is often contraindicated early; use hands-off or self-touch only; titrate in very short exposures; process every use; stabilisation precedes any body-focused work. The official Level 3 pages do not address trauma [source: Level 3 page; Level 3 listing], and no Quantum-Touch-specific trauma-safety protocol is published; the points above are [synthesis] [uncertain].
• Over-breathing. Lightheadedness, tingling, chest tightness: stop the breath practice, return to normal breathing, check for medical causes if it persists; avoid vigorous breathing with panic disorder, respiratory, cardiac, seizure or pregnancy concerns unless their doctor agrees.
• "Nothing happened." Normalise; explore what the client did notice; do not suggest they are blocked or doing it wrong; drop the technique if it is not useful.
• Stuck or plateaued therapy. Do not escalate energy work as a fix; return to formulation and the therapeutic alliance; consult supervision.
• Non-adherence to self-practice. Shrink the task, link it to a daily cue, explore ambivalence; accept that the client may simply not value it.
• Ruptures around touch. If a client signals discomfort during or after, acknowledge it, apologise where appropriate, take it seriously, record it, and discuss it in supervision [source: BACP GPiA 110 on repairing boundary crossings].
• Erotic transference or sexualised responses. Stop the touch component permanently with that client, keep boundaries clear, process within the therapy frame, take it to supervision. Touch is never sexual.
• Idealisation of the therapist as healer, or dependency. Emphasise the client's own self-practice (4.14); reduce or stop sessions-within-sessions; explore the meaning of needing to be healed by another.
• Religious or cultural objections. Respect them; offer secular breathing and grounding instead without energy concepts.
• Psychosis, mania or strong suggestibility. Avoid energy and spiritual framings; use only plain grounding, if anything.
• Children and young people. The workshop listing mentions work with children and infants [source: Level 1 listing]. In psychotherapy, touch with minors requires parental consent, the child's own assent and a stop signal they can use, and should follow your service's safeguarding and chaperone policy; prefer hands-off.
• Pressure to buy courses or certification. Do not sell workshops or sessions to therapy clients or recruit them as trainees; if the client is already enrolled in expensive tiered training, explore the financial and social pressure. Manage conflicts of interest under your professional code.
• Your own scope and competence. Practise within the training you have; check your licensing board and insurer position before using touch; keep the psychotherapy frame primary; discuss integration in supervision.

Sources

Web sources:

• Level 1: Becoming Energized (Quantum-Touch menu page)
• Quantum-Touch: How does QT work
• Energy Healing Certification – Become a Practitioner (Quantum-Touch)
• Level 1: Becoming Energized – In-Person workshop listing (Quantum-Touch, 2025)
• Gordon R. Quantum-Touch: New Skills for Massage Practitioners. MASSAGE Magazine, 2015
• Quantum-Touch: The Power to Heal – Penguin Books Australia (North Atlantic imprint)
• Supercharging Quantum-Touch – North Atlantic Books
• PEDro record: Walton AL, The effects of quantum-touch on chronic musculoskeletal pain: a pilot study, Energy Psychology 2011;3(2):25–39
• BACP Good Practice in Action 110 Fact Sheet: Boundaries within the counselling professions (2023)
• Explore the Quantum-Touch 7-Level Workshop Progression (Seven Levels page, Quantum-Touch)
• Level 3: Becoming Whole (Level 3 page, Quantum-Touch)
• Level 3: Becoming Whole (Formerly Self Created Health) – Virtual workshop listing (Level 3 listing, Quantum-Touch, 2025)
• Quantum-Touch 2.0 – The New Human (North Atlantic Books)

Books cited (publisher pages only):

• Gordon, R. (2011 edition). Quantum-Touch: The Power to Heal. North Atlantic Books.
• Herriott, A. (2007). Supercharging Quantum-Touch: Advanced Techniques. North Atlantic Books.
• Gordon, R., Duffield, C. and Wickhorst, V. (2013). Quantum-Touch 2.0 – The New Human: Discovering and Becoming. North Atlantic Books.