00:01People talk a lot about babies and how when babies aren't touched they die.
00:05Can you massage your armpit?
00:07Yeah.
00:07We love to think of ourselves as so different from babies.
00:10Oh, this is nice.
00:12But in fact, we're just like adult babies.
00:15I'm Christina Hepburn and I am a professional cuddlist.
00:19Deep breath if you come.
00:21I hug people for a living.
00:30So, I usually like to start with the heart hug.
00:35Perfect.
00:39Oh.
00:41That felt good.
00:43Yeah.
00:44There's touch and there's deep breath work and there's sort of a meditation that occurs
00:49and there's talk therapy in it and it all kind of just lands wherever that person needs the most.
00:56Here's good.
00:57Mm-hmm.
00:57You kind of curl around.
00:59Okay.
00:59Like this?
01:00Yeah.
01:01Oh, wow.
01:01Yeah.
01:02That feels so good.
01:04This is very nourishing.
01:06Mm-hmm.
01:07The client that I have, he remembers the first time he was actually like fully hugged by someone
01:11and he was about 12 and it was a neighbor because his family was so touch-averse.
01:18There's a wide range of needs that can be met through the cuddling experience.
01:22PTSD, anxiety, maybe OCD issues.
01:26All the way to people who like know that they love touch and like don't get enough.
01:30Mm-hmm.
01:31Sessions are 80 an hour.
01:33They can be 80 to 100.
01:34A good average session for people is like an hour and a half.
01:37This feels great.
01:38It can be anything from someone who has, you know, moved to the city and is new here and
01:44doesn't have a lot of relationships yet to people who are going through traumatic events.
01:49Grief or loss.
01:50It can be a safe place to process some of that.
01:53I feel like I'm getting emotional.
01:57Are you having a release?
02:00Do you feel comfortable?
02:02Mm-hmm.
02:02Yes, I do.
02:03Mm-hmm.
02:10Mm-hmm.
02:12Mm-hmm.
02:13Mm-hmm.
02:13Mm-hmm.
02:14Mm-hmm.
02:14Mm-hmm.
02:15Mm-hmm.
02:17Ah.
02:19Ah.
02:21I'm glad that you're getting to relax.
02:25Mm-hmm.
02:27It can be healing for both of us and I think there's sometimes an assumption that it's only
02:32for the client, and I think what's kind of cool
02:35about cuddling versus something like massage
02:37is that there's this permission to have like exchange
02:40in that way.
02:45Some of my favorite poses are, I have like a heart hug.
02:50There's resting on a log.
02:52Can I hold your hand here?
02:53I love the mama bear, can I touch your ears?
02:56Yes, please.
02:56There's one called the koala and tree.
02:58Are your knees okay?
02:59Oh yeah, that's even better.
03:01Yeah.
03:01I'll be the big spoon.
03:02Can I touch your feet?
03:03Yeah, please.
03:04The fortune cookie.
03:05What is your fortune?
03:06I'm sorry, Tal.
03:07You can do back to back sandwich.
03:09Star gazing, eye gazing too.
03:14I love having my head rubbed.
03:15I actually love doing this one special thing
03:17that I guess has become my thing,
03:19but I have people put fingers in my ears.
03:22It's amazing, you should try it sometime.
03:30Culturally, like America is kind of starved for touch, I think especially in big cities
03:35like L.A. where I live, you see it a lot where people are living by themselves now, often
03:40without family because they've moved to a different city.
03:45Your touch needs aren't being met, you know, much less your social needs even.
03:50So I think it can be a really alienating experience for people to just live in big cities.
04:00So welcome, thank you for being here.
04:03Because it is a fringe industry, if you will, and it's very new, I think it's really important
04:08to actually know the community and get involved and attend cuddle groups.
04:13Let's all take a deep breath together.
04:20I feel like I want to hold your hand now.
04:22Can I hold your hand?
04:23No.
04:25Thank you for letting me know.
04:28Cuddling is actually talking about your boundaries, how to communicate them, how to ask for what
04:33you want, how to say no thank you, because so often in this world, it's really hard to
04:37tell people no.
04:38Okay, so I'm going to bring your eye to mine like this.
04:42And then we're going to take a deep breath together.
04:49And you can kind of apply as much pressure as you want.
04:51In fact, I'd say the person whose eye it is can push more into the cheekbone and let them
04:56kind of manage it.
04:57Oh, okay.
04:57Cool.
04:58Yeah.
04:58So I'm going to do my eye on your cheekbone now.
05:02And so then, so then I can kind of push like that.
05:09Yeah, thank you.
05:11Oh, I like that.
05:13That's cool, right?
05:14Since I started cuddling, the conversation has radically shifted.
05:18I mean, the Me Too movement happened in the time that I started cuddling.
05:22Back around this like taboo topic of like, how does it not get sexual?
05:27Someone can say like, wow, I have this desire to kiss you, right?
05:31And I'm going to say, thanks, but no.
05:33Part of the cuddling process is even doing practicing asking for what you want and practicing
05:39saying no and thanking someone for their no.
05:44And in cuddling, we always check in too.
05:47It's whenever you're going to do something new, you know, you say, can I touch you here?
05:52Yeah.
05:52Where am I going?
05:53Yeah.
05:53Do you want to pull it?
05:54Okay.
05:55I think that there's a lot of room for people's touch needs to get met without it being sexual.
05:59I'm going to lay on your side.
06:00Okay.
06:01And I'm going to spin you.
06:03Oh, you said spin, not spin.
06:05Oh, it's nice to spin.
06:08Every time you say it, it sounds like spin.
06:11Oh, really?
06:11I, in fact, feel very safe with the screening process.
06:14People fill out a form and they answer questions about why they're seeking this.
06:17Rock a little bit.
06:18Mm-hmm.
06:19I'm offering a cuddle experience and nothing else.
06:23Oh, this bag?
06:24Like what if I'm just like on my, on your back like that?
06:27Yeah.
06:27Is that okay?
06:28Because there's interesting pressure for it.
06:29Is that okay?
06:30Where my, like below your butt?
06:32That feels good?
06:33That feels nice up here.
06:34I like this too.
06:35Yeah.
06:38There's actually a lot of health benefits to cuddling.
06:41One is a strengthened immune system.
06:45Oxytocin is released, which lowers your cortisol levels.
06:49I think of cortisol as like closing the door and oxytocin opening it in your body.
06:53Like both are needed.
06:54But modern society is a freight train of cortisol.
06:58So oxytocin like, please sit back down.
07:02Come closer.
07:03And then we can hold hands.
07:05Okay.
07:06And I can just pet your head.
07:07Awesome.
07:08Does that feel nice?
07:09It does amazing.
07:14I think of cuddling as life affirming.
07:16Um, you leave it kind of very aware of how you're moving in space.
07:22The idea is to help you express what it is that you want.
07:27Can I ask for a little more pressure?
07:29Yeah.
07:29So you just get all these great tools for how to manage your boundaries in life,
07:35but through this touch practice.
07:38While I do this as a business, I think that we in fact all have the power to heal each
07:43other
07:43and we all have room to have more touch.
07:46Mmm.
07:48Mmm.
07:49Mmm.
07:50Mmm.
07:51Mmm.
